Page 9 of The Alpha's Sold Pregnant Mate

It would have been nice to grow up with a mother, or at least a father who was not as overbearing and wicked as old man Job.

Sometimes, she wished he had just left her there to die rather than subject her to this life of loneliness and misery.

Is there still hope for me? Will I someday be truly happy? Will I ever experience love or even have a human to call my friend before I leave this world? Is there a future for me? Is there more to my story?

Esme took the next few minutes to imagine how her life would have looked if her father was more compassionate or if her mother was still alive. At that moment, nothing mattered anymore; nothing existed except the fantasy world she had just created.

She grinned to her ears, watching the possible outcomes of her life in an alternate reality. It was beautiful. She had actual friends, and she celebrated every birthday with her mother. She wore good clothes and ate good food. She lived in a fine house with her own large room and comfortable bed.

However perfect this imagination was, it was still just her imagination, a means to escape her unfortunate reality.

The squirrel looked at her so sternly as if to say, “Are you done imagining?”

“What?” she asked defensively. “Don't judge me, Jerry. You have no idea what my life is like. It's like I'm living in hell on earth.”

Esme took in a deep breath and shrugged off the feeling of depression that was gradually clouding around her.

“All right, everyone, listen up!” She stood tall amongst the plants, and strangely, they responded as if she had their attention. “You know how the harvest is usually great when I sing to you guys… Well, I'm going to sing now, and I'm urging you guys to do your magic.”

Esme started out slow, her marvelous voice blending with the rising wind, her vocals penetrating the air in a perfect pitch. As she sang, the flowers continued to bloom, swaying in the sensation of her melody.

Esme suddenly felt a tingle in her heart, and there was another burst of wind, which was not caused by her singing. The wind gently blew around her in a circle, raising fallen leaves and some papers in mid-air. Her heart skipped for a moment, and she felt a mix of joy and fear. The hair on her skin stood erect, and a sudden cold overwhelmed her.

Jerry hurried up into the pocket of her gown, hiding in fear.

“You feel that too, don't you?” she asked, but it wouldn't stick out its head. “There's a strange presence here, Jerry… Something dark...” She swallowed hard and looked around, tense.

Esme could not explain what she was feeling, but she was somehow certain that there truly was a strange presence around her. She didn't know where, but she could feel it.

Chapter 3 - Asher

Asher parked his sleek black car by the roadside and decided to visit the town on foot. There was absolutely no reason for him to draw too much attention to himself.

As he walked through the woods on the beautiful morning, he reminisced about the conversation that he had with his friends just the other day. They might have been right after all.

This was likely to be a little more difficult than he thought. This was the first human settlement he was trying out this morning—what were the chances that he would find the person he was looking for on his first attempt? How was he going to get a human girl to come with him without using brute force?

Asher had taken his time to dress as humanly as possible in order to seamlessly blend in with them. He was wearing a brown blazer over a white undershirt. His pants were black, and so were his well-polished shoes.

As he drew closer to the settlement, he could hear the noise getting louder and couldn't help but wonder what his next move would be because, in actual fact, Asher had no solid plans whatsoever. He decided not to draw or make one up.

Everything will fall in place, he thought to himself.

Asher stepped out of the woods and into the brightness of the sun. Some kids were playing here and there, cheerfully chasing each other with sticks. A group of little girls were struggling to catch a butterfly as they hopped after it, laughing with beautiful smiles on their faces.

To his right, a woman was hanging some recently washed clothes on a line as she conversed with a couple of other girls he presumed to be her sisters or friends, or maybe even both.

A smile appeared on the corner of his lips as he walked forward, thinking these humans might not be so bad after all. Just like the humans had heard stories about the Ghostbound lands and the terror that lurked within, the Ghostbound Pack had also heard the stories of man's humanity.

Although he hadn't been around humans much, but he knew about their selfishness, their wickedness toward one another, and their love for vain things, amongst other things. Asher didn't think of them as all bad because even the wolves had a few rotten eggs of their own.

These were the people who hated the things that they didn't understand and would do anything to get rid of them, like they did with the witches whose blood cried for vengeance, day and night, on the Ghostbound lands. His people were in this mess the humans caused, and as he pondered, rage started to rise in his heart.

Asher's thoughts were soon interrupted when a ball rolled over to his feet. A little boy of about eight rushed to him but stopped at a distance. He looked eager to get the ball and return to his friends, but he also seemed skeptical about the strange man who was currently in possession of what he needed. Asher could tell that the kid was scared of him, so he smiled warmly, and it was reciprocated.

He squatted and picked the ball up, then playfully kicked it over to the boy, who immediately raised it to his hands like a professional footballer.

“Impressive,” Asher praised him with a single clap. The boy smiled again, broader this time, and Asher noticed the wide gap between his teeth.

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