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.

they see the look on

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

Gabriel’s blood, her body thrown atop his, wracked with violent, heaving sobs. The Alpha stares sightlessly up at the ceiling, his skin a garish shade

trying to hold back my own grief. I can’t fall apart, not when others are hurting so badly. Odette needs me

shouldn’t have to see this, he shouldn’t have to lose his father so young. I wrap myself around Odette, holding

stench of death is thick in the air, and I can almost imagine I smell

and I know my prayers have not been answered. Bastien towers in the doorway, looking suddenly very young despite his intimidating

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 sea of uncertainty.

moves forward in a trance, his eyes never leaving his father’s body. Sinking to his knees by my side, Bastien roars with fury and despair.

wept as he does now. The sight of my indomitable husband broken and helpless tips me over the edge. Tears stream from

while he pulls his mother into his other side. We lie in a tangled heap like

there, grasping Bastien’s shoulder and gently telling him we need to move so the

setting me on my 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

with pure Alpha authority, causing 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 it happening

swarming around us on all sides: council members, enforcers, even Dr. Kane 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 eyes move up and down my body, taking in the sight of my ruined wedding dress with a dreadful

to my face. “I’m going to get

hands clamp down on my hips, his grip so strong I fear I might bruise. His head shakes slightly from right to left, and I think he’s going to refuse. Instead he pulls me into the circle of his arms, “Take care of her for me.” He pleads in

to his

help of the doctor’s sleeping pills, I return to the Alpha’s office. Gabriel’s body has been removed and though the once-cozy space is

is gone, replaced by a leader with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He looks up when

I