Page 15 of Pregnant Rejected Mate

Not that it matters, I remind myself mentally. Who cares if he’d become hotter?

“I can’t leave you alone, Sierra,” he says as he stops by a shelf on the wall and casually strokes a silver bird ornament. “You are meant to be my mate, and we have a lot to discuss.”

“There’s nothing to talk about, Felix…” A shiver passes through my spine when I say his name aloud. I realize I haven’t let his name leave my tongue in years. When I walked out of my therapist’s office after my final session, I decided that it would be the last time I ever said his name.

That was a good four years ago. Ever since that day, I’d been working toward my goals and only ever thinking about him as a distant, faint memory that had no place to be spoken about.

Shuddering as the chill passes through me, I continue, “... I wanna go home.”

Felix stops stroking the ornament and turns his face to me, the coy smile on his lips falling away. “You—you want to go home?” he hesitates, brows furrowing as he straightens up.

For some reason, unbeknownst to me, he appears surprised. I can’t tell why, and truthfully, I don’t care.

”What did you think, Felix?” I bite back bitterly, spinning on my heel to turn away. With my arms still folded across my chest, I’m giving myself the comfort and strength I need, so I don’t crack right now. “Did you think we could just pick up from where we left off?” I scoff.

There’s a moment of silence that stretches like palpable tension in the air. It’s so evident it could be cut through with a knife.

When I hear the thump of his footstep as he steps forward, I snap back to glare at him in warning. He notices that warning and doesn’t take another step forward, hanging near the wall.

I don’t want him near me.

“I don’t wish to pick up where we left off, Sierra,” he admits, hanging his head as if he’s too ashamed to speak.

He should be!

“I wish to start afresh. Now that you know who I really am…” There’s a pause as he lifts his head, eyes remorseful. “... What I really am, I was hoping you would understand.”

“I don’t care to understand anything!” I bite back, exasperation causing me to throw my arms up. “I don’t care what you are or why I’m here! I just wanna go home!”

Felix takes a deep breath, then exhales with a puff. “Unfortunately, I can’t take you home just yet. Your father—”

“I don’t care about my dad! He’s the one who got me into this mess in the first place! Just take me home!”

I’m too emotional to care that tears have sprung to the surface of my eyes and threatened to escape. I can’t be near this man—or weredragon—any longer. I just want to go home.

“He is the one who got you into this mess, and now there are things we need to take care of,” Felix reveals. Through the haze of tears, I notice him hesitating—stuck between wanting to come forward and hanging back.

“... Your father is here, on the island, and I can’t take you back until we’ve dealt with him.”

“Can’t…? Or won’t?” I ask, glowering at him. Maybe it’s because I’m grappling at straws, trying to find a good reason for even considering being in his presence. After what he did to me, he doesn’t deserve the privilege of seeing my face. It’s the hurt and pain that wishes to be soothed if he can take responsibility for his actions.

It makes him uncomfortable, as he turns his face away. “C-can’t. We have rules that we need to follow.”

Anger brims to the surface, vile words caught on the tip of my tongue. I don’t know why I even considered giving him a chance to redeem himself. He’d just gone and proved he didn’t care about what he did to me.

All he cares about is his responsibilities to what he is—whatever that is. It’s not like I care about any of that.

What about his responsibilities to me? To the promise of undying love and always being there for me? It was a promise he’d broken, which tore me to pieces.

I shouldn't care this much, but it hurts me even now.

I take a deep breath and ask, “What will happen to my dad?”

“No harm will come to him,” Felix assures me as he turns to leave.

“Then why do you need me here?”

He pauses and glances over his shoulder, although I can barely see his face. “You’ll understand soon enough. As soon as you decide to listen.”

---