Chapter 82
Julian
Babies? BABIES?
The word seemed to echo in my head but I couldn’t make sense of it. Had Forrest just said Cassie was pregnant? He hadn’t meant to. I knew that by the sudden look of shock on his face but I knew I had heard him right as well.
Even if I was still reeling I knew what I had heard.
My wife was pregnant.
Pregnant and on the run from me.
Why?
She must know I would have looked after her. Looked after both of them.
Babies.
That’s what he had said. Babies meant more than one.
“She is pregnant.” My attack on him paused , my hands and arms were covered in his blood up until the elbow but I didn’t look at the ruins of his chest. I was too busy staring at his face. “Answer me.” I demanded more of a whine in my voice than a growl.
I had a horrible sinking feeling in my gut. One that threatened to swallow me whole into the chasm.
“Where is my wife and my unborn child.” I asked again as images of Cassie flickered before my eyes. No wonder she had been acting so strangely. How long had she known she was pregnant and why hadn’t she told me. She must have known I would react with delight.
“I will never tell you.” Forrest muttered again around his split and broken lips. “I didn’t help her when she needed it but I will now. She’s gone and I hope you never find them. You don’t deserve them.”
I smashed my fist into his teeth which shattered, sharp shards cutting into my knuckles. And I lost myself in the feel of his bones crunching under my fists.
Because he was right. And that’s what hurt the most. Forrest was right. I had treated her like a burden , something less than what she was and I had never bothered getting to know her.
That was on me and now I run the risk of never knowing my child.
“I think it’s pretty obvious now why she ran isn’t it?”
In my blood rage I swivelled my head slowly to Megan.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Shut up.” Hovering above me Ian snarled at her and I had never heard him sound so murderous. My eyes flickered between the two of them.
“You don’t tell me what to do Beta.” She retorted with a flick of her hair. Turning her eyes on me she tried to look pained and failed. Whatever she was about to say she was enjoying every second of everyone’s pain. Mine included.
Megan was not my mate. That much was blazingly clear now but I still owed her. I still had to look after her even if she was not the kind of person I wanted in my life. Part of me was even secretly glad that she had lost the baby. Which made me a monster.
Who even thought of things like that?
Me obviously.
“She ran away because the baby isn’t yours.” The look on Megan’s face almost dared me to argue back. And goddess I wanted to.
“I mean isn’t it obvious? Why else would she leave? She knows what you would do if you found out she had strayed from the relationship.”
I growled low in my throat. I had been with Cassie so many times but I had never finished inside of her so could the baby be mine? Was it possible?
Memories assaulted me. Back when we had first been married I had seen something in her bag. Something that told me she hadn’t been entirely faithful. I had hated it then but I couldn’t really complain to loudly because-
My eyes found Megan and I grimaced.
I had got another woman pregnant on my wedding night and my wife had fallen pregnant by another man. We were as bad as each other but unfortunately for Cassie. The rules were different for me than for her.
Straying from her vows and carrying another man’s baby was treason and she could be executed. Which was exactly why she had run.
“You should just let her go.” Megan continued. “She’s nothing and she’s having another’s baby. Probably his. Go to the king and have the wedding annulled and we can try for another baby. I’ll give you ten. I’ll be a good-“
Megan’s whining was drowned out by the roaring in my ears. Only a few of her words had filtered through. The father of my wife’s baby was probably the man drifting in and out consciousness on the floor before me.
My eyes narrowed into daggers I stared down at him.
It all made sense.
“Did you fuck my wife?” I asked in a low menacing growl.
His green eyes were almost swollen shut from my earlier beating but he still tried to look at me.
Shuffling backwards I aimed a kick at his head with a sickening snap. Forrest would not be so lucky this time. This time I would deal out his sentence right here on my rug.
“Stop it Julian.” Ian grabbed at my arm and yanked me away. “This is not you.”
I turned on him with a snarl. “What he has done is punishable by death.”
“He’s not the father of Cassie's baby. You are literally kicking a man to death.” Ian’s grip on my arm tightened almost painfully. “There is a cruelness in you these days Julian. A madness. But I will not sit back and watch you murder a man who has always been loyal to you and your wife. Forrest is a friend.”
I stared down at the hand wrapped around my bicep and then slowly let my eyes rise to meet his. “Let go of me beta. Or are you saying-“ I trailed off. I shook my head. Was he the father of Cassie's baby? Had my wife betrayed me with my beta? With my most trusted friend.
“I am not the father Julian.” He answered my unasked question. “But I know who is.”
“Tell me.”
His eyes flicked down to the groaning man at my feet and then he shook his head. “You need to figure that out for yourself. You need to start remembering the past and not letting people poison your mind. The truth is right in front of your face Julian.” He took a step forward, reaching out until his forehead bumped mine. “I love you like a brother Julian but I can not stay around and watch you fuck up whole life. I need to do my job and I can no longer keep you safe from yourself so I will need to protect the person who needs me.”
I stared at him open mouthed. “Cassie? You think Cassie needs protecting? Who from? Me?”
“Right now yes and one day you will thank me for it.” He loosened his grip on me and moved away.
“You know where she is?”
“Of course I do.” He was already moving out of the door. “I’m the one who helped her escape.”
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