SERGIUS

I woke up chained to a bed. Again. I violently rattled at the chains and a shaking servant went out to call the healer. The healer unshackled me and I didn't bother asking why or how. The last two times I had woken up bewildered and they had to explain to me.

"This will heal in two hours," The healer nodded to the bandages. "You are a strong Alpha."

This time I just stood up took the painkillers for the blinding headache and dull ache in my bandaged fingers and went out.

I also didn't bother asking why my hands were wrapped thick with bandages; I knew that I must have beat someone or something out of rage and I didn't want to relive it. I didn't even want to live. Right now, I badly wanted to be a coward, drink my sorrows away and forget about my impending doom.

When I looked out the windows, it was pitch black. I have been knocked out for an entire day, leaving my kingdom without a ruler for a full day. Something that has never occurred since I was coronated. I decided I was going to be a coward.

I slammed the car doors close. The driver jumped and looked back at me in fright.

"Where, Your Honor?"

"If you wanted to be drunk and lose yourself in the one place you are sure that nobody will find you, where will it be?"

He took me past the glittering skyscrapers of the inner city to the seedy streets of the ghetto slums. We stopped in front of a crumbling bar.

"You're sure nobody will recognize me here?" I asked him.

"Nobody in this part of the slums can afford a phone or television your Honor. Nobody knows what you look like."

It was perfect. He nodded at my clothes. "But seeing those robes they can tell that you are part of the upper echelon."

I took of my diamond studded robes and exchanged it for his dusty coat.

The only reason I was here was because I did not want a paparazzi chasing me and people questioning my leadership.

Once I sat down at a table, I called for a waiter. The waitress who walked up to me was small, probably in her early twenties, her long dark hair was pulled in a messy ponytail. Once my eyes ran over her innocent eyes and plump lips, I decided I liked her.

"What can I get you?" She asked in an exhausted voice, her pen pised over her paper. I had barely looked at the menu. I leaned back in my chair. "Some Rodenbach wine, or Cantillon. I say Cantillon."

Her perfect eyebrows arched. "What is that sir? Those things that you mentioned?"

was she dumb? I looked at her smooth lips pursed in confusion. Then I remembered. "Sorry, I'll have whiskey instead."

She nodded, scribbled it down and turned to walk away. As she walked away, I found my eyes straying to her threadbare mini-skirt, perfectly round backside, and smooth long legs. She looked untouched. From the way she carried herself, I could tell that she was still a virgin. When she sashayed back with a tray of chilled wine, I'd already made up my mind.

"What's your name?" I asked as she poured me the drink.

"Fiona." Her voice was refreshing.

"Fiona," I repeated, savoring her name.

She stood up straighter. "Would you like any other thing else, sir?"

'yes, I want another drink." I drawled. "But first," I swirled the glass cup. "I want you."

Her cheeks flushed red. "Excuse me?"

I stood slowly. thinking. Forget the alcohol. I could use her to forget the pain. I could drown in her body and still feel alive. She was just a commoner, a nobody.

She stepped back, very tiny compared to my six foot frame. "You heard me. One night, you and me."

She shook her head like she was amused. "You have to be joking. Does this look like a brothel to you sir? If you want someone to sleep with, go to a gentleman's club."

I gently held her fisted hands and slipped in thick cash. Her gaze flicked to the wallet and back to me. She tossed the cash on the table. "No sir. You are not going to buy me over with money."

"Then name your price?"

Her eyebrows rose defiantly. "Tell me how much it's going to take to have you all to myself for the night."

For a moment, she only turned her nose up at me, until her eyes drifted to the bundle of one-thousand-dollar bills that she had tossed nonchalantly on the table. "How much?" She whispered finally.

I thought about the amount I spent on lunch yesterday, a casual amount that meant nothing to me.

"Five thousand."

Her eyes went wide. "Five...five thousand?"

"Is that your price?"

Her eyes flickered in fear. "That money could solve majority of my problems right now."

"So that is a yes?"

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. "So all I have to do is to sleep with you?"

A smile tugged at my lips, she wasn't so smart, this one. When she opened her eyes, she looked resigned. "I agree. One night. Five thousand dollars, and we go our separate ways."

I arranged the pile of cash on the table. "Deal."

She stared at the money for long before looking at me. "Let me go talk to my manager."

"if he resists, bring him to me."

She walked away tensed and I downed a shot of whiskey.

Tomorrow, I would return to being Alpha Sergius, ruler of the Northern Territories and bearer of a death sentence.

But tonight, I was just a man that wanted to get lost in the folds of a woman as a means of escae.

FIONA

My mind yelled at me to run when his hands traced the line from my arm to my lips, but my legs were paralyzed to the spot. He caressed my chin, and leaned in to kiss me, my heart thudding in my chest. When he softly kissed me, all my defenses melted and I leaned into his arms. He kissed me again and again and my body erupted with desire. All of a sudden, I wanted his hands to touch me all over.

Just then, a powerful scent of lavender hit me. It made me dizzy for a second, while his hand grabbed my soft thighs.

"Mate!"

My body stiffened. Was I hearing things? I had to be...

"Mate..." the voice whimpered again as he trailed kisses from my cheeks to my shoulders. I just sat frozen, unmoving in shock. My wolf - after two years of humiliating me in front of everyone because of her silence - was speaking to me because she could sense her mate.

"Mate. He's the one Fiona!" The excitement in her voice was barely containable. I wanted to scream at her to shut up. Her silence for years had deeply hurt me. But the sweet scent of lavender was choking me at this point, and I couldn't fight the wetness in my legs.

So when he expertly slid the straps of my bra down my shoulder, I let him. And when he took my breasts into his mouth, I surrendered to his touch.

"Tell him." My wolf pushed.

"What if he rejects me?" I fiercely whispered.

This man only cared about sleeping with me. I don't think he saw me as someone he could spend his future with. But why was the goddess so cruel to pair me off with a random stranger?

He ripped my panties off. This was it. I was going to lose my virginity for an ungrateful family to a man who cared less about me. When I've been keeping it for a mate that would cherish me.

He took off his clothes and I could see his massive member. Oh my goddess! His tongue trailed down my skin. I felt his hot breath n between my thighs. He raised his head up so that his beautiful eyes glared at me. "I do not intend to give you pleasure." He stated sternly.

"Y-yes." I stuttered.

"Spread those pretty legs," he commanded. "Let me feel how wet you are."

I did as he instructed.

"Good girl," he said, his hand sliding higher up my thighs.

"You like this don't you?" he massaged my clit gently.

"Mmhm" I moaned, my eyes rolling backwards.

"Say it."

"I like it," I breathed.

He chuckled, then pulled me closer, his tongue brushing my ear. "Then hold on tight, because I am not going to be gentle."

My heart skipped. I needed him to be gentle. Before I could speak, he thrust his raging cock into my c*nt, moving in and out vigorously. I let out a sharp scream hoping that he would understand that I am in pain and go slowly, but he was deaf to my screams.

"please.." I begged and then it seemed like he slowed down ...to a pace that I could actually start enjoying it.

"Ooh-ahh." I moaned in ecstasy. He increased his pace.

"I can see that you are enjoying it after all.' He chuckled. My reply was a soft moan as my senses was fried at this point. He moved even faster and I could feel the wetness on my thighs. "Yes, ugh, yes!" I screamed as I squirted and the sweet scent of lavender drowned mw.

"Good. That's a good were," he said coldly and stood up from the bed. I wrapped myself with the blanket as I was already stained with blood, and I stared at him as the deflating aftermath of the orgasm came crashing down on me.

He was dressing up quickly with the detached movements of someone who wanted to get away from me and this as fast as possible. This was the right time to tell him that I was his mate before he disappeared into the world and I never got to see him again.

Nevertheless, I was scared. I sat up slowly, feeling a slight pain in my lower body.

"Don't you feel it?" I whispered. "Speak loudly." He barked harshly.

"The mate-bond." I blurted out. I watched the color drain rapidly from his face.

"What did you say?" he advanced towards me and I backed up against the headboard.

"We are mates---"

I was interrupted by the loud crack of wood splintering and I saw that he had punched the chair into half.

My eyes widened. What the hell? Who was this man?

"Goddess, why?" he cried in a strangled voice, as he heaved around like a madman. I sank deeper into the sheets, terrified as he violently smashed the chair again and again. At this point, I was also questioning the sanity of the goddess. how could she pair me with such a dangerous man?

"First of all, you curse me..." he was rambling, "and then you mate me with this nobody, this cheap poor thing..." My wolf whimpered at his words.

His gaze tore me and I braced myself for the rejection.

"Who the hell are you even? Who's your father? Who's your mother? Do they have titles, lands, worth?"

I bit my lips to hold my tears back. He shook his head at my no-reply. "Gosh, no. I cannot be seen by the likes of you. I, Sergius Kairos, reject you---What's your name?" he lashed out.

"Fiona Akida." I couldn't stop the tears from pouring.

"I, Sergius Kairos reject you, Fiona Akida as my mate!"

The pain scorched me and I screamed out, rolling on the bed till I hit the floor. He stacked a pile of bills on the table. "Do not look for me." His voice was suddenly calm. "Take this and disappear." He crossed over my mangled body and just left. Just like that.

As I struggled to breath and get up from the floor, I realized that his name was familiar.

Sergius Kairos.

The Alpha who ruled the 157 packs that consisted the North, of which my pack was a minor.

So, the goddess mated me to a king. I laughed at the irony. My mother would have been so pleased. The rejection made complete sense.

He was everything and I was nothing.

But that realization didn't make the crippling pain of rejection any better. Eventually, my body could not take it anymore and I passed out.

FIONA

I was wobbling in pain when I got home. My mother opened the door for me and she saw my state but could not be bothered, she only told me to quickly bathe and eat so that I could resume my work at 9am.

"Mother, I am not going back there again." I leaned on the wobbly dining table, trying to catch my breath.

"Why?' She snapped, her eyes burning with fire. "Look at the state of your father!" she pointed to his pale body laying discarded on our patched-up sofa. "His condition worsened through out the night. We will lose him if you continue to be lazy Fiona."

I retrieved the stacks of hundreds and thousands of dollars from my bag and laid it on the table. Her mouth opened in shock. "I don't have to work for up to six months if we can properly manage this money better. Also, Lisa and Sam can resume school, while dad can be treated better.

Her fingers massaged the crisp dollar bills. "Where did you get this amount of money from?"

My mind flashed to the passionate sex from last night and then the near-death rejection. I turned away from her. "It's not important."

"Did you steal it?" She raised her voice.

"Do you want me to return it?" I yelled ack, my exhaustion giving way to anger.

She fell quiet, her shoulders slacking.

"Just as I thought. So please, take the money and let me be please."

I held myself together as I walked up the stairs. I didn't want her to see that I was in pieces. It would lead to more questions and I would have to talk about the rejection. In my pack, rejected wolves were treated worse than dormant wolves.

As I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, I knew that I was in even greater trouble. I was pregnant. My wolf told me. Wolf pregnancies only lasted for two months and in two weeks, my stomach would be the size of a medium sized pot. If he rejected me, he would also reject this baby. An unmated pregnant wolf was even worse than a rejected wolf and dormant wolf put together.

I sat on the toilet seat, perplexed. What was I going to do? I knew that the Alpha had no heirs yet. If he knew that I was carrying a potential heir, would he be more open-minded to accepting me as his? My chances of having a chosen mate would reduce drastically if I gave birth to an unmarked child.

I had to let him know somehow. Travel all the way to the inner city and maybe face a second humiliation. It was better than the mockery I would face here all my life.

SERGIUS

As I slipped into the car, I could still feel the shock from the severed mate-bond. What I did was for the best or that's what I like to think. My knuckles which had long healed were bleeding again. My phone rang beside me and it was my Beta. When I picked he told me that there was another emergency meeting and I needed to be there as soon as possible. I looked at my watch. Five thirty-eight am. Just wow.

"We've found a solution." Elder Morteus said as soon as I stepped into the throne room. The elders were all standing and they sat when I did. I edged closer towards them. "Tell me more."

"You would have to give birth to a child within the year of the blood moon."

"And that will stop my madness how?" My eyebrows quipped.

"A child ensures the continuity of your lineage. It means that there would be no end to your bloodline."

I sat back up in my chair, a trifle disappointed. Fair point. It didn't stop my death, but it was a solution anyways. I have been to focused on leading my kingdom than raising a family. I was ready to try.

"And since the moon goddess has not mated you yet, we have come up with a solution." Elder Ciana spoke up.

"You had a mate," my wolf chided me. I shut him down.

"Yeah? What is the solution?"

"Here," One said, stretching his hand out and a lady I did not notice who was seating daintily at the corner of the room, walked gracefully towards us. I locked puzzled gazes with my beta standing at my side. What was this?

The lady was very beautiful. She was dressed in a regal blue dress and her strawberry blonde hair was perfectly styled into a ponytail.

"This is Yvonne Chenille, crowned princess of the prestigious Chenille pack." Morteus cleared his throat. "We have brought her here because we believe that she would be the perfect Luna for you, Alpha.'

This had to be a sick joke. I surveyed their unsmiling faces. "Who do you think you all are, trying to make decisions for me and forcing your choice down my throat. Where is my Liberty to choose? What you should have done was to assemble the ten best and let me pick."

"But, Alpha, we the elders have chosen her as our Luna. In fact, we suggest that you both get engaged tonight."

I stood up quickly. "Because I am sick, does not eradicate my right to choose. I am very capable of making a healthy decision."

"Alpha, it is not the way you see it." He tried to appease. "We stayed up all night, sorting and eliminating, and we have come to this conclusion. She is perfect, and she ticks all the boxes."

"We don't have time Alpha." Morteus continued. "We need you to be wedded immediately so that we can determine her fertility."

I gave her my outstretched hands, she took it and I pulled her closer. I surveyed her silent beautiful form. This was a lot better than some faded girl in shabby clothes.

"But what if it doesn't work?" I asked them.

"Then we would set up a breeding station for you."

I nodded once and kissed the back of her hand. "The wedding preparations will start in earnest, but it will not take place until the full moon, I'd like to know her better."

"Your Majesty-" Morteus tried to interrupt. But the rest chorused as "As you wish, your majesty." And shut him up.

FIONA

I grunted in pain as my mother roughly pushed to the center, in front of the eight pair of judgmental eyes that belonged to our pack's council. "Here she is," she spat on my face.

"Mother," I tried to reach out to her but she slapped my hands away. The way she looked down at me in disgust made tears to form in my eyes.

"So this is the rebellious teenager." I heard an elder mutter.

"Fiona Akida" Thorne's voice echoed off the vaulted ceiling. "You stand accused of bringing shame upon our pack through unlawful conception outside the sacred mate-bond. How do you answer?"

I bowed my head in shame as the rest of the hall erupted in whispers and chatters. How would I explain to them that the Alpha King of the Northern Territories was my fated mate. And that he slept with me at a seedy hotel in our pack slums, and that he rejected me and left me pregnant? Who would believe me?

Instead they would execute me for slander and blasphemy, so I just stared at my dusty feet, tears splashing from my eyes.

"Explain yourself, now!" Elder Thorne slapped the desk and I jumped.

"Mother," I called out, my voice cracking. "Please tell them. Tell them why I -"

"Silence!" he slapped the desk hard. "This is a formal hearing and you will not address the observers."

Meanwhile my mom turned her face away from me, her hands folded across her chest. I had never felt so alone.

I faced Thorne. "Yes, I slept outside my mate bond. I did it for my father's medications and I did it for Lily and Sam's school fees. I couldn't let my father suffer in pain or my siblings to lose their future because ---"

"Enough." Thorne roared. "Your circumstances do not excuse your shameful behavior. You have violated the sacred laws of our kind. You carry the child of an unknown, and it is not tolerated by our laws."

Tears streamed down my face. I turned towards my mother again. "Mama, please. You know I would never...if there had been another way..."

When she looked at me, I could see the coldness in her eyes. Why did she hate me so much? Her consistent verbal abuse about how I never provided enough was what pushed me to make this decision. I just wanted all our suffering to end, and now she's gonna live off the money while I face my punishment.

What she said next was as painful as death.

"I have no daughter who would bring such disgrace upon our family name."

I staggered backwards, one hand protecting my unborn child.

Elder Thorne rose from his seat, his voice final. "By the ancient laws of our pack, Fiona Akida you are therefore exiled from these lands. You have until sunset to gather your belongings and leave. You may never return and your name shall be struck from our records."

"No, please," I whispered, tears falling from my eyes. The heaviness of the pregnancy could not allow me bend, if not I would have bent down to beg them. "This has always been my home. I have nowhere else to go---"

The pack elders filed out one by one.

When my mother passed, her nose was high up in the air, like I was some scum. "Then go to the man who did this to you, because we cannot tolerate this here."

I finally crumbled on the floor weeping, and then when I could console myself a little, I went back home to pack my bags. I found my belongings thrown outside, with the front door locked. I knocked but there was no answer. I wanted to ask for even a little money so I could take care of myself.

How could my mom choose pack dignity over a daughter that had loyally worked all her life for her?

I started limping to goddess knows where and a harsh rain broke out, soaking me to my shoes. I was glad I lived at the border of the Northern Territories. I wanted nothing to do here, not with any of their cities that was ruled under their egoistic crazy king.

I was going to go to the Southern Lands. I have heard rumors that rogues and outcasts could find refuge there, as everybody was friendly, and that their pack laws were more accommodating. It means I could start life anew there with my unmarked pup, and nobody would look down at me.

But first I had to pass through the forest that divided the two territories. That was going to be the hardest part.

After two hours of walking under the rain, I was starving, and that's when I realized that I had not packed any food with me. Nothing. I tried to scavenge but my pregnancy had sharpened my smell to the point that found wild berries and food nauseating. Even finding shelter from the downpour was difficult. Everywhere was wet, and my legs started to tremble from exhaustion and cold and hunger.

I finally collapsed on the ground, the forest spinning around me. I was too weak to push myself up, to continue. I just wanted to lay there and begone.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to the life growing inside of me. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't do better."

Darkness crept in from the edges of my vision and I gave into it.

The first thing my body noticed was that there was warmth. When I flicked my eyes open, I was staring at an elegantly designed ceiling. By my side, a large fire roared in an antique fireplace keeping me warm. I was on a very soft bed. My hands trailed to my tommy; no cramping, no signs of distress from the baby.

I closed my eyes trying to remember the last thing that had happened to me, how did I get here?

Someone walked in, and even with my eyes closed I could feel the authority from that presence.

"How is she?" The voice was deep and commanding.

"She will recover," came another voice. It sounded like a healer. "She fainted from exhaustion and malnutrition. The child is stable though she was close to losing it before you came in. Another hour in that storm..." her words hung, and It dawned on me that I was so close to losing my child.

"I found her collapsed about three miles east of the border," the male voice spoke again. An Alpha, I realized. It had to be. "I suspect that she is from the Northern territories. She has their distinctive scent. When she wakes, we will ask her some questions, try to know the pack that she is coming from."

They will try to send me back, my heart fell.

"She must have being exiled, it's the only thing that makes sense." He continued. "A pregnant female alone in the wilderness, and she's very young."

I waited for the disgust, the condemnation, but there was only thoughtful silence.

"she'll need time to recover her strength," the healer finally said. "The baby is taking from the little reserves that she has left."

"See that she gets whatever she needs when she wakes.' The Alpha's voice was gentle. "And be kind when you are questioning her."

"Alpha, this is rare. You finding and bringing in strays. The territorial council will have something to say about this."

"Yes, but it's not in my nature to turn away pregnant females no matter their circumstances." He replied without hesitation.

The door closed softly, leaving me thinking.

There were only two Alphas that answered to the Territorial Council. The Northern Alpha King and the Southern Alpha King.

This Alpha that just left didn't sound like Alpha Sergius, The Northern Alpha King, the rude, and cold man I had a one night-stand with. He sounded very gentle and nice.

How was it that the goddess let me cross the path of the two Alpha Kings?