Refusal

“Pak!’

Her hands went to his face in a sudden slap. Rufus touched his face, but it didn’t move him, as if the man were made of stone. His eyes dilated and changed color from black to a golden hue. He growled, and she instantly stepped back. She swayed a little; she wasn’t feeling well today, but she ignored it. She started to feel weak, but her adrenalin, due to anger, was keeping her to stay focus on the situation at hand.

Everleigh was also surprised by her sudden reaction. She took a series of deep breaths to calm herself and closed her eyes as she waited for the blow from Rufus palm, but it didn’t come. She opened her eyes and saw the amused face of Rufus.

"I like how you've changed, baby" he smirked.

“We are in a dire situation right now, but I am not the woman you think I am. I cannot accept your offer. I never imagined that Rujan’s brother was as despicable as you! ," she said and ran.

Upon reaching the room given to her, she started packing. The boys are still in the nursery playing. Before she could go to the nursery, her phone started ringing. She answered immediately, thinking it was Rujan.

“You can’t escape me, bitch. I will kill you and your boys.”

“Who are you? Why are you doing this to us? Where did you get my number?" She asked, shouting. She felt so desperate that she cried, but the person hung up on her. She fell to the ground and cried. Then her eyes flew open when she remembered Rujan. She called him, but his phone was turned off.

Her heart started beating so fast when she realized that their enemy never called her number. Only Rujan knew her number. Something happened to Rujan, and the enemy got her number. She suddenly rose from the carpeted floor, and her world started spinning. Before darkness encompassed her, her knees started shaking, and before she fell to the ground, someone caught her.

She opened her eyes and felt that she was aching all over. She also felt cold, and her throat was dry. Damn! She got sick. She hated being sick, and she didn’t want to get sick, particularly in her situation. Rufus gasped her name and saw him rush toward her. She lifted her head and tried to speak, but her shuddering made her speech ramble like a growl.

“Damn! We need to get her to the infirmary or to the hospital! He shouted at the old man who was checking on her. “She’ll be okay here, Alpha, but if you insist...” the man said calmly.

He immediately scooped her up. Her head rolled listlessly before dropping on his shoulder. She heard him yell for Whitton and headed somewhere. The servants came running in, and Rufus turned and barked orders to them, but Everleigh's muddled mind heard only a jumble of words.

She was taken to a room and placed on a bed with white linen. He was bending over her, this time taking her clothes. Still shaking with cold, she whimpered and fought weakly to keep them over her, thinking he meant to punish her for refusing him.

"Let me, my love," he said hoarsely.

"We need to lower your body temperature, baby.” Her fingers relaxed their grip, and she lay unresisting as he unfastened her dress and slid it from her shoulders and down her body. Then once more she was wrapped in the bedcovers. Heather felt a hand placed to her brow, and its coolness was heavenly.

She opened her eyes slowly to look at Rufus, but it was not he who stood above her with his hand on her brow. It was her father. "Everleigh Nova Hearst," he coaxed. "Finish your meal like a good girl, or papa will not be happy."

"But I do not like it, papa."

"How do you think you will grow into a beautiful lady if you do not eat? You are much too thin for a child of seven."

The vision blurred and cleared again. "I will replace Amelia Papa."

He cried. "I’m so sorry, sweetheart; I failed you and your mother. This is my family’s fault, and Amelia...”

“I want my sister to be happy, Papa. I will replace her.”

She watched his receding back, and her bottom lip quivered and her eyes filled.

A beautiful woman appeared, her golden eyes were blazing with fury, like a rabid wolf.

“You are a lowly human; Rufus will always choose me, not you.”

“I am pregnant.”

“I will kill you, so Rufus will be mine completely.”

The heat was unbearable. She thrashed about to escape it. Something cool and wet slid over her body again and again with a slow, unhurried motion. She was turned by strong yet gentle hands, and her back was exposed to the cooling caresses.

“Rujan?”

"Why does someone want me dead? I can’t remember anything.”

“Because you are a threat to their greed.”

“I don’t know, why? And who? ”

“Don’t stress yourself, sweet; I will protect you with my life.”

She opened her eyes and saw Rufus holding a wet, cold towel. “Protect my children, Rufus. I’ll die if something happens to them.”

“I won’t let anyone hurt you or my sons, baby. Rest. I will take care all of you from now on.”

The forest were cold with old trees with moss, and she laughed as she ran from the person behind her. She was caught and swung upward in sturdy arms, and laughing gaily, she looped her arms about the man's neck in gleeful surrender, and his face pressed close as he bent to kiss her.

A scream was torn from her as she saw the face. His eyes were red, and he was salivating. “I want to taste pregnant humans before I kill them. You are the mate of an alpha, and you’ll be my trophy. I will preserve the fetus as my trophy and will take you many times as long as I want. Your skin is so soft, and I want to take you now.”

“Please, please, don’t kill my babies.”

The man laughed like the devil and started taking off his pants, but Rujan came and hit the man on the head with an iron. “Come now, Everleigh, hurry!"

They ran and ran...

She was being drawn down into a peaceful, peaceful darkness. She floated, she glided, she swayed, and a mist rolled upward around her and consumed her. Rujan disappeared.

Everleigh opened her eyes and saw the ceiling. She lay unmoving for a moment, trying to recall what had happened. She was dreaming of something she couldn’t remember. She moved slightly and winced. She felt bruised, as if every inch of her had been beaten, and she was so weak. She turned her head on the pillow and saw Rufus. He was asleep on a couch.

Rufus looked so gaunt. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his hair was badly mussed and disheveled. Strangely, he was always groomed and perfectly handsome. She wondered how could a man was so neat like him. Her frown deepened as her eyes went around the unfamiliar room. It looked like a hospital. Is there a private hospital in his castle?

With a painful effort, she rose on an elbow, and instantly Rufus eyes flew open. He hurried toward the bed but slowed when she looked up at him with sanity in her eyes. He smiled broadly and came to sit down on the edge of the bed.

He reached to feel her brow. "The fever is gone," he said, as if in relief.

"What has happened?" she asked softly.

"I feel so tired, and I ache all over. Did I fall?" He smoothed her hair from her face. "You've been sick, baby, since yesterday."

Everything was a flurry of confusion for her. More than a day has gone by. It seemed like a few hours. Then she remembered his offer. Her eyes widened.

“The boys are okay; they visited you while you were sleeping,” he said.

“I had a bad dream, but I can’t remember it,” she said.

“Don’t stress yourself; take a rest.”

“But you offered me...”

He smiled tenderly and touched her cheek. “My offer still stands, but I won’t force you, baby. Your safety is my primary concern.”

She grinned and thanked him.

“I will do anything to convince you, though,” His lips quirked devilishly.

“What do you mean? ”

She gasped when she realized the meaning of what he said. “You’re going to seduce me!”