His eyes flashed gold before settling back to their usual dark color. I watched as Alpha King John stood from his desk, his wolf barely contained beneath the surface.
"If my payment was not enough, just like I was never enough to satisfy you in bed, you should have haggled about it," he said. His voice carried the edge of his wolf. "You should have told me that since you usually wear me out, I should always compensate you for being the victorious one. You should not have adopted this cheap method to get more money from me."
My chest tightened. The tears came without permission, sliding down my cheeks as I struggled to breathe. The room seemed to spin around me. I lowered myself into the chair and pressed my head into my palms.
He thought I was a whore. He believed I had slept with him for money. He called our child a mistake.
"I am not the father of your baby," John continued. Each word landed like a physical strike. "I cannot birth a child through a cheap, loose woman like you. The only woman who can bear my heir must be pure, a woman whose entire sexual life begins with me and exists for me alone. So I suggest you think very well and give that bastard to any one of your numerous clients. I am not the father of that bastard."
Fresh tears spilled over. My wolf whimpered inside me, wounded and bleeding from his rejection. I tried to speak but my voice caught. The weight on my chest grew heavier.
"It is alright, John," I finally managed. The words felt like glass in my throat. "It is all my fault. It was a mistake on my part. You are not the father, okay?"
My head dropped to the desk. I heard his final words before his footsteps retreated.
"That is better for us both. And remember, do not come to me in a few months with a bastard child."
The door slammed. The sound echoed through the office and through my bones. I sat there alone, my hand moving to my belly where our child grew. Thirteen weeks tomorrow. I had imagined he would be happy. I had thought we conceived this baby in love.
Instead, he called me a whore in the most dignified way possible.
He thought so little of me because I had not been a virgin when we met. He was the second man in my life. I had believed he would be the last. But it seemed I was not destined to be loved by any man. I fell in love easily and gave everything without reservation. That was what happened between John and me.
I forced myself to stand and walked to the washroom. Cold water on my face did little to erase the evidence of my tears, but I tried anyway. My reflection stared back at me, hollow and broken.
Hunger gnawed at my stomach. I had not eaten properly all day. He had not even offered me water. He invited me here just to destroy me.
I grabbed my bag and left his office. The walk to my car felt endless. My legs moved but I could barely feel them. Once inside the vehicle, I realized I could not drive. My hands shook too badly. I pulled out my phone and called Mike.
"Come and pick me at the Moonstone Hotel," I said.
My voice sounded foreign to my own ears.
While I waited, I wondered if John felt any remorse. Probably not. He was not ready for a child, and definitely not from me.
***
John returned to the main palace wing. His conversation with Rosalinda left him restless. She could not possibly think of keeping the pregnancy, right? He was not ready for an heir, and certainly not with her.
His brother, Alpha Prince Jack, summoned him to his office. John went, though his mind remained in disarray. He decided not to tell Jack about the pregnancy. If he did, Jack would force him to accept the child and claim Rosalinda as his.
"You look troubled," Jack said when John entered. "Is everything alright?"
John was usually the cheerful one between them. When something went wrong, it showed on his face immediately.
"It is nothing," John replied. He sat across from his brother. "Just having issues with my girlfriend."
"Well, having numerous women means having numerous problems," Jack said. "Since it is your personal problem, you will manage it yourself."
John massaged the space between his eyes. Good thing he had not mentioned the real issue. Jack would have definitely imposed Rosalinda on him for the pregnancy's sake.
"I received a notification that Royal Beta Richard Delmark resigned," Jack announced.
John looked up in surprise. He thought Richard and Jack had resolved their differences. Richard really went through with his threat?
"Was it because of what happened that day at the healing center?" John asked. Richard had been furious with Jack. He blamed him for putting Aurora's life in danger.
"I do not know," Jack said. "But Aurora and I are together now. She has accepted me as her mate. He cannot still hold a grudge against me, right?"
"I will talk to him," John offered.
"He will be here soon. I have invited him for a discussion." Jack's expression darkened suddenly, and John wondered what memory had crossed his brother's mind.
John nodded, but his thoughts drifted back to Rosalinda. What would she do now? Would she really keep the baby?
He pushed the thought away. It did not matter. He had made his position clear. He was not the father, and he would not claim that child. His heir would come from a worthy she-wolf, not from someone like Rosalinda.
But even as he told himself this, something in his chest tightened uncomfortably. His wolf stirred, restless and angry. John ignored it. He had made his choice, and he would stand by it, no matter what his wolf thought about the matter or how Rosalinda's tears haunted him now.