Pregnant And Rejected By My Alpha Mate By Caroline Above Chapter 29
Chapter 29 Arabe’s Offer
Selene’s POV
Ever since I got pregnant I’ve been sleeping through the night (and in fact, much of the day) without
any problem; but tonight! wake closer to dawn than dusk, feeling nothing out of order beyond a heavy
weight pressing down the mattress near my hip. I blink and rub my eyes, surprised to discover I can
actually see Bastien through the pitch ck night.
He’s sitting by my side, his elbows braced on his knees and his head in his hands. He’s stripped off
everything but his boxers, every hard ridge and valley of his powerful form exposed to my view. I sit up
slowly, unease fluttering in my belly.
“Bastien?” I reach for his shoulder, settling my hand firmly on his warm skin and beginning the tender
caresses I already know he needs. “What’s wrong?”
His head turns my way, an oddly hollow look in his usually soulful eyes. “I’m d you weren’t there
tonight.” Bastien tells me roughly, “If this is what it’s going to be like, the more time we spend apart the
better.”
I retract my hand abruptly, feeling as if he punched me in the gut rather than speaking. I pull my knees
up to my chest, unsure whether I should stay or leave. Bastien doesn’t seem to notice I’m no longer
touching him, though I’m not sure he realized I was touching him to begin with.
“I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.” He announces. “This isn’t
it wasn’t supposed to be this way.”
As ever, my eyes betray me, flooding with tearsrge enough that my husband can smell the salt. He
reaches for my hand, his mouth twitches in a grimace, “I’m sorry I put you through this.”
“I’m sorry too.” I sniffle, feeling as if my lungs have copsed in my chest. “More than you know.”
Bastien’s POV
“What are you thinking so hard about?” Arabe is standing in my doorway, her bleached blonde hair
piled on top of her head in aplicated twist. At first I’m confused to see her in the Pack House so
late, then my mind jumps to the worst.
“What’s wrong?” I jolt to my feet, “who’s hurt? What’s on fire?”
Arabe greets my cynical panic with a tinklingugh, “Honestly Bastien, you should write greeting
cards.” She teases. “Nothing’s wrong. I came to check on you.”
“Oh.” I breathe, slowly lowering back into my chair and ncing at the clock. “At midnight?”
She shes her gleaming white teeth. “I was on my way home from the bar and saw your light on.” As
quickly as she smiled, she switches to a pout. “You’ve had a really rough few weeks.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “It’s been rough without Dad. I’m sorry I haven’t checked in with you more. How are
you doing?”
Arabe has been putting on a strong front since the murder, like she always does, but my father raised
her from the time she was a child. I know how much pain she must be in. She shrugs, “I’m keeping my
head up.”
“Be, you know I’m here if you ever want to talk. Right?” We‘ve only connected a few times since the
funeral. For the most part she’s kept her distance, but she’s always preferred to grieve alone. It was the
same with Flynn. Even so, I have to wonder whether she has anyone to truly confide in.
“I know, Bastien.” She murmurs, “And you know that goes both ways right?”All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.
“I don’t think you have enough time for that.” I joke.
“Try me,” Arabe offers.
“Well you know most of it.” I grumble. “The pack hates me. Mom’s barely hanging on. The investigation
is going nowhere. I was too selfish after Dad died to let Selene go and now I’ve subjected her to the
pack’s derision and put her in danger from whoever is so determined to bring down the family.” The
words pour out of my mouth in a rapid stream. “And I’ve probably undone all my father’s hard work in
less than a month of being Alpha.”
“What is happening with the investigation?” Arabe prods.
“Not much.” My voice sounds strange to my own ears, too devoid of the emotion eating me alive on the
inside. “The enforcers know how the murderer got in, they know a male wolf was responsible, but
beyond that?” I shrug, “another couple of weeks and they’llbel it a cold case.”
Arabe sits up indignantly, “So fast?”
“It’s not about the time that’s passed since the crime, it’s the time that’s passed since they had a lead,
and they’ve never gotten
anything beyond the initial crime scene.”
“That’s unbelievable.” Arabeins with an odd note in her voice. “He was the Alpha, he
deserves better.”
“I agree.” I state, absentmindedly shuffling the papers on my desk. “But hanging onto cold cases too
long prevents them from investigating more recent crimes with stronger leads, and that cannot be
allowed.”
“You’re so good,” Arabe praises me warmly.
I snort, “You’re just about the only person that thinks so.”
“That’s not true.” She insists, sidling around to me and perching on the armrest of my chair. “You have
more support than you think.” Her graceful handsnd on my shoulders, massaging my tight muscles.
“In fact, if you need help with anything at all | want you to call me. I’m serious, I want you to put me to
use, it’s the least I can do.”
I can’t exin it, but something feels off about her stroking hands, as if the movements are just a bit too
slow, a bit toonguid to be innocent. Before I met Selene, I always nned on making an offer or
marriage to Arabe and she knew it. However after finding my mate I vowed to provide for Arabe
financially rather than wedding her.
Now I’m beginning to wonder if she might believe things will go back to the way they once were after
Selene leaves. I shrug off her hands. I don’t want anyone other than my mate. I would rather be alone
my whole life, than choose another.
“I appreciate that, Be.” I try to smile, but only half seed. “Actually the most help you could be,
might be to my mother. She’s really having a hard time. Bizarrely, things going so badly for me seem to
have given her a little motivation to carry on-like me needing her has provided some of the purpose she
lost. If you could help make her feel needed I would be eternally grateful.”
“Of course.” Arabe promises, “Like I said, whatever I can do. And I love Odette.”
“Thank you, sister.” I say pointedly, hammering home my intentions.
“Anytime.” She purrs throatily, “Alpha.”
Selene’s POV
For the second time in as many days, I wake in the middle of the night.
However this time, Bastien hasn’t entered our room and I have no idea what roused me from sleep. I
scan the room and then check in with my body, staring at my belly curiously to see if nausea or the
increasingly frequent need to pee is going to set in.
Neither happens, but I’m so awake now I don’t think I’ll be able to go back to sleep. Instead I slide out
from the silky sheets and grab my robe from the hook on the door, exiting into the main apartment.
Nothing. Not a sight or sound.
I nce at the clock. It’s almost 1:00 AM. Bastien must still be in his office working – that or he’s
passed out over the keyboard. With a sleepy groan I shove my feet into a pair of slippers and head
down the stairs to the main house, hoping Bastien won’t be angry with me for interrupting or waking
him.
After everything he said after the festival, I feel like I’m walking on eggshells around him which isn’t a
great way to feel in one’s own house. Granted I probably won’t be here much longer based on his
words.
As I near the second floornding one of the sentries pokes his head around the corner, “Is everything
okay?” He asks,
“Yes,” I whisper, conscious of Odette’s bedroom door standing only a few feet away. “Is Bastien still
working?”
“I think so.” The sentry answers, “Ms. Winters arrived a little while ago and has been in with him since.”
I freeze momentarily, gradually finding the will to respond, “Thank you.”
I don’t know why I continue down the stairs. I know I’m not going to find anything I want to see. If
anything, I’m going to find only heartbreak. It’s not a surprise exactly, not after the jewelry store, but I
never imagined they were carrying on the affair inside my own house.
My heart sinks as I approach Bastien’s study, the unmistakable sounds of voices audible within. Just
before I enter the office corridor I hear the door click open. I halt immediately, peering around the
corner just in time to see Arabe nting a kiss on Bastien’s cheek as she departs.
If I thought I couldn’t hurt worse than I already did, I was wrong. Seeing them so happy together,
sneaking around even while the world seems to be crumbling around this family.. it’s too much to bear.
Bastien’s POV
I barely recognize my mother. Her once glowing skin is pallid and gray, her usually bright eyes are dull
and ssy, and even her hair seems to be losing its color. She’s barely left her room since my father
died, staying in bed all day and hugging his pillow as she cries.
As distant as Selene has beentely, she seems equally concerned about my mother’s health, now
hovering beside me outside the master bedroom and peeking worriedly through the gap in the door.
“You have to talk to her. She urges.
“And say what? I counter helplessly.
Selene’s two toned eyes cut to me. “She needs a reason to go on without Gabriel.” She proims. “To
be reminded of how much she still has to live for.”
My head shakes back and forth. “She’s lost everything.”
“Not everything. My wife says pointedly. “If there’s one force on this earth stronger than love for a mate,
it’s love for a child.” She nudges me toward the door, “If her purpose as a mother can’t pull her through,
nothing will.
Utterly dejected, I drag my hand over my face. “But she doesn’t want to pull through.”
Selene cocks her head to the side, waves of long, dark hair streaming over her shoulder. “You’re the
one who’s always saying being an Alpha is about giving people what they need, even and especially
when they don’t want it.” She emphasizes. “Odette isn’ t in any state of mind to know what she wants
right now.”
Everything she says makes sense, but none of her logic or encouraging words can budge the tangle of
guilt lodged in my chest. It shackles me aspletely as any irons. “It feels selfish to keep her here
when she wants to be with him.” I admit, the irony of our situation taunting me mercilessly. It used to be
that there was only one woman I was forcing to stay with me. Now she herself is campaigning for me to
do the same to another.
“And what would your father have to say about it?” Selene inquires, a hard edge in her sweet voice.
“Do you think he would want you to stand by and let her waste away? Do you think letting her suffer
and die is somehow more humane than helping her live, or that he would forgive you for letting her go
when you still need her so badly?”
The truth of her words shines through clear as day: my father would never forgive me if I let mom throw
her life away for him. He would probably haunt me to the edge of madness, then greet me with more
punishments when I join him in the otherworld.
Without another word, I carefully push the door open and quietly approach the bed. “How are you
feeling today, Mom?”
She doesn’t answer, instead burying her face deeper in the pillow to breathe in my father’s lingering
scent. She frowns when! open the drawn curtains and sunlight pours into the dark room, but she does
not speak.
My mother has always been a force of nature strong andposed, intimidating and poised in equal
measure. Seeing her brought so low is painful, and I wish I’d inherited more of her traits than my
father’s. She always knows exactly what to say, even in the worst of times.
“I was hoping i might persuade you toe have dinner with Selene and me.” I propose gently. When
she only gives me a nk look in response, I press. “There are some things I’d like to talk about, I need
your help, Mom.”
A flicker of concern filters through the hollow well of pain in her eyes, though still she does not speak.
“I don’t know what to do about the Pack.” I breathe, feeling a slight weight lift from my shoulders by
virtue of simply speaking the words aloud, “I always thought Dad would be here to guide me when I
took over. He prepared me for war, for crises and natural disasters, but he never prepared me to face it
all alone.”
My throat tightens. “Everything feels like it’s falling apart.” i contess “Every time I think I’ve got a handle
on a problem, something elsees along and sweeps the rug out from under me.
And the pain is only going to keeping, Axel growis. Do you really think you can survive losing
Selene on top of everything else?
Not now I bite back, in no mood for my wolf’s continued pressure to im my mate before she can
reject me.