Fated to the Alpha Who Killed Me (by Sherry) novel Chapter 57

Chapter 57

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Her face lit up, and she threw her arms around me, pulling me into a hug that smelled like vanilla and hope.

“I am. I really am. I keep imagining what our baby will look like, whether they’ll have Connor’s eyes or my

hair, and it just feels like everything is finally falling into place, you know?”

I hugged her back, my arms stiff and mechanical, and stared over her shoulder at the perfect little nest she

had built. The lace and the flowers and the candles, all of it a beautiful lie. “Just promise me you’ll take care

of yourself,” I said quietly, pulling back to look at her. “The ceremony is important, but so are you and the

baby. Don’t push yourself too hard.”

She nodded, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. “I will. I promise.”

I stayed for another hour, helping her arrange centerpieces and fold napkins, but the moment I could

extract myself without raising suspicion, I fled.

My feet carried me without conscious direction, and I found myself at Riverfront Park, where the water

moved sluggish and gray beneath the overcast sky.

Connor’s mask had crumbled so easily. The “good guy” who worked hard and loved his mate was nothing

more than a facade, and now Lily was carrying his child while he screwed another woman in secret.

I thought of Daemon and Celeste. In my first life, I had died too early to see how their story ended. I had

witnessed the beginning, the explosive passion that drove Daemon to destroy everything in his path to

claim her. But what if the Mate Bond was just another illusion? What if the passion faded after ten years,

twenty years, and they found themselves trapped in the same suffocating routine? What if his obsession was

nothing more than the thrill of the hunt, and once he had her, the fire would burn out and leave only

ashes?

I sank onto a bench near the water’s edge and stared at the ripples spreading across the surface.

The sound of tires on gravel pulled me from my thoughts.

Daemon emerged from the driver’s side, his tailored suit immaculate. He stopped a few feet away, his hands

tucked into his pockets. “Why are you sitting out here freezing?”

I glanced down at the coffee cup in my hands. “Thinking.”

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Chapter 57

He moved to sit beside me on the bench.

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We sat in silence for a long moment, and then I surprised myself by speaking. “I used to love wearing pants,”

I said quietly. “Dark jeans, leather, things that let me move freely and made me feel strong. But I assumed men preferred women in bright, sexy dresses, so I started wearing them constantly. Skirts and heels and colors that made me feel exposed.” I paused, staring at the dark water. “I thought if I looked like what you

wanted, you’d finally see me. But you never did.”

Daemon’s gaze remained fixed on the water, his profile sharp and unreadable. “And do you regret it?” he

asked quietly.

I considered the question, really considered it, and then shook my head. “No. Not entirely. For ten years, I

got to experience what it felt like to love someone so much that the world seemed brighter just because

they existed in it. It was painful, and it was one–sided, and it nearly destroyed me, but I can’t say I regret

feeling that deeply. At least I learned when to let go.”

His jaw tightened, a muscle ticking beneath the skin, but he said nothing.

A thought occurred to me, sudden and sharp, and before I could second–guess myself, I turned to look at

him directly. “You’re chasing that college girl now. Don’t you feel it? That same kind of love? The kind that

makes everything else fade away?”

The temperature seemed to drop ten degrees in an instant. Daemon’s eyes, which had been distant and

almost peaceful, went cold and hard. “No.”

My mind scrambled to make sense of it, to rationalize what I was hearing, and I latched onto the only

explanation that made sense. He didn’t know. He was so caught up in the hunt, in the primal drive to

possess her, that he hadn’t yet recognized what he was feeling for what it truly was.

I looked away, back toward the water, and let the silence settle again.

“Dominic offered me a position,” I said after a while, shifting to safer ground. “At Blackwood Dynamics. He

thinks I should get involved with the family business, help manage the foundation and external

investments.”

Daemon’s head snapped toward me, his eyes narrowing. “At Blackwood?” he repeated, his voice edged with

something I couldn’t quite place. “Since when?”

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17:02 Mon, Jun 8

Chapter 57

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