Pregnant and Rejected by My Alpha Mate

#Chapter 87 I’ve Loved You Since I Was Five

Bastien’s Pov

I only make it a few paces out of the cafe before I change my mind and turn back. All night I’ve been tip-toeing around, trying to get through this fight without upsetting Selene, but I can’t hold back any longer.

I don’t want my mate to be afraid of me. I don’t want to trigger her and send her into a PTSD episode, but I have a right to be angry. Besides, fights are upsetting. There’s no way to honestly have one if you can’t express your feelings for fear of offending someone else’s.

Selene jumps when the door slams back open, the bell hanging above it jingly wildly. I stalk back to our booth, towering over my beautiful mate with steam billowing from my ears. “How long?

“What?” Selene squeaks, eyeing me warily.

“How long before you left did you know you were pregnant?” I demand. My mate immediately drops her head, unable to meet my gaze. The moment she does I know I’m not going to like the answer to this question. “Answer me, Selene.”

“I found out the day before our anniversary.” Her eyes are turning red when she glances back up at me, “the day you told me you were rejecting me.”

I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach. “You knew all that time?” I hiss, trying to process this information. In hindsight the puzzle pieces begin to click into place: her illness, her refusal to go to the hospital, the way she stopped drinking alcohol and caffeine. “Why couldn’t I smell it on you?”

If she was in her wolf form I have no doubt my mate would currently be on her back exposing her belly to me. She’s curled in on herself, invisible tail tucked between her legs. “I covered it up.” She confesses hoarsely, “the doctor gave me something to hide the scent.”

Axel is positively snarling in my chest, but I’m still struggling to wrap my head around this development, “Why?”

I scent her tears a moment before I see them. Selene steps out of the booth, looking up at me plaintively. “Everything I told you about the fire is true, but part of why Arabella tried to kill me is because she knew about the baby. When she tried to push me down the stairs at the hospital it was because she overheard the doctor and I talking. She wanted me to miscarry.”

“That’s not what I asked you.” I rumble.

“I thought you loved her! I thought you didn’t want me!” Selene cries, “And she wanted me dead, she wanted Lila dead!”

almost snap at her again for ignoring the question, then I realize what she’s trying to

you were always

sobbing and part of me wants to comfort her but, for the first time, my anger is more powerful than my concern. “Weren’t you?” | snarl again when she

but then Gabriel died and it seemed like you actually needed me for a while. But then you still wanted the rejection… I was going to go

all the memories coming back to me. “You never had a choice in marrying me and you were mooning over some wolf you’d known for 15 years. I

are you talking about?” Selene

a long time since I’ve thought about that time in my life. When I thought Selene died I only wanted to remember the good parts of our marriage. I blocked out those last few months so completely I actually

is gaping at me, her tears slowing amidst her surprise. When she finally responds, it’s with such exasperation and disbelief I almost miss her words.

I

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87 I’ve Loved You Since I Was

about you, Bastien!”

about? I interrogate. “We

her hands. “When I was a pup I got lost in the mountain tunnels and you found me. You rescued me and I had a horrible crush on you afterwards. I’ve loved you

a hazy image of a pup not much older than Lila, crying in a dark cave.

didn’t you ask me about what you overheard?” Selene questions me, “why didn’t you just talk

you thought I was leaving you for Arabella?” I snap.

of my sweet mate for coping so well under stress and

put one foot in front of another and scared of my own shadow. You were a fully grown Alpha

still just a scared little girl that had

with that DNA test!” Selene denies hotly, “I don’t know how it happened,

years hiding Lila from me. You’ve been hiding her from the

even know about the test until the results were