Pregnant And Rejected By My Alpha Mate By Caroline Above Chapter 52
Selene’s POV
I know the words are a mistake the moment they leave my lips.
It was one thing to tell Bastien L isn’t his pup. It was another to instruct him to forget about us, but
suggesting we’ll never see each other again was akin to waving a red g in front of an angry bull –
and all three together? Well, that was just stupid.
Bastien lunges toward me, tangling onerge hand in my hair and tugging my head back so that I’m
forced to look him in the eye. His molten silver gaze bores into me, and his mouth hovers mere inches
above my own. My breasts graze the muscled contours of his abdomen, and Luna whine needily in my
head.
“What did you just say?” Bastien snarls, hitching me up against him.
“I” I stammer uselessly, not following his train of thought.
“Say it, Selene.” He repeats roughly. “Tell me that we’ll never see each other again.”
I gnaw on my lower lip, trying to figure out what to say to defuse his temper, to get him to leave without
forcing me and L to go with him. “We won’t, as long as Arabe is out there pulling her strings.” I
redirect, feeling a twinge of reassurance when the zed look in his eye eases. “She wont fail next
time, even if I do have my wolf now.” His grip on me tightens, but I press on, hammering in the final nail
to the coffin. “And she’ll kill L too just to spite me.”
“What do you mean, you told Bastien L is mine?” Drake repeats, mouth agog.
After telling my mate that Arabe would kill our child if given the chance, he disappeared so quickly I
practically fell to the ground. No matter what he believes regarding L’s paternity, his protective
instincts toward me extend to my pup, which may be the only part of his sudden appearance I can
actually appreciate.
Though I truly don’t know what to believe about Bastien’s rtionship with Arabe, I’m confident my
usations will at least provide enough distraction for Drake and I to form a contingency n now that
my location has been discovered by my husband.
Admittedly, Bastien left Aiden behind in Asphodel to keep an eye on us, but I’m not worried. Not yet, at
least. For the time being, my sole focus is on getting Drake up to speed and figuring out our next steps.
“I told him she’s yours.” I repeat apologetically. “It wasn’t exactly nned but it’s the easiest exnation
and another Alpha is just about the only person that could actually stand in his way.”
“My objection isn’t to the concept, Selene.” Drake groans, rubbing his eyes. “As much as I love her, L
doesn’t look or smell like me.” He eyes L fondly, “She doesn’t call me daddy, you and I don’t live
together, I’m not in any of your photos, she doesn’t have status in the pack…” He’s listing off the
problems, ticking them off his fingers one by one.
Btedly I realize the only reason why Bastien hasn’t already run through these same conclusions is
because his surprise and conflicted emotions blinded him to reason but that won’tst for long. “We
could say I wanted a baby so you donated as a friend.” I suggest.
“Alpha’s don’t just give out their sperm left and right, Selene.” Drake counters with exasperation, “with
good reason.”
“You’re not like most Alphas!” i exim. “you’re modern and progressive!”
“Not that progressive.” He chuckles, “It’s not that I don’t want to help, honestly. But we have to find an
exnation that will stand up to scrutiny for more than five minutes.”
Wracking my brain for ideas, I throw out, “We could say you’re gay and this was your only chance for
kids.”
He cuts his eyes to me, ‘No. Selene.”
Throwing my hands up, I finally say, “look, it’s no one’s business how it happened in the first ce.”
Drake is already rolling his eyes. “That’s private, between you and I. All anyone needs to know is that
she’s yours.”
“And how do you expect to tell the pack I have a child three years after the fact?” Drake ponders,
pulling L into hisp and bouncing her on his knee. “How do you expect to exin it to this little
sausage?” He teases, tickling her belly and holding on tight while she writhes gleefuily in his arms.
He’s right, I don’t want to confuse L. At the same time, I’d rather confuse her for a few weeks she
won’t even remember when she’ s older, than permanently introduce the chaos of the Nova pack to her
life. “This isn’t about either of them.” I utter coolly, “This is about Bastien. As far as I’m concerned, no
one else needs to be the wiser to our ns.”
“You’re smarter than this, Selene.” Drake shakes his head. “This isn’t a lie we can keep under wraps.
You have to decide what’s more important: tricking Bastien; or building a good life here.”
“Are you…” I trail off, “Are you saying you won’t lie for me?”
“I will tell whatever story you need me to.” Drake assures me, “but you have to be sure that story is one
you actually want told – for all our sakes.”
“Thank you, Drake.” I smile, watching him y with L the same way he has a thousand times before.
I’ve always loved watching them y. Once upon a time I even imagined this might be what it must be
like to see her with her father.
I know better now. Now that I’ve seen L and Bastien together, nothing will everpare to that joy. It
wasn’t just the invisible’ bond tying them together, or the simrities in their expressions. It was the
pure rightness of them being together, exactly as the Goddess intended.
I’m so caught up in the memory, it takes me a moment to realize Drake isn’t smiling anymore. “What’s
wrong?”
“I’m worried, that’s all.” Drake admits, “Even with the lie, I’m not sure it’s safe for you two here. Is
Bastien going to care that she’s not his?”
“He’ll have to.” I murmur, “he’s not Alpha in Asphodel, he can’t challenge your decision without
challenging you for control.”
“I wouldn’t put that past Bastien.” He cautions. “No wolf can see clearly when ites to their mate,
and yours is even more headstrong than most.”
“It has to end sometime.” I decide. “We can’t run forever. At one point or another I have to put my foot
down and say enough is enough.” I reach over myp to stroke L’s cheek. “My mother was chased
out of the Calypso territory. I was chased out of the Novands. There aren’t many ces left on the
continent for us to seek refuge in, and I refuse to let my daughter be chased from her home the way my
mother and I were. Bastien can huff and puff all he wants. This ends here.”
Odette’s POV
When I answer the phone on Friday afternoon, the veryst thing I expect is to hear my son’s voice
promptly turning my world upside down. I’d been hoping the call was from him, but I was expecting
updates about his investigation into the Vna tipline, not life changing revtions unraveling three
years worth of hard earned healing.
“Selene’s alive?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I never wanted to believe that my daughter-inw
was gone, but the evidence had seemed irrefutable at the time. “How is that possible?”
“She’s here in Asphodel.” Bastien exins over the phone. “Drake Cavanaugh has been protecting her
all this time.”
“Oh sweetheart!” I’m not sure what to feel: joy, shock and relief all swarm for control, but confusion
seems strongest still. “How is this possible? Why?” I don’t understand how any of this came to pass.
“It was Arabe.” Bastien growls. “She faked the kidnapping everything and set the cabin on fire with
Selene inside.”
The room spins around me. I don’t want to believe the girl I helped raise is capable of such a thing, but
I’ve never been as blind to her faults as my husband and son. Even so, murder and conspiracy are
extreme even by shifter standards. There are ws, and then there are ws. “I have so many
questions.”
“So do l.” Bastien breathes. “There’s something else, Mom.“
What else could there possibly be? I’m not sure I can handle anything more. “Yes?”
“Selene had a baby.” There’s an odd note in Bastien’s voice, one I scarcely recognized. “A little girl
called L. She’s three.”
“Three?” I repeat, sitting up suddenly. “Is she..?”
“Selene says she’s Drake’s.” Bastien exins, reading my mind. “But I’m not convinced. You remember
how sick Selene was the month before the fire?”
Of course, I remember everything about that terrible time. The weeks between Bastien announcing the
end of his marriage, my husband’s death and Selene’s supposed murder loomrge in my memory.
Those terrible days were among the worst of my entire
life. “I remember.”
“I’ve got a n.” Bastien breathes, “I want to bring them home, but we’ve got to deal with Arabe first.”
I’m nodding, though he can’t see me. “What do you need from me?”All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.