Alexander


    I’d been avoiding E for three days, and it was slowly driving me insane.


    Every morning, I left the house before she woke up. Every evening, I made sure to only return after I was absolutely certain she had already gone to bed.


    During the day, I buried myself in pack business, trade negotiations, campaign documents- hell, I would even just drive around for hours. Anything to keep my mind off the conversation we’d had about children and the look of hurt that had shed across her face when I had coldly mentioned the contract.


    But no matter how busy I kept myself, my thoughts always, always circled back to her.


    I kept thinking about the way she’d felt beneath me that night, warm and responsive and utterly perfect.


    I thought about the soft sounds she’d made when I touched her, the way she’d offered her throat to me at the very end.


    And then I thought about the question she’d asked about having children, and the hope I’d seen in her eyes before I’d crushed it with my cowardly response.


    “She wants pups with us,” my wolf kept reminding me. “Our mate wants a family.”


    And Goddess help me, I wanted that too.


    I’d spent thest three days trying to convince myself otherwise, listing all the reasons why it was a terrible idea. E might be a spy. Her family had likely orchestrated my parents’ deaths. I couldn’t trust herpletely, not yet.


    But every argument felt weaker by the day.


    Because I’d seen how her own family treated her. I’d watched them ignore her, dismiss her, treat her like an inconvenience rather than a beloved daughter. If she was their spy, they were doing a damn good job of making it look like they couldn’t care less about her wellbeing.


    And then there was the way she’d responded to me that night. The look in her eyes when we took each other’s virginity, theplete vulnerability she’d shown despite how cruel I had been to her over the years.


    Either she was the most aplished actress I’d ever met, or those emotions had beenpletely and utterly real.


    Today, on the third day of my self-imposed exile was one of those days when I would rather drive aimlessly than do anything else. Sitting in my car while the rain pelted my windshield, the forest rushing past me on both sides, I finally admitted the truth to myself.


    I didn’t want to reject E. I wanted to mark her, im her properly, and give her the family she so clearly wanted.


    I wanted to wake up beside her every morning and fall asleep with her in my arms every night.


    I wanted to love her openly, without reservation or fear.


    The realization should have terrified me. Instead, it felt so… right.


    But I’d already damaged things between us with my reaction to her question about children. She probably thought I was disgusted by the idea of having a family with her, when the truth was quite the opposite.


    We needed to talk. Really talk, no matter how bad at that we had been throughout our marriage.


    I needed to understand why she’d asked for a divorce months ago, why she seemed so adamant about being rejected only to turn around and have such a beautiful night with me. And why she was now asking about children.


    Maybe she was just as uncertain as I was. Maybe she was protecting herself because she thought I didn’t want her.


    Well, it was time to prove her wrong.


    My car tires screeched as I pulled a U-turn and sped home. The house was quiet when I returned, but I headed straight upstairs, expecting to find E holed up reading a book somewhere.


    I had no idea what I was going to say to her, but I would have to figure it out. We both would. Because I wasn’t going to keep dancing around like this any longer.


    But when I opened the bedroom door, the room was empty.


    “E?” I called out, checking the bathroom. She wasn’t here, and her purse was gone, too.


    I was about to head back downstairs to look for her when something on her vanity caught my eye. A small white stick sitting next to a folded pamphlet.


    I walked closer, my stomach dropping as I saw what it was.


    A pregnancy test. With two bright pink lines.


    And beside it, a pamphlet titled “Safe and Confidential Abortion Services.’


    My legs nearly gave out.


    E was pregnant. With my child. And she was nning to


    “No,” I whispered, grabbing the test with shaking hands. “No, no, no.”


    That was why she had asked about children, wasn’t it? She was carrying my baby and wanted to know if I might want it. And I’d thrown the contract in her face like aplete bastard.


    I ran downstairs, taking the steps three at a time “Lilith!” I shouted. “Lilith, where’s E?”


    But the house was eerily quiet. I checked every room, growing more frantic by the minute, before finally spotting a servant dusting the living room mantlepiece.


    “Have you seen E?” My voice was frantic, my hair falling into my eyes, but I didn’t care.


    The maid turned around, clearly surprised to see me. “I… I think I saw her and Lilith leave earlier,” she said.


    “Did you see which direction they went?”


    She shrugged. “Looked like they were headed toward town.”


    Town. They’d gone to town. But for what?


    The abortion pamphlet shed in my mind, and suddenly I knew exactly where they’d gone.


    I grabbed my keys and sprinted back to the car, my heart hammering at a dangerous pace. How long had they been gone? Was I already toote?


    The drive to the hospital was a blur. I kept thinking about that night we’d spent together, how perfect it had felt to be inside her, connected to her in the most intimate way possible. The idea that our joining had created a life filled me with wonder and fierce protectiveness.


    And E was going to end it because she thought I didn’t want it.


    I screeched into the hospital parking lot and ran through the sliding ss doors, nearly bowling over an elderly man with a walker.


    “I need to find my wife,” I told the receptionist breathlessly. “Luna E. She would havee in for a… procedure.”


    The woman’s expression grew sympathetic. “I’m sorry, Alpha Alexander, but she’s already in the exam room. You’ll have to wait until-


    I didn’t hear the rest. My vision went gray around the edges as the words hit me.


    Toote. I was toote.


    My legs felt like they were going to give out. I stumbled over to a nearby chair and sank into it, burying my face in my hands.


    E was in there right now, ending our unborn child’s life before it had even begun because I’d been too much of a coward to tell her how I really felt. Because I’d let my paranoia and fear destroy the one thing I wanted the most in the world.


    How could I have been so stupid? How could I have let this happen?


    Suddenly, amotion near the exam rooms made me look up. Voices, footsteps, someone calling out.


    And then I saw her.


    E came running out of the exam room wearing nothing but a hospital gown, face streaked with tears, and practicallyunched herself at me.


    “Alexander!”