Chapter 5 He Chose Lily

Evelyn's POV

My blood ran cold. It took me two full seconds to get my feet moving, and I walked into the study. He shouldn't have found out, at least not now.

"I..."

"Twelve weeks pregnant. Three months. And three months ago, I was in another pack for an entire month." Liam slowly stood up from behind the desk. He stared at me as if I were prey and he was about to tear out my throat. "Evelyn, whose child are you carrying?"

Wait. I couldn't understand what Liam was saying. Three months? That was wrong. The twins inside me were only two months along. I'd gotten the test results just a week ago.

I opened my mouth to tell Liam the truth, but the look on his face kept me from making a sound.

He suspected me.

He'd already made up his mind the moment he doubted me.

Liam was clearly enraged by my reaction. He threw the report on the floor and kicked the chair beside him across the room. Then he backed me against the wall and slammed his fist into it. The heavy thud made me flinch, and my heart raced with fear.

"It's William, isn't it?" A storm churned in Liam's eyes. "How long have you two been together? And the contact info for Elder Reed. Don't you have anything to say for yourself, Evelyn?"

Explain? Explain that the babies inside me were his, or that I'd loved him since I was 15?

I looked at him, fighting back tears with everything I had. My voice shook, but I didn't back down. "Think whatever you want. Let me go, Liam. There's no point in talking right now."

"You'd better take care of that thing inside you," Liam said, cold as stone. "Or I won't go easy on you, or on William. I'll have you both banished from the pack."

I didn't stop walking until I was out of the study.

Lily was waiting for me at the top of the stairs with a triumphant smile. "See? I told you. He's never trusted you. He'll always be mine. Everything you have will be mine."

I understood everything now. "You're the one who let Liam see the report."

"Of course." Lily admitted it without a second thought. "And I swapped it too. Do you like my gift?"

I glared at Lily, hatred burning in my chest. There was no need to ask where the original report had gone. It was in shreds in a trash can or burned to ash. Either way, Lily would never have let it survive.

"Don't look at me like that." Lily slowly came down the stairs, every step as graceful as a princess. "Evelyn, my dear sister, do you know what the best part is? How easily he believed it. One doctored document, one little hint that his precious wife was cheating, and he fell apart. He's never trusted you. He's always been mine, Evelyn. You were just a placeholder."

"Stay away from me," I growled.

Lily laughed and ignored my warning. She grabbed me. I tried to pull free, but she was shockingly strong.

"Here's one more gift," I heard her say. The next second, she shoved me down the stairs. Time seemed to stop. My vision spun, and every part of my body hurt as it slammed into the stairs. I couldn't do anything except curl up as tightly as I could to protect my belly.

At the bottom, my forehead hit the floor hard. My head spun, and a sharp pain tore through my belly.

My ears were ringing. The only sound I could hear was Lily's scream. "Ahhh! Ahhh!"

Liam ran out of the study. His feet passed right in front of my eyes as he went to help Lily up a few feet away. Lily leaned into his arms, clutching her wrist and wailing, "Evelyn, why did you push me down the stairs... If you don't want to see me, I can stay out of your sight forever!"

"No, I didn't..."

My voice came out weak. The pain in my belly wouldn't let me speak any louder. As an Alpha, Liam had sharper hearing than most people. He should have heard me, but he didn't. Or maybe he chose to ignore it.

He frowned. "Evelyn, you've gone too far."

I shook my head. Something warm was spreading between my legs, and fear swallowed me whole. Tears streamed down my face as I reached out to Liam. "Please, save the babies... They're yours..."

Liam, my husband, the man I'd loved for almost ten years, didn't hesitate at those words. He still chose Lily. He bent down, swept her into his arms, and said to me, "Noah will take you to the hospital."

With that, he left.

He left me on the cold floor to feel my babies slipping away. I couldn't stop crying. I curled up and tried to make my body heal itself, but I couldn't. The wounds from the attack were still affecting me, and with the fall on top of it, I couldn't summon any of my healing at all.

"No, please don't..." I cried helplessly, wrapping my arms around my belly through the pain. "Don't leave me. Please stay with Mommy. You're all I have. Don't do this to me. Please—"

I prayed to the Moon Goddess. I even begged my mother. But there was more and more blood. I could smell it in the air. No one could help me. Then the darkness swallowed me whole, and death was waiting inside it.