He Rejected Our Pup, So I Rejected Our Bond

A sharp, cramping pain twists through my abdomen, and I can’t hold back a soft, pained gasp.

Lewis Hunt hears the sound from outside my door, and his voice comes cold, sharp with irritation:

“Stop making that noise. It’s annoying.”

I drag myself to the mirror hanging on the wall and stare at my reflection. My face is gaunt, my eyes hollow, my hair a disheveled mess. In the back of my mind, I hear the desperate, wailing cry of my inner wolf, and my heart clenches so hard it aches.

In my first life, Lewis always put his childhood sweetheart Felicity Collins first, saying she was orphaned and alone, that he owed her care. I’d resented it, but I’d told myself he was just loyal, that his kindness to her was a good quality. Not until our pup Max fell deathly ill with a fever, his tiny body burning up, did I see the truth. Lewis didn’t care that our son was dying. He stole every cent we’d saved for the healer to buy a fancy new necklace for Felicity. That day, my heart for him turned to ash. I lost my mind, ran at them with a kitchen knife, and ended up dead myself, broken and bleeding on the floor of that cramped apartment.

I never expected the Moon Goddess would give me a second chance. I’m back, right here, months before the marking ceremony, before Max was even born.

I yank open the front door, and there he stands, holding the silver locket my mother left me—my most precious thing—ready to walk out. I hurry forward to block him, my voice cracking: “This locket was my mother’s! You can’t take it!”

“It’s just a stupid trinket,” he says, and yanks his arm out of my grasp hard enough to send me stumbling back a step. “Felicity likes it, so I’m giving it to her. What’s the big deal?”

“Likes it?” I laugh, raw and angry. “Do you even remember you’re already mated to me?”

He’s never had a steady job, never contributed a cent to this apartment. Everything we have I got from selling my mother’s jewelry, gifts from my father the Lycan King. And now he’s giving away the last of what’s mine just to impress his mistress.

He looks guilty for half a second, then his jaw sets, and he’s all righteous indignation again. “I’ll get a promotion at work soon, I’ll pay you back, okay? What’s the fuss?”

“Besides,” he continues, “Felicity hasn’t been feeling well this week. You go over to her place later and make her some soup. Be quick about it, don’t keep her waiting.”

Bitterness rises sharp in my throat, and I can’t help the sneer that tugs at my mouth. “Lewis, if you care so much about her, why did you ever accept me as your mate in the first place? I didn’t give up my place in the royal household to come here and be your servant.”

His alpha aura flares with anger, and he glares at me. “Aurelia Kelly, how can you be so jealous?” He snatches the locket off the dresser and shoves past me, slamming the door behind him as he heads straight for Felicity’s apartment down the hall.

The walls in this building are paper thin. Every word we just said carried straight to her, and she’s waiting, leaning soft and sweet against her doorframe when Lewis walks up.

“Lewis was only pitying me because I’m alone, that’s all,” she calls, loud enough for me to hear through the wall. “Don’t be angry, Princess. I’ll talk to him about it later, I promise.”

She lets her soft jasmine scent drift through the walls, deliberately fanning the attraction that tugs at Lewis’s wolf, looking so perfectly innocent, so soft and wronged, like she’s the one who belongs here, not me. And Lewis looks at her like she hung the moon, all that soft tenderness he never gave me, his wolf preening at the sweet scent she’s putting out.

“Go rest, darling,” he says. “I’ll make the soup myself, don’t you worry about it.”

He never did a single kind thing for me. When I had the flu last winter, he complained I was making too much noise, locked himself in the study to study for his certification exam and didn’t check on me once. Now he’s rushing to cook for her.

I snort and turn away, slamming my own door hard enough to rattle the frames. I’m not going to make the same mistakes again. If he wants Felicity so bad, I’ll give her to him. This pup I’m carrying… I won’t let him grow up unloved, the way Max did. This life, I’m going to reject Lewis, walk away, and never look back.

I press a gentle hand to my still-flat stomach, and tears blur my vision. Forgive me, little one. I can’t let you suffer the way Max did.

My stomach growls, empty, but I don’t have any appetite to eat. I glance around the small apartment, and notice the expensive wool comforter my father had sent from the royal household is gone. I don’t even need to guess. Lewis gave that to Felicity too.