Chapter 6

• Oh, I thought dumbly, I guess that explains how he got in the venue.
• Then I thought, Wait. Does that mean I tried to pay a pack Alpha for sex?
• Why either of those were my first thoughts was beyond me—there were far more important bits of information in there. Like, for instance, the fact that I had sex with a rival pack’s Alpha or that I was carrying said rival’s goddamn baby.
• But I didn’t have time to sit and process, not when I was still standing in the center of the biggest soap-opera moment in Moonshadow’s history. I had to find a way to control this situation, but I was coming up blank. How could I make this benefit me?
• Before I could scramble for too long, though, Elroy held out his hand to me. I just stared at it. Eclipse’s Alpha was reaching out for me—my baby’s father was reaching for me. All Elroy said was a confident, “Come with me.”
• I was snapped back into the real world when my father started shouting. “Unbelievable!” he screamed, face nearly purple with rage. “You couldn’t just cheat, you had to cheat with him?!”
• “I told you, it was not cheating, because Damian and I were already over,” I repeated firmly. It was a strange thing to latch on to in the midst of much bigger problems, but at least it was an argument I’d prepared for. Defending myself for sleeping with our pack’s oldest and most volatile political rival, not so much.
• Eclipse and Moonshadow were the Capulets and Montagues of the real world, and I’d unknowingly crossed that line. I cursed myself. At least Juliet knew what she was getting herself into!
• “You are my daughter,” Greg said, glaring up at me in a way that said he was very much only saying this for the ears around us, “so I want to give you one last chance. I will revoke my banishment order and let you return to the pack as long as you sever all ties with this…madman.”
• “Hard to do with my baby in her belly,” Elroy scoffed. I frowned. It was true, but I didn’t like how he made it sound.
• “Abort it.”
• The room went silent. No, not just silent, dead, as if all the air had been sucked out. It was one part shock and one part horror, and we were all waiting for the pin drop to know we were allowed to breathe again.
• Abort it. No werewolf ever spoke those words. The very thought of it was—my entire being recoiled from the word alone, my hands coming up to shield by stomach like I thought Greg was going to reach into me and pluck my baby out right there.
• It was even worse than rejecting a Fated Mate. It wasn’t just heretical, or sinful, it was utterly insane.
• And he wanted me to go through it?
• “That will be your punishment,” Greg continued, “the proof of your commitment to Moonshadow. Get rid of that thing and you can return—”
• “Shut. Up,” Ellory said. He didn’t yell it, or growl it, or snarl it, but something about him felt lethally cold. His Alpha aura leaked out from around him, slowly saturating the room and laying claim. It didn’t matter that this was Moonshadow’s church, as long as he was standing in it it belonged to him.
• Greg’s jaw snapped shut on instinct, his voice choking off in his throat. It would have been satisfying if it weren’t for the voice in my head screaming, The baby, protect the baby! Because this man—this pathetic little worm currently barely standing under the assault of Elroy’s simple existence—had threatened my child.
• “I’ll go with you,” I said, locking eyes with Elroy. This was my pack, this was my home, it was mine and I was its. I had gone into this day planning to take my rightful place as Moonshadow’s pack Alpha.
• But the second my baby’s life was in danger, none of it mattered anymore.
• I walked out with Elroy, head held high and just hoping, praying to the Goddess that I wasn’t walking my baby into even more danger. I hoped that my soon-to-be-former packmates could understand why I had to go instead of hating me for betraying them, and I hoped that I had shown them enough to the truth to at least keep Damian away from the Alpha seat. Moonshadow deserved a better Alpha.
• Moonshadow deserved me.
• It wasn’t until we were outside of the building that Greg seemed to realize he could move again. “You ungrateful bitch!” he yelled after me. Then he was yelling wordlessly into the sky, a roar that became a howl, that was joined by more howls with every step I forced myself to take. I grit my teeth, knowing what was coming.
• I will never forget the moment my pack bond snapped. It’s impossible to describe, a white-hot, all-encompassing burn and the cruel black bite of ice water all at once. It was stinging and stabbing and throbbing, it was dull and it was sharp, and it was unbearable.
• I must have collapsed to my knees, choking on my scream as I felt my soul be flayed open. I bit my lip hard, trying not to scream. Screaming would have felt like showing weakness, like giving them what they wanted.
• It would feel like losing, I thought to myself, and then laughed cynically at my own words. Of course it feels like losing, you are losing.
• And I was. In that moment I lost my pack, my family, and my future. I lost it all.
• I pushed Elroy back a little, keeping him close enough to hold on to but not close enough to pick me up and carry me like I could tell he wanted. Tears came pouring out of my eyes, burning trails down my face, but I shakily stood back up. I was an Alpha, goddamn it, and I was going to walk out on my own two feet.
• I didn’t look at Elroy, keeping my eyes fixed on the car he was leading me towards, but I could practically hear him gritting his teeth. He respected my wishes though, letting me cling to his arm as we slowly limped towards the sleek black car. The physical pain was fading, but the emotional pain…
• Once I was in the passenger seat, I broke down. I had to.
• I just lost everything.
• It took a minute for me to recompose myself, but honestly not as long as it probably should have as my mind switched into survival mode. I had to cry, yes, but I had to take care of my baby too. I didn’t have the freedom to wallow.
• I gave myself a little time to come down, deliberately sucking down air and letting my shaking subside. Elroy passed me a box of tissues, and I took it with a grateful nod. I couldn’t look him in the eye though.
• I blew my nose first, then started wiping at my cheeks. The tissues came away with streaks of black—so much for waterproof mascara. I’d have to leave a review.
• I was still sniffling when I straightened back up, but much calmer. “Thank you,” I said, voice thick from tears. I kept patting at my face.
• “Or maybe I should say I’m sorry,” I shook my head. “First time we meet I’m drunk, second time I’m an emotional wreck, and third time I’m…this.” I gestured down at myself, tissues in my lap and dirt caught in the lace of my wedding gown.
• “None of that,” Elroy demanded, frowning. I just stayed silent, too exhausted to fight back.
• I didn’t want to get out of the car just yet—I wanted another moment, just one, and Elroy didn’t say anything to the effect of kicking me out, so I kept my hands busy by removing my accessories. The necklace, the earrings, the veil still clipped above my bun. I realized I didn’t have anything with me to carry it in.
• Actually, I just didn’t have anything with me at all. No purse, no ID, no phone, no money…the enormity of it all was starting to sink in. I really, genuinely had nothing.
• I didn’t realize Elroy was reaching for me until his hand entered my peripheral vision, and I startled back just a little. He looked at me stunned, and I felt a little bad for flinching away. He was a stranger, though, even if he was a nice one.
• A nice and powerful one. Oh, shit.
• I took a deep breath. “Thank you for your help, Mr. Elroy,” I said, “but I don’t want you to misunderstand. I don’t know what you want from me, but I only agreed to come with you for the safety of my child.”