Page 53 of Betrayed Knocked-Up Mate

"Hold," he calls, and his people out on the drive freeze mid-motion with terrifying coordination. "Let's be civilized about this.”

"Civilized?" The word tears from my throat like it’ll tear open my voicebox. "You call this civilized?"

"More civilized than what I could be doing, so watch your tone, Hillmarton.” His eyes gleam with something that might be madness or might be perfect clarity.

Crouched behind the fireplace, about to come into his view as he strides forward, Camila makes brief, intense eye contact with me.

Unable to stop myself, I lurch to my feet, trying to stagger between them, my head spinning with fury and terror.

“Fuck you,” I snarl. “Get the fuck away—”

But Kane isn’t listening to a word I say. He rambles on: "Though they brought that on themselves, didn't they, back then? I wasn’t quite so polite to them as I’ve been to you, Marcus, but they justrefusedto listen to me. All that talk of cooperation with humans, of integration, of weakening our bloodlines for the sake ofprogress." He spits the last word like poison. "Your father was supposed to be one of us, one of the best there ever was—a true alpha, a purewolf. Instead, he chose to be a traitor to his kind."

"My father chose to build bridges instead of walls," I growl, though the memory of their deaths makes my voice shake. "To make us stronger through alliance, not isolation."

Kane's laugh holds no humor. "Stronger? By diluting what makes us special? By bowing and submitting to those who should fear us?" He adjusts his cuffs with deliberate precision. "I made him a promise, you know. The night before, I killed them. I told him I'd end his line before it could taint our kind further. That I'd make sure hisprogressiveideas died with him."

His smile turns cruel. "But you had to complicate things, didn't you? Running away instead of facing your fate. Building your own pack, spreading the same poisonous ideology. And now..." His nostrils flare slightly as his gaze shifts to Camila. "Now you've had the audacity to try to continue your tainted bloodline."

Movement catches my eye, a few feet away—Camila shifting behind the fireplace, still maintaining that protective stance that suddenly makes horrible sense. Kane's smile widens as he follows my gaze.

I’m not quite between them yet. I try to edge closer and hear a gun click past the smashed windows, then freeze.

"Ah yes," Kane says, voice dripping false congeniality. "I should offer congratulations, shouldn't I? Though I must say, Marcus, I'm disappointed. I thought you'd have taken my word for it back then, what I said about taking mates." His nostrils flare slightly. "Especially ones carrying your child."

The world stops.

Everything—the firefight, the danger, the years of running—falls away as I process his words. I remember all the small changes in Camila these past weeks: her altered scent, her sudden aversions, the way she's been protecting her midsection even in combat. Her fear, her brokenness, her quiet.

Of course.

All this time, she was carrying that burden. And all I did was stand there and let it tear her apart.

"You didn't know?" Kane's laugh holds genuine delight. "Oh, this is precious. The great Marcus Hillmarton, so focused on protecting his mate—God,are you even mates yet?—that he missed the obvious. Tell me, my dear," he calls to Camila, "how long were you planning to keep that secret? Until the child was born? Until my men came for you both?"

I look at Camila, really look at her, and see the truth written in the way she can't meet my eyes. In the hand pressed protectively over her stomach. In the tears, she's trying desperately to hold back.

Overcome with fury, I lurch toward Kane, taking a wild swing toward his face, tear bare in a furious snarl.

But Kane's people move with practiced coordination, taking advantage of my shock, my loss of control. Bullets tear through the cabin like angry wasps. One catches me in the shoulder, spinning me back against the wall. Through the haze of pain, I see Camila break cover, trying to reach me.

"No!" The word rips from my throat as another shot goes wide, missing her by inches. My wolf howls with terror—not just for her now, but for the child I didn't know we created. For all the futures I thought I'd lost, suddenly made real and vulnerable in the midst of violence.

What happens next feels like slow motion, like watching a nightmare unfold frame by frame:

Camila diving for better cover as Kane's people press their advantage. The terrible crack of her head against the stone hearth as she lands wrong, trying to protect her midsection. The way her eyes go unfocused, blood matting her dark hair.

Something in me shatters.

The world goes red at the edges as my wolf takes over, fury burning away everything but the need to protect. To defend. To destroy anything that threatens my mate and child.

Kane's smile never wavers as I launch myself at him, shifting mid-leap.

"There it is," he says, meeting my charge with inhuman speed. "There's the monster I knew you could be. You’re so much like your father, you know, but he was acoward."

We crash together like storm fronts. His claws find purchase in my shoulder but I barely feel it, lost in a haze of protective rage. My teeth sink into his arm, drawing first blood, but his laugh never stops.

"Just like him," he taunts, dancing away from my next attack. "So controlled, so civilized, until someone threatens what you love. Then the true nature comes out, doesn't it? All this talk of uniting with humans, but when you’ve got abitch,you’re just adog—”

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