Replacement Bride for the Alpha of the North
Chapter 78: THE TURMOIL IN THEIR BOND

Chapter 78: THE TURMOIL IN THEIR BOND

***** Zenith’s first life *****

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***Dawn’s POV***

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Dawn met Fern and she told her the alpha’s whereabouts, the old woman even took her to the room, which was supposed to be empty, but apparently Zenith and Aurel were inside.

"I told you not to bother them," Fern said, as she stood next to Dawn. Both of them watched how Zenith took off his clothes in front of Aurel through the gap between the door, which was ajar enough for them to peep inside.

Zenith had his back to them, but there was no doubt it was the alpha, Dawn knew his body well enough to say that.

"You should have seen this coming. Even after a year of the ceremony, you are still not with a child. What did you expect?"

A year? A year had passed?

Dawn staggered back. Where did all that time go? She didn’t realize a year had passed, but then she couldn’t tell exactly how much time had passed.

"Don’t see it if you can’t handle it."

Dawn stared through the gap between the door and watched Aurel walk closer to Zenith. That was all she needed to see, then she turned around and rushed away like a coward.

After that, Aurel continued to come to her as usual. She would give her a cup of tonic to nourish her body every day, saying it would be easier for her to get pregnant if her body was in a good condition.

However, Dawn didn’t drink it today. She stared at the cup, there was nothing off with the smell. It was the same liquid that she had been consuming for the last year.

"I will drink it later."

"No, you should drink it now."

"I said; later." Dawn’s voice sounded very stern, as she put the cup down. "You can leave now."

Aurel’s green eyes flickered. "Are you mad?"

"I am not. I want to be alone."

"Don’t you..."

"Leave."

Dawn wanted to be left alone. She didn’t want to drink this liquid anymore. Something was off. Her mind hadn’t been clear enough for a while now. She needed to think hard about all of those lessons that she learned from Lyra.

It was even harder because many years had passed and her memories about that time were really clouded.

But a few months later, Dawn managed to figure out what the tonic that Aurel had been giving her contained. It was not poisonous, but surely, it had Iluptic Mushroom.

"Eating that mushroom will make you have illusions," Dawn said. She tried to explain this to Zenith, but he only looked annoyed with her. "Zenith, you need to believe me!"

"You made a fuss to go back to your pack and I agreed to your request, but then you made another ruckus about not wanting to go, I don’t mind that, but now you are slandering someone else, for what?"

"I didn’t slander her! She did give me Iluptic Mushroom! You need to ask someone to check on it!"

Dawn was very upset when Zenith ignored her, but what left her scared was the way Axel and Darius looked at her; disappointed and disgusted.

"Enough, Luna." Darius stopped Dawn from approaching Zenith, while the beta followed behind the alpha, walking out of the room. "You can’t talk bad about Aurel when all she has done all this time is help you."

At that point, Dawn knew there was no way for her to prove her findings. But, she insisted on not drinking the tonic. She didn’t want Aurel to be around her and refused to eat anything that she didn’t make herself.

Until this time, Dawn didn’t talk about what she saw in that room. She didn’t have anywhere else to go. If she was chased out of this pack, it would be the same as death, so she endured it.

They had sex a handful of times after Dawn stopped drinking the tonic. About two years after their ceremony, Aurel left the pack to return to the capital city.

Dawn didn’t know what happened, but Zenith started to warm up to her again.

"I don’t like eating alone, can you come early? At least, have dinner with me?" Dawn asked him one day.

Their relationship improved greatly three months after Aurel had left to the point Dawn could gather the courage to ask him this.

Zenith looked surprised, but he agreed to come and have dinner with her. He kept his word.

Even when he was very busy, he would still find time to have dinner with Dawn, even if he had to leave again to finish his work.

At this point, Dawn couldn’t see why people called Zenith the cruel alpha. She knew that he could be very cold and heartless, but he was not as cruel as people portrayed him to be.

"You are pregnant," Zenith said casually one night during their dinner.

Dawn almost choked on her meat when she heard that. She just told him about her day and talked about trivial things.

Dawn was determined to start anew with Zenith, she wanted to forget what she saw in that room. After all, Aurel had gone. There was nothing for her to be worried about.

"How do you know?"

"I know."

Dawn didn’t believe that and the next morning, the first thing she did was to look for a healer, but this new healer in the pack told her that she was not.

Feeling disappointed, Dawn told Zenith that he must be mistaken and mentioned what the healer told her.

"I know what I said," Zenith said, he hugged her from behind and caressed her flat stomach. "Take care of yourself."

"How do you know this for sure?"

"I just know."

And just like Zenith had said, a month later, Dawn started to show the symptoms. Moreover, she herself could feel it without even asking for the healer to confirm it, nonetheless, she still went to the healer and got the confirmation that she needed.

"I told you," Zenith said. He put down the report in his hand and caressed her cheek when she rushed to his study room to inform him about this.

Dawn was happy, very happy. This must be the happiest time for her after so many years of suffering.

But then, she started to feel it again. The side effects of the Iluptic Mushroom. She started to lose track of time again and her mind would often go blank, leaving her to stare at one point for a long time.

It worried Fern and Dawn’s two personal servants.

And in the seventh month of Dawn’s pregnancy, Aurel stepped into the pack again. Dawn felt this chill crept on her skin when she heard this news from Kynes and Pyllo, who looked very excited to have the healer back.

Dawn became very defensive. She had tried to communicate this with Zenith, but even she herself could tell that her mind was not in the right place and her words didn’t make any sense at all. She couldn’t choose the right words and no matter what she said, it just sounded awfully wrong.

"She tried to poison me! How couldn’t you see that?!" Dawn was angry. She literally shouted at Zenith at last. "You want to kill me! She wanted to kill me!"

"Dawn! Enough!" Zenith finally snapped. Dawn had been acting awful again since her first trimester and the alpha tried to tolerate it.