Chapter 69

Elara

The test wasn’t here.

I had searched the dresser, the bedside table, the floor beneath the bed, and even the laundry basket, but the pregnancy test was nowhere to be found. I pressed a hand against my stomach, trying to calm the anxious knot that was starting to twist there.

It was fine. It had to be here somewhere—I had probably just dropped it in the hallway or something.

But as I poked my head out of the room and peered both ways up and down the hallway, only to find that it wasn’t sitting in any of the pale shafts of moonlight spilling through the windows, my heart began to pound a little.

The last thing I needed was for Alaric to stumble across it. Or worse—one of the girls. I didn’t want Ella or Zoe finding it and asking questions that I wasn’t ready to answer yet. It was supposed to be a private moment. Alaric was supposed to hear it from me and then we were supposed to tell the girls about their new sibling.

That was before I had found him with that picture, at least. Now, I wasn’t so sure how it was all supposed to go. But right now, it didn’t matter; I just needed to find that test.

By the time I reached the top of the stairs with no luck, my pulse was already hammering in my ears. I scanned the steps as I descended, sweeping my gaze over the edges and pausing at the landing just to make sure I hadn’t missed it.

Nope. Still nothing.

I swallowed hard and made my way toward the living room, figuring that maybe I had dropped it there while we were reading stories to Ella and Zoe before bed.

I pushed the door open, peering inside. The room was dark, save for the faint glow of the embers left in the bottom of the fireplace. I flicked the light switch by the door, flooding the room with warm light—

And stopped cold.

Sarah was sitting on the edge of the couch, legs crossed, her posture too perfect, too poised. But it wasn’t her presence that had me rooted to the spot.

It was the small, unmistakable object she held delicately between her fingers.

“Looking for this?”

My stomach dropped.

Sarah lifted the pregnancy test up, holding it up so it caught the light. It was unmistakably mine—I recognized those two lines, indicating a positive test, right away.

I tried to hide the way my hand instinctively moved to my belly, curling against the fabric of my cardigan.

“Thank you for finding it,” I said carefully, keeping my voice calm. It wasn’t as if she had technically done anything wrong, although sitting in the dark with it in her possession rather than bringing it to me when she had found it was strange enough. I stepped forward, reaching out. “Can I have it back, please?”

But when I held my hand out for her to hand it to me, Sarah didn’t move. Rather, her eyes flicked lazily toward the test, lips twitching into something that might have been close to a smile if it wasn’t so damn cold.

“Hm. Interesting,” she murmured, tilting her head. “I wasn’t sure at first. I had an idea, since you always refused wine at dinner and kept rushing to the bathroom. But I guess this confirms it for me, doesn’t it?”

I said nothing, just stared at her with my palm outstretched, calmly waiting for her to give it to me.

At least, on the outside I thought I looked pretty calm. On the inside, though, I felt like a trainwreck. My heart was pounding a mile a minute and my palms were beginning to sweat. If Sarah tried to twist this to her advantage in any way, I wasn’t sure what I might do. Maybe something regrettable.

Sarah’s gaze met mine again, and this time there was no warmth left to feign. “You must be thrilled,” she said in a coy tone of voice. “Securing your place in this house, right? An Omega, carrying an Alpha’s child. How convenient for you.”

My fingers curled at my sides so hard that my nails began biting into my palms. “It’s not what you’re thinking. Alaric and I love each other—this baby was created out of love. Not schemes or whatever it is that you’re implying.”

Sarah snorted. “Alaric doesn’t love you. He never did, and he never will. Now that I’m back, he’s going to leave your sorry ass.”

As she spoke, she slowly rose from where she sat on the couch. Sarah wasn’t a particularly tall person—standing around my height—but right now, it felt as if she was towering over me. And all I could do was think about that picture clutched in Alaric’s hand and wonder…

Maybe she was right.

But somehow, I managed to keep my back straight and my chin lifted.

“This is ridiculous. Just give me back the test,” I replied, the words flat and thin as they came out of my mouth. “This has nothing to do with you.”

She laughed, but the sound was hollow. “Oh, but it does. In fact, it has everything to do with me. You see, Elara, I’ve been trying to be patient. I’ve tried to let you play house, let you pretend you belong here while Alaric ultimately chooses me.” Her eyes darkened as she gestured toward the test. “But this changes things. I’m not sure if I can be patient any longer.”

I stiffened, forcing my shoulders to stay squared even as she drew closer.

“Alaric and I have history,” she said quietly, her voice dipping into something sharp. “Years of it. A child. A marriage. And I understand why you think you’ve found a place here, but you’re nothing more than a distraction. A placeholder.”

My heart pounded so loudly I was sure she could hear it. I reached for the test again, but she pulled it just out of reach, her lips curling into that smug little smile that she always wore so well.

“I’ll be back where I belong soon enough,” she said, almost sweetly. “And when that happens, there won’t be room for you. Or this… mistake.” Her gaze flicked toward my stomach, and her lip curled as if she had just found something on the bottom of her shoe.

A chill swept through me, and suddenly I felt rooted to the spot. But I forced out a breath and turned away, choosing to put this all behind me. “This is silly. I’m not going to sit here and let you—

Suddenly, the soft creak of the floorboards around the corner cut through the air. I stiffened, expecting Alaric to be standing there. But when a strange man stepped out of the shadows, his face concealed beneath a familiar black mask—the same kind I’d seen at the auction all those months ago—I felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room.

My breath caught in my throat, and I barely managed to take a step back before the man surged forward and caught me. Before I could even scream, I felt the cold prick of a needle against my arm.

“No—”

The word barely left my lips before the room began to blur around me.

The last thing I saw was Sarah’s face—calm, collected, and watching with a gleeful little glint to her eye—before everything went dark.