Pregnant And Rejected

Chapter 137 Bastien Remembers His Friend

Flynn, Aiden and Bastien raced through the forest beneath the full moon, playing like pups much younger than they were. They wrestled and joked until they caught the scent of a huge stag, his powerful musk combining with large, deep tracks in the mud.

The hunt was on in an instant. The wolves fell in line without a single word, giving way to the natural patterns of the chase and fulfilling the roles they’d been developing since childhood. Their instincts were irrepressible, demanding they pursue their target the moment it caught sight of them and took flight.

Darting through the trees after their prey, they herded it toward the river, circling it on all sides. Together Aiden and Flynn drove the buck towards their future Alpha, who lay in wait just beyond the shoreline. The beast reared up when he saw the massive shifter, grunting and kicking his hooves while his eyes went wild. With the other wolves still at his back, he lowered his antlers and prepared to charge.

Bastien braced himself for the assault, licking his fangs in anticipation for the kill. However, just as the stag began to move, a small gray wolf leapt in front of Bastine. Hey! What are you guys doing?

Panic fracturing his bloodlust, Bastien ran forward and snatched Arabella out of the way just in time. His teeth caught the scruff of her neck and he lifted her from the ground, sprinting away from the buck and letting it crash forward into the river. As Bastien dropped the wriggling pup at his feet, the buck fled to freedom, the scent of his fear fading on the wind even as Arabella’s indignant whines rose in Bastien’s ears. Let me go!

Arabella! Flynn rushed forward, frantically looking over the small female, Are you all right? What were you thinking? What are you doing here?

You guys left without me. Arabella complained, pouting pitifully.

Of course we did! Flynn exclaimed. You shouldn’t be out this late at all, let alone out here with us. You could have been killed!

You never let me have any fun! The little girl groused, it isn’t fair.

You should be less concerned with what’s fair and more concerned with staying alive. Bastien chimed in, his Alpha instincts demanding he do his part to admonish his surrogate sister.

I was fine. Arabella insisted stubbornly.

stag! Bastien growled, it

his oldest friend an exasperated look,

she can get spoken to like

Aiden agreed. What you did was

safe, next time you ought to include me. The girl

exchanged the same beleaguered glance, their thoughts one in the same at that

Pack House and Arabella was sound asleep in bed, Bastien found his friend sitting out on the sprawling rooftop of the modern abode. He climbed out the trap door and strode out onto the flat surface, taking a seat next to his future Beta and patting

going to do with her.” The shifter sighed, sounding much older

a kid.”

Beta knew the true responsibility for raising his sister rested on his shoulders. They were the only family each other had left, no matter how completely Bastien felt like

them. “My parents will help, but you and I will make sure she

it’s not enough?” Flynn wondered, displaying a rare moment

her, and more big brothers than she could want or need.”

Within months Flynn was as much a ghost as his parents, and all of his responsibility fell to his friend. It was a burden Bastien took very seriously,

attention, distracted him from his duties so completely that he’d abandoned the most

a lovely woman and though her disposition had grown far gentler as the years passed, she had never been one for intellectual pursuits, hard work or adventure. She was pretty, well-dressed, agreeable and little else. She also had a spoiled streak

was both a mystery and a conundrum. One newspaper article, an old obituary and a few sneakily captured photos on the internet was all he’d been able to find of the woman. The photos told him she was drop-dead gorgeous, and the obituary he himself penned described a wolf of incredible sweetness, intelligence and strength. Arabella shared that Selene’s own paranoia prevented anything else from being published about her, but she also couldn’t seem to tell him how they’d met or what Selene’s history was prior to

anything less than a fated mate, and the obituary did describe her thus. Arabella insisted it was all a spell Selene placed on him, but what if she was wrong? He was painfully aware that Arabella was not his mate. Could it not be true that Selene was his mate, as well as a conniving she-devil? After all, fated mates did not always get along; their feuds and competitions could be even more intense and violent than those of life long enemies. It was

another, he couldn’t stop thinking about the woman back in Elysium, the one he had no memory of meeting, but who had apparently robbed him of all morals and peace of mind. Bastien had to find a way to make things right. He had to honor his vow to Flynn, he had