Chapter 2
1342 Words
Kora's POV
Carter had been my life, my world, and just now, when I thought that I would probably start a part-time job to raise money for back to school, the feeling erupted.
The bag slipped from my fingers. I stumbled toward the bushes and threw up everything I had eaten that day, which wasn't much.
Just kept heaving until there was nothing left but spit and the sour taste of bile.
My hands shook as I wiped my mouth. Great. As if today wasn't s**t enough already.
‘Kora’
Lilly, my wolf called out quietly in my head.
‘Not now,’ I grabbed my bag, tried to stand. The world tilted sideways. ‘I can't deal with…….’
‘You need to listen to me,’ she persisted, even though she knew I was trying to shove her at the back of my head.
‘Lilly, I just got expelled and disowned on the same day. I think I'm allowed to have a breakdown without……’
‘You're pregnant!’
I stopped breathing.
Just... stopped. Like someone had reached into my chest and squeezed really hard.
‘What?’
‘Feel it.’ Her voice was softer now. ‘Please. Just feel it and hear the sound of the heartbeat growing inside of you.’
I pressed my hand to my stomach. Reached inward the way Mom taught me before she died, back when I still talked to my wolf about things that mattered. And there it was.
A Faint sound, barely there but real.
A second heartbeat.
"No." The word came out broken. "No, no, that's not……."
‘Carter's pup,’ Lilly said quietly. ‘Which makes it Alpha George's grandchild.’
I sank to my knees right there on the sidewalk. A lady walking her dog crossed the street to avoid me. Couldn't blame her. I probably looked insane.
Pregnant. I was pregnant with Carter Ace's baby.
The boy who'd just destroyed my entire life was now tied to me in the most permanent way possible.
‘This changes things’Lilly said, and I could feel her trying to be hopeful. ‘They'll have to acknowledge the pup. Alpha George would never……..’
‘Stop!’ I yanked at her as I dug my fingers into the ground. ‘Just stop talking, I need a moment to breathe.’
But she was right, wasn't she? This changed everything.
Carter had planned my destruction like a f*****g military operation. Recorded us without telling me. Released it at exactly the right time. Lied to everyone who mattered. And I was supposed to believe he'd suddenly grow a conscience because of a baby.
I looked down at my hands. I had sixty-three dollars in my bank account. No phone, Dad had taken it since it was on his plan, no scholarship. No home and apparently, no brain cells, because I'd let Carter Ace ruin me twice, once when I fell for him, and once when I let him film it.
I picked up my bag with tears rolling down my cheek.
What choice did I have? If I was going to survive this, if this baby was going to survive this, I needed Carter to step up. Not because I still loved him. I didn't.
The walk to his apartment took twenty minutes. Every step felt wrong. Like I was walking toward something that was going to hurt me worse than everything else combined.
I knew this was wrong; it felt like going back to plead with him even though I was the one who was betrayed and hurt, but I needed him badly right now.
His building was nice. Too nice for a college student, but that's what happened when your dad was Alpha of one of the strongest packs in the region.
Carter's apartment was on the fourth floor. 4C. I'd been here a hundred times, always sneaking in after dark, always leaving before sunrise. Like I was something to be ashamed of.
Turns out I was.
I knocked at the door and could hear footsteps accompanied by a strong scent of female perfume. The door swung open.
But it wasn't Carter.
Luna stood there in a cream silk blouse and perfectly pressed slacks, her dark hair pulled back in a way that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe. She looked at me the way you'd look at a cockroach that just crawled out of the drain.
"You?" She spoke like my name was too dirty to be called out loud as he gaze trailed at me from head to toe with utmost disgust.
“Good day, Luna,” I bowed my head in respect.
“The nerve of you to show your face here after trying to ruin my son,” she growled at me, but I ignored it. The moment I knew she was the one at home, that was certainly what I expected from her.
"I need to see Carter, please, Luna." My voice came out smaller than I wanted.
Her eyes went cold. "My son doesn't want to see you."
"Please, I just need five minutes, and I will be out of here."
"He's *engaged*." She said it like I was stupid for not knowing. "The announcement party is this weekend. Do you have any idea what kind of families are coming? What kind of alliances we've been building?"
The news made me freeze for a second as I struggled to process it. Carter was engaged. To someone appropriate. Someone who fit into his world. Someone whose naked body wasn't currently circulating through every phone in Hilton Academy.
"I didn't know," I whispered.
"Of course you didn't. Because you don't matter." Luna stepped forward, and I automatically backed up. "You chased my son for years. Everyone knows it. You did his homework, wrote his papers, followed him around like a desperate little puppy. He felt sorry for you, and you tried to trap him."
"That's not what happened."
"It doesn't matter what happened." Her smile was mean that it made my skin coiled "It matters what everyone *believes* happened. And they believe you threw yourself at an Alpha's son and got what you deserved."
My throat burned. "He lied about everything."
"And yet somehow, he's fine, and you're here begging." She glanced at the guard by the elevator. "John! Remove this girl from the building."
"Wait….." I stumbled back as the guard moved toward me. "Please, I just need to talk to him, it's really important."
John grabbed my arm. His fingers dug in hard enough to leave marks. He started dragging me toward the elevator, and I couldn't break free; my wolf was too weak compared to the huge man.
"Please!" Tears were streaming down my face now. Snot too. I didn't care. "Please, I have nowhere to go, I don't have any money, I just need……"
"Get her out of here," Luna said, already turning away. "And if she comes back, call the pack enforcers."
"I'm pregnant!"
I didn't realize when I blurted that out in a loud scream.
Everything stopped.
Luna froze with her hand on the door. Marcus's grip on my arm loosened slightly. For a second, nobody moved. Nobody dared breathe.
Then Luna turned around.
Slowly, like she was moving through water. Her face was completely blank.
"What did you say?"
I swallowed my spit as I took a deep breath, forcing the words out again, "I'm pregnant. With Carter's baby."
She stared at me. Five seconds. Ten. I watched her close her eyes, felt the pulse of power as she reached out with her wolf senses; high-ranked wolves could do that, feel for life forces nearby.
When her eyes opened, something had shifted. I couldn't tell if it was rage, fear, or something else entirely.
"Inside," she snapped at John, "Bring her inside. Now!" She yelled out, and as I stared at her. Her eyes had turned dark, and the aura around her was intense.
I took a step backwards, but John grabbed my hand and yanked me forward, forcing me inside, where I wasn't sure of the fate that awaited me.
- Writer
