ASTRID'S POV
A Month Later.
"How the hell can you get pregnant by someone you don't even know, Astrid!? Is this how I trained you?" His snarl reverberated through the room, sending shivers down my spine as the weight of his accusation hung heavy in the air.
"I'm… I'm…" I began to utter, but before I could finish, he lashed out, striking me across the face.
I tumbled and crashed to the ground, the impact leaving my flesh scratched, the pain echoing the furious intensity of the moment.
"Ahhh!" I let out a pained wail, clutching my face as the sting lingered.
Who would have known that my affair with a stranger that night, fueled by the desire to retaliate against my ex, would spiral into an unexpected pregnancy.
"You have humiliated me, Astrid!! I rejected you, disowned you for your bad decisions, and you came back to me begging. I forgave you, and now you are pregnant for a stranger? What else can an Alpha get from his daughter? What further humiliation have you spared me?!"
My father growled as he stared at me, his fair cheeks growing red with disappointment. He was angry at me and upset at what I had done.
I'm not sure how he found out I was pregnant, but I knew my father would never let me off the hook so lightly.
"I am very sorry, Father… I did not mean to do it! I didn't mean to sleep with a stranger and become pregnant! I am so sorry!" I instantly got down on my knees and pleaded with him, rubbing my hands together.
My eyes were still full with tears as I implored. I tried not to make eye contact by bending my head because I knew my father so well.
The Alpha of the Greystone pack was known for being cruel and stern. No one dared him and that included me.
"I never intended to embarrass you in this way, Father... Please forgive me!!" I wailed on and on, and just then, he'd had enough of my begging for the day.
"You weren't going to humiliate me? That sounds more like a reason to do it, Astrid!! I am so embarrassed to call you my daughter!" He spat on the floor near where I was kneeling.
He turned to exit the room, but I couldn't allow him to do so. I needed to apologise, even if it meant harming myself.
I swiftly sprang to my feet and dashed towards him. Without a second thought, I enveloped him from behind, entwining my fingers around him, abruptly halting him in his tracks.
"Please, father! Please don't get furious at me! Please…" I begged, but it seemed like I was adding extra flames to an already raging furnace.
He glanced at me halfway, and just when I thought he might accept my apologies, my father callously shoved me to the ground, forcefully separating me from his body.
"You do not deserve pity, Astrid! You brought your father to the ground without thinking twice!!!" He was going to hit me again, but just then, the door was pulled open, and my mother rushed into the room.
She quickly grabbed my father's hand and did her best to stop him from hitting me.
"Alpha, Astrid is your daughter… Please don't do this! There should be a better punishment than this, please!" My mother begged on my behalf as I knelt on the floor, head bent.
Abruptly, my father proclaimed, "You are right," a statement that left me utterly confused, the sudden agreement ringing in my ears like a dissonant chord.
"There's a better punishment and I think I am going to give it to her right now!" I lifted my head to look at him as he spoke, and the way his frown deepened, I couldn't help but realise something horrible was about to happen.
"I HEREBY BANISH YOU, ASTRID SAFIYA FROM THE GREYSTONE PACK!!!!!"
His unexpected proclamation hurt more than the rejection from the Alpha, whom I had considered my mate.
"What?" My heart skipped a beat as I exclaimed, my voice echoing around the room in amazement and bewilderment.
"You cease to be the Alpha's daughter, Astrid! Guards!!!" He yelled out, and the door immediately opened, revealing numerous men standing behind him.
"Cease her and throw her out! The Alpha's declaration stands!!!" He turned around and exited the room, my mother still begging him.
I was going to rush towards him but this time, the guards took hold of me and pulled me out of the house.
"No!! Nooooo!!!" I cried bitterly, my eyes turning crimson as my heart shattered. If there was one thing I dreaded, it was being torn away from my family, the ache of separation gnawing at the core of my being.
They forcibly expelled me from the pack, tossing me over the border. As I struggled to rise and return, they callously turned around, slamming the pack's gates shut, leaving me isolated and abandoned on the other side.
It was a big shame to be banished by your own father, the Alpha of the pack.
"Please let me In… please let me…" I was about to continue crying as I hammered on the door when a hand covered my nose from behind with a white handkerchief.
"Let me…" I desperately tried to wrestle free from the iron grip of the unfamiliar figure, but the struggle proved nearly impossible.
As the relentless hold persisted, my vision gradually blurred, and an overwhelming darkness enveloped me, the world fading away as I succumbed to unconsciousness.
"Father…please"
*********
My eyes quickly opened, and although I couldn't see properly, I knew I wasn't in my pack or the greenstone pack, which happened to be Halfdan's.
I sat up on the ground where I had been lying, and as I glanced around, I became more puzzled and afraid due to dark surroundings.
I was on the verge of rising to my feet, preparing to flee, when a deep, ominous voice sent shivers down my spine, freezing me in my tracks.
"Going somewhere?"
My gaze shifted towards the direction of the voice, and there, seated in his imposing throne chair, was none other than Alpha Dane of the Redmoon Pack, a commanding presence that held me captive in a moment of dread.
Alpha Dane, the feared and renowned leader, struck terror into packs and kingdoms alike.
His words held an eerie power, shaping reality as if he commanded the very fabric of existence.
Vicious and brutal, he wielded authority with little regard for consequences, a force that instilled fear in the hearts of all who crossed his path.
Rising from his throne, he began to prowl menacingly towards where I sat.
Each deliberate step sent my pulse into a frenzied race, the ominous sound of his thudding footsteps echoing ruthlessly through the otherwise calm hallway.
Crouching down to my eye level on one knee, he arrived with a predatory grace.
Before I could understand the situation, his hand swiftly seized my chin, compelling my face to turn towards his captivating emerald eyes.
His intense gaze sent shivers down my spine, as if I was ensnared in the grasp of a mesmerising predator, trapped by the allure of his piercing stare.
Did I forget to mention how much I loathed him? I despised and hated him to the point where I saw him as the devil himself, but his presence around me gave me a strange sense that I couldn't describe.
I expected him to order his guards to behead me for breaching and crossing his boundaries, but instead he declared the most surprising and unexpected statement of my life.
"FOUND YOU, MATE!"