Pregnant And Rejected

Chapter 36 Leave

Bastien’s POV

Axel hasn’t made a sound in days. Though he was all but feral from the moment I answered Danver’s phone call to the second Dr Kane uncovered Selene’s body in the morgue, he hasn’t moved a muscle since. I’ve found myself reaching out to him on the hour.

extending my internal feelers toward his shape just to make sure he’s still there.

More than anything else, his absence tells me that this nightmare l’ve been living is unfortunately very real. Selene my sweet, perfect little wolf is dead.

She ran from my home believing I thought her guilty of a terrible crime. She fled my protection because I made her think it was persecution, and died alone and afraid.

My father’s death nearly destroyed me, but my mate’s has annihilated me completely. Everything that used to matter to me, has ceased to be important. Suddenly I don’t care if I’m the Alpha; I don’t care if the pack falls to ruin; I don’t care if Arabella is found; 1 don’t even care if I live.

I do not recognize myself, and I don’t feel the need to find the man I once was, nor create a path forward for the wretch I’ve become.

At first I took to the forest, but when I discovered that I could not shift, I returned to the pack house, and locked myself in my rooms. My mother, Aiden and Donovan have all tried to persuade me to return to the land of the living, but I have no interest in being there without Selene.

Even now, when Aiden is outside my door with news that might have sent me running last week, I want nothing more than to disappear.

“The enforcers think they’ve found Arabella.” He calls through the heavy wood panel.

“Fine.” I respond blankly, refusing to pull my attention from the picture frame clutched in my hand. “Go get her.”

“Not without you.” Aiden huffs out a frustrated breath. “We need you to lead us.”

“You don’t.” I counter, tracing Selene’s shape in our wedding photo. “Just bring her home.”

deep and familiar; evoking memories of my father. “Alpha, this is your duty. You made a vow to Flynn and your father to care for Arabella, to safeguard the pack.

mate.” I lash out, flinging all my anguish and fury in their direction. “I broke the most sacred vow I ever

if something went

i’ll have to take.” I snap, wishing I could pull my mate

of muffled grumbling meets my ears, too low to decipher without strain and I don’t care enough to try. If you won’t do it for honor, do it for intel.”

words rouse a prickle of interest in the far reaches of my mind, even as I brush them

have survived.” He reminds, “I doubt they planned on letting her live. We just beat them to the punch this

hair. “What makes you so sure we

Donavon announces assuredly. “We’ve already got eyes on

Arabella, wrapping her in emergency blankets and patting her back while she cries. Her nose and cheeks are swollen and splotchy, her flushed skin wet with tears and her willowy frame shaking with fear and

so awful!” She wails, clinging to Danvers’ burly shoulders. “He said he said he was going to kill me. He promised to

sit on a nearby park bench. “Can you tell us anything about the man

other circumstances I would be absolutely horrified by my apparent

Arabella, I’ve known for a long time that those feelings come down to my love for Flynn, rather

hadn’t been off looking for her, I would have been there when Selene needed me. She and Mom never would have gone to the cabin, she would never have been implicated in a

from bounty hunters and power mad dictators – and it was all for nothing. The real danger was right under my nose the

caught in a trembling pout. “He said you don’t deserve to be Alpha. He said you have blood on your hands and he’s

Selene’s POV

my skin in golden warmth. My senses gradually return, filling in the world

leaves and sprawling tangles of knobby roots. A fluttering breeze carries birdsong to my ears, along with

think with languid bliss, carefully pushing myself up to examine this new plane of existence. It looks so like the forests around Elysium; the forests I grew up exploring with Luna; the

of those beloved stomping grounds; that my afterlife should be spent in the

aching limbs iņ confusion, a new thought plaguing my bewildered