Chapter 4

Rosalie was still standing in my doorway, staring at the pregnancy test in my hand, and for several seconds neither of us said anything because I was too busy trying to understand how she had managed to get there without me hearing her while she was apparently busy witnessing the biggest disaster of my life.

Why did the fuck didn't I shut the door?!!

Her eyes moved from my face to the test, then down to the half-packed bag on my bed, and something slowly changed in her expression.

“Is that Adrian's?” she finally asked, and the softness in her voice made my stomach turn because Rosalie had never sounded soft when she had something cruel to say.

I closed my fingers around the test.

“You should leave my room.”

She stepped inside instead, then she reached behind herself and quietly closed the door. The click of the lock sounded much louder than it should have.

“Don't insult me by pretending I didn't see what you're holding, Elena, because I have been watching you for weeks and I have watched you stop eating, disappear every morning, avoid everyone, and suddenly start packing a bag in the middle of the night, so unless you've secretly decided to become a nun, I think we both know exactly what that test means.”

I stared at her.

She smiled.

“So, is it Adrian's?”

I refused to answer.

Rosalie took another step toward me.

“You slept with him after he rejected you.”

My throat tightened.

“You don't know what happened.”

“Oh, I don't?” She laughed under her breath, her eyes narrowing. “Adrian disappeared from the pack the morning after that night. Three weeks, Elena. Three entire weeks, and nobody has been able to tell me where the Alpha is or when he'll return. And now I find you packing a bag with his child inside you.”

I hated how easily she said it. Rosalie's smile widened when she saw my face.

“Oh, he doesn't know.”

I looked away then she laughed.

“This is perfect.”

“Shut up.”

“No, you shut up and listen, because you are finally in a position where you cannot threaten me, you cannot run to your father, and you certainly cannot run to Adrian pretending that you suddenly deserve something from him.”

“I never asked Adrian for anything.”

“Really?” she asked, stepping closer. “Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you slept with the Alpha after he publicly rejected you, got pregnant, and now you're packing your things before he finds out, which sounds an awful lot like you were trying to force your way into his life and got scared when you realized he might not play along.”

My face burned.

“I didn't plan this.”

Rosalie laughed so loudly that I flinched.

“Do you honestly expect anyone to believe that story?”

“I don't care what you believe.”

“You should care what everyone believes, because when they find out that the rejected woman everyone already called desperate is carrying Adrian Blackthorn's baby, nobody is going to look at you and think you were unlucky.”

She leaned toward me.

“They'll call you a liar, a trapper, a desperate little whore who couldn't accept rejection and decided a baby was the easiest way to get herself attached to an Alpha.”

I gripped the test harder.

“Then don't tell them.”

Rosalie's expression became almost thoughtful.

“I wasn't planning to.”

That made me look at her.

She folded her arms.

“You're going to leave Blood Moon Pack, and you're going to stay away from Adrian, and I will keep my mouth shut.”

I stared at her as though she had grown another head.

“You're giving me permission to leave?”

“No, Elena, I'm giving you a choice, because if you stay here, I will tell everyone exactly what you're carrying.”

“You don't get to decide where I live.”

Rosalie's smile disappeared.

“You're really going to be difficult about this?”

“I am not leaving because you ordered me to.”

She crossed the room so quickly that I barely had time to step back before her hand closed around my wrist.

“You have always been so damn difficult, and now you're standing here pretending you're brave when you are terrified that Adrian will find out what you've done.”

“I haven't done anything to you.”

I pulled my arm away, and the moment I did, something changed. The air in the room seemed to press inward, so suddenly that Rosalie's fingers flew to her chest as she stumbled backward. Her knees hit the floor, and I could only stare at her, completely confused by what I had just witnessed.

“Rosalie?”

She tried to breathe, but her face had gone pale, and the smugness that had been there seconds ago had vanished completely.

“What did you do?”

“I didn't do anything.”

“You touched me.”

“You grabbed me.”

She looked at me with genuine fear now, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with that because Rosalie had spent years making people afraid of her, not the other way around.

I took a step toward her then she scrambled backward.

“Don't come near me.”

I stopped.

Neither of us understood what had happened.

My heart was pounding, but I didn't have time to figure it out because I had already wasted too much of the night standing there arguing with her while my bag remained open on the bed.

I picked it up.

“I am leaving tonight.”

Rosalie stared at me.

“You're actually running?”

“I am choosing to leave before this pack tears me apart over something I never planned.”

I walked past her.

She didn't stop me.

Mira was waiting near the back entrance when I reached her house, and she didn't ask too many questions because one look at my face was apparently enough to understand that I had made up my mind.

She pressed a small pouch of medicine into my hand and slipped some money into the pocket of my bag.

“You'll need somewhere safe to stay, and you'll need to eat properly, Elena, because whatever happens next, you cannot punish yourself for something that was never supposed to happen.”

I looked down at the money.

“I'll pay you back.”

“You can argue with me about that when you're somewhere safe.”

I hugged her before I could change my mind.

Then I went back home before leaving for good. Before leaving, I sat at my desk and pulled out a sheet of paper.

I stared at the words for several minutes, trying to decide whether I should actually write them. In the end, I wrote the only thing that mattered: You have a child. My hand stopped, and for a moment I could only imagine Adrian reading those words and wondered what his expression would look like when he finally understood what I was telling him.

I imagined him asking where I was, whether the child was his, and whether I expected him to come after me.

Then I imagined the way he had looked at me during the ceremony.

I tore the paper in half then I pushed the pieces into the wastebasket.

My child would not grow up knowing that their father had been given the chance to choose us and had decided we were not worth choosing.

I packed the letter fragments beneath some old clothes so nobody would find them, then lifted my bag onto my shoulder and headed toward the front door.

I barely reached it before my father stepped into the hallway.

His eyes immediately went to the bag.

“Where are you going with that?”

“I am leaving the pack.”

His face hardened.

“You don't have the right to abandon your family because you are embarrassed.”

I almost laughed.

“Family stopped being a word that meant anything in this house a long time ago, Dad, and if you only remember that I'm your daughter when I am useful to your reputation, then you don't get to stand here and tell me what family means.”

His hand closed around my arm.

“Watch your mouth.”

I pulled away.

The pressure came again. This time the room seemed to tighten around us so suddenly that the lamp beside the doorway rattled against the table.

Garrick's grip disappeared.

He stared at me and for a second, the anger vanished from his face.

What replaced it made my stomach twist. Then I stared at him.

“What are you afraid of?”

His expression changed immediately.

“You're imagining things.”

“No, I'm not, because you looked at me like you had just seen something you were terrified of.”

“Go to your room.”

“I asked you what you're afraid of.”

His jaw tightened.

“You've been through an emotional ordeal, Elena, and you're not thinking clearly.”

There was something wrong with the way he said it, but I had no time to chase it.

I picked up my bag.

“I am leaving whether you like it or not.”

I walked out before he could stop me. The pack gates were only a short distance away, and the night air felt colder against my face as I hurried toward them, keeping my head down whenever a guard glanced in my direction.

I was almost there when voices carried across the road.

I slowed. A group of warriors stood near the gates, and beside them was a black vehicle I recognized immediately.

My stomach dropped.

Someone had returned to the pack.

Then the crowd shifted, and Adrian Blackthorn stepped through the gates.