Twenty-One

Chapter 21

Zachary’s POV

The glass left my hand before my mind could catch up.

Then “Ahhh!” I heard Bella's voice.

The scream sliced through the room, and my heart stopped for a second, thinking I had killed someone.

“Bella?” My voice cracked as I turned.

She was standing by the doorway, her hand gripping her arm. Blood was dripping down her skin.

“What the hell?” I rushed toward her immediately, noticing the harm I had caused. 

“Bella, I didn’t mean to, I wasn’t aiming at you!” I said, trying to explain things.

She looked at me, shocked more than hurt. “You threw it, Zachary!” she said softly with a deep cry.

“I know!” I snapped, then immediately swallowed the tone. “I know… damn it.” I cursed under my breath.

The glass shards were scattered across the floor like pieces of my temper. I grabbed a towel, pressing it gently against her bleeding arm as I tried to stop the flow of blood. 

“Hold still,” I ordered, my Alpha voice slipping out unconsciously.

She winced. “Stop talking to me like I’m one of your pack members,” she cried out, expressing her pain.

“Then stop moving,” I shot back. “You are bleeding.”

“It’s just a scratch,” she said calmly.

“It’s not ‘just’ anything when you are carrying my child,” I said softly.

The words hung heavy between us, and she went quiet.

I cleaned the wound carefully, my fingers trembling despite how hard I tried to appear steady. Thankfully, the cut wasn’t deep.

“You used too much force,” she muttered.

“I wasn’t thinking,” I replied softly.

“That’s the problem, Zachary. You haven’t been thinking at all lately,” she snapped.

I exhaled sharply. “Why were you even standing there?”

“I came to check on you. To show my care by trying to stop you from drinking.” 

“I didn’t ask you to.” I retorted.

“I know!” she burst out. “You don’t ask for anything anymore. You don’t talk. You don’t look at me. You don’t touch me. You just exist in this house like a ghost.” Bella expressed her pain.

I clenched my jaw. “Things are not good, Bella,” I replied.

“They were never perfect!” she argued. “But they weren’t this bad.”

I tied the bandage firmly around her arm. “You don’t understand.”

“Then make me understand!” she demanded.

I stood up and stepped away from her. “It’s not that simple.”

She laughed bitterly. “Everything is always complicated with you,” she expressed.

I ran a hand through my hair. “You think this pregnancy fixed things?” I asked.

Her expression hardened. “It was supposed to,” she replied.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because you wanted an heir!” she shouted. 

“And because you said once we had a child, everything would settle. The pack would stop whispering. The tension would fade.”

I looked at her, eyes dark. “Don’t twist my words,” I said.

“I’m not twisting anything!” she snapped. “You said the problem was timing. You said the problem was responsibility. Now I’m pregnant, Zachary. I’m finally pregnant. So what’s the excuse now?” she asked sadly.

There was heavy silence at the moment.

She swallowed. “I thought once I carried your baby, you would look at me differently.” Bella cried out.

My chest tightened. “Bella…”

“But you have been even more distant,” she expressed.

I didn’t respond but instead, I deflected.

“Why were you dressed like that?” I asked.

Her eyes widened. “Seriously?”

“Yes. Seriously.” I reaffirmed.

“You almost shattered my arm, and you want to talk about my clothes?” she said, with surprise on her face.

“You are pregnant,” I said strictly. “You shouldn’t be going out dressed like you’re single,” I stated.

Her face flushed with anger. “I went out because you have been avoiding me to chase after Livia.” 

Immediately, she mentioned Livia's name, and my instincts reacted, but I decided to hold myself.

“That doesn’t justify it.” I said calmly.

“I wanted to have fun!” she yelled. “I wanted to feel normal for once. Not like a fragile incubator.” 

“You’re carrying my child,” I growled.

“And I’m still a woman!” she shot back.

I stepped closer, my voice low and dangerous. “Where did you go?” I demanded to know.

“To a party.” she replied casually.

“With who?” I pressed on.

“Friends,” she replied as she rolled her eyes. “Stop interrogating me.”

“I have every right.” I insisted.

“No, you don’t!” she barked. “Not when you can’t even answer my calls.”

My gaze flickered and she noticed.

“Yes,” she said bitterly. “I called you.”

I looked away immediately.

“You didn’t pick up,” she continued. “Do you know what that did to me?” she asked.

I stayed silent.

“I was at the bar,” she said, voice shaking. “I wanted to drink.”

My head snapped toward her. “You what?”

“I said I wanted to drink!” she repeated. “Just one glass. Just to feel something other than this constant anxiety.”

“You’re pregnant!” I thundered.

“I didn’t drink!” she yelled back. “Perry stopped me.” she finally said.

“He said I should go home,” she continued. “He said you might get mad.”

“And you didn’t listen,” I said.

“No,” she said quietly. “I didn’t.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because I wanted to see if you’d care,” she expressed.

The confession hit harder than the glass.

“I stayed out longer than I should have,” she admitted. “I ignored Perry and I thought maybe you would call. Maybe you will show up, or maybe you will act like a husband,” she said as her voice broke slightly.

“But you didn’t,” I said as I felt something twist inside me.

“So I came home,” she went on. “And what do I find? You throw things around like a lunatic.”

I turned away from her. “You shouldn’t have provoked me.”

She stared at me in disbelief. “Provoked you? I wasn’t even here!”

“You have been pushing me for weeks,” I said.

“By wanting your attention?” she whispered,but I didn’t answer.

She stepped closer. “Do you know why I really came back?” 

I remained silent.

“Because you didn’t pick up,” she said. “If you had answered my call, I wouldn’t have come back so fast. I wouldn’t have worried.”

My throat tightened.

“I thought something happened to you,” she admitted softly. “You have been acting… strange, distant, angry, and lost.”

“I’m fine,” I said.

“You are not,” she said firmly. “And it’s scaring me.”

I turned to her sharply. “You think I enjoy this?” I said bitterly.

“I don’t know what you enjoy anymore!” she cried. “I don’t even know if you still want this baby.”

The accusation sliced through me as she fully knew that I needed an heir.

“Don’t say that,” I warned.

“Then tell me the truth!” she shouted.

I looked at her bandaged arm, at the blood that had stained the towel and at the woman who was carrying my child.

“You think this is easy for me?” I said quietly. “You think watching everything fall apart is easy?”

“What is falling apart?” she demanded. “We have a child on the way!” she said. “ This is all you have been clamouring for.”

I looked at her, the pain she was feeling, but I could not say anything at the moment. The alcohol seems to be having its effect on me.

“It was supposed to fix everything!” she added.

“Not when the foundation was already cracked!” I exploded.

She froze as the room went silent.

“You can’t use a child to repair something broken,” I continued, my voice low but intense. “That’s not how it works.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “So what are you saying?”

I hesitated.

“That we’re broken?” she asked but I didn’t answer.

“Say it,” she whispered painfully.

“I’m saying,” I breathed out, “that things were never good, Bella. We just pretended they were.” I expressed.

A tear slipped down her cheek.

“And now? Thought you promised not to break up with me because of the baby?” she asked.

I looked at her, at the vulnerability, at the anger, at the hope she was still desperately clinging to.

“Now,” I said strictly, “you stop risking yourself. No more parties, no more testing me. You’re pregnant and act like it.” I said without looking at her.

Her expression hardened again. “So that’s it? Orders?” she asked.

“It’s protection.” I corrected it.

“It feels like control,” she expressed.

“Call it whatever you want,” I replied coldly. “But I won’t lose my child because you wanted to prove a point,” I stated as her mood brightened.

She stared at me for a long moment.

“And what about losing me?” she asked softly, but I had no answer to that right now.

She gave a hollow laugh. “That’s what I thought.”

She turned to leave, then paused at the doorway, giving me a strange look before she left.