Pregnant and Rejected by My Alpha Mate

Chapter 16

#Chapter 16 The Wine Is Drugged

Selene’s POV

Woops.

When I asked Drake to keep me company at the party, I planned to flirt and dance, to give Bastien a little taste of his own medicine. Annoyance, that was the plan. An annoyed Bastien is manageable, an enraged Bastien is dangerous.

I stare at my husband with wide eyes. He’s standing in the doorway, on the verge of shifting, fury rolling off him in waves. His metallic gaze is locked on my face, on my tears and Drake’s comforting hands.

Drake doesn’t seem the least bit troubled by the rabid creature looming over us. He slides his fingers from my skin, turning to Bastien with a friendly smile. “Bastien, it’s been a while.”

“Too long.” Bastien agrees, “So long you seem to have forgotten who you’re dealing with.”

Drake rolls his eyes, and I have a sudden and newfound respect for the young Alpha. He may wear the face of a playful rogue, but underneath he is every bit the hard and commanding leader the role demands. “Honestly Bastien, I didn’t think you’d be so ungrateful.” He quips, “In case you haven’t heard, I saved your wife’s life tonight. I wouldn’t have had to if you’d been here.”

Bastien’s claws extend and retract compulsively, betraying the conflict raging within him. Drake’s words were an outright provocation, but there was no denying the truth in them. After a moment Bastien settles into a low simmer, striding past the other man to reach me. He drags me into a tight embrace, cuddling me to his chest. “What happened?”

Feeling suddenly warm and hazy, it takes me a moment to realize he asked a question. Drake – apparently – suffers no such impediment. “You have some vipers in your nest.” He drawls, “It was only a matter of time before one striked.”

I plant my palms against Bastien’s chest, trying to push away from him so I can pin Drake with the full force of my indignant glare. “What happened to ‘heroes don’t tattle?!**

Drake’s face scrunches up in a wince, and I belatedly realize my mistake. I look up at my husband, whose handsome features are awash with foreboding. “Am I to take it you intended to keep this information secret?” He asks, his voice dangerously low.

I lower my gaze, careful not to challenge his dominance, “It wasn’t a big deal.” I argue, “It’s not as if she knew I couldn’t swim.”

I see Bastien’s head turn in my periphery, and realize he’s now looking to Drake, “Who?”

His answer is immediate. “Redhead, blue dress, gaggle of minions trailing after her wherever she goes.”

Ten minutes later the door swings open, and Aiden pokes his head in. “Bastien would like to see you in the great hall.”

I move silently through the opulent building, finally arriving in the hall just in time to see the rest of the

the hall, the redhead from the gardens

Bastien sulkily, as if asking whether she really has to do this. Bastien makes short work of her hesitance, clamping one large hand around the back of her neck and steering her forward until she’s kneeling before me. “Speak,” He hisses

the things I said and the way I treated you. I was horribly disrespectful and I should never

growl thunders in my husband’s chest, and the woman quickly amends her statement. “I should never have treated you that way, no matter who you

two feet if other people are always fixing my problems for me. The rest of me is gushing pure elation. For the first time in my memory, Bastien is putting me

with growing contempt. She’d been so fierce and fearless when she was bullying me, emboldened by my vulnerability and weakness. Now she looks anything

never do so again: you

He announces, “if I hear anyone speaking about my wife in such a way, or anyone lays a hand

when we sat down to dinner, but by the end of the second course, my husband was back to acting as if

back and forth between giddiness, aggression, and detachment. One moment he’s so happy he’s grinning like a fool, the

starts and stops, and Bastien’s odd does not go unnoticed. I see his parents exchange glances a

our places following dessert and the party begins to shift toward the ballroom, I catch him. “Bastien?” | say firmly, grasping his arm to

swings his attention to me in a daze. His pupils are dilated and

question pointedly, checking his forehead for a temperature but finding

approaches his side and asks him to dance. I recognize her as one of the women who’d been gossiping with

Unease prickles at the back of my neck, It was extremely odd for a pack member to approach and proposition an Alpha

but I know something is wrong. This is not Bastien. His behavior is completely out of character, regardless of how he may feel about me or Arabella or anyone else. He

wine glass out of the corner of my eye. I shift in his direction and our eyes meet. We’re both thinking the same thing. Aiden slips the goblet into his jacket, no doubt planning to take

the confirmation I need

in the future, Bastien has watched my back for years without complaint; the least I can do is return the favor. Doubt lingers in my mind as I search the crowd. What if he will not come away, what if he publicly

risk I

center of the dancefloor, Bastien swaying drunkenly next to the blonde, who is wrapped around him like

about being rejected. When Bastien sees me over his partner’s shoulder he steps away from her without a word, closing the distance between us as if in a trance. I rise up on my tiptoes when he is in front of me, looping my arms around his neck so I can speak in his ear. “I

he begins to turn us haphazardly around the dancefloor, his intimate grip and undulating movements arousing my erogenous zones and muddling my

and my body responds thus whether my brain is in agreement or not. Eventually he solves

the next Bastien has dragged me

and catch his face between them. “I need you

Bastien’s confused expression gives way to something feverish and fierce before he takes me by

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