Pregnant And Rejected

Chapter 22 The Alpha is Dead

Selene’s POV

“Selene, are you ready?” Odette is knocking on the dressing room door, her kind voice unusually somber.

“Yes.” I call, smoothing my skirts. “You can come in.”

The door pushes open, and my mother-in-law’s lovely face peeks inside. She sidles through the narrow opening, approaching me with a wistful expression. “Oh my darling.” Odette murmurs bleakly, her eyes shining as she studies my reflection. “I really thought you two would make it.”

“I thought we might too” I admit, keeping my gaze high to ward off tears. “For a while.”

Her hand closes around mine, squeezing gently. “What happened, Selene?” She asks gently.

All at once it hits me that I’m not merely losing my husband, but the only parental figures I’ve known since my mother died. I swipe at an escaped tear, “It’s what Bastien wants.”

Odette frowns, the edges of her warm brown eyes crinkling beneath the weight of her drawn brows. She opens her mouth to speak but before any words can escape, all the blood drains from her face in a frenzied rush, leaving her white as a sheet. Her eyes go wide and her body crumples, bowing and bending against her will. Her mouth gapes open in a breathless gasp, emitting a strangled cry.

“Odette!” | exclaim, catching her by the arms so she does not fall. “What’s wrong?”

Her mouth is opening and closing soundlessly, her body trembling beneath my hands. “It’s Gabriel.”

Before I can stop her, Odette rips herself from my hold, flying out of the room and down the hall. I race after her, blood rushing in my ears. I’ve never seen someone look so anguished, so afraid.

the moment they see the look on Odette’s face. She

moment I hear her choked whimper. I do not need to see her stumble back against the door frame, sinking to the ground with shaking limbs. I do not need to hear the screams that follow, or the weeping. I do not need to see her crawling across the floor on her hands and knees, seeking something just out of sight

she is lying in Gabriel’s blood, her body thrown atop his, wracked with violent,

back my own grief. I can’t fall apart, not when others are hurting so

stop them. He shouldn’t have to see this, he shouldn’t have to lose his father

my wedding dress, smearing over my skin and pooling beneath our huddled bodies. The stench of death is thick in the air, and I can almost imagine I

and I know my prayers have not been answered. Bastien towers in the

his father’s body, to his mother and me. My lip trembles, I could cry from the look on Bastien’s face alone. He looks so lost, a child adrift in a

his eyes never leaving his father’s body. Sinking to his knees by my side, Bastien roars with fury and despair. I watch helplessly as he

does now. The sight of my indomitable husband broken and helpless tips me over the edge. Tears

my waist and he hauls me into his lap, squeezing me like a security blanket while he pulls his mother into his other side. We

a blur. Aiden is there, grasping Bastien’s shoulder and gently telling him we need to move

feet. I stand protectively at his side while he attempts to rouse Odette, trying to pull her from Garbiel’s body as tenderly as possible. She won’t budge. She bares her fangs and snarls at her son, clutching her mate’s body so

her body to jolt with shock. I’ve seen Bastien assert his dominance over countless pack members over the years in precisely this way – I’ve experienced it myself on a handful of occasions – but to see

is here. Bastien and I help Odette to her feet, and Aiden asks Dr. Kane to administer a sedative. While the doctor speaks with her, I pull Bastien aside. His silver

in my hands, pulling his attention to my face. “I’m going to get her cleaned

left, and I think he’s going to refuse. Instead he pulls me into the circle of his arms,

lips to his cheek.

from Odette and tucking her in with the help of the doctor’s sleeping pills, I return to the Alpha’s office. Gabriel’s body has been

his hands. The man I knew a few hours ago is gone, replaced by a leader with the weight of the world on

asleep.” I confirm