Chapter Five

I keep my head down as Ralfi leads me to the guest room. I can’t bear to see the looks on the servant's faces when I pass them, though I can hear their whispers. Every member of the staff is abuzz with my rejection. The shame keeps my eyes on the ground, following Ralfi's feet through the meandering halls.

"Here we are," Ralfi says, opening the bedroom door for me. "Go on in, Aurora. This is where you'll spend your last night in the pack house."

"Ralfi…"

"No," he says, holding up a hand to halt my words. "I serve my Alpha, and this is his command. You can go inside yourself, or I can carry you in. That is the only choice you have now."

Rejected and dejected, I can only nod and enter the room under my own volition. 

Ralfi follows me inside, then holds out his hand to me. In the center of his palm rests a single pill. "I met with the Alpha and Luna while you were still in the hospital. Evander asked me to give this to you. Since you don’t have a wolf, the rejection will hurt you more than it normally would. This medicine will protect you from some of the harm."

I look at the pill, dubious about its real intention. "Evander wanted to protect me from some of the pain?"

Ralfi sighs and moves his hand closer to me. "Aurora, listen, everything Evander does has a reason. He always puts the pack first. We may not be privy to his inner thoughts, but you know as well as I do that he's a good Alpha." 

He cuts his gaze away, and if I'm not mistaken, I detect a trace of sadness on his face. "Please don't hate him."

The appeal confuses me. Ralfi saw with his own eyes how Evander treated me. Everything he’s done has felt like he’s done it with the express purpose of making me hate him. 

And much to my own dismay, it’s working. Evander’s made me desperate, and that desperation is turning my once warm heart ice cold. 

“Again, you don’t have a choice here, Aurora,” Ralfi says, taking hold of my hand and placing the pill on my palm. “On orders of the Alpha, you must take it.”

"Fine," I say, bringing the pill to my lips. The fear of what’s really behind this capsule, what its true intention is, remains, but like Ralfi said, there is no choice here. I swallow it in one gulp. It burns all the way down my throat, generating a strange sort of heat when it settles in my belly.

"Ugh," I grunt out, rubbing my tummy. It's not pain, not exactly, but it is uncomfortable.

Ralfi hesitates, shuffling his feet and refusing to meet my eyes. "I'm sorry, Aurora. The Luna ordered me to add something…extra…to the medicine. I promise, it won’t harm your body, but it will ensure the ritual goes smoothly tomorrow.”

"Something extra?" I ask, unable to hide my alarm. Any directive from Nalani can't be good.

"Do not fear," Ralfi says gently. "I would not do something that would endanger your physical well-being, nor would Evander allow it. Rest for now. It will all be over tomorrow."

The Beta gives me one last nod, then exits the room as quietly as he entered.

Once I hear the lock click shout, I lay back on the bed. The strange heat is passing and I do feel rather tired. With a sigh, I find a more comfortable position, then stare up at the ceiling. 

Tomorrow Evander will sever the mate bond between us. I've heard it's an incredibly painful procedure, and the shock and loss of their mates can sometimes send a wolfless one like me into a despair so deep, they wither away and die alone.

That thought chills me to the bone.

"No!" I proclaim to the empty room. Evander may not believe in our baby, but I know this child is real. I wrap my arms protectively around my belly. I will survive this. For our pup.

My moment of resolution is brief however, because an even worse thought follows on the heels of the first. What if the ceremony itself does something to the baby? I've never heard of a pregnant mate going through a rejection before…

No, I won’t think it. I can't think of it. I will do whatever it takes to protect this child. No one and nothing is going to take this baby from me.

"Any means necessary," I say, repeating Evander's directive when he sent me off to this gilded prison. It's a decree I can live by too. The tears sting my eyes and I roll over in bed again. 

The secret of my wolf was one I meant to take to my grave. But now, with my baby possibly in danger, it's time for me to confess it all.

"I do have a wolf, Evander." Even alone, I whisper the admission. "The day we first met, I saved you, and now my wolf is dormant. That's fine, because I love you.”

I was never supposed to tell Evander about it anyway. My parents made me promise over and over again never to tell. Not even my mate. Because my wolf is special. And I don't say that to boast – I mean it in a life-threatening way.

"But tomorrow, I will tell you everything," I vow to my imaginary Evander even as my eyelids grow heavy. "I’m not cursed. Not in the way you mean. My wolf is dormant because of my own choice. I saved my mate-to-be, and well…"

The memory is hard to hold on to and that's fine. I yawn, breaking the illusion of conversation I need to have tomorrow. "As long as I tell Evander the truth and make him believe I’m pregnant, he’ll let me remain in the pack. He’ll acknowledge our baby.”

It's a nice thought, no matter how fanciful it may be, and I allow it to follow me into the darkness.

***

I don't remember when I fell asleep. Next, I am awakened by knocks on my door. 

"The rejection ceremony and the crowning of the new Luna is about to begin." Three stern-faced men order me out of the room, roughly escorting me into the hallway. I try to protest their coarse treatment. 

But when I open my mouth, no sound comes out.

Panicked, I try to force it, willing my vocal cords to respond, but they remain frozen.

As I'm jostled out of the house, I realize this must be the "something extra" Ralfi mentioned last night, the thing meant to make sure everything went smoothly today.

Nalani saw to it. I was poisoned dumb.

Panic surges through my body.

I must speak the truth, to clear my name and bring Evander back.

But now, I open and close my mouth like a dying fish. I can't even utter a single sound.