Pregnant and Rejected by My Alpha Mate Chapter 42 Selene's POV Luna's melodic bay rises to meet the call of Bastien's wolf, sounds only we two can hear . I try with all my might to reign her back in. Luna, Igroan interna lly, cut it out! I can't help it! She exclaims. He 's calling me. Get it together. I snap. He's no good, and he ca n't find out about Lila. This is a disaster. I can't believe Drake didn't warn me when he called. I am not p repared to face Bastien, espe cially not when my wolf has lost her head at the mere sight of him, Though she was still with me after I escaped Garr ick, Luna had burie d herself so deeply in my heart that our connection became completely blocked. Neither of us could feel the other, and my wolf never met our mate . Things might have been different if Bastien had ever marked me, but he hadn't wanted me without Luna, so she stayed h idden until our d aughter was born. Lila is the most precious gift I've ever received, and bringing her into the world unlocked Luna's trapped s pirit. Looking back, think she started to return the moment I conceived. My wolf senses began to resurface long before Lila actually arrived, but freeing Luna completely made it possible for me to love and appreciate my child as a mother should. My wolf healed my fractured soul, if not my broken heart. Luna whines as I cross the garden, coming to stand in front of my ex-husband. Goddess I'd forgotten how handso me he is; how tall. It doesn't feel right to be so near him without our bodies touching, it takes all my strength not to reach out t o him. "Hello Bastien." Whatever he was expecting, it clearly wasn't t his. His sil ver eyes stop their hungry head-to-toe scan of my body, settling on my face and blinking in surprise. I can see the gears turning in his head, piecing together the puzzle of my presence here and replacing shock with confusion and anger. "Is that really all you have to say to me?" I cock my head to the side. "What would you have me say?" "I thought you were dead!" He barks, making Luna tuck her tail between her legs. Unlike my wolf, I have more than enough bad memories and regrets to withstand his ire. "Oh I'm sorry, d id my funeral get in the way of your wedding plans?" Bastien looks like he might explode. "What the hell are you talking about?" "Oh I forgot," I press my palm to my cheek . "Silly me, it can 't have gotten in the way because you did n't bother going." Just then, Aiden appears at our side. "Listen, I think w e all appreciate that this is a very difficult and emotional situ ation, but I really d on't think y ou want to have this conversation i n public." Bastien and I both look around, realizing we've gathered quite an audience. Reluctantly we pause our reunion to move into the pack house, heading for Drake's sound-proofed office. "I'm sorry , a r e you really a ngry that I didn't go to your fake funeral?" Bastien grumbles behind me as we ascend the stairs. "I didn't set that fire Bast ien, I didn't do anything other than di sappear. You assumed I was dead and you threw the fu neral." The bitterness I still carry prompts me to add, "Granted, I doubt you asked many questions. Having me out of the way had to have made your life easier." A h ug e hand catches my arm just above the elbow, pulling me to a halt while electricity zings through m y nerve-end ings. "I saw your body!" He growls, "The DNA matched yours." "What?" My face twists up in confus ion. "That's not possible." "I assure you it is." He corrects me har shly. "Your barbecued mate is not a sight you forget." Bastien's warm , tingling skin leaves mine as we continue walking. This doesn't make any sense. "Why would someone rescue me and then go back to plant a fake body?" I question aloud. "What do you mean, 'someone rescued yo u' ? You said you just disappeared." He counters. "Yes, after I woke u p in the forest outside Elysium half-d ead from smoke-inhalation." Bitterness coat s my tongue. "Clearly someone cared about me more than you did, because they pulled me out of the fire just in time." "Selene, I didn't have my phone with me when you tried to call." Bastien implores me to understa nd, "If I'd kno w n you were in trouble I would have dropped everyt hing." Like hell. There's no way he let his phone out of his sight in th e middle of a kidnapping situation. He ignored that call, just like he ignored my calls every other time I needed him. "It doesn't matter." I wa v e off his excuses. "That's ancient history now. " "It isn ' t." Bastien insists , "I've lived in nothing but regret for thr ee years. There's so much I have to explain, so much…" He trails off as the office doors close behind us. "Goddess I can ' t believe you 'r e really alive." When Bastien moves forwa rd like he's about to hug me, I jump out o f the way. "I'm not interested in excuses and lies. I don't want to hear your explanations." Crossing my arms over my chest, I shift to stand next to Drake, forming a united front against my ex. "Asphodel is my home now. Bastien glowers at the Eros Alpha, "Was this your doing then? The rescue, the body?" "I didn't know Selene was alive until after the funeral." Drake reveals, gesturing to me pointedly. "She walked for two w eeks through rogue territories to get here. She came to the Eros Pack of her own free will, and she's been under my protection since." A deep rumble vibrates in Bastien's chest, and Luna quivers with desire. Seriously? I mutter in internal exasperation. It's not my fault. Luna counters defensively. He smells so good. Bastien's claws extend. She's still my wife." "No," I object immediately. "I rejected you." His molten gaze skewers me. "I never accepted." "But…" I sputter in confusion, the rejection was your idea in the first place! You remarried the second you were free!" Bastien looks so bewildered I almost believe him when he turns on Drake. "What in the Goddess's name have you been telling her?" "Nothing that wasn't common knowledg e in Elysium." Drake argues without remorse. "Everyone said you were going to marry Arabella before the month was out." My attention ping pongs back and forth between th em. "You mean, you didn't?" The muscle in Bastian's angular jaw twitches. "Those rumors are three years old. I suppose you convenient ly forgot to tell Selene when they didn't pan out?" He su gg ests gruffly. After all, it's n ot like we ha v en't been in contact." For a moment I let myself be distracte d, looking a t Drake in hurt and uncertainty before regaining my senses. What's one omission compared to everything Bastian put me through. I give myself a little shake, "Stop it. It doesn't matter whether you remarried, or that you didn't agree to the rejecti on." I remark firmly. "My life is here now, so if you came here to bring me home then I'm sorry - I'm not going anywhere." "That's not why I came." His deep voice scrapes over my skin, sending a shiver down my spine, "I didn't know you were alive until I got here and smelled you ." "Then why did you come?" Something appears to click in hi s head, and his expression darkens even further. "Because I still have a shadow tip line for the Calypso pack's bounty on Volana wolves. You're not as safe here as you think. Someone reported you." "But you just said you didn't know I was here." I remind him. He cuts his eyes to Drake. "Are there any other Volanas in the pack?" Panic lances through me - there is one other Volana wo lf livin g in Asphodel, one I would do absolutely anything to protec t. Along with Bastien's absence, r ealizing my baby inheri ted the Volana gene was the only cloud over the happiest day of my life. Lila i s still too little to understand what it means to be a Volana, or for any of her playmates to know she's different, but when I lay awake at night worrying as e ve ry mother does, this is the exact scenario which terrifies me most. The idea that Blaise m ight find out about Lila, that anyone might hurt her for the blood I passed down to her, is my worst nightmare. Being reported myself used to petrify me, but now I find myself praying that I was the one who was reported. Anything so long as it wasn't Lila. "No." Drake lies smoothly, not even glancing my w a y. "There are no other Volanas in Asphodel." Bastien's focus returns to me, a look of grim determination set on his face. "Then you were the she-wolf they reported, and you are also the only true Volana that has ever been reported to the line in more than three years." He shares. 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