"Kieran, we need to talk."
My fingers grip on the material of my cloak as I stand at the door of his work area. I can feel the heartbeat of my heart in my throat.
My Alpha, my mate, and the guy I once believed to be my lover, Kieran Blackwood, doesn't even look up. He's sitting behind his bulky oak desk, looking through files as if I'm not there.
"Kieran."
Nothing. No response.
The room's air is heavy and oppressive. His smell smoke and pine, which used to soothe me now seems like a faint memory, something I can't identify.
At last, he speaks in a distant, clipped voice. "Selene, express whatever you came here to say. I have no patience for your foolishness.
No sense.
Though it hurts more than it should, I swallow the word. I shouldn't have been shocked. This situation has persisted for weeks, if not months. ever since Lydia returned. Kieran has been treating me like a burden rather than a partner ever since.
I steady myself by putting a hand on my tummy. Despite my internal burning secret, I will not allow my voice to falter. "I'm pregnant."
The words linger in the atmosphere, brittle and anticipatory.
Kieran remains silent. He didn't move in his chair or blink. Then, as if I had just given him bad news, he slowly leans back and lets out a breath.
He chuckles. A chilly, sarcastic laugh that chills me to the bone.
"You expect me to believe that?" His voice is piercing, with a hint of threat.
I blinked. "What?"
His massive frame casts a shadow over me as he stands. "This is a joke, right?"
I take a step forward and shake my head. "Kieran, I wouldn't"
He speaks with a whip like quickness. "Then who's the father?"
I go cold.
The walls seem to close in, making the space feel smaller. I keep my gaze fixed on the borders of my blurry eyesight. I am unable to.
"You think I'd fall for this?" He has a steely voice. "Selene, you're desperate. clinging to me since you are aware of what is about to happen."
I feel chilled. "What's coming?"
He doesn't respond. Rather, he approaches the window and looks out over the packhouse as if the topic is boring him. "I'm rejecting you."
Under me, the ground disappears. My breath catches.
No.
Not in this manner.
"You're lying," I mumble. "You don't mean that."
With a simple "I do," Kieran turns back to face me. "Selene, you mean nothing to me. You weren't.
falsehoods. They must be.
He is my friend. My Alpha. The man who vowed to keep me safe.
My throat gets constricted. "What about the infant? This is your child our child Kieran.
He gives a headshake. "I don't believe you."
The last blow. The one that breaks the world.
I'm not sure when I'll start crying. I don't recall stepping back. I can't breathe because of the weight in my chest, even though my wolf is roaring in pain and clawing at me.
"You're leaving me for her, aren't you?" I can hardly speak over a whisper.
He clenches his jaw.
That's the only response I require.
Lydia. The woman who vanished for years and then reappeared out of nowhere. The woman who poisoned his ear, took his time, his love, and his attention.
I ought to have known.
I did know.
I was simply too stupid to acknowledge it.
I plead, "Kieran, please," as I hold onto the edge of his desk for balance. "You don't have to do this."
His eyes cannot be read. "Selene, you'll go in silence. Or I'll force you to."
A danger. A caution. A pledge.
Something breaks inside of me.
The agony is intolerable. Desperate to stay together, a sexual bond tugs, yet it is breaking. He is violating it.
And he doesn't give a damn.
With the world tilting, I stagger back. My gut is twisted painfully, and my chest hurts. But I won't plead, even though I want to yell, become angry, and **make him see**.
No more.
My only reason to keep fighting is my baby, my tummy, which I hold.
Kieran's voice pierces the quiet like a knife. "Get out, Selene."
I can't recall how I left. As I bypass through the group members such an apparition, I don't notice their gazes or feeling my feet moving.
The world is collapsing and spinning.
I cover my stomach with my hand. "I'll stay safe," I mumble. "I swear it."
Then, before I even get to the doors of the packhouse
I hear it.
Just one voice.
"The Alpha has rejected his mate."
And suddenly