Pregnant And Rejected By My Alpha Mate By Caroline Above Chapter 167


    Chapter 167 – Bastien Dreams


    Knocking on the door of the bedroom my father assigned Selene, I hear a dull thump and a sudden


    scampering sound within. Pushing the door open I scan the space, noticing a photo book syed


    haphazardly on the bed as if it had been dropped there in hurry, and a pair of abandoned slippers on


    the floor by the headboard. However, I don’t see hide nor hair of the woman I came to find.


    Stepping inside, I call,”Selene?”


    Her sweet scent floats to my nose, muddled with a distinct linge of acrid fear. Despite my sympathy for


    her plight, my sweet mate unwittingly ced a hunt under my nose, and no wolf worth his sall tan resist


    such a tempting offer. “Come out,e out wherever you are, little woll.”


    I hear a muted whimper in the direction of the bed. Furrowing my brow, I realize it had


    sounded awfully low to the ground, and after a moment I understand. The poor thing was so frightened


    she’d actually crawled under the bed to hide from me. Slowly striding forward, I close the distance


    between us, trying to wipe the smile from my face. Thest thing she needs is to know how adorable I


    find her behavior.


    Kneeling down at the foot of the bed, I duck my head low enough to see the cowering she wolf. She’s


    t on her belly, her eyes wide as dinner tes as she stares back at me, positively trembling with fear.


    “You going to make mee all the way down there to get you, baby?”


    She doesn’t answer, instead sidling closer to the wall and turning her face away from me. Resolved


    to retrieve her, I lower myself to the ground, at which point I discover that she’s both out of my reach,


    and I’m too broad to fit into the narrow space myself. Clever little mate.


    I could move the bed, but I decide to try and coax her out instead. Mimicking her position, I settle in for


    a chat. “Okay sweetheart, let’s just talk.” I begin, grinning wolfishly when she looks at me in surprise.


    “We need to get to know each other if we’re going to be married after all.”


    Selene still doesn’t answer, but the scent of her fear isn’t as strong as it was before, so I continue. “You


    should know that Garrick is dead.” I share, hoping that this information will help her trust me. “He


    denied everything, but I saw -” my voice trails off as I remember my visit to their house, to the


    basement he’d used as her prison cell. It was too horrible to contemte keeping a child down in such


    desperate conditions for so long. “I saw where he was keeping you, and I found his Wolfsbane supply.”


    She curls in on herself a little, as if reliving the pain of the potion. “We destroyed all of it. You don’t ever


    have to worry about anyone hurting you ever again, Selene. You‘re under my protection now.” Her


    stomach growls in reply, and the corner of my mouth tilts up. “1 wish you’de out and talk to me.” I


    tell her. “If you did, we could have some lunch together.”


    She’s so thin that her eyes look toorge in her beautiful face, giving the impression of a puppy dog


    expression when she finally asks, “Will you let me eat if I don’t?”


    Axel growls fiercely in my head, and I’m just barely able to stop from letting the same sound escape


    me. I wish I could kill Garrick all over again, and I know then that as long as she’s out of reach, she’s


    never going to trust me. “Of course I will.” I promise, fighting to keep my tone gentle, “but you might


    have to share it with that spider.”


    Selene’s gaze follows mine,nding on the huge arachnid curiously approaching her. It was a bit of a


    gambit. After all, eight years in a basement had to have acquainted her with all kinds


    of creepy crawlies, but that could either immunize or hyper sensitize her to them. Luckily for me, it’s the


    latter. With a terrified squeak she rapidly crawls out of the narrow space, yelping when she hits her


    head in her rush, and then again when I catch her beneath the arms and pull her into my arms.


    Selene ils against me, trying to escape at the same time as she struggles to wrap her head around


    how I managed to get to her so quickly. Unfortunately she’s so frail that it takes very little effort for me


    to trap her wriggling limbs, “Easy, sweetheart, you’re all right. You‘re safe.”


    The squirming bundle whines in protest as I snuggle her to my chest, settling on the edge of her bed


    and rocking back and forth. “I promise I won’t hurt you, Selene.” I vow, rubbing a soothing hand up and


    down her spine the same way I might a skittish horse. “That’s it. “Iencourage when she begins to settle,


    “Just let me take care of you.”


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    Apparently attempting a hail mary pass to escape me, Selene makes one final thrash. A pair of sharp


    little fangs dig into my arm, and I surprise her with my purr. The innocent she wolf has no idea how


    badly I want to bite her myselí – or how intimate the gesture is between men and women. We only bite


    our mates; her instincts clearly recognize me even if she does not.


    In the end it seems myck of rebuke convinces her I can be trusted, and she stillspletely, pouting


    but cuddling closer when I continue purring my approval. “Good girl.” I praise, carefully tilting her head


    forward so I can examine the quickly swelling goose-ege


    where she hit her head. Tsking softly, I press my lips to the tender spot once, twice, three times.


    “Is he really dead?” Selene asks in a small voice. “Dead and burned.” I assure her, “I did it myself.”


    I let that information sit with her for a moment, hoping that it won’t frighten her too much. He wasn’t the


    first man i’d ever killed. but he was the one I’d found the most pleasure in destroying. “Are we really


    going to be married?” Selene whispers after a moment.


    “Yes,” I confirm, “Does that scare you?”


    She thinks about my question for a long moment, before hesitantly shaking her head no. “I’m sorry i bit


    you.”


    I want to kiss her more than I’ve ever wanted to kiss anyone, but I know she’s not ready for that yet, so


    I simply lower my cheek to her hair and breathe in her incredible scent. “I’m not.”


    The images slowly fade, the bedroom dissolving around us until it’s rece with a new scene. I’m


    waking up alone in my bed a few weekster, worryncing through me when I instinctively reach for


    Selene but find her missing. As tortuous as it is for me to lie beside her every night without touching her


    the way my wolf aches to, her nightmares are so persistent that she’d never sleep at all without me.


    Rising from bed, the steady drumbeat of rain fills the air, and I’ve barely made it a step before thunder


    and lightning crash in near perfect synchrony, the sound shaking the walls as light shatters the


    darkness through the windows.


    A muffled cry from the living room sends me running, and when I reach themunal space, I find


    Selene in the middle of aplete breakdown. In the back of my mind I recall there was a storm the


    night she escaped Garrick, but I haven’t been able to convince her to tell me exactly what happened


    that day.


    Approaching her warily, Selene scrambles away as if I’m the devil himself. I stop in my tracks, sighing,


    “Oh Baby, I thought we’d gotten past this.” It’s true, after our first couple of weeks together Selene had


    gone from fearing me to viewing me as her only safe space. She was still incredibly skittish, but by now


    I’d be ustomed to her running to me – not away.


    My words fell on deaf ears, in fact it seems like she can’t hear me at all. She’s staring at me as if she


    doesn’t even recognize me, sobbing and pleading for me not to hurt her. “Please no!” Selene weeps,


    sounding absolutely petrified, “It’s not right, Garrick!”


    That stops me dead in my tracks, as two things be very clear. First, my mate is in the middle of a


    pull blown PTSD episode and has no idea where she is or who I am. Second, Garrick clearly did more


    than beat and poison her. Acting instinctively, I shift into my wolf form, not bothering to remove my


    clothes first. They fall in tatters around me, and Selene’s panicked breathing eases slightly.


    The sound of her agony has me ttening my ears to my head as a low whine sounds in my chest, and


    to my relief my mate seemspletely unafraid of the giant predator bearing down on her. She


    reaches toward me as I draw near, and I wrap my furry body around her, dly offering her the only


    comfort she can ept at the moment.


    The dream changes again, Selene’s voice echoing in my head much stronger than it had been at the


    time, “You coddled me!”


    “If I coddled you it’s because I love you!” I hear myself replying. I don’t remember this conversation, but


    I can’t help thinking that I’ve never seen anyone in more need of coddling than my traumatized mate in


    the early months of our rtionship.


    “I never learned how to fend for myself!” She answers fiercely.


    The strange thing is that I can’t see her, I can hear her, but I have no other context to ce the


    moment. It doesn’t even make any sense, we haven’t known each other long enough to ‘ever or never’


    do anything. My consciousness rolls around ufortably, and the surreal sensation of dreaming


    washes over me. This isn’t real. I realize. I’m only dreaming. Straining to leave the fantasy world and


    return to reality, I urge myself to wake up. Except I can’t seem to break free of this strange sleep. It’s


    like I’m trapped, walking through memories and things that haven’t happened yet.


    What in the hell is going on?