Chapter 3

Hayley

“Please, Hay, we need to talk” Damon whispered and as I fixed my gaze at him, I realized that he didn’t even look as well as I had imagined he would be.

I hated that he called me the nickname that I adored, I hated that he didn’t even look well so that I could hate him for doing this to me, doing this to us, and I hated that merely looking at him made me remember all of the good times that we had before he had gone to ruin everything.

“I know that I don’t deserve an audience with you. I know that I don’t even have the right to stand in front of you right now but please let me explain. Please, Hay.”

“Hayley, Damon. Hayley.” I answered firmly, refusing to let him twist my heart because of endearment that I was not ready to hear right now.

He looked like I had slapped him but he nodded and I moved away from the door to let him in.

The evening moon cast a warm glow on the living room as I sat on the couch, lost in my thoughts. The pain in my heart was almost unbearable as he sat across from me and the distance made me feel like I was going to throw up.

"Hay," he said softly, his voice trembling, eyes staring at me softly and I shook my head, my entire heart hurting from being shattered by the man that I loved most in the entire world.

“Can I talk?”

I looked up at him, my eyes filled with tears, and simply nodded, unable to find the words to speak. He took a deep breath and sat down next to me, his hands fidgeting nervously.

"I don't even know where to start," he began, his gaze fixed on the floor. "I messed up, Hayley. I made a terrible mistake, and I'm so sorry."

I felt a lump forming in my throat, but I managed to ask, "What happened, Damon? What did you do?"

We both knew what he had done but I didn’t know whether I had a penchant for pain by choosing to ask him that again.

He took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he had to say. "I cheated on you, Hayley. I got another woman, Annie, pregnant."

The words hit me like a ton of bricks, and I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces. I couldn't believe what I was hearing even though this was not the first time I had heard it. But it hurt all over again like a brand new wound that the man I had loved and trusted had betrayed me in the worst possible way.

"I don't even know how it happened," he continued, his voice strained. "It was a moment of weakness, and I deeply regret it."

Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I wiped them away with the back of my hand. "How could you do this to me, Damon? To us?"

He reached out to hold my hand, but I pulled away, needing some distance from him. "I know I hurt you, and I can't even begin to express how sorry I am," he said, and his eyes looked like they were full of pain. "You mean everything to me, Hayley. I never wanted to hurt you like this."

"Why did you do it?" I probed instead, my voice barely a whisper.

Damon took a deep breath, trying to find the right words. "I think I lost myself for a while, drunk, overwhelmed by stress, and feeling disconnected from you. Annie was just there, she’s the daughter of the Alpha whose pack hosted the program and she was on heat, offering a distraction, and I made a terrible mistake. But it was nothing more than a mistake, Hayley. I don't love her, I love you."

I shook my head like it was going to make me feel any better. "How can I trust you again? How do you even expect me to believe that you love me after going to do something like this, Damon?”

"I understand that I broke your trust, and I know it won't be easy to earn it back," he voiced out, and I did not fail to see the determination that his voice was laced with. "But I'm willing to do whatever it takes. I'll go to counseling, I'll be completely transparent with you, and I'll work every day to be the husband you deserve. I’ll do anything it takes. But please don’t leave me.”

I looked into his eyes, searching for sincerity, and there, I saw the pain he was carrying too. I knew that if there was any chance for us to move forward, we had to face this together. But the pain was too much to bear. How could anyone move forward from this? How could I live with this betrayal?

"I need time, Damon," I mentioned with a quivered voice. "Time to process everything and figure out what I want."

"I'll give you all the time you need," he nodded. His eyes never left mine. "But please know that I love you more than anything, and I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you."

I wanted to believe him, I wanted to believe everything he said. But so many questions lingered in my heart, questions that only made me want to drown in my sorrows.

Mustering up courage, I asked.

“Did you mark her?” the words felt like ash on my tongue and even though tears fell down his cheeks, it still didn’t make me feel any better.

“No, and I won’t. She’s not who I want to spend the rest of my life with, Hayley. You are. Please forgive me.”

“And the baby?”

His face turned ashen and I knew that I would not like the answer even before he spoke.

“Annie’s father is a very strong ally of ours. I have to keep the baby. It’s difficult for werewolves to even conceive so keeping this baby feels like the right thing to do.”

I knew that he was right. Conception was a very hard thing for werewolves and getting pregnant was usually a thing of joy for the entire pack.

But all I could feel was emptiness inside when I thought about the fact that someone else was carrying my husband’s child. That someone else had seen him naked and touched him, someone else had fucked him, and that someone was not me.

Tears trickled down my cheeks and I quickly wiped it away but it was too late because Damon had seen it and he rushed to kneel in front of me, his eyes glassy.

“Please forgive me, Hay. I’m sorry I did this to us. I love you so much. I can’t live without you. Please, don’t leave me. Please.”

My hands itched to pull him for a hug, to tell him that everything was going to be okay, to tell him that I was still madly and irrevocably in love with him, but I did none of that because even I didn’t believe that everything was going to be okay.

He reached out to cup my cheek when the doorbell rang and the moment ended. Moving away from him, I wiped my face and headed to the door to see who that could be, and when I opened it, my face fell and my heart dropped even lower.

Standing by the threshold was Annie, the woman carrying my husband’s child.