Page 44 of The Alpha's Forced Pregnant Mate

“Let’s just go to the apartment and get some sleep,” I said, pushing away from the car. “We have to be gone by seven in the morning.”

She sighed, rubbing her eyes with her hands. “Yeah, okay.”

I reached out to touch her arm, but she pulled away from me, climbing into the driver’s side without looking at me. I sighed, then opened the passenger door and got in.

Whitney didn’t say anything the rest of the ride, and we pulled up to the apartment complex ten minutes later. She stopped the car in front of the building and parked it. I wanted to reach out to her, to reassure her, but she was still distant. The kiss earlier had obviously made her uncomfortable.

The building was one of those 1970s ones, a boxy concrete structure with long hallways and narrow doors, but it had been redone shortly before I moved in. My stomach did flip flops at the thought of returning to it, and how much I had missed my space. It made me feel weak, but I couldn’t shake it. Dammit. It just still felt so much like home.

I knew exactly which pot the key would be under. It was just a regular house key, but it was attached to a keychain with a tiny stuffed wolf on it. A joke gift from Danny all those years ago when I’d first moved in. I hadn’t thought of this stupid keychain in months, but now that I was holding it, I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten it.

I really was going to be sick.

“Hey,” Whitney’s voice called out from behind me. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said, standing up and turning to her, forcing a smile. “You’re the one who looks like she’s about to pass out.”

Whitney frowned. “I’m not feeling great, but I’m fine.” She looked up at me, her expression curious. “What’s that?”

I shrugged, trying to pretend it didn’t mean anything. “It’s the spare key for the apartment.”

She smiled a little. “Is that why you looked like you were about to cry? Because you got excited about getting a key to your old apartment?”

“Fuck off,” I mumbled, turning away from her. I wanted to be alone and to stop feeling like this. The sooner we got inside and went to sleep, the sooner I would feel better.

Whitney followed me up the stairs to the third floor, where my apartment was. I hadn’t been in months, but I still knew exactly which one it was without hesitation. The numbers had been changed to silver, and the welcome mat was gone, but it was still home. I unlocked the door and let myself inside.

The place was almost exactly as I remembered it. The walls were painted a warm cream color, the furniture was old and battered but clean, and the kitchen was open to the living room. There was a narrow hallway on the far side of the living room that led to the only bedroom and bathroom.

The walls were lined with vintage framed records and concert posters, carefully framed so I didn’t look like a dumbass teenager decorating their bedroom. There was a seldom-used acoustic guitar in the corner, collecting dust like everything else.

I dropped the key onto the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room, then walked over to the window and pulled back the curtain.

There wasn’t much to the balcony, just a couple of pots with long-dead plants and a plastic chair. It had been a selling point for me when I first rented the apartment, but now the dead plants were making me feel like shit.

Whitney followed me out, looking around in shock. “Holy shit.”

“What?” I asked, frowning as I turned away from the window to face her.

She shook her head in disbelief, gesturing at the apartment. “It’s so…normal. Clean. Organized. I expected more chaos.”

“Just because I’m an asshole doesn’t mean I live in a pigsty.”

“No,” Whitney said. “That’s not what I meant. It just looks like you were…happy here, I guess. You always talk like you despise this pack.”

“I do.” I turned back to the window, trying to avoid looking at my former home. “But I was happy here. And that’s why I hate it so much now.”

“Why?”

“Because Danny took all of that from me. He left it all for Naomi, he turned our pack from what we were meant to be into some…pampered family vacation pack.”

“I think he was just being a good Alpha,” Whitney said, leaning against the counter. “The old Red Canines weren’t good for anything but drugs and guns. Now they’re happy, they’ve got mates and families. Isn’t that better?”

“No!” I slammed my hand down on the windowsill, making her jump. I immediately regretted it and shoved both my hands in my pockets. “Sorry. Fuck. Please can we drop it? It’s been a long damn day.”

I heard Whitney sigh behind me. “Fine.” She pushed off of the counter, crossing the room to me. I tried to keep my breathing calm as she came closer, but it was hard to remember why I was so mad at Danny when she was touching me. She put one hand on my chest, her fingers gently curling into the fabric of my shirt, and rested her other hand on my neck. Her palm was warm against my skin.

“I’m sorry you lost your family, Julian,” she said softly. “But we both know that this isn’t what Danny intended. He never wanted to hurt you, and I know you didn’t want to hurt him either.”

---