Filed to story: Claimed by My Ex’s Alpha Brother
My mom let out a little sob and grasped my hand as if I were being exiled right this second.
“Since Liam’s political marriage to the Alpha King’s daughter will help protect our pack from the Rogues, some Elders might think that you knowingly endangered our pack. Liam might be exiled, too,” my father continued.
Just the thought of Liam living among the vicious Rogues made my stomach knot up with terror.
“Some of the Elders might decide to be lenient because of your Mating bond, but I can’t take the chance of you being exiled. Your safety is our number one priority. Even above the pack, you always come first, Ella,” he assured me.
A horrifying image of Liam and me trying to defend ourselves against a horde of Rogue wolves burst into my mind.
“What are we going to do?” I squeaked.
“People already think she’s sick,” my mom muttered, her eyes on her husband. “She’s been in the house for two weeks, and she just fainted in front of the whole town.”
“What are you getting at, honey?” my dad asked her.
“We start a rumor,” my mom said with more confidence in her voice.
My father might be the one to always break the bad news to me, but my mother always found a solution to the problem.
“We say that she’s deathly ill and has to be sent to a specialized healer up north. In reality, she will go to your sister’s house to have her child in secret,” my mom said. “I’ll go with her, of course.”
My dad nodded as if considering my mom’s crazy plan.
“That could work,” he admitted.
“What the hell do you mean that could work?” I cried. “Why are you guys acting like I’m not sitting right here? Why are you trying to plan out the rest of my life for me? I don’t want to go live on Aunt Mia’s farm. Isn’t there another way? Can’t we…”
But my mind was too full of anxiety. I couldn’t come up with another way to protect Liam and me from being exiled.
“Isn’t sending me away from the only home I’ve ever known like a kind of exile in itself?” I pointed out and swallowed back tears, trying not to let my emotions consume me.
“Oh, honey,” my mom said and gripped my shoulder, tears sprinting down her pale cheeks. “We love you more than anything. And we don’t think you did anything wrong. This isn’t a punishment. It’s a precaution.”
My father nodded in agreement.
“We can’t risk your life, Ella. If anything happened to you, I-” My mom became choked up with emotion. “I’m going to come with you, sweetheart. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
“I’m coming, too,” my dad said.
“No, Theo,” my mom told him gently. “You have to stay here and continue to help protect the pack.”
“I’m not sure I’m making a difference,” my father muttered. “That’s besides the point, though. We need to start planning.”
My mom held one of my hands while my dad held the other. They talked logistics over my head.
Annoyance filled me. Why were they acting like I was simply a pawn in their plan? I knew that they were worried about me, especially since I was lying in a hospital bed, just like when I was attacked by the Rogue. But their fear for me was blinding them from seeing my side of things. Didn’t they care what I wanted to do with my
life?
“Healer Elijah is the only one who knows besides us three,” my dad muttered. “And he won’t tell anyone. He would never break healer-patient confidentiality.”
“When we leave the hospital, Ella will have to be in a wheelchair and pretend to be asleep. No one in the pack can see her again for our plan to work,” my mom added.
That’s it.
I had to find a different way to keep myself from being exiled. I cupped my stomach again. It wasn’t just my own life at stake anymore. I would pretend to go along with my parents’ plan for now to avoid an explosive argument, but I had to tell Liam about my pregnancy. This was his baby, too.
We were Destined Mates. Liam would find a solution.
I tuned my parents out, silently making my own plans.
Liam POV
I’m trapped, stuck in my thoughts that keep cycling as I try to find a solution to two impossible problems.
When I got back from the hospital, I locked myself in my room, paced the same five feet of my bedroom floor, and made myself crazy with worry.
If something happens to Ella…
No.
I couldn’t even consider the possibility of Ella being severely ill.
But why else would Healer Elijah have sent her away if there wasn’t something horribly wrong with her?
My stomach churned with anxiety as I checked my phone again.
Nothing.
No news from Ella or her parents.
I continued to walk the same path on my floor, idly wondering if I’d eventually make a rut in the floor.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?