Axl's P.O.V
Why were they yelling at me? I wondered when suddenly their words broke into my confused state of mind.
Pregnant?
No…No, they were wrong… they had to be wrong. There was no way I would be pregnant.
“It was just the stomach flu,” My eyes blurred with tears as I stared at the rage in my brother's eyes. “I can't be pregnant.”
“Tell me–were you planning to keep this a secret from us forever?” Ellis demanded bitterly and the color drained from my face till I was even paler than the morning before. “Why would you hide something as huge as this from us?”
“Little sister? Are you going to faint? Put your head between your knees.” Elliot cut in, his voice roughened with concern as he strode over to the bed and tangled his fingers in my dark hair. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and could sag against him as he held my head down so that the blood rushed back to my brain.
“I’m all right,” I drew in a shuddering breath, conscious of the painful thud of my heart as it jerked erratically against my ribcage. My head was still spinning as I lifted my eyes to meet my brother’s. Intense shock made my skin feel clammy and it strangled my vocal cords, so much that my voice came out as a shaky whisper. “I am not pregnant. I can’t be. I didn’t sleep with anyone.”
‘Are you sure about that?’ a voice of doubt piped up in my brain but I stamped on it, refusing to let it take root.
Elliot frowned and pulled me into his arms, rubbing his hand over my upper back as I began to cry. “I know you didn’t little sis. That’s why I need you to not protect the identity of the fucker who raped you. Tell us and we will make sure he never sees the light of day for laying his hands on our little sister.”
My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach and a bitter taste filled my mouth. The three E’s were the strongest Alphas in our packs, all three of them Xeus Alphas with wolves that didn’t lack in strength. They were even voted as part of the top twenty wolves in the entire Kingdom. If they said they would rip someone apart, there was no doubt they could do it. But my brothers were all vying for political positions in the near future, if they committed murder, no matter how justified they were, they would lose their support in the council and general public. Besides, how do I tell my brothers that I do not know the face of who raped me? I buried my face deeper into his chest as he let off Alpha pheromones that made me safe and secure still the tears wouldn’t stop.
“Are you really sure I am pregnant?” I whispered brokenly.
“Dr. Crown phoned earlier this morning, while you were still asleep, and confirmed that your blood test gave a positive result for pregnancy,” Ellis explained in a harsh tone and I peeked at him from beneath my lashes, tears dripping down my face. though they all seemed to take my side, wanting to protect me, None of them could hide the disappointment
rolling off their shoulders in waves. it made me want to hide in a dark cave and never come out.
“The doctor had no right to give you confidential information about me.” I finally muttered, though my mouth felt parched.
“Axella, We are the future Alphas of this pack and Eduardo is our family’s doctor.” Elliot snapped. “You know better than anyone that he reports to the Alphas if anyone is carrying an illicit pregnancy.”
Illicit pregnancy?
Ignoring the twinge in my heart, I shook my head as if I could somehow dismiss their words. It couldn’t be true. I thought frantically. But why would my brothers lie? Maybe the doctor was wrong about the test result. A blood test to detect pregnancy was almost one hundred percent likely to be true.
“I swear I didn’t know,” I said numbly into his chest. “When I started throwing up and falling ill, I didn’t think anything of it.”
That wasn't absolutely true, I admitted silently. The nausea I had been experiencing in recent days had forced me down a memory lane of that night at the ball, but I had been too scared to even think about the possibility that some monster had raped me. It had been easy to hide my suspicions. But now, I could no longer hide from the devastating truth. That night, I had been knocked unconscious and raped by a face I would never know. I had conceived of what would be seen as a bastard.
“I was raped that night at the ball,” I whispered, my voice low but from how tense my brother’s shoulders went, he heard me and was as disgusted and devastated as every Alpha would be. I was supposed to be the prized omega that would fetch a nice fortune for the family once I found my wolf and got mated to some ALpha who wanted me. Now…I began to tremble as reaction set in. I was going to have a baby, who didn't have a father. I was going to bear the fruit of a violence done against me. The trauma I’d felt on waking up in a strange room the next morning, the desperate decision I’d made to forget about the incident, and now, this. it caused me to clench my fingers until my knuckles went white.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Ellis growled, breaking me from my downward spiral. “Why did you hide it from us?”
“I was ashamed.” I choked out, clutching my brother’s shirt. “I didn’t remember who did it to me and when I woke up that morning, I just wanted to pretend nothing happened because…” I stuttered on the sob that crawled in my throat. “Without my honor as an untouched omega, coupled with the fact I didn’t even bloom to my wolf, I was a waste.” Looking back on that day, I realized I should have told my brothers, they would have had my back despite everything. But they were busy with their own stuff. And then Jenny came over to tell me about her brother's engagement to one of the powerful Lunas who had attended the ball. Between dealing with the pain of my mate who'd rejected me marrying someone else and pretending to forget about that night, I couldn't tell anyone.
“That is exactly what you are, you are a waste!” A thunderous voice cut into the room and I gasped, raising my head to see my father approach the room from the hallway.
Like a man crazed, he looked at all my brothers in the eye and growled, shooting pheromones so thick with rage that it made me whimper and pee myself a little. “Don’t tell me you believe her c**k and bull story about being raped? She is a f*****g w***e just like your mother!”
“Father! You will not speak about our late mother in such a way!” Elliot growled, pushing me away and leaping to his feet. I watched in horror as he partially shifted, eyes glowing red and claws shooting from his nails. It took my other brothers holding him down to stop him from attacking our father. But our father was an Alpha and if there was one thing ALpha’s hated, it was being threatened in their own territory. I just wrapped my own arms around myself while trembling and sobbing. This was happening because of me. I should have told someone.
My father let out a growl of his own, loud enough to shake the entire house as he positioned himself in his full designation. “Your little sister is a disgrace and a cheap w***e. When the Crown prince refused to give in to her wishes, she immediately spread her legs for another and claimed to be raped. If truly she was being raped then some of the guards who have heard her cries for help and saved her. Besides, there is no wolf or man bold enough to rape the daughter of the Prime Minister at his own home! No daughter of mine would be labeled as the unmarried and unmated mother.”
“Your Lordship!” A shrill feminine voice broke into the pheromones and testosterone flying in the room and finally, I was able to take in fresh air though my heart was breaking and my tears refused to stop. “Axl is your daughter! You can’t possibly do that to her!”
My heart stopped e as my father slowly turned around to my Nanny. was he going to hurt her? His eyes blazed. “You will not interfere in my family affairs!”
She flinched like she’d been slapped in the face but still stood her ground. Looking away from my father, I could see her battling against his suppressive dominant pheromones as she beckoned at me. Immediately, I sprang from my bed, ran from my brothers, and into her arms. “Shh, shh, I won’t let anything happen to you my dear,” she whispered as she brushed my hair from my face.
“I didn’t sleep with anyone.” I choked into her bosom, my shoulders shaking with tears. “Why won’t father believe me?”
Father cut in at that moment, voice deceptively soft. “I will believe you if you name the person who had raped you. Just give me a name.”
That was impossible, I cried silently and closed my eyes trying to recall everything that had happened that night. Leaving the ballroom a little drunk, walking along the cobblestoned path in the garden…the blow on my head… then the darkness of the room. How helpless I’d felt as hands tore my clothes open but my mouth felt like lead and no words could come out… Please, don’t this,’ I’d begged but my voice was silent, taken away from me. The crushing pain as I was penetrated… and then the abyss.
“I don’t know…” I whispered hoarsely, looking at my father in the eyes as I allowed every sincerity I could shine through me. He was an Alpha. there was no way he wouldn’t know if I was lying. he could see through every shield in me but then his expression closed off.
and the man I called father snarled. “You are hereby stripped of the birthright of being my daughter. I banish you from my pack and if you ever step foot here, I will kill you myself.”
The next few things happened in a blur as dark spots swam in my vision. Elliot let out a ground-shaking growl and then lunged at my father as Ellis and Eric lost their grip on him.
The world went dark.