I touched my abdomen and smiled at myself, giddy with excitement as I sat in the back of the cab taking me home. Finally, after all those years, I had gotten what I had longed for. What my husband Bolton and I had longed for. A child. I didn't know when I grinned and closed my eyes, thanking the skies for my blessing. I had just received the news some hours ago when I went to the pack doctor to get my monthly check-up. A check-up that I faithfully went to since Bolton and I had been trying to conceive. I opened my eyes and looked out the window, glancing at the moving cars and buildings encompassed in the beautiful lights of the night, my heart feeling light.
Soon enough, the cab pulled up at my home. I paid the driver immediately and got out of the vehicle eager to surprise my husband with the good news. I wasted no time in getting from my gate to the house before I opened the door and walked into my home, readily heading for my bedroom since I could smell Bolton in there. His scent intoxicated me. I dropped my purse on the couch in our living room and went into the bedroom with a gleam in my eye and a smile on my face, but all that changed when I saw what was going on beneath my sheets.
Bodies melded together and the sounds of moans reached my ears. The sheets moved fervently as my eyes widened with each blink.
"Yes, Alpha Bolton. Screw me more." A female voice echoed in the room as her hands gripped Bolton's clawed out back, pulling him closer to her, like her life depended on it.
I saw Bolton move up and down thrusting into whoever was in my bed, his own moans echoing in my head. My throat closed and my body froze. What was this? What was I seeing? I asked myself as I shut my eyes, willing the scene to be a figment of my imagination, but when the sounds didn't go away I knew that it was real. My husband was cheating on me. He was bonding with someone else. In our matrimonial bed. The same bed that he had proclaimed his love for me as he took my virginity.
I meant to shout out and get their attention, but my voice seized up and all that came out were two measly words.
"Why Bolton?" I voiced, my hands trembling as my vision blurred with tears.
Bolton shot up from the bed once he heard my voice and turned around to see me standing by the door with a detached and disappointed look on my face. He grabbed the satin sheets off the bed and covered himself.
"Scarlett, this isn't what you think." He tried to convince me, but his words didn't help, especially when my eyes landed on the woman he was having an affair with. Layla Creed, one of the betas who vied for my husband's attention in the past. Bolton's ex.
Upon looking at her, my mouth dropped, and my hands went to my stomach unintentionally. This was the woman he was with. The same one that he swore up and down was the bane of his existence. The woman who he claimed he hated with every bone in his body after how she treated him when they were together. This was who he chose to break my heart with?
"Layla." I muttered in disbelief.
"Scarlett. Nice to see you again." Layla spoke with a small smirk as she twirled her strawberry blonde hair, unashamed that her body was on full display for me to see. She had no shame.
I turned back to Bolton, my mind not wanting to see that woman anymore.
"How long?" I questioned him, the words leaving a bad taste in my mouth once they came out.
"As long as the both of you have been married," Layla blurted out, causing Bolton to sigh and rub his eyes in annoyance at her crass words.
"Layla, that's enough." He commanded, shutting her up. Layla shrugged and sank into bed, reveling in my pain.
"Three years! Why would you do this to me? I have done everything for you. I have given up everything for you and this is how you repay me? By having an affair with your ex!" I screamed at him, my voice clearer this time and my heart beating quickly.
"Shut the hell up! Who do you think you're speaking to?" Bolton's command cut through the air, making me flinch. In our three years of marriage, he had never raised his voice at me. Not once.
"I am your alpha. You do not speak to me in that manner." He added, glaring at me with those same eyes that were soft towards me.
"I am your Luna and..." I tried to speak but he cut me off.
"You are only my Luna in name. Nothing more. We never got to blood bound." Bolton declared, making my heart shatter even more. I opened my mouth to ask him why he was denying me all of a sudden when he cut me off and spoke up.
"As for your question, why wouldn't I do this? You haven't been able to give me a child for three good years. I'm the alpha of this pack. I need a child that will take up my mantle in the future and since you refused to give me one, I chose to find it elsewhere." He explained coldly.
"You have been doing this since the moment we were married, so don't you dare say that this affair is because you want an heir." I argued, pointing at Layla to make my point.
"It may not be what you want to hear, but the truth is bitter, isn't it? I married you because our fathers were friends, all for the sake of keeping peace in the pack, but since you couldn't even do something as simple as getting pregnant, then I have no use for you." Bolton said with a sneer.
I bit my lip, my heart completely breaking apart. My lip quivered, and my eyes began to water, but I held my emotions back, weighing my options in this situation. It wasn't unheard of that Alphas of a pack slept with their subordinates, and although I didn't expect this for my marriage, I was willing to make this work. For my child. I was still willing to save my marriage despite the betrayal. I still loved this man. I was about to have his child for Christ's sake. I couldn't handle this on my own.
"I'm pregnant." I revealed it with a proud face. If a child was his problem, then I solved it.
I expected Bolton to be overjoyed and hug me, but instead, he looked at me in disgust and scoffed.
"Obviously she's lying." Layla spoke out of turn, her eyes narrowing at me.
I shot her a glare and turned to Bolton, taking one step towards him. He was the one who I needed to convince. Not her.
"Bolton, I'm your wife. When have I ever lied to you? I'm pregnant. The doctor informed me today."
I expected Bolton to light up, embrace me, chase Layla away, do something, but he did the exact opposite of all those. He grimaced.
"I don't know what you think you're doing, but lying about this sort of thing is disrespectful to not only me but to the pack as a whole."
"But..." I started but he didn't let me finish.
"You've done enough. Leave." Bolton ordered, turning away from me. I paused, feeling my sadness turn into anger.
"This is my home. I'm not going anywhere." I said in defiance. Bolton might have been my alpha, but right after him in power was me, and I was not going to allow some power-hungry gremlin to take my place. We were together for three years. That had to count as something.
Bolton faced me and raised a brow.
"Get out, or I will throw you out." He warned me, his back still to me.
I stood my ground and braced myself. No matter what had happened, he wouldn't throw me out, right? I must have had an overactive imagination because before I knew it, Bolton was standing directly in front of me, his claws and fangs bare as he growled into my ear. His eyes were a different shade. They changed from his bright blue orbs to red. The eyes he used for hunting and killing, and they were directed at me. At me and my child.
"Get out." He reiterated, his voice echoing in the room.
My eyes widened. Was he about to hurt me?
"Get out before I hurt you." he said, answering my silent question.
With the shock on my face, I glanced at Layla who was still sitting in my bed, watching the show. The dam of emotions I had been holding back broke and the tears began to flow. I turned around and ran away. Not because of the affair, but because the man I had loved for most of my life was about to harm me and his child. He raised his hands to me. I wiped my eyes and left the house with nothing in my hands and heaviness in my heart. It seemed like the weather felt my pain because as soon as I stepped outside, it started to rain. I shouted at the top of my lungs like a wounded animal and let myself break down, not caring if people saw or heard me.
I placed a hand on my stomach and wondered how I was going to raise this child on my own, since Bolton had rejected it. I always thought dying was a horrible end to life, but I never knew that this, this betrayal, this heartbreak, was a far worse fate. Now, I was alone. I was on my own.
