Alec’s

“What did you just say?” I growled, feeling my anger rise.

I must have heard wrong, right? There is just no f**g way Micah would betray me like that. Not after years of friendship. Not after he saw what Sadie and her scheming put me through.

“I said a lot of things” she growled back, her eyes spitting fire. “You’ll have to be a bit more specific.”

I turned to her and snarled, but it didn’t have any effect on her. Instead, she snarled right back at me.

F**k! I needed a d**n break. It has been revelation after revelation since the moment I stepped into this pack. Now, on top of everything, I find out that Sadie wasn’t lying three years ago, that she was actually pregnant with my child. Then to find out that Micah betrayed me, that was a huge f**g blow.

I always wondered how the f**k Sadie had managed to escape. Always wondered what happened. Did a guard forget to close the door? Did someone forget to chain her up? It never made sense and efforts to find out how she managed to escape proved futile. Now I now why? Micah had helped her and he’d made sure that there was no evidence. Nothing tying him to what happened.

My eyes turned to him. “How could you? How could you f**g help her escape your motherf**g traitor”

He flinched at the extent of my alpha aura but other than that did nothing. He didn’t look remorseful. He didn’t look guilty. He didn’t look like he regrated helping Sadie. That alone all but killed me, knowing he betrayed me and didn’t even feel that he did.

“Why would you do that, Micah?” Jason snapped at him. “Why, would you help her and betray Alec like that. You know what she did. You know that her scheming cost him his mate. Lola f**g rejected him for f**ks sake and yet you helped Sadie, why?”

Jason was yelling by the time he got to the last sentence. It didn’t do anything though, because Micah still didn’t look sorry. His lack of remorse made me and Knox p**d. He wanted to tear him apart.

“Might I remind you that Lola isn’t his f**g mate? Or have you forgotten that little fact?” Micah fired back while Sadie just scoffed, disgust marring her face as she stared at me and Jason.

“That’s not the f**g point!” Jason yelled, stepping up to stand in Micah’s face. “Tell me why the f**k I shouldn’t tear your throat for betraying your alpha?”

“You could try, and it’ll definitely not end well for you” came Micah’s response.

“Are you threatening me?”

“Take it however the f**k you want Jason, but I won’t let you or anyone else try to box me into a corner”

08:53 Thu, 11 Jul uuu.

I was shocked. This was a side of Micah that I’ve never really seen before. He’s never disobeyed an order from his beta, but right now he just did and all because of Sadie.

Said woman clapped her hand to get their attention. “As much as I’d like to see you beat the s**it out of Jason, ! don’t want my daughter coming here and witnessing any kind of violence”

The emphasis on ‘her daughter’ brought a pang to my heart. One that I tried pushing away.

“I don’t take orders from a f**g **h like you”, Jason growled at her.

Before any of us could react, Sadie moved and within seconds had Jason against the wall, her hands on his neck. Her eyes were white and were glowing, while Jason’s had budged out as he tried to get air into his lungs.

“Watch your **g mouth before I decide to do everyone a favor and tear out your f**g tongue so you will never talk back to anyone ever again” she spat, her voice menacing.

“Remember you owe me, Sadie. You can’t hurt him,” Micah sighed, seemingly tired of this whole thing.

Sadie lets out a frustrated breath before releasing my beta. She steps away from him and goes to stand next to her

friends.

“I don’t know why you defend the idiot, Micah. We all know you’re better in every way, so why are you taking orders from him?”

Jason snarled at the insult from Sadie. Turning to him, I gave him a warning look to shut it. Then reminded him. through the mind link that we still needed her help.

With a smirk, he looked at Jason, “Yes, I know that I am better, but the idiot is still a friend. A brother if I can go

far.”

Sadie doesn’t say anything, and it gets quiet for a while.

“At least give me the why, Micah. I deserve that” I finally said after a while.

that

Sighing, he faces me. “You know I always trust my gut, right? And my gut told me that Sadie was innocent. Even my wolf agreed that there was something about the whole thing that wasn’t adding up. Like for example why would Sadie make her move when you were about to be mated, when she had countless of opportunities before that?”

“Maybe because she thought she was running out of time because I’d found my mate” I responded.

“Again, at the expense of repeating myself, Lola wasn’t your **g mate!” he spat.

Micah had never once liked Lola. While everyone fell in love with her and was looking forward to her being the luna, Micah was completely different. His hate for her was always apparent.

“No need to try to convince him, Micah” Sadie chimed in with a fake a** smile. “If he believes she’s his mate, then the better. That way he can accept the rejection and leave me the hell alone.”

“Not going to f**g happen, Sadie!” I said crisply.

She completely ignored me and continued. “Micah told me that she went missing after she rejected you, I can help you find her. I have among the best trackers, so it should be easy to track her down.”

“Are you f**g serious right now?” she was **ng me off more than I already was.

“Well, yes. Anything to get you out of my life,” She shrugged. “If finding your true love is the price I have to pay, then so be it. As long as you leave me alone.”

I studied her. Trying to see if she was joking or bluffing. She f**g wasn’t. She was d**n serious about it, which just made me even more angry.

I was about to open my mouth, but Micah cut me off.

“Anyway, like I said, something didn’t feel right about the whole thing. I felt like Sadie was being set up. Like someone else was pulling the strings. It also didn’t help that I kept dreaming of some faceless woman telling me

that I needed to free Sadie.”

“That’s why you didn’t partake in torturing her” Jason murmured, looking like a switch had gone off in his head.

“Yes. It didn’t feel right. We’ve known Sadie since she was a little girl. I knew she wouldn’t have done what you were accusing her. I tried finding evidence during the time she was locked up, but when I couldn’t, I knew I had to help her escape before you killed and innocent woman”

My mind takes me back to when he had informed me that Sadie was found dead. No wonder he had been angry at me. I didn’t understand it then, but now I do. He believed she was innocent and helped her escape, he was mad that even after risking everything to help her, she still ended up dead.

“You still had no right. You could have talked to us” Jason said.

“I tried!” this time Micah shouted. “But none of you would listen. Alec was so focused on making her pay and we all saw the extreme measures he took to get revenge.”

“So, you decided to betray me and help her?” I asked. I’m still not able to believe that he went behind my back.

“YES! And you know what? I would do it all over again. It’s because of my actions that Sadie is still alive, that your daughter is still alive. Have you thought of what would have happened if I had not helped her escape that day? Think about it, you would eventually have killed her and, in doing so, you would have killed your mate and your daughter.”

F**k. I fight to remain upright. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, didn’t want to accept it, it was the truth. If

08:53

Dead Thu, 17 01

Sadie had died, then it means my pack would have died right along with her. More than that, I would have killed

my own child.

The images of her begging me in my office while I had my hand in her chest, haunted me. I was so close to killing. So, f**g close to ending the life of my own flesh and blood.

“Are we done here?” Sadie asked, her eyes pinning us to the spot. “My daughter is waiting for me and I don’t want to keep her waiting.”

Looking at her, I’m still puzzled. “I don’t get it though. I am an alpha. I should have been able to sense your pregnancy. I should have been able to sense my child in your womb.”

No one speaks for a while, that is until Sadie’s witch friend steps forward.

“I may have an answer for that” she began. “For the longest time it puzzled me why you’ couldn’t sense your pup, so I began searching for answers in case there was ever another similar situation.”

“You never told me this” Sadie cut her off.

“I know” she replied. “I wasn’t sure I was doing the right thing, but I needed answers. I needed to know why an

alpha would deny a pregnancy even though there wone. I found the answers about a year ago in an old text.”

She took a breath before continuing. “The baby, even in the womb, can feel the mother’s emotions as if they’re its own. You told me that the moment you saw Alec and felt his anger, you felt fear.

You were so scared that you started trembling because you were afraid he’d kill you. The texts said that when a baby feels such negative emotions, like fear, their fight or flight mode is activated. Since they can’t flee or fight, they shield themselves, kind of like how a turtle hides in it’s shell when it’s afraid.

This protective case shields them from the enemy. When shield mode is activated, no one can sense them, not their scents or their heartbeats or bond. It’s like they cease to exist. The shield stays on until danger passes, and they no longer feel fear from their mothers. It’s a way for them to protect themselves if ever the mother is in danger,” she finished, shocking all of us in the process.

“So, you’re saying that Aspen sensed my distress and concealed herself?” Sadie stammered; her eyes wide open.

“Yes” the witch replied. “It only happens when the fetus is still small and not fully developed. This response is only specific to werewolves and vampires, and it’s there to ensure that the fetus has a chance to develop fully. This also helps in cases where the mother is stressed. The response helps in preventing a miscarriage because the fetus simply protects itself.”

After she’s done talking, everyone is quiet. It’s amazing that babies can shield themselves, but it’s also sad that my daughter had to shield herself from me because I was on the verge of killing her mother.

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter what happened” Sadie broke the silence and stared right at me. “Fact remains that ICcontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

UD-JJ

don’t want to be your f**g mate and neither do I want you in mine and my daughter’s lives. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a little girl waiting for her story time.”

With that, she stomped out of the room and her friends followed her, leaving just me and my officials.

89%

I knew Sadie was going to make this hard for me, but determination is my middle name. There is no way I’m going

to give up now, not when there is so much more at stake. I wanted to be in my daughter’s life, and I wasn’t going to allow anyone to stand in my way.