Pregnant by the cold Alpha

The confrontation

Lily pressed gauze against the young wolf's bleeding shoulder, her hands steady despite the exhaustion pulling at her. She'd been working non-stop for three hours, stitching wounds and monitoring vital signs. The emergency room finally felt under control, the most critical patients stabilized.

"You're doing great, Tommy," she said gently to the teenage wolf on the exam table. "Just a few more stitches and you'll be good as new."

"Thanks, Nurse Chen," Tommy said through gritted teeth. "Sorry for being such trouble."

"You're not trouble at all. Training accidents happen." Lily tied off the last stitch and reached for the bandage. "Just remember to keep this clean and dry for the next few days."

As she worked, a prickling sensation crept up her spine. The feeling of being watched. She glanced toward the observation window above the emergency room and froze.

Marcus Reid stood there, Damien's beta and best friend, his hazel eyes fixed intently on her. But it was the expression on his face that made her blood run cold. Recognition. Understanding. Suspicion.

He knows.

Somehow, Marcus knew about the pregnancy. Maybe he'd scented the change in her, or maybe he'd simply put the pieces together. Either way, the way he was staring at her with his phone pressed to his ear told Lily everything she needed to know.

He was calling Damien right now.

Panic surged through her chest. She had to get out of here before Damien arrived. She had to run, now, before it was too late.

"All done, Tommy," Lily said, forcing her voice to remain calm as she finished bandaging his shoulder. "Dr. Martinez will be by to check on you shortly."

She stripped off her gloves and hurried toward the staff room, her mind racing. She could grab her purse, slip out the back exit, go straight to her apartment, pack the essentials, and be gone within the hour. She had cash saved, she could drive through the night, put distance between herself and Silverstone before—

"Lily."

The deep voice froze her in place just steps from the staff room door. She turned slowly to find Damien striding down the clinic hallway toward her, Marcus trailing behind him with an apologetic expression.

Damien looked furious. His silver eyes blazed with an intensity that made her wolf cower in submission. His jaw was clenched tight, his powerful body radiating barely controlled anger. Other pack members in the hallway quickly moved out of his way, sensing their alpha's dangerous mood.

"We need to talk," Damien said, his voice low and commanding. "Now."

"I'm working," Lily said, hating how her voice trembled. "There are still patients who need—"

"Dr. Martinez can handle them." Damien closed the distance between them, towering over her petite frame. "My office. Now."

It wasn't a request. It was an alpha command, one her wolf instinctively wanted to obey. But Lily's human side rebelled against his authority.

"You can't just order me around," she said, lifting her chin defiantly. "I'm in the middle of my shift."

"I'm the alpha of this pack and you will do as I say," Damien growled, his eyes flashing with dominance. The power rolling off him made several nearby wolves whimper and lower their heads in submission.

But Lily, despite her fear, refused to back down. "I'm not one of your subordinates you can bully, Damien. If you want to talk to me, you can wait until my shift ends in four hours."

Something dangerous flickered in Damien's eyes. Before Lily could react, he bent and lifted her effortlessly into his arms, cradling her against his chest.

"Put me down!" Lily gasped, pushing against his shoulders. "Damien, this is ridiculous!"

"You left me no choice," he said grimly, carrying her down the hallway toward the administrative wing where his private office was located. "We're having this conversation whether you like it or not."

Marcus followed at a discrete distance, clearing other pack members out of their path. Lily was mortified. Everyone was staring, whispering, their eyes wide with shock and curiosity. By tomorrow, the entire pack would know that Alpha Cross had carried Nurse Chen through the clinic like some kind of caveman.

Damien kicked open his office door, carried her inside, and set her down firmly on her feet. Then he closed the door and locked it, sealing them in together.

"You can't keep me here against my will," Lily said, backing away from him. "This is kidnapping."

"I'll unlock the door as soon as you answer one question." Damien stalked toward her, his silver eyes locked on hers with frightening intensity. "Are you pregnant with my child?"

The direct question hit her like a physical blow. Lily's heart stuttered, her breath catching in her throat. She opened her mouth to deny it, to lie, to protect her secret just a little longer.

But looking into Damien's eyes, seeing the mixture of hope and fear and desperate need there, she couldn't do it. The lie wouldn't come.

Her silence was answer enough.

"Oh my god," Damien breathed, his face going pale. He stumbled backward and sat heavily in his desk chair, looking completely shaken. "It's true. You're carrying my baby."

"How did you know?" Lily whispered.

"Marcus noticed your scent had changed. Sweeter. And the way you moved, protecting your abdomen." Damien looked up at her, his silver eyes now filled with a mixture of emotions she couldn't read. "How long have you known?"

"I found out today," Lily admitted quietly. "A few hours before you came to my apartment."

"Today." Damien's hands clenched into fists on the armrests of his chair. "When I was there asking for another chance, you already knew you were pregnant with my child and you didn't tell me?"

"Why would I tell you?" Anger flared in Lily's chest, overriding her fear. "You made it perfectly clear that sleeping with me was a mistake. That we lived in different worlds. That I was beneath you. Did you really think I'd come running to tell you about the baby so you could reject me all over again?"

"I wouldn't have—" Damien started.

"Wouldn't you?" Lily cut him off, her voice rising. "Tell me honestly, Damien. If I had told you four weeks ago that I was pregnant, what would you have done? Would you have been happy? Would you have wanted this baby? Or would you have accused me of trying to trap you, of being a gold-digger using a pregnancy to force my way into your life?"

Damien flinched as if she'd slapped him. The guilt on his face told her everything she needed to know. She was right. Four weeks ago, he would have thought the worst of her.

"That's what I thought," Lily said bitterly. "So no, I didn't tell you. I was planning to leave Silverstone, to raise this baby on my own somewhere far away where your rejection couldn't hurt us."

"Leave?" Damien stood abruptly, his expression shifting from guilt to outrage. "You were going to take my child and disappear? You were going to deny me the chance to know my own son or daughter?"

"You gave up that right when you called me a mistake!" Lily shouted back, her emotions finally breaking free. "You don't get to be cold and cruel and then suddenly decide you want to play father because it's convenient for you!"

"This isn't about convenience, damn it!" Damien roared, his alpha power flooding the room. "That's my child you're carrying! My heir! You can't just run away with my baby like it doesn't concern me!"

"Your heir," Lily repeated, her voice going cold. "Of course. That's all you care about, isn't it? Not me, not the fact that I'll be raising this baby. Just that your precious bloodline continues. Just that you have an heir for your precious pack."

"That's not what I meant—"

"Yes, it is." Lily wrapped her arms around her middle protectively. "You don't care about me, Damien. You proved that. And I won't let you use our baby as a pawn in your pack politics. I won't let you take my child away from me just because you're the powerful alpha and I'm nobody."

"I would never take the baby from you," Damien said, his voice rough with emotion. "Lily, please, you have to believe me. I want—"

A loud knock on the office door interrupted him. Marcus's voice came through, urgent and worried.

"Damien, we have a problem. It's the Blackwood Pack. They're at our borders demanding to speak with you. They say it's about a treaty violation, and they brought fifty warriors with them. This could turn into a war."

Damien cursed under his breath, conflict clear on his face. Pack business or Lily? His duty or his child?

"We're not done with this conversation," he said intensely to Lily. "Don't you dare leave this territory. We have a lot to discuss about our baby's future."

"There's nothing to discuss," Lily said quietly. "I've made my decision."

"Lily—"

"Alpha, they're getting aggressive," Marcus called through the door. "We need you now."

Damien looked torn, his silver eyes pleading with her. "Promise me you'll stay. Promise me you won't run. Give me a chance to make this right."

Lily said nothing, just stared at him with guarded eyes.

With a frustrated growl, Damien unlocked the door and strode out, Marcus falling into step beside him as they headed toward the border crisis.

As soon as they were gone, Lily slumped against the wall, her legs shaking. Her hand moved to her still-flat stomach, protecting the tiny life growing there.

She had maybe an hour before Damien returned. An hour to decide whether to stay and face an uncertain future with the alpha who'd broken her heart, or run and protect herself and her baby from more pain.

Lily pulled out her phone and opened her banking app, checking her savings. She had enough for a bus ticket to the next state, enough to rent a cheap motel room for a few weeks while she found work.

She could disappear before Damien even finished dealing with the Blackwood Pack.

But as her finger hovered over the screen, ready to book the ticket, her phone buzzed with an incoming text from an unknown number.

She opened it and her blood turned to ice.

The message was simple, just three lines of text and a photo:

"We know about the alpha's bastard child. If you want your baby to be born healthy, you'll do exactly as we say. Don't tell anyone about this message, or the child dies."

The attached photo showed Lily walking into her apartment building that morning, taken from across the street. Someone had been watching her. Someone knew about the pregnancy.

And they were threatening her unborn baby.