Page 55 of Betrayed By the Alpha Wolf

I leaned in, trying to put my face in her view, and when she finally looked up again, I raised my brows at her.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

I knew there was. I just knew it, and as Kenzie continued to stare at me, her expression was somewhat neutral, but her scent betrayed her nervousness.

“Kenzie?” I held her eyes as she looked up at me from beneath her lashes. “Kenzie, what is it? Does this have anything to do with why you smell different?”

She flinched back, trading her glances between the floor and me. “I…I smell different?”

Nodding, I cocked my head to the side with a bit of a shrug. “You do. It’s…It’s not bad. Nothing like that, but something’schanged. It’s like there’s more, more behind the paper and ocean fragrance. Something…new.”

Her mouth opened to speak, but Kenzie hung there in the moment, the words not finding her. Then, she got this faraway look in her eye, like she was hearing something I couldn’t, and Kenzie’s hand went to her stomach again.

“Are you okay?” I gripped her elbows as she wobbled slightly in front of me. “Please don’t puke on me. I’m so not good with sick people. That’s your gig.”

Kenzie laughed in a rough, hard cut of noise that didn’t ring with any sincere humor. I could tell that she was reeling from something, char muddling her scent. Where I held her, I could feel a slight tremble in Kenzie’s arms, and worry passed through my body, making my spine go rigid.

“Are youokay, Kenzie? You’re freaking me out.”

“You’refreaking out? Oh, sure. You know I didn’t ask for any of this.”

Kenzie glared at me, pointing her finger right in my face.

“First, you finally return the interest I’ve shown in you for years, only to then reject me as your mate. Then, you want to pretend to be mates so that you can become Alpha, and then you wind up sleeping with meagainbecause your dumb self makes me go into heat. And now, I’m stuck in this fucking compound with rabid Alphas, Leon of all people, and the necessity to deliver antidotes, when I should probably be far fucking away from violence given my condition. Ugh!”

My brain was spinning, and it blended with the guilt that I’d been feeling for as long as I could remember, at least when itcame to Kenzie. I’d known she was interested; of course I did. It wasn’t like she hid it.

I had been interested, too. Hell, I was now, if I was being honest with myself, which was, of course, a massive problem for me. And I didn’t think through my actions when I rejected her. It was one of the biggest mistakes of my life and the final nail in the coffin when it came to my cowardice.

Because that’s what it was. I was a damn coward when it came to relationships and love and romance. I didn’t understand how to be a part of them, and I was too fucking scared to try because I’d lost my parents, my adoptive sister, and very nearly my Alpha and best friend.

Opening myself up to Kenzie just felt like an invitation for pain. So, instead of just talking about it, I turned that pain on Kenz.

Ugh, I’m such a royal asshole. I should have—Wait. Did she say condition?

Shaking myself back into focus, I met Kenzie’s eyes again, lowering my head to be more level with her.

“I’m sorry. Did you say…what condition?”

Kenzie slumped against the wall behind her, sighing. She pinched the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes, but that hand of hers was still at her stomach. Nervous, bustling energy built in my veins. And while I was starting to understand what she could possibly mean, I wasn’t about to let myself admit that might be it.

“You know, Grayson. I’m tired.But,” she looked up at me, “I’m also not in pain anymore. Being close—that mate ceremony—did something to the rejection. Healed it a bit, and I know that it could be healed more. And the truth is…”

I could sense Kenzie gearing up for something, and every fiber was on alert. I was suddenly acutely aware of the others nearby who could undoubtedly hear our conversation even as we kept our voices down. Part of me really wished for a more private place to have this discussion, but the rest of me was on edge, desperate to hear what Kenzie was about to say.

And I was really going to have to examine that at some point.

“I think I want that. Maybe. But there’s a lot more that we need to discuss before that’s a guarantee. Still, if we’re going to have this discussion, if we’re finally going to lay it all out there, I want to do so now. There is something that I haven’t told you. Partly because we’ve had no time and several interruptions, but also because I didn’t know how to say it.”

Anticipation was a cruel state of being, and I gripped Kenzie’s elbows just a hair tighter, hungry for her words.

“I’m pregnant.”

Everything stopped, and I felt distinctly like I’d just been kicked in the nuts. Nausea swam up my stomach, and I wobbled on my feet like a damned cooked noodle. All I could do was blink and gape at Kenzie like she’d grown a second head.

Nope, not a head. A person. She’s growing a person—a baby.

After several moments of nothing, just me standing there in shock, Kenzie scoffed, tossing her head back as she pulled her arms away from me.

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