The Alpha Who Never Loved Me (Serena and Kieran) novel Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Serena

When I opened my eyes, the afternoon sun was cutting through the curtains.

My body ached everywhere. My thighs, my hips, my lower back. I shifted against the sheets and the soreness touched a part of my brain that pulled up the memories

whether I wanted them or not.

I turned my head. The other side of the bed was empty, the sheets were cold which meant he had been gone for a

while.

I sat up and as I was about to stretch, I froze.

We didn’t use protection.

If Kieran discovered I was already pregnant, he would trace the timeline, realize I’d known for weeks, and use the baby as a chain. The divorce would be dead before it

started.

I had to keep pretending. The words I’d thrown him:23

that night about walking into a clinic and bleeding out his

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baby had to remain the last thing he believed about my feelings toward motherhood.

I pressed my hand flat against my stomach. It was still flat and there weren’t any other physical signs. My body was keeping its secret for now.

But for how long?

I climbed out of bed and walked to the bathroom. I

looked into the mirror and what was in front of me was a puffy face.

But my stomach was still flat. I turned sideways and checked again, running my palm over the skin.

Nothing. Not yet.

After my bath, I went downstairs and found Jenna was waiting in the hallway.

“You’re awake.” She pulled me into a hug so tight my ribs protested. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Where’s Kieran?”

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“In the study. He’s been in there for hours with Father

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and Grandfather.” She lowered her voice. “Uncle showed up early this morning. He went straight to Grandfather and they locked themselves in. Then they sent a servant to fetch

Kieran. Nobody’s come out since.”

I had wanted to ask her something else first. The drinks. from last night. Kieran’s mother had handed us the wine and the apple juice, and within the hour my blood had turned to fire. Whatever was in those glasses had been deliberate.

Bridget probably thought sex would fix us. That if she pushed our bodies together, our hearts would follow.

Or perhaps if I got pregnant, I would prefer to work on this marriage than leave it.

There was already a child in the picture. Her plan had succeeded before she’d even made it.

I swallowed the question about the drinks.

Bridget appeared at the end of the hallway, her face drawn tight with worry. “They have been there three hours. No one has come out. Do you think something is

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wrong?”

I was worried too. Crowley and Micheal had not liked the fact he stood up for me, moreover, their thoughts about me getting a job had been hostile.

Did they change their minds?

“I’ll find out what’s going on,” I said.

Two guards stood six feet from the study door. The taller one held up his hand. “No one is permitted beyond this point.”

I stopped in front of him. “I’m the Luna of Crimson Pack. I’m not a guest in this house. It will only take a single word from me to have you both reassigned to border patrol for the next five years. Move.”

They exchanged a glance before they both stepped aside.

The study door was soundproofed. I couldn’t hear anything through the wood.

I had never been someone who listened at doors. But äust had been violated so many times in my life couldn’t trust what was said in front of me. Take for

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example Kieran.

I placed my fingers on the handle, drew a slow breath, and cracked the door open just two inches.

Kieran’s voice was the first thing I heard.

“The woman I wanted to marry was Sophie not Serena.”

My head felt empty.

“If you hadn’t meddled back then, I would be happily married to Sophie right now. But you ruined my happiness.”

His words had been said with so much conviction and certainty that I felt a shockwave through my body.

I staggered backward a couple of steps until my spine met the cold wall and I pressed into it because my legs were no longer reliable.

My wolf collapsed inside me.

She could feel the same pain I was feeling. The connection she shared with Aina was being severed by1:24 those harsh words of his.

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The bond that had hummed warm and alive this morning shredded in my chest. My hand flew to my chest and pressed hard.

My knees buckled. I bent forward, one arm wrapped around my stomach, the other braced against the wall, gasping for air.

He had been carrying this for years.

Every morning he woke up next to me, he wished it was her. Every time I laughed, every second we spent together, every night I reached for him in the dark, he was enduring me. Tolerating the wrong woman in a space that belonged to someone else.

Last night meant nothing.

The desperation in his hands, the way he groaned my name, all of it was just a man wanting contact and taking what was available.

I was a body. A warm, willing body that happened to share his bed because his grandfather had arranged it

that way.

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