Aveline’s POV
“Oh, Aveline, you’re back,” Calista said, smiling at me with that false, sugary sweetness that had begun to make my wolf bare its teeth.
I stopped in the doorway, confused.
I had rushed back to the packhouse, thrown open the door to our chamber, and braced myself for the worst.
But instead of what I had imagined, I found Calista curled up against my mate’s chest.
They were fully clothed.
Across the room, a scrying stone flickered with moving shadows, and the breathless moans I had heard outside were coming from the scene playing across it.
For a moment, my mind simply stopped.
“What... what is going on here?” I asked.
Calista had sent me that image of herself in Evander’s arms. But what I was seeing now looked nothing like it.
At once, Calista’s face crumpled, and tears rushed to her eyes.
“Oh, Evander,” she said shakily, “I knew we should have spoken to Aveline first. I feel awful. Just let me go back to my cottage.”
I frowned, still trying to understand what game she was playing.
The scene on the scrying stone changed, and the moaning stopped.
“You just can’t stand seeing Calista at peace, can you?” Evander snapped.
I turned to him in disbelief. “What did I do? I only just came back.”
“Calista cannot stay in the guest chamber,” he said coldly. “The bed in there makes her dizzy and sick. The bed in our chamber is softer, more comfortable for her, so I moved her here. And now you come in with that look on your face and frighten her.”
I stared at him, struggling to make sense of his words.
“Wait,” I said slowly. “I do not understand. Calista moved into our chamber? Our mating room?”
Evander frowned, kissed Calista’s forehead, and murmured, “Rest. Don’t trouble yourself. I’ll handle Aveline.”
Calista nodded and lowered her lashes obediently.
Then Evander crossed the room, caught my arm, and dragged me out into the hall.
His grip was so tight it made me wince.
“You’re hurting me,” I gasped.
He loosened his hold, but only barely, and let out an impatient breath.
“Listen, Aveline. Calista has been through enough. The last thing I want is for her to be uncomfortable.”
“She can be comfortable somewhere else,” I shot back, glaring at him.
“No,” Evander snapped. “It is just a chamber, Aveline. If it matters that much to you, I’ll have another wing prepared for you.”
I stared at him.
“But that is our room,” I whispered. “Ours. So what now? The three of us share it?”
“Moon above, no,” he scoffed. “Calista will stay there. I had your things moved to the guest chamber. It is only temporary, until she gives birth.”
I nodded once, biting the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted blood.
My mate had taken my things out of our room and made space for another she-wolf.
“So where will you sleep?” I asked.
Evander rubbed at his jaw and looked away for a moment. “Do not make this difficult, Aveline. You know Calista still wakes screaming from nightmares because of what her ex-mate did to her. I will stay with her whenever I am home.”
A bitter laugh broke out of me.
“So you cast me out and move your first love into our bed?”
“It is not like that,” Evander said tiredly. “Stop being difficult. Calista is carrying a pup. You do not know what that feels like, so at least try to understand.”
That broke something inside me.
A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it.
“Of course I do not know what that feels like,” I said.
Then I turned and walked away before he could see my face fall apart.
I shut myself inside the guest chamber, curled into the bed, and cried until my chest hurt and my eyes burned.
At some point, I fell asleep like that.
---
I woke with a violent start.
My heart was pounding, and my body was drenched in freezing water.
I shoved myself upright, gasping, and found Calista standing beside the bed with an empty basin in her hands and a smirk on her lips.
“Calista?” I stared at her. “Did you throw water on me?”
She scoffed. “What do you think? It is morning. Get your lazy ass out of bed.”
I frowned, still shivering, and looked around the chamber I had been thrown into.
“Excuse me?” I said. “You do not decide when I sleep or wake in my own packhouse.”
Calista gave a light, mocking laugh.
“After yesterday? And seeing as you are the one sleeping in the guest chamber?” She tilted her head. “Are you certain this is still your house?”
My glare sharpened. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” she said lightly. “Only that your mate is mine. And the image I sent you yesterday? That was very real.”
“Do not flatter yourself,” I said coldly. “Evander only pities you. He is trying to help you.”
Calista laughed under her breath.
“You still do not understand, do you, Aveline?”
“Get away from me, Calista. I do not want to begin my day looking at your face.”
I swung my legs off the bed and stood.
Calista’s smile only widened.
“Oh, poor Aveline,” she cooed. “Crying herself to sleep in the guest chamber, and she still knows nothing.”
I turned back sharply. “What are you talking about?”
She stepped closer.
“What do you think Evander would do,” she asked softly, “if both of us were in danger?”
My brows Evander together. “What do you mean?”
I barely got the words out before she shoved me.
Hard.
I fell backward and struck the edge of the bed with my lower stomach.
Pain exploded through me.
A sharp, sickening pain deep in my abdomen.
I sucked in a breath, unable to scream.
But before I could even recover, Calista let out a piercing cry.
“No, Aveline, stop!” she screamed. “I’m sorry!”
I looked up in shock just as she threw herself onto the floor, clutching her stomach and writhing as though she were the one in agony.
My mind went blank.
“What... what are you doing?” I managed through clenched teeth, one hand pressed to my aching belly.
Then the door flew open.
Evander stood there, eyes wide, face stricken.
He looked from Calista on the floor to me beside the bed.
“What is going on here?” he demanded.
