Page 87 of Rejected Mate's Baby for the Alpha King

“Fucking Christ,” Rhyson suddenly roared from the kitchen. “Someone get in here and help me!”

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Rhyson

Water splattered on the floor between Anna’s legs, and she stared at me in horror. “Jax isn’t here. He should be here for this.”

“Jax is not my concern right now. I thought you were still a month out from your due date.” I would have never fucking let her come along if I thought she was going to give birth in the middle of everything.

“I am.”

I roared again, and everyone came running. Lunessa took one look at Anna, paled, and disappeared. Irene and Janelle coaxed a stressed Anna out of the kitchen and into the living room while Maya raced around getting supplies.

My wolves stared on, a look of horror on each of their faces, and I was pretty certain that it mirrored my own. “Uh, what do we do? Juniper?” Duke asked in a strained voice.

“You did not just ask me because I’m a woman,” Juniper snapped. “Do I look like I’ve had a kid?”

“No, it’s just…” Duke tried to backtrack but Maya raced through, arms full of towels and blankets.

“Out of my way,” she yelled. “Why isn’t anyone boiling water for sanitation? Even I know that, and I’ve been kept in a locked room for most of my life.”

My eyebrows rose as everyone immediately raced to the stove, all scrambling to be so helpful that they were practically knocking themselves out.

Was this because they wanted to help Anna or because Maya had asked them?

A minute later, there was a popping noise and Lunessa, Jax, and Saul all crashed into the kitchen. “Lunessa,” Jax growled as the kitchen table buckled under him and crashed.

“I’ve been popping all over the place,” she snapped. “You’re lucky I got you here at all. A thank you wouldn’t be remiss.”

Jax was already scrambling away, practically pulling the healer behind him. It was pandemonium. Pulling out a chair that wasn’t broken, I sat in it and waited. Anna’s cries of pain could be heard throughout the den, punctuated by Jax’s own growls. Everyone had drifted that way except me.

Eventually, Maya made her way back to the kitchen. She was as pale as a ghost.

“Everything all right?” I asked her in a steady voice.

“That’s going to be me in a few months,” she whispered as she slid to the floor and cradled her belly. “This baby is going to have to come out.”

“That is usually how it works,” I agreed in an even voice as I studied her closely. She looked like she was on the edge of a panic attack. This woman had been horribly abused most of her life, and she’d faced down death multiple times since we’d been on this mountain, but apparently Anna’s labor was about to send her over the edge. “We’re just sitting here being in the way. We might as well go check out Gideon’s camp.”

Her eyes brightened. “Yes. We absolutely need to do that. Everything seems to be progressing normally with Anna, so there’s no reason for us to stay here.”

“No reason at all.”

“You get the others, and I’ll meet you at the entrance.” As Anna’s cries rose throughout the den, Maya practically ran in the other direction. I didn’t blame her. The baby was always in the back of my mind, but it was an unborn child. It was Maya that needed protecting. When it was born, there would be a whole different ballgame.

I was the king. He’d need a bodyguard detail. Training. He’d need to learn pack politics without actually being part of a pack. I’d need to raise him right. Keep him safe. Prepare him for the world.

I should have been afraid. Being a father wasn’t part of my plan, but strangely, I knew that it would be fine. I knew that Maya would be an amazing mother. Sure, she was panicking right now, and she hadn’t been raised right, but I knew that she would put none of that on our child. She was calm under pressure. Compassionate. Fierce. Protective.

This child would want for nothing. The problem was that I couldn’t tell Maya that. Every time that I brought it up, she fled. One day, she would be ready to talk about it. I would somehow make her feel safe and secure enough to trust me.

It took three hours to talk to everyone who’d been under Gideon’s reign. Most of them didn’t know what Gideon was doing behind closed doors and were horrified. Others tried to claim that they didn’t know, but their wolves betrayed them, and some of them outright knew but pointed out that they had no way of stopping it.

I was ready to cull all who knew, but Maya pointed out that it wasn’t our place to punish anyone. In the end, those that didn’t know took a vote. They decided who stayed, who was forced out, and who died.

It would be up to them to figure out how to govern themselves now, but they were told that if they needed help, they could go to Jax.

When we returned, Anna, Jax, and a beautiful baby boy were sleeping. Everyone was healthy but exhausted.

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