Confession.

Ava.

I watched Zane as he lifted his head again from the headrest, motioning to one of the empty sofas.

 

My heart beat faster. What kind of confession was he possibly talking about?

 

Cold sweat suddenly broke out on my forehead as I walked over to the empty sofa and took a seat, my eyes never leaving Zane’s face.

 

His face was expressionless in the dim light of the den and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

 

At that moment I wished I could read his thoughts, it would allow me to know what he wanted to say even before he said it, even if it was just for this very moment.

 

"Are you alright Zane?"

 

He ignored me, and the dread in the pit of my stomach grew.

 

As I sat there watching, waiting for him to speak, I realized not for the first time how much I loved him, seeing him like this, knowing that it was because I wasn’t able to give him a child that had caused the rift between us made my heart ache.

 

I struggled, moving from my rank of a weak omega to his mate, and subsequently to a Luna to prove that love to him.

 

His face looked tired, and I wished I could stand up and hug him, tell him that everything was going to be okay, but the anxiousness was getting the better of me.

 

What was this confession?

 

Zane cleared his throat, and I felt my heart beat a little faster, the palms of my hands old and clammy now.

 

"Cassie is pregnant," Zane murmured.

 

Cassie was my best friend. Like me, she had been a weak omega and the both of us had bonded over that attribute that we shared. We stuck together for a while before I was chosen by the Moon Goddess as Zane’s mate.

 

Even though we didn't see each other as frequently as before, we still kept in touch.

 

I wondered how Zane knew she was pregnant and not me, her close friend.

 

"Oh that's great. I wasn't expecting that to happen anytime soon," I said, a bit disappointed that Zane had gotten to know such important news and not me.

 

"So who is the…"

 

"The child is mine,, Ava."

 

I paused. Zane’s words had come from somewhere far away, like an echo in a cave.

 

"What did you say?" I asked, not sure of what I had heard, dreading what I would hear.

 

My heart was pounding in frenzy and my throat had suddenly gone dry.

 

"What did you say?"

 

"Cassie is pregnant with my child," Zane said, his dark gaze boring into mine.

 

I felt a sharp pain in my heart and knew that my wolf was responding to what my mate had just said.

 

Zane my husband, my mate had gotten another woman pregnant. It was unbelievable.

 

There was a roaring sound in my ears. I could feel my chest tightening and I suddenly felt faint.

 

I opened my mouth to speak and closed it again because no words were forming. I swallowed and tried again.

 

"Why?" was all I could mutter.

 

The pain was so much. I felt like I was going to throw up.

 

Zane looked away from me, his eyes looking past me and they were vacant, lacking emotion.

 

"I had to do it. There was no other option."

 

His words hurt. I felt like a dagger was being stabbed in my ear over and over again.

 

No, no, no it just couldn't be. Please let it be some kind of cruel joke, a cruel prank, anything but reality.

 

But I knew that for Zane not to look me at the eyes as he said it, it was reality.

 

It was a nightmare. I was living in a nightmare.

 

"Why?" I asked again, the tears finally springing to my eyes blurring my vision.

 

My head was pounding terribly and I could feel my eyes hurting.

 

Zane’s expression suddenly darkened.

 

"What do you mean, why? Don't you know why I did this? Don't act so stupid, Ava."

 

He was angry, and I could feel my wolf raging in pain, betrayal, and hurt. He had the audacity to be angry at me when he was the one who had gone and messed up.

 

How could he, how could he, how could he.

 

Suddenly, I lunged out of my seat, rage overtaking my composure. I was on Zane’s seat in a few seconds hitting him everywhere, beating at his hands, his face, his chest.

 

"How could you? After everything, I went through to be with you. How could you betray me this way Zane, why?"

 

Zane reacted quickly. His right hand flew up to protect his face and his left hand reached up grabbing one of my arms.

 

He rose to his feet, shoving me backward and effectively pinning me against the wall.

 

"Let go of me, let go of me, you monster!" I shrieked.

 

"Shut up Ava, shut up! " Zane roared, palming the wall in front of me and his eyes were suddenly glowing.

 

I gritted my teeth; the tears flowing freely from my face, my visibility affected by it.

 

"You can't give me a child. What did you expect? I'm sick and tired of putting up with your bullshit. Stop being so pathetic."

 

Zane’s words drove me insane. He had slept with another woman and now he was calling me pathetic and worse; he had done it with my best friend.

 

"Let go of me, you scum," I roared at him, struggling against his grip.

 

"Yes, I'm scum, I agree. I'm scum for trying to protect my lineage. But you're a bigger scum for not giving me a child."

 

"It's not my fault, Zane, it's not my fault. It didn’t give you the right to sleep with another woman. There are other means to solve this."

 

I was crying now, tired of fighting him, tired of struggling.

 

The look on Zane’s face was shattering my heart into a million pieces. It was a look of disgust, disgust at my pain, disgust at my tears, disgust at who I was.

 

At that moment, under his gaze, I felt like a trash bag full of trash was better than me

 

"What other means, Ava? What other means would give me a pure-blood wolf as my child? Listen to yourself."

 

I lifted my hands to his face, to hold them once again, to tell him that I still loved him, to tell him to give me time.

 

But Zane swatted my hands away like I was a common fly.

 

"Stop all this Ava, what has been done has been done. There is no going back. Cassie isn't taking your position as Luna, if that is what you're afraid of."

 

"Zane," I whimpered, the pain in my heart intensifying, the tight feeling in my throat suffocating me

 

"I'll be moving her closer to one of the pack houses so I can monitor her and my child properly."

 

The room was spinning around me, and my legs were getting so heavy. I wasn't sure I could still hold myself upright.

 

"She'll be given a respectable rank in the pack. From today onwards, she is part of the pack and pack.”

 

My chest was hurting, my eyes were hurting, everything was hurting.

 

"Zane please don't do this to me. Please Zane, I love you, please."

 

"Your love isn't enough Ava and I'm sorry it has to come to this, but you left me no choice."

 

Zane stepped away from me and as I tried to reach for him, he hit my hands, the physical pain adding to the emotional wreck I was in..

 

That single gesture alone brought me to my knees as the tears poured from my eyes in torrents.

 

Zane stood far away from me as I cried ugly, loud-mouthed sobs. I craved his comfort; I wanted him to tell me it was all a lie. To hold me, assure me he had been joking.

 

But like a hallucination, it never came.

 

"One more thing, Ava. If you try anything funny with Cassie and put her and my unborn child in danger, I’m going to make sure that you pay with every drop of blood in your body,” Zane growled.

 

With that, he turned and walked away.