Chapter 11

The question hung in the air like poison.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t process what he’d just said.

My wolf howled in pain and rage.

“What did you just say?” My voice came out small. Broken.

“It’s a simple question.” His tone remained flat. Clinical. “Are you certain I’m the father?”

Tears burned behind my eyes. I blinked them back furiously. I would not cry in front of him. Would not give him the satisfaction.

“You’re asking me if I’m certain?”

“Yes.” He finished buttoning his shirt with deliberate slowness. “We had sex once. Five weeks ago. You’ve spent every day since then avoiding me. Pretending I don’t exist. How am I supposed to know what you’ve been doing? Who you’ve been with?”

The tears came anyway. Hot and humiliating, streaming down my cheeks.

“I’ve been working,” I said, my voice shaking. “Working non-stop to do the job your grandmother hired me for. To protect this pack. To—”

“Working.” He cut me off. “Right. In this building. Surrounded by unmated wolves. How do I know you haven’t been seeking comfort elsewhere? How do I know there aren’t other people in this pack making you orgasm too?”

The words were a slap.

My hand moved before conscious thought.

The crack of my palm against his face echoed through the office.

His head snapped to the side. A red mark bloomed on his cheek.

Silence.

He turned back to face me slowly, his jaw clenched, but he said nothing.

“How dare you.” My voice was low. Deadly. “How dare you stand there and question me when you just had another woman bent over your desk. When I’ve seen a different woman leaving your office every other day. When you treat sex like a handshake and commitment like a disease.”

“That’s different—”

“Different? How is this different?” The tears kept coming, but I didn’t care anymore. “You want to know who I’ve been with? No one. You’re the only person I’ve slept with in over a year. The only person I’ve touched. The only person I’ve wanted, goddess help me.”

His expression flickered. Something like regret crossed his features.

“Aurelia—”

“No.” I held up a hand. “You don’t get to say my name. You don’t get to pretend you care. You made your position clear.”

“I’m trying to be rational. To think clearly about what this means—”

“Rational?” A bitter laugh escaped through my tears. “You want rational? Here’s rational. I came here tonight to tell you the truth. To give you a chance to be part of this child’s life. Because despite everything, despite the way you treat women, despite your complete inability to commit to anything beyond your next orgasm, I thought you deserved to know.”

“I do deserve to know—”

“And your first response is to question if the baby is even yours. To accuse me of sleeping around. To imply I’m trying to trap you with someone else’s child.” My hands shook. My whole body shook. “You are the most arrogant, selfish, cruel man I’ve ever met.”

“You told me I meant nothing to you,” he said, his voice rising now. “You said what we shared was a mistake. You’ve spent weeks treating me like I don’t exist. What am I supposed to think when you suddenly show up claiming you’re pregnant?”

“You’re supposed to remember you’re the one who pushed for this. Who touched me. Who said I was different from all the others.” The tears were coming harder now, blurring my vision. “But I was wrong. I’m not different. I’m just another conquest you’re trying to escape responsibility for.”

“That’s not fair—”

“Fair? You want to talk about fair?” My voice broke completely. “I’m carrying your child. Your baby is growing inside me. And you can’t even give me the basic respect of believing me when I tell you the truth.”

Silence fell between us.

Lucian’s expression was unreadable. The red mark from my slap stood out starkly against his skin.

“I’m leaving,” I said quietly. “I’m going to stay with my parents for a while. Away from this pack. Away from you.”

“Aurelia, wait—”

“No.” I moved toward the door. “I’m done waiting. You want proof? Fine. I’ll get you your precious paternity test after the baby is born. Until then, stay away from me.”

“You can’t just leave. Your contract—”

“I don’t care about the contract.” I looked back at him one last time. “Fire me. Do whatever you want. I’m not staying here.”

“This is not about the contract. This is about—”

“About what? Your reputation? Your pack’s bloodline? Your duty?” The words tasted like ash. “Because it’s clearly not about me. Not about this baby. Not about anything real.”

I yanked the door open.

“Aurelia, please—”

The sound of my name on his lips broke something inside me.

I ran.

Down the hallway. Past the empty offices. Through the lobby. Out into the parking lot where the cool night air hit my tear-stained face.

My hands fumbled with my car keys. Dropped them. Picked them up with shaking fingers.

“Wrong,” my wolf whimpered. “All wrong. Go back.”

He doesn’t want to understand. He wants to believe the worst of me.

He’s hurt. Confused. We hurt him first.

I don’t care. I don’t care anymore.

But that was a lie.

I cared too much. That was the problem.

I’d fallen for him. Somewhere between the first time he smirked at me and the night he made me scream his name under the stars, I’d fallen completely, stupidly, irrevocably in love with Lucian Blackwood.

And he thought I was a liar.

I finally got the car door open and collapsed into the driver’s seat. My forehead hit the steering wheel as sobs wracked my body.

How could I have been so stupid?

He was exactly what everyone said he was. A playboy. A user. Someone who took pleasure and gave nothing back.

I’d known this from the beginning. Had seen the evidence every single day.

But I’d let myself believe there was more. That the vulnerability I’d glimpsed was real. That the way he looked at me meant something.

It did mean something, my wolf insisted. Still does. He’s scared. Lashing out.

I don’t care if he’s scared. He doesn’t get to hurt me like this.

“He’s our mate.”

No. He’s not. He’s never been our mate.

“Lies. You know the truth. Wolf knows. Heart knows.”

My heart was the problem. My treacherous, foolish heart that had ignored every warning sign and fallen for the one man guaranteed to break it.

I started the car with trembling hands.

I needed to get away.

Away from the pack headquarters.

Away from the scent of cedar and smoke that made my wolf whimper.

Away from Lucian Blackwood and the devastation he’d left in his wake.

I pulled out of the parking lot, my vision blurred with tears.

In my rearview mirror, I saw a figure standing in the doorway of the building.

Tall. Broad-shouldered. Watching my car disappear into the night.

I didn’t look back.

Couldn’t look back.

Because if I did, if I saw whatever expression was on his face, I might turn around.

And I couldn’t survive another conversation like this.

Not tonight.

Maybe not ever.

My phone buzzed in my purse.

I ignored it.

It buzzed again. And again.

Later, I finally pulled it out.

Seven missed calls from Lucian.

Three text messages:

Please come back.

Let me explain.

Aurelia, please.

I deleted them all.

Blocked his number.

And drove home through tears that wouldn’t stop falling.

Because I’d been right all along.

Falling for Lucian Blackwood was the biggest mistake of my life.

And now I’d pay for that mistake for the rest of my existence.

Alone.

Pregnant.

And heartbroken in ways I hadn’t known were possible.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​