Page 33 of Broken Alpha

Erik whirled around to face me, storming toward me and pulling down my shirt collar.

“He fucking marked you too?! What the actual fucking fuck, Aidyn?”

“Why do you care?” I snarled at him, pulling out of his grasp. “I’m ruined, so why does it matter?”

The color drained from Erik’s face as I moved toward Luke, but he had already gotten off the ground, and I stopped in the doorway. My Omega begged me to run to our Alpha and tell him we were okay, to scent him before telling him that we should gohome to our nest and revel in the fact that we’re going to have a pup. But I wouldn’t do any of those things.

“Go home, Luke,” I said softly, my Omega protesting. “Go home and leave me alone.”

And I shut the door.

Aidyn

I’m not sure which woke me up first, the searing headache from crying myself to sleep or the screeching sound of my alarm. Last night, I had pulled the sheets off my mattress and used what few articles of clothing I had that still held Luke’s scent in an attempt to craft a nest on the floor at the foot of my bed. It felt incomplete and pathetic, but it was all I could do to provide myself with a little comfort.

Putting on my glasses, I glanced at my phone screen, ignoring the multiple missed calls and texts from Luke, and noticed a text from my mother inquiring about my health and if I would be home for Christmas. Even though my world felt like it was inshatters, life moved on, and I needed to move with it. It didn’t stop just because I was in a crisis. I typed out a quick response, lying to my mother, saying that my health was good, classes were going well, and I would like to come home for Christmas. That last one is not a lie, though, I needed my parents.

“Why are you on the floor?”

I lowered my phone to find Erik standing in my doorway, two mugs of coffee in his hands.

“What do you want?” I snide.

I watched Erik move into the bedroom as he approached my nest. He moved to sit beside me, and I growled at him, teeth bared like a wild animal when his foot stepped into the nest itself. He quickly retreated, looking at me with large eyes as I sat up. I didn’t blame him for not knowing it was a nest. I had never built one before, and it was pretty poor compared to the one I had crafted for my heat before losing my senses. He sat on the edges of my nest as I sat up, taking the mug of coffee he offered.

“You built a nest?” he asked, surprised. “But you’ve never built —”

“What do you want, Erik?” I repeated.

“I wanted to apologize for yesterday,” Erik sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

“Which part? Punching Luke or telling him that I was ruined?”

Erik had the decency to look ashamed as he stared into his mug, his nails clinking against the porcelain. I don’t think he realized I heard everything; our walls aren’t very thick.

“I’m sorry. I let my thoughts and emotions get the better of me, and I shouldn’t have said that. Or punched him.”

“Your thoughts and emotions? This isn’t happening to you, Erik, it’s happening to me! I’m the one that’s pregnant. Pregnancy doesn’t mean I’m ruined. In what way am I ruined? Or have I finally ruined myself in your eyes so that you’re nolonger interested in me? Or is it the idea that I’m carrying some Alpha’s child and not yours?”

He flinched at my accusation, and I had my answer. I placed my hand on my abdomen, where I knew the little creature was growing within me, and sighed. Despite me constantly telling him I wasn’t interested and that he should find someone else, he still held out hope that I would change my mind. Being pregnant changed that. It also told me more about his character and that he loved the idea of me, but not me specifically. I was ruined because it wasn’t his child, and he couldn’t accept that. He wouldn’t raise another man's child, and that was fine. I didn’t want him to, but it finally,finallyhit home for him. I stood up without saying a word, setting my coffee cup on my dresser by the door, and turned to look at Erik, crossing my arms over my chest.

“I’m going home for winter break. My mom asked if I was coming home for Christmas, and I told her I was. I’ll be back a few weeks before the spring semester starts, but I think I’m going to move out.”

“What?” Erik’s head snapped up in surprise, the hurt evident in his eyes. “You don’t have to —”

“No, Erik, I do. You ignored me for weeks after I told you I was seeing someone, going so far as to sit on the other side of our classes so you weren’t beside me. You barely spoke to me, acting as if I hurt you or cheated on you despite the fact that we were never together.”

“Then why did you let me sleep with you?” Erik shouted, jumping to his feet.

“That night was a mistake. I told you I would be okay, and you kept pressing to help me, saying nothing would change for us. I wasn’t in my right mind and I caved. It was clear that things had changed. You acted as if you had some claim to me, and you didn’t! I made it very fucking clear that I thought ofyou as nothing more than a friend, a brother even, and you didn’t even have the decency to act like one. Now, when I need a friend the most, I realize that we’re nothing more than roommates. Something you have made abundantly fucking clear over the past few weeks. So, as roommates, I’m moving out. Find someone else.”

“And if I can’t?”

“Not my problem.”

“It’s not like you can afford to live alone, Aidyn, especially not with a baby on the way. Assuming you don’t terminate it. Don’t be stupid! And by the sounds of things, you ended it with Luke yesterday.”

“What I do or don’t do with this pregnancy will not involve you, nor affect you in any fucking way. Whatever happens between Luke and I going forward is our business,” I replied, narrowing my eyes at him.

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