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.”

to

also made a vow to protect my mate.” I lash out, flinging all my anguish and fury in their direction. “I broke

never forgive yourself if something went wrong with the rescue and you weren’

take.” I snap, wishing I could

for honor, do it for intel.” Donavon finally proffers. “If we can recover Arabella there’s a good chance she can lead us to the kidnapper. This is your chance to

as I brush them aside. “If she could identify them,

their other targets have survived.” He reminds, “I doubt they planned on letting

my hair. “What makes you so sure

“We’ve already got eyes

patting her back while she cries. Her nose and cheeks are swollen and splotchy, her

clinging to Danvers’ burly shoulders. “He said he said he was going to kill

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

away as Arabella swoons into another fit of sobs. I should feel guilty for not being more concerned, indeed, under any other circumstances I would be absolutely horrified by my apparent apathy when someone I care about is so clearly suffering. Yet I can’t bring myself

in my heart for anything but mourning Selene, and as fond as I am of Arabella, I’ve known for a long time that those feelings come down to my

way shape or form. She didn’t ask to be kidnapped, but if I 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 crime or doubted my belief in

dictators – and it was all for nothing. The real danger was right under

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 going to come at

Selene’s POV

as the afternoon sun bathes my skin in golden warmth. My senses gradually return, filling in the world around me with crisp air, damp earth, and the familiar smells of moss

the cold ground beneath my cheek littered with fallen leaves and sprawling tangles of knobby roots. A fluttering breeze carries birdsong to my ears, along with the babbling of a distant brook, enveloping me in the

existence. It looks so like the forests around Elysium; the forests I grew up exploring with Luna; the forest where Bastien found me

right, I decide, that the otherworld should take the shape of those beloved stomping grounds; that my afterlife should be spent in the peace of the virgin forest. The only things missing

neck and stretch my aching limbs iņ confusion, a new thought plaguing my bewildered psyche. If this is the otherworld, why do I