Chapter 304: Until The Child Is Born

Rebecca’s POV

​"No." He shook his head hard, panic flooding his bloodshot eyes. "No, Rebecca. Please... don’t ask me to do that."

​"I just did."

​"The baby..." His eyes dropped frantically to my stomach. "Rebecca, we don’t know what a rejection could do while you’re pregnant."

​"The baby will be just fine," I cut him off, wrapping my arms tighter around myself. "You don’t have to worry about our child. I’m not going to do anything that could hurt my baby."

​Kaden stumbled a step back and dragged a trembling hand through his dark hair, shaking his head as though he could somehow reject the words themselves. He looked like he was struggling to breathe. "I won’t do it. I can’t reject you, Rebecca. I can’t do it."

​My jaw tightened. "I don’t want this bond!" I shouted, stepping toward him as tears finally spilled over my lashes. "I don’t want it, Kaden! I don’t want to look at you and feel something forced on me by fate!"

​"I can’t." A fresh wave of tears slipped from his eyes, but he aggressively wiped them away with the back of his hand. "I can’t, Rebecca. Ask me for anything else. Just name it."

​I scoffed bitterly. "You really want to know what it takes?" I asked, stepping closer to him. "Go back in time."

​Kaden froze.

​I stared directly into his eyes, letting every buried memory fuel my words. "Turn back the hands of time and undo everything you did to me. Go back to the night Helen died and believe me when I tell you I didn’t kill her. Undo the stoning. Undo the hits I got. Undo the accusations. Don’t torture me. Don’t make me your prisoner. Don’t make me beg you over and over to believe I was innocent. Go back and change all of it!"

​His face crumpled in agony. His lips parted, but no sound came out. We both knew it was impossible. He couldn’t fix the past, no matter how sorry he was for it.

​"If you can do that, Kaden, I’ll forgive you."

​"Rebecca..."

​"But you can’t." My voice cracked, and I quickly wiped away another hot tear. "That’s the problem. You can’t change any of it. I already lived through it. I can’t erase those memories just because you’re sorry now. So let’s just reject each other."

​Kaden shook his head again, a look of profound heartbreak settling deep into his features. "What about our baby?"

​"What about the baby?" I spat.

​"We’re having a child together," he pleaded.

​"I’m not keeping our child from you," I said firmly. "If you want to be a father, then be one. You can see the baby. You can spend time with our child. We can co-parent. I will never punish my baby because of what happened between us."

​I held his gaze.

​"But having a child together doesn’t mean we have to be together. And being second-chance mates doesn’t mean we have to end up together either. I don’t want this relationship, Kaden. I don’t want this bond."

​He shook his head slowly, refusing to accept it. "I can’t reject you."

​Frustration rushed through me. "Why are you making this difficult?"

​"Because I love you," he whispered, his voice breaking completely. "I love you, Rebecca... God, I fucking love you so much."

​I scoffed, looking away from him. "No, you don’t. And even if you do, it doesn’t change anything! Maybe you love me in whatever way you know how to love someone, but I don’t want to be with you. I can’t be with you, Kaden. I can’t wake up beside you every morning and pretend I don’t remember everything that happened. I can’t build a life with you just because our wolves want each other."

​Kaden stared at me for several seconds before slowly nodding, swallowing hard as if absorbing the crushing weight of my words.

​"You don’t want to be with me."

​"No."

​His jaw tightened as he looked away, taking a deep, shuddering breath before facing me again. "Okay. If you don’t want to be with me, okay. I won’t force you to be with me. I won’t take you back to my pack. I won’t force you into my home or my bed. But I still can’t reject you."

​"Kaden—"

​"At least not now." His eyes dropped toward my stomach again. "You’re pregnant. Cutting the second-chance mate bond while you’re carrying our child could cause severe complications. We don’t know what that shock could do."

​I folded my arms. "The baby will be fine."

​"You don’t know that."

​"And neither do you."

​"Exactly." Kaden stepped closer, but stopped dead in his tracks when my body immediately stiffened. "That’s why I’m not taking the risk. I am not putting our baby in danger."

​Anger flared through me. "You don’t get to make that decision for me!"

​"I’m not trying to control you."

​"That is exactly what you’re doing!"

​"Then hate me for it!" His voice cracked again, tears spilling freely down his face. "Be angry with me. Scream at me. But I’m not risking our baby’s life because you want this bond gone tonight. We wait until you deliver. Once our child is born safely, if you still want me to reject you..." He paused, a look of torture passing over his face. "Then we’ll talk about it."

​"No," I snapped. "I want this over with."

​"I’m not doing it, Rebecca," Kaden said, his tone turning surprisingly firm despite the tears still on his cheeks. "Not until the child is born."

​I glared at him, my fists clenching at my sides. There he was. The stubborn, impossible Alpha King I knew.

​"Fine," I snapped. "Then stay away from me."

​Kaden’s expression changed immediately. "I can’t do that either."

​I almost laughed from pure frustration. "Of course you can’t."

​"You’re carrying my child, Rebecca. I’m not going to disappear for months and pretend you and our baby don’t exist."

​"I don’t need you taking care of me!"

​"I know."

​"Then leave me alone!"

​"I’ll give you space," he said carefully, his eyes softening as he looked down at me. "I’m not asking you to forgive me. I’m not asking you to come home with me. I’m not even asking you to talk to me if you don’t want to. But I’m going to check on you from time to time. Just to see you, and to know you and the baby are okay."

​I glared at him for several seconds, but my entire body felt exhausted. My head hurt. My chest hurt. Even Laura had finally gone quiet inside me, worn out from crying.

​"Do whatever you want."

​Without another word, I turned on my heel and walked away.

​I bypassed the grand hall entirely, ignoring the music and laughter still spilling out from the party, and went straight back to the house and up to my bedroom. The moment I closed the door behind me, I leaned my back against it and let out a long, trembling breath.

​My heart was still hammering against my ribs. Of course Kaden hadn’t accepted the rejection easily. A part of me had known he wouldn’t. Kaden had never been a man who easily let go of anything he cared about, and now that he knew I was his mate and carrying his child, I should have expected him to fight.

​But that didn’t mean I was changing my mind. I walked over to the bed and sat down heavily on the edge, slowly removing my shoes. Once the baby was safely born, there would be no excuses left. If he still refused, I would sever the bond myself. We could co-parent, but that was where the line ended.

​A soft knock sounded at my door, pulling me out of my thoughts.

​"Come in," I called out quietly.

​The door opened, and Mother stepped inside, her expression filled with gentle concern.

​I straightened slightly on the bed. "Mother. I’m sorry I left the party... I just felt tired. I couldn’t go back in there after everything."

​"It’s okay, sweetheart," she said softly, walking over and sitting beside me on the bed. "You don’t need to apologize. Tonight was already overwhelming enough without everything that happened with Alpha Kaden."

​I looked down at my hands in my lap, remaining silent.

​Mother paused for a few seconds before turning slightly toward me. "So... Alpha Kaden is your mate."

​My head snapped up, my eyes widening in shock. "How do you know?"

​Mother raised an eyebrow with a gentle, knowing smile. "It was obvious from the way he looked at you in that hall... a person doesn’t look at a stranger like that."

​I swallowed hard, dropping my gaze back down.

​"Besides," Mother added quietly, "Kaden just told me."

​My eyebrows pulled together in a sharp frown. "He told you? When?"

​"After you left him in the garden. He came back to the hall and asked to speak to me privately. He told me about the mate bond... and he told me everything else, Rebecca."

​My body went completely stiff. "Everything?"

​"Everything he believed I needed to know. Helen. The accusation. Your imprisonment. The choker. What happened after he learned you were innocent. He didn’t try to make himself look good."

​I looked away, my throat tightening.

​Mother reached over and gently wrapped her hand over mine, her fingers warm and steady. "I’m sorry," she whispered softly. "I’m so sorry for everything you had to go through while I wasn’t there to protect you."

​A painful lump formed in my throat, but I forced a small, tight smile. "It’s okay, Mother. I’m fine."

​Her eyes stayed on me with deep sadness, clearly not believing me, but she didn’t push. Instead, she let out a small sigh and shifted her stance.

​"There is one slight problem, though."

​I frowned, sensing the shift in her tone. "What problem?"

​Mother hesitated, which immediately made my stomach drop.

​"Alpha Kaden has declared that he will be staying here at our pack house for a week," Mother revealed carefully. "He asked me to arrange a room for him."

​I shot to my feet instantly, my frustration boiling over. "No! Absolutely not! Tell him to leave!"

​"Rebecca..."

​"Mother, I’m serious! I just told that man I wanted us to reject each other, and now he thinks he can stay in your house?"

​"He didn’t exactly ask for permission," Mother said, giving me a helpless look and shaking her head. "Tell him no? I can’t, Rebecca."

​I stared at her in sheer disbelief. "Why not?"

​Mother sighed. "Because he’s the Alpha King."