Alpha's Regret After Her Rebirth by Aurora Starling

Hannah

| pushed open the door to the apothecary, the little bell above tinkling against the glass as | stepped inside. The

familiar scent of dried herbs and crushed botanicals filled my nostrils, somehow both soothing and making my

stomach twist with anxiety.

“Good morning,” the elderly man behind the counter greetedwith a warm smile. “What can | do for you

today, Miss?”

Clutching the small paper sack containing one of my diet pills, | approached the counter-wearing a surgical mask

and ssunglasses to hide my identity.

“I was hoping you could analyze the contents of this for me,” | said, trying to keep my voice level. “There are

some... concerns about what might be in it.”

The apothecary’s bushy eyebrows rose, but he didn’t questionfurther. With a solemn nod, he took the bag

and made his way over to the workspace on the other side of the shop. | watched with bated breath as he

carefully emptied the contents of the bag onto a ceramic plate and began crushing the little blue pill with a

mortar and pestle.

It had been an eventful couple of days, to say the least | couldn't stop thinking about what my handmaid had

said-about how | should be careful taking those diet pills. That it wasn’t about weight.

Yesterday, | had decided to send WhiteRabbit a message. Nothing too suspicious; just a reasonable question.

“What are the ingredients for those pills you give me?”

WhiteRabbit had begun to type almost immediately, but then they had stopped abruptly. The next thing

knew, WhiteRabbit was just....

Gone.

The faceless inteseller who had never failed to providewith my diet pills, diet pills that really worked,

was gone. They didn’t say a word to me, didn’t blockor anything of that sort.

Their account had been deleted.

|

Instantly, | had known that something suspicious was going on. So now here | was, bright and early the next

morning, in the apothecary.

My heart was practically pounding in my ears as the minutes ticked by. They're just diet pills, | kept telling

myself. Nothing more than herbs and chemicals that kill my appetite and purge my body.

But | couldn't help but wonder... What if my handmaid was right? What if there really was something more

sinister in those supposed diet supplements? A hundred terrifying scenarios flashed through my mind, each more

disturbing than the last.

Finally, the apothecary returned after what felt like an eternity with a small sheet of paper gripped in his

weathered hand. “I have run the standard analysis,” he said, holding the sheet out to me.

| felt my throat constrict as | reached out with a trembling hand to take the paper. Unfolding it slowly, | scanned

the list of chemical compounds, my eyebrow furrowing in confusion as | reached the final entry.

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“Mife...pristone?” | asked, struggling to pronounce the foreign word.

The apothecary nodded and leaned on his counter. Mifepristone is an emergency contraceptive,” he said. “Often

used in the medication abortion pill. Your pill had trace amounts.”

“What does that mean?” | asked.

“Well...” The apothecary straightened and ran a hand through his hair. “It's not enough to cause an abortion on

its own. But if taken over a long enough period of time.

“Could it kill an embryo?”

The a

H

apothecary’s jaw tightened, and he nodded gravely. That was all the information | needed.

The blood drained from my face as the events of my death played through my mind over and over again. A

toxin, a powerful contraceptive often used in medication abortions-present in the very sdiet pills | had been

taking for months.

No. Years.

Suddenly, everything made horrible sense. The struggles to conceive, the miscarriage...

All this time, | had thought that | had killed my baby the sway | had killed myself: with starvation. But no,

now | knew better.

Someone had been trying to poison my baby. Someone had been systematically dosingwith contraceptives,

intent on ensuring | would never be able to have a child.

But who?

The apothecary was saying something, but his words were just a dull buzz in my ears. With shaking limbs, |

simply thanked him, threw a w***d of cash on the counter and stumbled away, fighting the urge to be violently ill

right there on the shop floor.

Only once | was out of the shop and a good way down the street did | finally yank down my mask. | desperately

gulped in several large lungfuls of fresh air, my mind reeling.

Who could have done this? And why? Rage and fear boiled in my veins as | clenched my fists so tightly that my

nails bit into my palms.

Once again, my handmaid’s words echoed in my mind: “Be careful... It’s not about weight...

With trembling hands, | slipped my phone out of my pocket one last tto check the| had always used to

communicate with White Rabbit.

Still gone. Just a small popup stating “User not found” when | typed their ninto the search bar. “Dammit,” |

whispered, blinking rapidly.

| was sure of it now; this was a calculated, malicious attempt to stripof my fertility. To denythe child |

had fought and died for. WhiteRabbit may have been the culprit, although perhaps there were others involved in

it. My own se***nt had seemed to know about it, or at least have an inkling of it. Who else knew?

Hot tears p***ed at the corners of my eyes as | thought about my precious baby, the little life that had

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been growing insideonly to be cruelly snuffed out. Thankfully, we had both been given another chance by

the Moon Goddess; but | couldn't stop thinking about that night.

Had this been the reason? Had stwisted, f***d up person made the decision to poisonover the course of

years in order to keep me, the Luna of Nightcrest Pack, from getting pregnant?

This was treason.

A violent shudder ripped throughat the thought. Pressing a hand to my abdomen, | drew in one last shaky

breath before | continued down the street.

As | climbed back into the waiting car at the end of the block, | wondered if | should tell Noah about this- he

would be furious.

But then again....

No. He wouldn't have had anything to do with it, would he? Would he seriously go to such lengths to keep his

own Luna from conceiving with him, all so he could find a good reason to be with Zoe instead?

No, | told myself again. Noah wouldn't do that; he was a lot of things, but he certainly wasn’t evil. And besides, if

he didn’t want to getpregnant, he wouldn't have shown up to our monthly intimacy nights.

As the driver pulled away from the curb, it hitthen: a few nights from now would have been our normally-

scheduled intimacy night. Surely he wouldn't cto me; we weren't interested in that anymore, or at least, |

certainly wasn’t.

And now that | knew that someone had been trying to poison my baby all along. | was even more on edge at the

idea of being around anyone, even my own husband.

Perhaps | couldn't trust anyone.

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