The Alpha's Daughter (Un-Edited Version)

The Alpha's Daughter - Chapter 17

Annie:

"No, I'm not pregnant," I sighed for what felt like the tenth time. "She said I was going to be. Going. As in future tense."

Everyone was looking at me. We were in the kitchen, as we had been for the past hour. Ever since I had come back from the clearing and brushed past them all, I had been absolutely hammered with questions, most of them; I didn't even know the answers to most of them. I was sitting on the sofa, my legs curled up underneath me and my hair falling past my face. I was tired. I knew that I had only been awake for a few hours but all of the thoughts in my head - though not all of them were mine - were making me feel drowsy. Cal was next to me, his head buried in his hands. He, like me, was in a state of disbelief.

"So you're going to have a baby?" Radleigh asked, looking like he was having difficulty understanding this. I groaned and sank back down into the sofa, rubbing my eyes. Dad was looking thunderous, listening while everyone tried to get me to explain exactly what had happened in the meadow.

"Look," I practically exploded, slamming my hand down on the arm of the couch. "She didn't exactly go into much detail, okay? All she said was that I was going to have a baby, alright? A baby that was going to stop all of this fighting." I was shaking and the restraining hand that Cal had placed on my knee wasn't helping in the slightest.

"Like a band-aid baby?" Ade suggested. Cal growled at him.

"And that was all she said?" Jase asked. I looked at him; for the first time in days, he was looking at me with an expression that wasn't anger. No, this time, his face was worried, which in turn, made me worry. I nodded at him and then looked at the floor.

I had known, eventually, that I was going to have to have children with Cal. I was his mate; it was sort of expected whether we wanted it or not. But I had been imagining it to me much, much further down the line; like, ten, maybe even twenty years down the line. I wanted to think that the prophecy was going to happen in that time span, but I knew that I would only be kidding myself. This shit was going to happen soon and I was going to be right in the centre of it.

"Annie," dad murmured. My head snapped up. "We'll keep you safe."

Great. Keep me safe. Thank you so much. That was exactly what I wanted to hear right now.

Don't start, Annie, Jase snarled.

Don't speak to her like that, Cal spat. I could tell that they were about to get into a fight so I got to my feet, dragging Cal up with me. He seemed to be surprised by the sudden upheaval but I took no notice.

"We're going to talk," I muttered to nobody in particular. I pulled him out of the room and up the stairs. When we got to my room, I slammed the door so hard that it rattled. Cal stood, awkwardly staring at me. I could tell that he was taking this just about as well as me.

"Are you alright?" he asked. I snorted and sat down on my bed.

"I've just found out that I'm going to give birth the child that's going to end all this fighting," I snapped. "I think it's safe to say, no, I am not alright."

Cal rolled his eyes and wandered over to the window. He looked out over the sun setting behind the trees. His face was pained, like he was keeping a much guarded secret.

"What is it?" I murmured, getting up and standing behind him. I put my hand on his shoulder. I wanted him to let me in. Letting me in was the first step in accepting that this was happening. And letting him in would be the beginning of my realisation that I couldn't run from reality anymore.

He turned slowly, his hands down by his sides. The light of the fast fading sun, glinted an orange glow on his pale face.

"I never wanted kids," he said slowly, choking the words out like they were hurting him to say. I leapt on this, but just as I was about to say something, he put his hand up to silence me.