​Rebecca’s POV 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

​"Rebecca!"

​The loud, terrifying voice shattered the quiet morning, heavy with raw panic that made the bathroom walls shake.

​My eyes widened in pure terror. I didn’t even think. Hurrying as fast as my weak legs could carry me, I rushed straight out of the private bathroom, a small white towel still wrapped tightly around my chest. My damp skin shivered against the cold air of the bedroom, but my heart was beating way too fast to care.

​I ran right into the room and stopped dead in my tracks.

​Alpha Kaden was standing by the side of the bed. His chest was rising and falling in heavy, ragged breaths, and his large hands were clenched into tight fists. His eyes were wide, dark, and wild, scanning the room like a predator that had just lost its prey.

​The exact moment his gaze snapped to me, I saw a sudden, undeniable wave of pure relief flash across his rugged face. It was so bright, so clear, and so visible that it left me completely shocked. For a split second, the cold, terrifying Alpha King was gone, replaced by a man who looked like his entire world had just been handed back to him.

​He honestly thought I had escaped.

​The heavy silence stretched between us, thick and uncomfortable. I swallowed the dry lump in my throat and spoke softly, my voice trembling. "I... I was just taking a bath."

​Kaden didn’t say a single word. The relief in his eyes vanished as quickly as it had appeared, replaced instantly by his usual dark, icy glare. He turned away from me with a stiff, angry movement, walking over to his desk across the room. He picked up the heavy crystal bottle and poured himself a dark glass of liquor, his back completely rigid.

​"When do you usually have your monthly flow?" he demanded suddenly, his voice dropping into a cold, sharp tone that echoed through the room.

​I swallowed hard, my face burning with a sudden, painful heat. My hands gripped the edges of the towel over my chest. That question... that was the exact reason I had rushed into the bathroom in the first place.

​Before I could even find the courage to answer him, Kaden tracked my nervous gaze. His dark eyes moved away from my face, shifting across the floor until they landed directly on the middle of the dark, ruined bed.

​Right there, on the sheets where I had been sleeping, was a fresh, dark bloodstain.

​Because the sheets were dark, it wasn’t super bright, but with his sharp Alpha vision, it was completely visible. He could see it perfectly.

​Kaden’s brow furrowed deeply, a dark, heavy frown pulling at his lips as he stared at the stain. He looked completely frozen, his mind trying to process what he was seeing.

​Gathering what little strength I had left, I forced the words out of my throat. "My... my monthly flow just came."

​Kaden’s eyes snapped back to me, widening in absolute shock.

​He was completely stunned, and honestly, so was I.

​I stood frozen by the bathroom door, my fingers digging into the rough fabric of the towel as I watched the realization dawn on him. The silence in the room became completely suffocating. The reality of the situation crashed down on both of us at the exact same time.

​As I looked at the dark spot on his mattress, a wave of bitter clarity washed over me. I knew how the body worked. Even though we had sex just last night, releasing his seed inside me twice, a pregnancy couldn’t just form instantly overnight to stop a cycle that was already arriving. My body was already flushing everything out. The egg from my past cycle was gone, and last night’s sex had yielded absolutely nothing.

​The healer’s words from yesterday were completely true—there was no pup before, and there was definitely no pup now. My womb was empty, and this blood was the undeniable proof.

​Kaden’s grip tightened around his glass so hard I thought the crystal would shatter into a thousand pieces. A low, dangerous rumble started deep inside his chest, his jaw clenching until the bone looked ready to snap.

​"So," he whispered, his voice dangerously quiet, vibrating with a mixture of raw fury and a strange, hidden pain he couldn’t hide. "Nothing."

​He stood there, staring at the stain on the bed, and for a long moment, the only sound in the room was his heavy, angry breathing. The silence suffocated the room, making it difficult to take a breath.

I kept my eyes on him, terrified of what he might do next now that his plan had completely failed.

​Slowly, Kaden turned his head back to me. The shock in his eyes had turned into a dark, burning rage. He took a slow step toward me, and I instantly squeezed my eyes shut, holding the towel tighter against my body. I braced myself for his anger, expecting him to yell, to curse me, or to throw me back into the dark dungeons.

​Instead, I heard the heavy thud of his glass hitting the desk.

​"Get out," Kaden ordered, his voice cold and flat, completely stripped of any emotion.

​I opened my eyes slowly, watching him as he ran a rough hand over his face. He looked incredibly tired, the anger on his features turning into a bitter, dark look.

​"Now!"

​I didn’t wait for him to say it a third time. Terrified of what he would do if I stayed a second longer, I turned and ran out of the room, still wrapping the small white towel tightly around my body. I slammed the heavy mahogany door shut behind me, my chest heaving as I leaned my back against the hard wood.

​But I didn’t move away from it. I just stood there in the quiet hallway, completely frozen. I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t have my old room anymore, and I couldn’t just walk through the Alpha King’s palace naked with nothing but a towel.

​Worse, I could feel the warm blood starting to stain and leak down my inner thighs. Since I was wearing absolutely nothing underneath the towel, the realization of how exposed and messy I was made a fresh wave of shame wash over me. I pressed my knees together, shivering from both the cold air and the pure embarrassment, gripping the towel until my knuckles turned white.

​I stood there for several minutes, feeling completely helpless, just staring at the empty corridor and praying no guards would walk past and see me like this.

​Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps made my heart leap into my throat.