Goodbye Alpha

CHAPTER SIX

ZARA

I feel different immediately I wake up.

I lay still on the bed for a few seconds and stared at the ceiling. Alex is gone. He prefers to leave before I wake up, or to pretend to be deeply asleep.

My body feels lighter, and my senses feel sharpened. Something is different, in a good way. I stand up, determined to get to the bottom of it, then I smell it. My scent is different. It smelled like me, like herbs, clean earth, but also something deeply soft.

Oh, Goddess!

My hand move to my belly before I can stop it. Hope blooms in my chest like a butterfly.

I close my eyes, force myself to focus, and I finally hear it. I hear the second heartbeat. A second rhythm, very quiet, but real. A baby.

I’m having a baby. A baby!

I sit down on the bed, stunned to silence. I am having a baby. Alex’s baby. His heir. The future of the Pack. My future.

I keep my hand on my belly, a smile crawling onto my face. This is a new beginning for us all. I am bursting at the seams from so much happiness. It cannot be contained.

I stand up, my mind moving. I need to give this child a home. A good home, one without lies, humiliation, and definitely another woman. A child needs stability, comfort and happiness. I’m not going to raise my baby in a broken home, with parents at odds with each other. I’m going to love my baby, and so will Alex. This will change everything for us. It has to.

First, I bake a basket of cake.

I can’t help myself. I hum like a bird, hand constantly drifting to my belly. Baking calms my mind. I’ll teach my baby to bake. I’ll love my baby with all my heart. I don’t care about the gender. I’ll love my baby anyway. Maybe I’ll get lucky and have twins! My hands will be full.

I know Alex will help. He’ll be a hands-on dad. I’ve seen the way he is with children. The way he dotes on them. This baby will fix our broken hearts.

I quickly finish baking, determined to tell him today. He’ll be in his office. I picture his face when I tell him. The rare genuine smile that transforms him completely. Maybe he’ll pull me into his arms. Maybe, for once, he’ll look at me like I matter more than duty. Maybe this child could finally make us real.

He’ll recognise that we’ve been blessed by the Goddess. He won’t throw away this chance.

Selena will be handled. She’ll be given a job, something to occupy her time, to keep her busy, so she doesn’t interfere with my family. I am done with her manipulations, and I won’t even have time for her anymore. My hands will be full of my bundle of joy.

Two hours later, I dress in my favourite pink dress and throw my hair in a bun.

Then, I grab the basket and make my way out.

I smile at everyone, knowing they’d all be so happy for us.

I make my way to Alex’s office. The guards let me through without fuss. They nod at me, and I smile at them.

I frown when I see his door ajar.

I stop walking, my blood running cold.

Alex isn’t alone. Selene is with him. She is sitting on the Alpha's lap, her arms around his neck. They're kissing, heavily making out. The basket nearly slips from my fingers. My mind cannot process what I’m seeing at first. It feels unreal, as if my body has separated from my soul.

I stand there frozen, staring at the man I have spent years loving, touching another woman like she is precious, as if she is cherished, as if she is his. My chest caves inward so violently that I can barely breathe.

She’s writhing on his lap, while his hand wanders all over her body.

My heart drops, and goosebumps break over my skin.

“I’ve been so happy recently, and that is because of you, Selene,” Alex tells her, kissing her neck.

I don’t move. I cannot. I stand there, watching my husband with another woman.

“The Moon Goddess has never been fair. Who cares about her? I want you, and I have you. You’re who my heart desires. You’re everything to me.” He gloats, and my heart breaks.

Something inside me cracks. Something that had survived every humiliation, every rejection, every lonely night beside him. I have spent years shrinking myself into something easier to love, softer, kinder, more patient and more useful. I healed his people, served his Pack, shared his bed, and carried his name with pride while he destroyed me piece by piece. Still, I am not enough. I will never be enough, not when he has already chosen.

Alex is an Alpha. He knows better. He knows how unforgiving the Moon Goddess is to blasphemy. He knows she does not forgive people who drag her name through the mud. I always believed he was doing everything out of guilt, but it is clear he really loves her. I am the thorn in the way, and that stops now.

Selene giggles happily, “I love you so much, Alex. We were always meant to be. We were written in the stars.”

Every moment between us feels humiliating. Every time I waited for him. Every tiny scrap of affection I treasured like a starving fool. Every night, I convinced myself his coldness would pass if I just loved him harder. I feel sick and ashamed because the truth has been standing in front of me this entire time, and I kept refusing to look at it. He does not love me. He never will.

My hand tightens around the basket handle.

I turn around and walk away. My heart is broken. I do not have anything left for me here. I cannot raise my baby here. He will always choose his Selene over us every time. I do not want to be here anymore.

So, I walk back home. I drop the basket of cakes, my appetite long gone.

Then, I pack a small bag of my clothes. I think about leaving him a note, explaining why I’m leaving, but he doesn’t deserve to know anything. I’m no longer being cordial. My heart is broken. I need to leave, and I do. My hands shake so violently that I can barely fold anything properly.

I stare at our room through blurred vision. The shared bed, his clothes. The life I kept trying to make beautiful despite the misery. A sound escapes me suddenly, broken and raw. I clamp a hand over my mouth, but the sob tears through me anyway. My knees hit the floor hard. I cry so violently my ribs ache.

I grab the bag and head for the edge of the pack. The heartbreak spreads through my entire body, but I contain it. I need to be strong for my daughter. Alex doesn’t deserve me. He never did.

I close my eyes and reach out through the mindlink, “Father, can you hear me?”