Chapter 6

"He, he—"

Her gaze cut sideways to Ethan, who was walking in with a dark expression.

I let out a short laugh and dropped my voice.

"Serena, he's just a dog who'll eat anything off the floor. You want to keep him, go home and tie him up yourself. Don't come bothering me."

Serena's face locked. Then she snapped back, angry.

"Nora, don't you slander Ethan. How could he possibly be bothering you?"

"Back in the day, you manipulated him with everything you'd done for him. That's the only reason he bonded with someone as small-minded as you."

She leaned in close. "I'm warning you — if you're shameless enough to go after someone else's mate, I won't hesitate to have you locked up again. Your rising-star Alpha mate might not protect you."

Her voice was sharp. Her eyes were vicious. She'd dropped every pretense.

I stopped wanting to hold back.

I made a fist. Then I raised my hand and slapped her hard across the face.

"Serena, you're the one who went after someone else's mate. You seduced the She-Wolf who sponsored you. How do you have the nerve to stand here acting like nothing happened?"

I slapped her again.

"You know exactly what you've done. And whose pup are you actually carrying?"

Two more slaps. I grabbed her and shoved her back toward Ethan, then looked at him coldly.

"Ethan, the infertile one was always you. You have a congenital condition. Dead sperm. No viable production."

I raised a hand and signaled to the guards.

"This is Davenport Pack territory. I just slapped Serena Voss. If you want to press charges, send your attorneys to talk to mine."

The hall went silent. Every person in it stared at Ethan. Then their eyes moved to Serena's belly.

After a moment, a small voice broke through.

"If Counselor Calloway's infertile, and his Luna has already carried one pregnancy before this... that would mean..."

Everyone looked at each other.

An affair.

And not the first time.

Serena finally caught up. She screamed and lunged at me.

"You're lying. I didn't have an affair. This pup is Ethan's. You're slandering me. You've hated Ethan for throwing you out and now you're trying to destroy me out of jealousy."

Cain stepped in front of me and pushed Serena back with a firm hand.

"Luna Calloway, please control yourself. If you believe my mate is lying, you're welcome to file a lawsuit. Davenport Pack attorneys will be glad to receive you."

Cain walked them both out. Ethan's face had gone through several shades before settling on something unreadable. In the end he only gave me one long look, then took Serena and left the hall.

The sound of arguing erupted from the courtyard outside.

"Serena, tell me who the father of this pup is."

"Ethan, I swear I didn't cheat. This is your pup. I swear it."

"Ethan, why are you staring at her from the moment we got here? What does that mean? You want to go back to her?"

"Back then you told me to give you a pup. And now you regret it? You're trying to throw me away?"

"Ethan, I'm telling you right now — you're the one who came after me. You made me betray the She-Wolf who helped us. You don't get to walk away. I won't let you."

"Shut up. We're going to the Pack Healer right now. Serena, if this pup isn't mine, I'll kill you."

"You kept telling me how brilliant I was, that a man like me deserved an heir, that I'd regret it forever if I never had one. You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"If it weren't for you, I never would have given up Nora. She was my everything. Do you hear me?"

The arguing faded into the distance, Serena's voice breaking apart in the open air.

The celebration went on. Everyone circled around me and Cain with congratulations. Whatever had just happened was already an afterthought.

I understood something now. Real love is protection. Real love is care. It is not demands.

Like the way I had knelt in front of my father and begged him to take the punishment, while Ethan crouched in the corner and didn't say a single word.

Like the way he had started an affair and still demanded I understand him, used my secrets to force my submission, found excuses for his own shame.

The bullet he had fired all those years ago had finally come back around. I wondered if he could forgive Serena the way he'd expected me to forgive him — after all, he was the infertile one. He of all people should understand a She-Wolf wanting to be a mother.

The day after the celebration, Serena showed up at the manor with red, swollen eyes.