All Chapters of Cheating on a Frenzied Alpha, Pregnant with his Child: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

"You're wearing that?"I looked up from the mirror. Kael stood behind me, already dressed, one eyebrow raised in a way that could've meant anything from disapproval to admiration, with Kael, it was usually the second one wearing the first one's clothes.I glanced down at myself. "What's wrong with it?""Nothing.""Then why are you staring?""Because you look beautiful."I smiled despite myself. "That was easy.""What was?""Complimenting me. Usually you make me work for it."He frowned, mock-wounded. "I compliment you constantly.""Not without interrogating my outfit first like it's a hostile witness."He laughed, the real kind, low and warm — and I turned back to the mirror before he could see how much I liked making him do that.Tonight was supposed to be simple. Dinner. A little peace. Sleep. That was the plan, and plans, in my experience, had never once survived contact with my life as Kael's mate.He crossed the room and settled his hands at my waist, chin resting near my shoulde

SERENA POV"You said my family." I stood across from Nadia, arms folded so tight I could feel my own pulse in them.She'd chosen a café far from pack territory, of course. Apparently secrets tasted better with overpriced espresso and no one from home close enough to overhear.She set a folder on the table between us like it was a peace offering. It wasn't."I did.""What did you find?"She didn't answer. She studied me instead, the way people study something they're deciding whether to break gently or all at once."Are you going to keep staring, or are you going to tell me?"A faint smile. "You have your mother's temper."I stiffened. "What's that supposed to mean?""Exactly what I said." She opened the folder. "Your mother never told the pack the whole truth about your family's finances.""My family isn't rich.""I know.""So what's the problem?""Debt."I blinked. "How much?"She slid a page toward me. I looked at the number and my stomach dropped straight through the floor."That c

SERENA POVI didn't sleep. Not really.I lay beside Kael with my eyes closed, pretending everything was normal while the photograph burned steadily behind my eyelids. My mother. Kael's father. Standing together years before I had even met Kael, close enough in that photo to suggest something more than a passing acquaintance.And that message. “You're asking the wrong question, Serena.”I hated whoever was doing this to me. Not because they were frightening me, though they were. Because they were making me doubt memories I'd trusted my entire life, every bedtime story, every warning my mother had ever given me, all of it suddenly suspect.Kael shifted beside me. "You're awake."I kept my eyes closed. "No."He laughed quietly, low in his chest. "You're a terrible liar.""So I've been told. Repeatedly, actually."His arm moved around my waist, pulling me back against him, and I relaxed despite myself, despite every reason I had to stay tense."Something is bothering you.""Nothing.""Ser

I stared at the message on my phone until the words blurred together into meaningless shapes. Love won't save you. Money might. My thumb hovered over the screen, trembling slightly. Then another thought hit me harder than the message itself. What if they were right? I hated that question. I hated it even more because part of me had been quietly asking myself the same thing for years, long before some anonymous number decided to say it out loud. Money could buy security. Money could buy freedom. Money could make sure nobody ever looked at me again and decided I wasn't enough. Love? Love was complicated, messy, unpredictable. Love could make you feel invincible one minute and completely helpless the next. Especially when the person you loved was an Alpha with a temper problem and a past he refused to talk about, no matter how many times you asked. I locked my phone and shoved it beneath my pillow like that would make the words disappear. I needed sleep. Instead, my bedroom door op

SERENA POVThe silver key felt heavier than it should have.I stood outside the old administration building long after Kael had walked away, staring at the rusted doors and wondering how one tiny piece of metal could suddenly make my entire marriage feel different.Eleven years. A sealed room. Kael's father. My mother. Vale Holdings. And now, apparently, me.My life had decided to become a conspiracy novel without bothering to ask whether I wanted the role of heroine.I slipped the key into my pocket. I wasn't opening that door tonight. Not alone, and definitely not while I was this angry.I turned toward the estate. Kael was waiting for me, of course he was, standing beneath the balcony with his arms folded across his chest, looking annoyingly handsome for a man who had just handed me a key capable of detonating whatever peace I had left."You followed me?""No.""Then why are you standing there like you've been waiting all evening?""I live here. It's technically difficult to avoid