Drake shook his head slowly, almost like he was in pain. “No. No, Chiara. You haven’t wronged her. I’ve wronged both of you. I made you carry a life that was never meant to be yours under my lies. I forced you into a position that wasn’t fair and I hid the truth from Chloe, from both of you, because I… because I couldn’t face the consequences.”
He pressed his forehead to hers, whispered, “I couldn’t let her know, and I couldn’t let you leave. I thought, I thought I was protecting everyone, but I was just protecting myself. And now…”
Chiara’s lips moved again in sign language. “Drake… I only ever wanted to make this right. To protect the baby, to protect her. You’re the one who carried this all alone.”
He kissed her, soft but agonized, eyes almost overflowing with something I couldn’t name. Then he signed again. “I’ve already chosen the names. The boy will be Draken. The girl will be Chanelle.”
I felt my chest collapse. My alpha. My mate. And yet everything I believed in, everything I trusted, was falling apart in front of me.
Why did love have to be this cruel?
Around this time last year, I found out I was pregnant. I thought maybe… maybe things would finally be ours.
Drake had been over the moon. He booked out the whole hot spring resort, told me we’d have the entire place to ourselves.
And then he picked up a phone. I could hear a girl crying on the other end, faint, but I could hear it. My heart twisted in a way I didn’t understand.
He kissed my belly, soft, warm, and whispered, “Wife, there’s an emergency at the pack. Just wait for me, okay? I’ll be back.”
I believed him. I waited. A whole day, a whole night, just sitting there, hoping, praying. But instead of Drake, there was an avalanche. Snow burying everything. And our child… our little wolf pup, gone. I got miscarriage.
I saw him later. Touching Chiara’s belly, the same way he had touched mine. The same way he’d whispered to me, the same way he’d promised he’d protect us. And I smiled bitterly, the edges of my heart cutting like glass. Because the only person trapped that winter was me.
Then I heard him talking to her. “Honey, I’ve been tied up with the pack. I hired a nutritionist to make sure you’re taken care of while I’m busy.”
His hand covered hers, his eyes soft and doting, like she was the only mate that mattered.