Page 37 of Rejected By My Shadow Alpha
Neither answered. Nia's eyes were on Ruby now, unreadable, but Ruby wouldn't look at me. My heart thundered in my chest. Why had it felt so personal?
"I don't understand," I whispered. "I've never felt something like that, not even when healing others. Why did I feel so connected to her?"
Still, Ruby said nothing. Instead, her shoulders stiffened. "How do we know if this will work?" she asked coldly, her attention on Nia, deliberately ignoring me. The words hit like a blade to the chest, but I nodded in agreement, my eyes on Nia as well.
"Did it work?" I asked, voice raw.
"Something shifted," Nia said softly. "We'll know soon."
Still, I couldn't stop the storm of thoughts swirling in my mind. She'd once said she hadn't been with anyone since her rejection. She had spoken of the scar where she was once marked, but that didn't mean she hadn't had sex with someone. And the child…could she be mine? I stared at her hair. It was silver, not like Ruby's or mine.
She couldn't be…but then, why had I felt that spark? That inexplicable pull?
"You should rest," Nia said gently to Ruby. "You've barely slept. He's here now."
Ruby turned her gaze away. "I'll rest when she's better."
Nia sighed and turned to me. "You'll need to try again soon. She's holding on, but just barely."
As she stepped out with her herbs, I remained there beside the cot, the weight of questions and old wounds crushing my chest. Who was this child? And why did some deep, ancient part of me feel like I already knew her? Why did I feel so connected to her?
I looked up.
Ruby was watching me. Grief clung to her like a second skin, her arms folded tightly, lips pressed in a thin line. Her eyes, Goddess, those eyes held so much pain. It physically hurt to look at her. I wanted to speak, to cross the space between us, to say anything that could dull the storm in her gaze, but when I shifted, her eyes cut away.
I froze.
She was shutting me out. The sting was immediate. It felt worse than rejection, worse than death. I looked back at Liora. The child didn't stir, but something in her called to me with aching familiarity. Maybe it was her strength and resolve to fight this curse cast on her, or maybe it was something deeper that I couldn't name. I reached out and brushed a knuckle gently across her limp hand.
"I'll make it right," I murmured, my gaze on Ruby. "For her. For you."
Chapter 16
Ruby
He was back. Drew was here, alive, breathing, and under my roof.
And I couldn't throw him out.
The realization settled over me like a weight I couldn't shake. Every time I turned a corner, I braced myself for his scent, cedar wood and storm, familiar and foreign, dragging up everything I'd buried. I had imagined this moment so many times in my mind, a mind-game I did in my thoughts, assuming if he was alive and had dared to show up again: the slap I'd give him, the words I'd hurl like daggers, the door I'd slam in his face. Now, it was a reality, but instead, I stood frozen when he walked in and our eyes met, and I couldn't satisfy the brief satisfaction of slamming the door in his face.
The scent of crushed basil and rosemary filled the air, filling my nostrils, but it did nothing to calm my nerves. My hands worked mechanically, plucking, tearing, grinding the dried leaves from their stalks while my mind spun in a thousand directions. Nia hummed softly beside me, her mortar steady,movements fluid and practiced, but the rhythm was erratic, jagged, and it jarred my insides.
He was back, just like that.
No apology could make up for seven years of silence. No explanation could erase the night he rejected me with fire in his eyes and vengeance on his tongue. He was here because fate decided to hurl him back into my life on the back of my child's suffering, the very child he didn't know existed.
I clenched another leaf, shredding it mercilessly. How dare he come back? How dare he walk in like a ghost reborn, into the life I rebuilt from ashes? And why now, of all times? I blinked furiously, the sting behind my eyes threatening to spill. I wouldn't cry. Not again. Not for him.
I hated how he looked at me because I could still feel the burn of recognition and longing for a mate I never got to claim.
My traitorous body remembered everything. The scent of cedar wood and rain still made my knees threaten to give. My wolf stirred in places I had locked away for years. And Goddess, when he had spoken my name, I had wanted to crumble and rage all at once. He didn't deserve to say my name like that after rejecting me and after faking his death. The way he looked at Liora and held her hand…he must never know.
I sighed in frustration and crushed the dried basil into the bowl. It wasn't just anger clawing through me. It was a deep, guttural fear that Drew might find out the truth about Liora, our daughter, a secret I'd guarded with every breath in my body. She was a child born of a bond that was fated, broken, and abandoned. My hands trembled as I reached for the next herb, the leaves slipping from my fingers.
"Ruby," Nia's voice was calm but firm. "Stop."
I looked up at her, my breath uneven. My chest rose and fell like I'd run a mile uphill.
