Chapter Six

Xavier felt suffocated by the walls closing in around him at the pack house. The weight of his choices threatened to crush him, the ghost of Luna's devastated face haunting his every waking moment. He needed to escape, breathe, and sort through the tangled mess of emotions. With a mumbled excuse to Anna, he headed into the forest surrounding the pack lands.

As soon as the ancient trees enveloped him, Xavier allowed his wolf to surface, letting the beast take temporary refuge from his turbulent human emotions. Bones shifted and reformed as he dropped on four powerful legs, his russet fur bristling along his spine. A long, mournful howl bubbled up from his lupine chest, a guttural expression of frustration and inner turmoil.

He took off at a loping run, powerful haunches propelling him forward as he relished the burn in his muscles and the wind whipping through his coarse pelt. Outside the wilderness, he could think clearly without Anna's insistent presence clouding his judgment. What had he done, throwing away his bond with Luna in a moment of weakness and desire?

Luna had been his sun, moon and stars for so many years. Her gentle strength and unwavering love had been the tether holding him steady through the darkest times as pack alpha. But the one thing she couldn't provide was an heir to carry on his bloodline, and Anna had seductively, unintentionally presented that missing piece he'd craved.

Xavier's heavy paws pounded against the loamy forest floor as he replayed the devastating scene when he confessed his betrayal to Luna. The shattering of her heart, her beautiful eyes swimming with agony and disbelief - it was a fracture that may never fully heal in his soul. Had he ruined the most precious bond in his life for a fleeting indiscretion born of desperation?

Slowing to a stop near a moonlit clearing, Xavier threw back his head and let out a long, mournful howl that echoed through the trees. His wolf and human halves remained bitterly at war over the choices he'd made. Duty, loyalty, and ensuring a future for his pack had inexorably pulled him towards Anna's fertile embrace. But his wretched heart stubbornly remained entwined with memories of Luna's adoring gaze, gentle caresses, and unconditional acceptance of his true self.

As the full moon peeked through the canopy above, bathing the forest in its ethereal glow, Xavier closed his eyes and allowed its ancient energy to wash over his tormented soul. Had the goddess forsaken him for relinquishing the one true mate the fates had destined for him? Had his selfish yearnings permanently severed the sacred bond he'd once shared with his Luna?

Only time would reveal the consequences of his actions. For now, Xavier could only run - putting endless miles between himself and Anna's increasing demands, the pack's judging stares, and his burning shame and regrets. His paws would eat up the forest paths under the moonlight while his inner wolf sought the absolution that may never come.

The first pale streaks of dawn were staining the sky when Xavier finally returned to the pack house, his wolf retreating beneath his human skin. He felt no more at peace than when he had departed, his mind and soul still ravaged by turmoil.

As soon as he stepped through the door, Anna was on him like a raging storm, her anger and insecurity rolling off her in waves. "Where in the goddess' name have you been?" she hissed, hands planted firmly on her hips as she paced in front of him, her belly slightly rounded with the growing life within.

Xavier sighed, suddenly feeling every agonising ounce of weariness weighing on his shoulders. "I needed to clear my head. I went for a run," he mumbled, raking a hand through his messy hair.

Anna's eyes flashed with anger and something more unsettling - a sense of entitlement and possession. "You can't just go running off without telling me! What if something had happened to you?" Her voice dropped to a quieter yet still accusatory tone. "To the father of my child?"

He resisted the urge to snap at her, to lash out with the hurricane of emotions swirling violently within him. As much as her behaviour gritted on his nerves, needling him with her proprietary demands, he knew a part of her anger came from the raging storm of pregnancy hormones.

"Anna," Xavier said, struggling to keep his voice even and calm. "I am the alpha of these lands. I can go for a run on my territory whenever I desire without seeking your permission."

His words seemed to douse her fiery outrage with a splash of shocked realisation. Her mouth opened, clearly ready to berate him further, to attempt to reassert her stance as the mother of his unborn child. But something in his quiet dismissal gave her pause, and she clamped her lips shut again with a huff.

Instead, Anna grabbed his arm, her fingers digging into the corded muscle as she attempted to pull him towards the bedroom wing. "Come then," she commanded, a slight waver in her voice. "You need your rest. All this stress and running about isn't good for the baby."

Xavier carefully yet firmly extricated himself from her grip, his wolf snarling at her entitled demands, her flagrant refusal to allow him even a shred of boundaries or private grief. "That's enough, Anna," he stated in a low, rumbling tone. "I'll rest when I'm good and ready when I've had my fill of being alone with my thoughts."

The shock on her face at his rebuke quickly morphed into outrage, an all-too-familiar sight over the past several moons. "After everything I've sacrificed to give you the heir you so desperately wanted? You owe me, Xavier!" She jabbed an accusing finger into his chest.

Those words, that persistent belief that he was in her debt for providing the ultimate bargaining chip, ignited a simmering fury inside him that caused his wolf to pace restlessly in the confines of his psyche. His jaw clenched hard as he fought for control over the growl building in his throat.

"Be very careful with your next words, Anna," he finally bit out through gritted teeth. "You may carry my child, but you are not and will never be my mate. Not after the way I so carelessly discarded Luna."

Anna recoiled as if he'd struck her, finally seeing the consequences her manipulations had wrought. The heartbroken expression that flickered across her features mirrors the devastation he'd witnessed on Luna's beautiful face.

Unable to bear looking at Anna a moment longer, Xavier turned away; every muscle in his body tensed against the urge to abandon her entirely. As much as he still desired her lush curves, her ability to distract him from his all-consuming guilt over Luna was rapidly fading.

With heavy steps, Xavier made his way through the deserted halls toward the bedroom wing, his body feeling as though it had aged decades in a single night. He had sacrificed everything for this path - his love, values, and honour. Now, he needed to be alone to finally grieve what he had lost, with no interfering voices to sway his fragile self-restraint.