CHAPTER 3

ANNA

A SUDDEN LUMP formed in my throat and I struggled to breathe at the sight before me. It was like my mind was playing tricks on me. 

My husband turned abruptly and his face paled when he saw me. I turned swiftly and walked away, unable to keep on looking at the compromising position they were in. 

I thought Rick would immediately follow me, but I heard Beth's moan resume as soon as I was out of sight, meaning that he had continued pumping into her. 

I broke down and sobbed near a large oak tree, after a few minutes, I heard Rick come up behind me. He cleared his throat once and said, "Um... Anna..."

"You bastard," I cried. "You promised me."

"Anna, you have to try to understand. The pull was too much, I could not resist it," he said in that annoying soft-spoken voice like he was innocent. 

Out of anger, I slapped him hard, "And you had to do it on my fucking birthday," I sobbed. 

I saw Beth come out from the cottage and walk towards us with a smug smile on her face. "You can't go around slapping people's mates like that," she snorted. "You forget that now, he is not just your husband. He is also the alpha to one of the most influential and strongest packs on this continent,"

She couldn't be serious. I looked at her dumbly. She just slept with my husband and now she is here, trying to dictate anything to me?

"You little slut!" I started to say.

"You will not refer to my fated mate as a slut, Anna," Rick cut into me. His voice was not so soft spoken now. 

I looked at him. 

"Oh, Anna," Beth said, "You wouldn't understand it. After all, you have never had a fated mate."

I growled at her, and suddenly Rick slapped me. His palm made solid contact with my cheek and I stumbled and fell from the slap. 

"You will show respect to my mate," he snarled, "Besides, you are not so innocent." 

 Maybe if I told him about the pregnancy, he would change his mind. 

"Imagine my surprise," He said. "When Doctor Marcus called me this morning just as I was about to cut the mate bond with your sister and guess what he told me..."

I swallowed, there was a sinking feeling in my stomach as I already knew what he was going to say.

"He told me that my wife is pregnant," he snarled. "And that you planned to hide the pregnancy from me." 

I sobbed. Doctor Marcus had assured me that he was going to keep it quiet, why the change of heart now?

 "Now, if you don't mind. You can go ahead and enjoy your party, me and Beth have some unfinished business to take care of." His eyes fixated on Beth's high perked breasts and he smiled lewdly. 

THE NEXT FEW days were not easy to pass through. My hatred for my sister and Rick grew as my baby formed in my womb. The baby was the only thing keeping me strong in these trying times as somehow, Beth had turned almost every worker in the pack against me. I became the third party. The odd cog in the wheel that is against destiny. 

Rick had me moved to the next bedroom so he could share the bed with Beth, who after all was his fated mate. Every night, I would feel a burning sensation in my chest as Rick made love to my sister. Her moans would float across the walls ring in my room. No matter how hard I tried to block the sound out. It was driving me insane. 

I would use my pillows to cover my ears and cry until tears dried from my eyes as the mate bond between me and Rick gets weakened by his copulation with Beth. I stood up and took the pills Doctor Marcus had given me. I needed my baby to be strong.

"Luna," Reine whispered from the foot of my bed. "Luna," she whispered more urgently. She was one of the few people in the whole pack who still respected and loved me. 

I weakly sat up to look at her. "What is it, Reine?" I asked. 

"You have to leave, Luna," She said. "You have to break the bond and leave Alpha Rick."

I shook my head. I was not born a coward. I could not run away like a scared dog and leave the pack to Beth and Rick, after all, that was what they wanted. "I can't, Reine," I told her. "I just can't."

She came up to me with a warm towel and rubbed my head to ease my migraine. "I brought you some food," she held the tray out. To make her a bit happy, I took a little bread from the tray and nibbled on it slightly. She sighed and looked around, her eyes fell on the bottle of medicine on my bedstand and she picked it up and read the label. 

"Where did you get this?" She asked in a small voice. 

"It's for the baby " I muttered. 

"You have to stop taking this, Luna," she said with renewed urgency in her voice. 

"Why?"

"These are abortion pills," Reine answered. "They poison the baby and can even affect your bloodstream and kill you."

I gasped and sat up as Reine took the bottle to the toilet. I heard her dump it and flush it down the drain. Then she came back into the room and tucked me in. 

Why would Doctor Marcus give me something to kill my baby and lie about it? 

Has he been lying about every other thing? Like Rick's impotency?

The following morning, I woke up with eyebags around my eyes. My hair was disheveled and my skin was patchy. I could barely recognize myself in the mirror. I washed up and packed my hair roughly in a ponytail before I went out for breakfast. 

Rick and Beth were already there. "Good morning," I muttered as I took a seat at the end of the table. Beth, looking all sparkling and fresh, was seated on my chair beside Rick. They ignored my greeting as he fed her some grapes. 

How could my loving husband change so much in such little time? I wondered as I ate my food slowly. I did not have the appetite, but I knew I must eat for the proper development of my baby. The baby that Rick did not even know about. 

I cleared my throat. "Rick, I have to tell you something..." I said.

He looked at me like he was just seeing me for the first time. "No, I have to say something first," he said. He stood up and towered over me. Beth sneered at me from his side. "You are a filth in this pack, Anna," He stated. "Nothing more than a parasite... a virus that fills this place with your stench and negative aura. With you around, I know I can not live happily with my mate."

I could not believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. 

"And for that reason," He continued. "I, Alpha Rick Forson, hereby cuts the bond between us. From today henceforth, you cease from being my mate and Luna of this pack. I reject you!" He commands. His Alpha aura washes over me, making me whimper. 

Like a rubber band, I could feel the bonds in my heart snapping as they were cut off. A blinding pain filled my body and soul and I screamed in agony and dropped to the floor. "Why??" I managed to gasp. 

"You still have the audacity to question me?" He snarled. "Get out of my sight before I am pushed to banish you completely."

I cried as I gathered myself from the floor and got shakily to my feet. The pain came in waves. It was like nothing I had ever felt. I turned to look at them. The man I had given my all, and the sister whom I had loved since I was a child. Their betrayal hurt me more than I could ever imagine. Beth smiled at me while Rick simply glared. 

Tears streamed down my face as I stumbled to my room. Maybe it was time to take Reine's advice. There is nothing left for me here. I packed some things into a small bag, Reine came into my room, and without saying anything, she helped me to arrange some things. She waved at me as walked out of the back door. The morning sun scorched my head as I walked to the end of our border. "I, Anna Kylin, cut every bond I have with this pack," I said. Another wave of pain washed through my entire being and I fell to the floor. Shifting into my wolf would help ease the pain, but I did not want to risk putting my baby at any risk, so I endured. 

After a while, I crossed the boundary without knowing what awaited me on the other side except ravaging rogues and potential death.