Chapter 82: HUSBAND AND WIFE

Ellen Evans POV

The air in the room was filled with the scent of roses and candle wax, causing g the room to feel so stifling.

Each of those fragrance was a harsh reminder that this was no nightmare, that I was there at the back of the crowded hall, hidden among the shadows of guests and their laughter, and yet my entire being was fixed on one sight, the man who once promised to love me for am eternity, standing at the altar with another woman

I watched as Dylan looked down at Stephanie while her beaming smile lightened up her face in a way I had not seen ever since I came to this pack. Their hands were entwined just like the way Dylan and I once held each other, with fingers laced tightly with each other. They were gestures that promised security, partnership and love.

And now, that promise was for someone else.

I felt a twisting ache in my stomach, an ache I could neither ignore nor numb the ache that I carried not only in my heart but also in the small swell of my belly, it was a fragile reminder of the life that was growing I side of me, of a future that I had once imagined so differently.

I knew that part of everything was somewhat my fault and mostly the fault of fate being cruel.

As Dylan looked deeply into Stephanie's eyes, he repeated words that should have belonged to me as I hey recited their wedding vows.

"To have and to hold, forever and always," he promised her in a sure and steady voice. I flinched as a new wave of pain sliced through me.

Those words.

He had once whispered them to me under the cover of night, when we were nothing but two souls wrapped in warmth and laughter. They had been ours, and now he was giving them away so carelessly.

The ceremony seemed to pass in a blur, like a cruelly beautiful dream that dragged me deeper into the turmoils of heartbreak with every word that was uttered, every glance that was exchanged. I felt trapped in the storm of my own mind while my memories flashed like lightning inside of my head.

I remembered the day when Sebastian's chilling words had echoed loudly inside of my ears, "It is not over, Ellen," he had said to me with a warning glance. "I will return for my child, just you wait." I shuddered as I recalled that, my hands quickly coming to rest protectively on my stomach.

I remembered that night, Zedd and Sebastian had left me, alone and devastated in the Kane pack, battling with an angry mate and a failing relationship. It was not long after that Dylan had come to me, his expression unreadable as he had announced his engagement to Stephanie, a decision that had struck me with the force of a thousand knives.

I remembered every bit of the conversation as if it had happened just moments ago. My mate had stood in front of me with his eyes cold and his voice almost mechanical, like a robot as he had said, "I shall wed Stephanie tomorrow in your place. And Ellen, you have no choice. If you leave my pack with that child, Sebastian will come for you. I will allow you to stay by my side so that I can protect you and that child from him. It is the least that I can do as your mate, protect you from him."

"Protect me?" I had whispered as I felt the the hollowness of his words sink deeper into my heart. "From the father of my child?"

His expression had hardened into steel with his eyes angry. "Sebastian is the father, yes. But he doesn't love you, Ellen. He wants possession, not a family. He would take that child away from you the moment it is born and cast you away like trash!"

My anger rose inside my oesophagus, sharp and bitter. "You are just trying to replace me Dylan and you know it, don't you?" I had accused him as the tears hot and uncontrollable had fallen, each one falling harder than the last drop

"I am doing what is best for everyone," he had replied to me with his voice as detached as if he were discussing a business transaction. "I can not marry you when you are pregnant with a other man's child. And I sure as hell can not ask you to get rid of the pregnancy! So, I am between the devil and a hard rock and I would rather go for the rock so people do not mock me for frolicking with the devil as it is!"

That was the kind of love that he had for me now, protection and not an iota of passion. It was a sense of duty and not devotion. It was as if I were something to be looked after rather than cherished.

His face was hardened as he stared down at me with clenched fists and a jaw that was set in resolution. I could clearly still see his face and his unwavering eyes, as he tore my heart to shreds with his preachings of practicality. I wondered then if love was practical, if it was based on some kind of logic.

The minister's voice jolted me back to the weight of my reality as he stared at the two with Stephanie in the white gown that I had arranged for my wedding. "I now pronounce you husband and wife."

The words echoed throughout the palace halls, leaving me frozen in place. My chest started tightening as my breaths became shallow while I watched the both of them seal their new marital vows with a deep kiss that now felt like the final nail in the coffin of my dreams. The crowd erupted in applause, their cheers ringing in my ears.

"It is really over Ellen," I whispered to myself at that.