Chapter 36

Derek’s POV

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I was going to be the first Alpha in history who was not happy or excited with the fact that I was going to be the leader of the pack from the second most important person of the pack. I always believed that someday I would be the Alpha because I wanted to be an Alpha, but I had to focus on my beta duties first because my Alpha’s daughter had married someone who was liked by no one, and Alpha Asher didn’t want to trust her with her mate alone.

Because of that part, I kept my dreams at my side because duty came first, but today I wanted to keep my dreams and duties aside and keep Stacey at first priority.

Something was changed in her. She was looking too tired even though she had traveled a journey of a few hours, and not to forget; she was turning paler yet beautiful.

And the thing which I didn’t want to mention was the slight change in her scent.

Was she marked?

That alone thought was ready to kill me. I couldn’t stand seeing her with someone else.

I would kill… Kill anyone that would try to claim Stacey. She was mine. Today. Tomorrow. Always. Only mine.

Coming back to my current situation, my eyes were on her from the moment she was there. Did I want to check the hollow of her neck to see whether she really got marked or not? But damn to her dress!!

It had covered all her shoulders, because of which, I couldn’t see her mark, if any.

“Derek! I need your full attention here for a while.”, Alpha Asher said sternly as if he knew what I was doing. I nodded, and for a while, I removed my eyes from Stacey to focus on taking the oath and giving a short speech to everyone. No matter how much I wanted to turn my head and check up on Stacey but for a minute, I needed to thank everyone who thought me worthy to be their Alpha.

But Rex’s ear rose up like a rabbit when we heard the former Luna’s worried voice. My head snapped toward the Stacey, and sawing her holding her mother’s hand to stop herself from falling down.

“STACEY,” I growled, reaching forward, jumping from the highest rock of the pack, where generally Alpha used to stand for a special occasion or to make some important announcement. Thankfully her mother didn’t let her fall down. I reached near her calling her name over and over while all the werewolves went into an uproar.

“SILENCE.”, I growled using my Alpha tone. I picked Stacey up in bridal style. “Is pack doctor here?” I asked.

“Yes, Alpha.”,

“Follow me!!” I ordered, taking Stacey away from there to her room.

*****

Stacey’s father asked me to handle the guest while the Doctor checked on Stacey. Though I didn’t want to listen to him but then again, I didn’t want to start disobeying him just after becoming the Alpha. As the previous plan, by this time, my wedding rituals would have been started.

The wedding in which I wasn’t interested at all.

I was just doing this as a last wish of Scarlett.

But it seemed like I would end up killing myself by fulling her this last wish. I slammed my fist against the wall, again and again, not bothering to check it for any bruises. The change in her smell, was that the indication that I lost her forever?

No.

I shook my head, thinking about the other possibilities of changes in smell. Could she be pregnant too? But then I mentally wanted to slap myself at that thought, knowing that was next to impossible.

I stopped thinking the reason for the change in Stacey’s scent could be her pregnancy. But the involvement of the third person in her life. And that thought was killing me from inside because if that happened then, I could no longer imagine a life with her even after Stacey’s death. While the truth was, I needed her like I needed air to breathe, and I was a freaking fool for taking so damn long to figure it out that it wasn’t just LIKE or DESIRE for sex that I felt for her. I wanted her because I loved her.

Yes! That was true that Scarlett was my mate, but my feelings for Stacey were way stronger than the mate bond. Whatever I was feeling for Scarlett was because of the mate bond, but with Stacey, I didn’t need a damn mate bond to realize that I love her.

“Derek.” I felt Scarlett’s hand over my shoulder. “Stop hurting yourself.”, She said softly, in concern. I turned toward her and started mustard the courage to tell her my feelings. I knew I was going to hurt her by telling the truth, but I didn’t want to lie to her about my feelings for her. “She will be all right.”, She added.

I knew she was a good human.

And she didn’t deserve to suffer from this pain, but she would be more hurt by knowing that the person to whom she was getting married was in love with someone else and married to her just because it was her last wish, or maybe out of pity.

“Scar, I need to tell you something.”

“Okay! I’m listening.”, She said with a smile and waited for me to continue.

“I can’t marry you.”, I confessed, and her body stiffened, and she gazed at me in utter dismay and shock.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean to say that I don’t want to marry you, and I’m very sorry for that.”

“But why? You are in love with me and agreed to marry me a few days before. Then what changed?”

“I agree that I agreed to marry you, but now I don’t want to.”

“But why?”, She screamed.

“BECAUSE I LOVE HER, DAMN IT.”, I shouted. Immediately I realized that I shouldn’t have shouted at her, not in this condition. She had every right to be mad at me, but I didn’t have any. I wished I could fast forward time and not witness this horrifying moment. I hated myself for bringing this pain to Scarlett, but I would hate myself more for cheating on both the women whom I loved and whom I love by not telling them my actual feeling. “I’m sorry, Scar, but I love Stacey. I didn’t know when all this happened, Scar! It all started with pretending and then attraction, then liking each other…I have no idea when I fell in love with her. I’m sorry, Scar. I’m so sorry, but I can’t marry you. Please try to understand.” I poured my feelings in front of her and waited for her next outburst, but it never came.

I waited for her to say something or anything. I wouldn’t even mind if she would slap me for all this, but nothing like that came. She was crying and smiling at the same time.

“Are you okay?” I asked, wondering did she go into mental shock by hearing everything from my mouth? Was that the reason behind her smile instead of slap? She threw herself in my arms and hugged me tightly. I wanted to return the hug, but I wasn’t sure what would she think of my hug for now?

“Thank you.”

“Huh”

“Thank you for telling me the truth, Derek. And it meant a lot to me.”, She said, breaking the hug.

“You are not mad at me?” I asked, seeing her acting calm.

“I was mad at you before.”, She said, slapping my arms. “But not now.”, She added with a smile. “Whatever you told me now is something which I had already read in your eyes a long ago.”

Did she?

“That’s why I planned all this so that you could confess the truth in front of me.”

“It means…you’re not dying?” I asked happily.

She chuckled before replying, “Well, that’s not the part of the plan. I’m dying, Derek, but I’m not dying this week.”, She smiled. “Thank you for not marrying me out of pity. Thank you for confessing the truth even though it hurt me a little, but your betrayal would have hurt me more.”

“I’m sorry. I knew that you loved me, and I didn’t want you to lose the love of your life when you were already going through so much.”

“Sometimes love means letting go.”, She said with tears in her eyes. “I love you, and I want you to see you happy even if your happiness means I’m not a part of it. Now tell me how this rejection is done in werewolves.”

I couldn’t help myself from leaning toward her and kissing her forehead. “Thank you.”

*****

‘MATE,’ Rex growled in my mind just after the rejection.

‘You gotta to be kidding me,’ I thought in frustration. I touched and smelled Scar, and I was positive that this time, she was not the one whom my wolf was identifying as a mate. There were so many werewolves outside. And expecting someone from them to be my second chance mate was the last thing I wanted in my life.

‘MATE.’

‘Shut up, Rex. Keep in mind that I’m going to reject that second chance mate because I wanted Stacey and only Stacey in my life.’ I made this clear to him.

‘Hmm. Even I love Alicia. And I doubt that I can love someone else just like her.’, Rex said, agreeing with me.

‘Let’s check up on Stacey, and then we will deal with our second chance mate.’, I said and then looked at Scar!!

“You can go!! I want to stay alone for a while.”, She said before I could have said anything. But I was reluctant to leave her alone, and seeing my princess standing near the door, I knew I could leave Sr. Scarlett with Jr. Scarlett. My daughter was a sweetheart who could change anyone’s mood like magic.

“Take care of her!” I said to her in a very low tone, knowing that she could hear me clearly, loud and clear. She nodded her head with a smile, and without wasting any single second, I walked toward Stacey’s room, and coincidently the scent of my second chance mate, the smell of soil after the rain, was coming from the same direction.

The closer we were getting to her room and the stronger that smell was getting.

My heart started pounding loudly against the ribcage with the thought of who was the exact person in Stacey’s room with this smell.

‘MATE,’ Rex howled happily when my eyes landed on the source of the person from where this scent was coming. Even her eyes widened in the size of soccer. It meant even her wolf had told the same thing that my wolf said, howling in my mind happily.

But I still couldn’t understand why her scent was changing?

“I don’t understand why she was traveling in this state!! It was dangerous for her anything could have happened to her,” The Doctor said, distracting me from looking at my second chance mate to him. “When did you shift last time?” he asked my second chance mate.

“Last night.”

“I can’t believe this.”

“What’s the problem, Doctor? Is something wrong?” I asked in concern.

“Yes, Alpha.”, He said. “I need to speak with the father.”, he added on which Ex-Alpha Asher spoke.

“You do know that I’m her father, Doctor Adio. What’s the matter?”

“No. No. I didn’t mean that. I know that she is your daughter Alpha Asher, but I want to speak to the father of her pup.”,

“My pup? Which pup?” Stacey, my mate, asked in confusion.

“None of you know, do you? None of you realize the change in her scent, do you? None of you see any symptoms, do you?”

Reality hit each one of us like lightning; still, everyone wanted to hear the same from the Doctor.

“Come to the point.”, Stacey ordered, and she had a mixed expression on her face. She looked afraid, happy, shocked, and surprised at the same time.

“Alpha Stacey, you’re pregnant.”, he said directly, but what he next said boiled my blood. “If I’m not wrong, then your ex-mate, Alpha Adams, maybe the father of your child.”

I couldn’t help myself from growling at that Doctor!!

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#TBC