Pregnant and Rejected by My Alpha Mate

#Chapter 22 The Alpha is Dead

Selene’s POV

“Selene, are you ready?” Odette is knocking on the dressing room door, her kind voice unusually somber.

“Yes.” I call, smoothing my skirts. “You can come in.”

The door pushes open, and my mother-in-law’s lovely face peeks inside. She sidles through the narrow opening, approaching me with a wistful expression. “Oh my darling.” Odette murmurs bleakly, her eyes shining as she studies my reflection. “I really thought you two would make it.”

“I thought we might too” I admit, keeping my gaze high to ward off tears. “For a while.”

Her hand closes around mine, squeezing gently. “What happened, Selene?” She asks gently.

All at once it hits me that I’m not merely losing my husband, but the only parental figures I’ve known since my mother died. I swipe at an escaped tear, “It’s what Bastien wants.”

Odette frowns, the edges of her warm brown eyes crinkling beneath the weight of her drawn brows. She opens her mouth to speak but before any words can escape, all the blood drains from her face in a frenzied rush, leaving her white as a sheet. Her eyes go wide and her body crumples, bowing and bending against her will. Her mouth gapes open in a breathless gasp, emitting a strangled cry.

“Odette!” | exclaim, catching her by the arms so she does not fall. “What’s wrong?”

Her mouth is opening and closing soundlessly, her body trembling beneath my hands. “It’s Gabriel.”

Before I can stop her, Odette rips herself from my hold, flying out of the room and down the hall. I race after her, blood rushing in my ears. I’ve never seen someone look so anguished, so afraid.

everyone jolting into action the moment they see the look on Odette’s face. She bursts into Gabriel’s office, freezing

the moment I hear her choked whimper. I do not need to see her stumble back against the door frame, sinking to the ground with shaking limbs. I do not need to hear the screams that follow, or the weeping.

lying in Gabriel’s blood, her body thrown atop his, wracked with violent, heaving sobs. The Alpha stares sightlessly up

grief. I can’t fall apart, not when

panic I try to come up with any possible plan to stop them. He shouldn’t have to see this, he shouldn’t have to lose his father so young. I wrap myself around Odette, holding her while she cries and praying that it’s all a

stench of death is thick in the air, and I can almost imagine I

running footsteps meet my ears, and I know my prayers have not been answered. Bastien towers in the doorway,

look on Bastien’s face alone. He looks so lost, a child adrift in a sea of uncertainty. I can see the little boy he once was, the one who looked to his father to hang the

his father’s body. Sinking to his knees by my side, Bastien roars with fury and despair. I watch helplessly as he sinks forward, lowering his head to Gabriel’s too-still

he does now. The sight of my indomitable husband broken and helpless tips me over the edge. Tears stream from my eyes, and then

his lap, squeezing me like a security blanket while he pulls his mother into his other side. We lie in a tangled heap

gently telling him we need to move so the investigators can sweep

stand protectively at his side while he attempts to rouse Odette, trying to pull her from Garbiel’s body as tenderly as possible. She won’t budge. She bares her fangs and snarls at her son, clutching her mate’s body

I’ve seen Bastien assert his dominance over countless pack members over the years in precisely this way – I’ve experienced it myself on a handful

sides: council members, enforcers, even Dr. Kane is here. Bastien and I help Odette to her feet, and Aiden asks Dr. Kane to administer a sedative. While the doctor speaks with her, I pull Bastien

take his face in my hands, pulling his attention to my face. “I’m going to get her cleaned up and into bed.” I explain softly, “Will you

strong I fear I might bruise. His head shakes slightly from right to left, and I think he’s going to refuse. Instead he

to his cheek.

from Odette and tucking her in with the help of the doctor’s sleeping pills, I return to the Alpha’s office. Gabriel’s body has

remains, crumpled at his father’s desk, his head cradled in his hands. The man I knew a few hours ago is gone, replaced by a leader with the weight of the

I confirm