Love That Died

~ELOWEN'S POV~

A year can change everything. In twelve months, love can rot, vows can break, and a mate can become a stranger.

Being Alpha Alaric's mate should have made me untouchable, Instead, it made me a target...

"You don't have to, I can dress myself." A familiar female voice said, with a sultry lilt.

"Don't be stubborn," Alaric replied, his tone low and very gentle.

My husband was dressing his late brother's wife and this realization almost made me want to vomit.

I stood outside his Private Sanctum, my trembling palms damp from sweat as I held the little gift box in my hands. 

I'd made the shirt myself, stitching every thread with shaking fingers with sleepless nights, just like last year... dark grey, his favorite color. 

I even wrapped it in silk and tied a pink ribbon around it, because I stupidly still believed that maybe he'd smile. That today, he would remember we once loved each other after he claimed me.

It was our wedding anniversary. One good year since he held me in front of the pack, called me his mate and kissed me like I was the only thing keeping him alive.

I understood he might not remember today's date before leaving the house, but it was almost six o'clock in the evening and here I was, to surprise him with a gift.

But, I saw him kneeling in front of Tazira, his hands smoothing the fabric of her black slit dress as he zipped it up. 

She leaned in, smiling, and he didn't pull away from her like he did with me that morning. I couldn't believe I just saw his eyes soft with a kind of affection I hadn't seen in his gaze for months.

That look made the box in my hands tremble.

I immediately backed away, my chest slamming so hard as if my heart would burst, but I wasn't fast enough. The door creaked, and his head turned, eyes locked with mine.

That instant, the warmth I just saw on his face vanished. 

"You've been standing there long enough. Enjoying the show?" He uttered flatly with no remorse for what I had witnessed.

I forced a smile, even though my lips felt too stiff to move. "I was just—"

"Just what?" He interrupted, rising to his full height. "What is it now? Want me to fuck you like a good little mate again this week?" He sneered.

Glaring at him, I shook my head as the words punched the air out of my lungs. Well, he is right because it has been a norm for him to have sex with me at least once every week, even if I don't want to.

"I… No, I... do you know what day it is?" I asked softly, voice quivering. "I thought maybe… you'd want to spend it with me."

"Huh?!" He scoffed with a raised brow, clearly uninterested. "Did I miss your heat again?"

"No, It's our anniversary... One year." I whispered.

His eyes flicked to the box in my hands, then back to my face like I'd just offered him garbage.

"Leave us, Tazira," he said, without looking at her.

Tazira instantly turned and walked toward me, her voice purred but laced with venom, "so pathetic!"

Then she brushed past me with a smirk, her perfume sickening. Once the door shut, Alaric turned to me.

"Take it off."

"What?" My heart dropped. "No… Alaric, I—"

"I said take it off!"

"I didn't come here for that." I gripped the box tighter. "Please, I just wanted—"

He was on me before I could finish, knocking the box from my hands. It hit the ground with a soft thud, shirt crumpled and ruined. He grabbed my arm, dragging me towards the brown leather couch and pushing me against it roughly.

His hands tore at my clothes with no patience or tenderness. Buttons flew, and lace ripped.

"Alaric, stop! Not like this... please!" I cried, trying to push him away, but he didn't stop.

He pinned me against the wall, thrusting into me with relentless force. My body convulsed as though being torn asunder. 

A white-hot pain seared through me, yet intertwined with it was a perverse, agonizing pleasure that twisted my senses. I groaned, the sound a guttural mix of humiliation and raw desire.

"Isn't this what you want?" he growled, his voice low and commanding.

Tears blurred my vision, but I forced myself to lift my head and meet his eyes. He crashed his mouth against mine in a brutal kiss. 

His grip on my hips tightened as he moved inside me hard and fast with no rhythm or care. Each thrust felt like punishment whilst his breath was ragged from rage. 

He wasn't making love, he was using me like I was a vessel for everything he couldn't say.

Tears spilled down my cheeks as I bit my lip to muffle the sobs. It wasn't supposed to be like this, he used to worship my body, hold me after, and whisper promises against my skin.

Now, I was a thing he vented on and I dared not complain.

When he finally released the last drop of cum, he pulled out and walked away like I was nothing.

I curled on the couch, skin burning, muscles aching, and wrapped my arms around myself. My torn off-shoulder white blouse hung open on my right arm, but I didn't even try to fix it.

The sound of the shower running in the bathroom echoed through the empty Sanctum. Then, my phone buzzed beside my purse that was flipped upside down on the floor. 

I managed to grab it with unsteady fingers and saw one new text message. "Dr. Lania: Luna Elowen, the checkup you took yesterday showed that you are pregnant."

Pregnant?

That single word howled in my head repeatedly as I blinked at the screen, but the letters didn't change.

My lips parted while staring at the message as if my disbelief could make it vanish, or change the contents to anything else that wouldn't tear through me like this.

My hand trembled as it fell to my stomach, fingers grazing over the bruises hidden under the torn blouse and tender skin.

There's a life inside me? A part of me that's his... and mine? My heart pounded so loud I thought he might hear it from the bathroom.

Could this… fix us?

I hated myself for the thought, but it came anyway, crawling up from the hollow place in my chest. 

What if this baby... this tiny heartbeat, was the one thing that could remind him of who we used to be before I became a ghost of the woman he mated?

I imagined him holding our child, and something sharp twisted inside me. 

Another thought cut through the fragile hope... What if he didn't care and treated this baby the way he treats me now with cruel hands, and absence of love?

Would I raise this child alone? In the same house as him, but still alone?

I swallowed hard, bile rising in my throat. I didn't know which was worse; the hope that this child might bring him back, or the fear that it wouldn't change anything at all.

Then, I heard the water stop and the door creaked open.

Alaric stepped out, shirtless, towel draped over his shoulder, running his fingers through his damp messy hair and I immediately sat up.

"Alaric," I called out, voice barely a breath, "can you stay a little longer?"

Following my words, he gave me a tired and annoyed look, like I was an inconvenience. "Why?"

"I need you... Just for a minute."

"There's no one watching, Elowen," he said, pulling his black fitted shirt over his head. "You don't have to keep pretending like a doting wife."

"I'm not pretending, Alaric. I'm Pre—" 

The words died in my throat as his phone suddenly started ringing, cutting me off. He reached for it, and the phone lit up with an incoming call. 

"Hi Tazira... Yeah, I'm coming." He answered with a tone I hadn't heard in so long, warm and gentle.

My breath slowed as I opened my mouth again and wanted to say I'm pregnant, but the words stuck in my throat like thorns.

"I need you now, Alaric. I'm your mate…" 

I finally mumbled and he paused in the doorway. For one second, I thought he would turn around but he never did.

"You were, once!" Without sparing a glance towards me, he shut the door...