Pregnant and Rejected by My Alpha Mate

#Chapter 36 Leave

Bastien’s POV

Axel hasn’t made a sound in days. Though he was all but feral from the moment I answered Danver’s phone call to the second Dr Kane uncovered Selene’s body in the morgue, he hasn’t moved a muscle since. I’ve found myself reaching out to him on the hour,

extending my internal feelers toward his shape just to make sure he’s still there.

More than anything else, his absence tells me that this nightmare l’ve been living is unfortunately very real. Selene – my sweet, perfect little wolf – is dead.

She ran from my home believing I thought her guilty of a terrible crime. She fled my protection because I made her think it was persecution, and died alone and afraid.

My father’s death nearly destroyed me, but my mate’s has annihilated me completely. Everything that used to matter to me, has ceased to be important. Suddenly I don’t care if I’m the Alpha; I don’t care if the pack falls to ruin; I don’t care if Arabella is found; 1 don’t even care if I live.

I do not recognize myself, and I don’t feel the need to find the man I once was, nor create a path forward for the wretch I’ve become.

At first I took to the forest, but when I discovered that I could not shift, I returned to the pack house, and locked myself in my rooms. My mother, Aiden and Donovan have all tried to persuade me to return to the land of the living, but I have no interest in being there without Selene,

Even now, when Aiden is outside my door with news that might have sent me running last week, I want nothing more than to disappear.

“The enforcers think they’ve found Arabella.” He calls through the heavy wood panel.

“Fine.” I respond blankly, refusing to pull my attention from the picture frame clutched in my hand. “Go get her.”

“Not without you.” Aiden huffs out a frustrated breath. “We need you to lead us.”

“You don’t.” I counter, tracing Selene’s shape in our wedding photo. “Just bring her home.”

evoking memories of my father. “Alpha, this is your duty. You made a vow to Flynn and your father to care for Arabella, to

anguish and fury in their direction. “I broke the most sacred vow I ever took. How can you

Aiden chastises. “You‘d never forgive yourself if something went wrong with the rescue and you weren’ t there to help

a risk i’ll have to take.” I snap, wishing I could pull my mate out of the

– and I don’t care enough to try. If you won’t do it for honor, do it for intel.” Donavon finally proffers. “If we can recover Arabella

of interest in the far reaches of my mind, even as I brush them aside. “If she could identify them, they would never

targets have survived.” He reminds, “I doubt they planned on letting her live. We just beat them to the punch this

I drag one hand through my hair. “What makes you so sure

Donavon announces assuredly. “We’ve already got eyes on

huddle around Arabella, wrapping her in emergency blankets and

wet with tears and her willowy

said he said he was going

a nearby park bench. “Can you tell us anything about the man responsible? What he looked like? Anything he told you about

sobs. I should feel guilty for not being more concerned, indeed, under any other circumstances I would be absolutely horrified by

but mourning Selene, and as fond as I am of Arabella, I’ve known for a long time that

still, part of me blames Arabella for my mate’s death. It isn’t fair in any way shape or form. She didn’t ask to be kidnapped, but if I hadn’t been off looking for her, I would have been there when Selene needed me. She and Mom never would have gone to the cabin, she would never have been implicated in a crime or doubted

her from bounty hunters and power mad dictators – and it was all for nothing. The real danger was right under my nose the whole

blame.” Her big brown eyes lock onto me, her lower lip caught in a trembling pout. “He said you don’t deserve to be Alpha. He said you have blood on your hands and he’s going to come at you until you know how it feels to lose everything he said this is

Selene’s POV

afternoon sun bathes my skin in golden warmth. My senses gradually

open my eyes, the cold ground beneath my cheek littered with fallen leaves and sprawling tangles of knobby roots. A fluttering breeze carries birdsong to my ears, along with the babbling of a distant brook, enveloping me in the sounds of the wild

carefully pushing myself up to examine this new plane of existence. It looks so like the forests around Elysium; the forests I grew up

that the otherworld should take the shape of those beloved stomping grounds; that my afterlife should be spent in the peace of the virgin forest. The only things missing are the

a new thought plaguing my bewildered psyche. If this