Page 38 of The Wolf's Pregnant Rejected Mate

But he didn’t speak. He sat down opposite her and rested his hands on his knees. She’d come to tell him, and he wanted to hear the words.

“I’m sorry for bothering you,” Tess murmured, looking away.

“You’re not bothering me.”

Tess twisted her sleeve around her wrist. “It seems as though I wasn’t very smart. When I didn’t insist on using protection.”

“I should have brought it up,” Ryder murmured.

“Please don’t. This is hard enough.” Tess took a deep gulp of air and straightened. She looked him in the eye and whispered, “I’m pregnant. The baby’s yours. You’re the only one it could be. I haven’t slept with anyone else. Not that it matters because we’re not mates. I mean, I understand if you were sleeping with other women. I don’t know why I’m saying that.” She bit her lip and looked down again.

Ryder opened his mouth and stopped.

Warmth swept through him. It was as though he’d spent his life standing in a miserable, drizzling rain. Now, the sun had come out. The darkness fled, and he could see clearly for the first time.

What was he thinking? For so long, he’d told himself they couldn’t be mates. That he wouldn’t be good for her or she wasn’t what he wanted. He’d been an idiot. She was his mate. Somehow, deep in his bones, he’d always known that.

He stood. “We’ll have the mating ceremony tonight.”

Chapter 21 - Tess

Tess’s head spun. Did he really just say that? The mating ceremony. He wanted her as his mate. Was that what he was saying? She stared up at him, her hands frozen in her lap. One month of experimenting sexually with one another followed by another month where they barely spoke to each other. And now he was saying they would have the mating ceremony.

“I don’t want to ask your parents for permission,” Ryder said as he paced back and forth. “It’s none of their business, and they have no right to decide whether you can take me as your mate or not.”

“But that’s not what the permission is for,” Tess murmured. “It’s givingyoupermission to have me.”

Ryder snorted. “And they don’t deserve any say in this matter. We’ll get special permission from Hayden to circumvent them. We’re both adults. I’m sure it won’t be an issue.”

Tess watched him pace as he planned to get everything they needed for the ceremony. She should be swooning with happiness, but all she felt was a growing knot in the pit of her stomach. This wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted to feel elated when someone asked her to be his mate.

Maybe that was the problem.

Ryder hadn’t asked. He’d merely said they’d have the ceremony. Didn’t ask her if she wanted it or not.

Worse, she knew in the pit of her stomach this was only because she was pregnant. He had decided this because he knew what it was like to be raised by a mateless mother. He didn’t want her. He only pitied her. If she weren’t pregnant, he’d never be saying this.

“We’ll need a house,” Ryder continued, still pacing. “We can’t live with my mother, and you have Elin living with you. I can’t do a lot of house hunting right now, but we can discuss our budget, and then I’m afraid you’ll have to look for them on your own.”

She didn’t want to be locked into a mating with someone who didn’t love her. She could see life with Ryder. It would be passionate; it would be comfortable. But it would also be lonely. The only thing they had to connect them was fighting and fucking, and that just wasn’t enough. Tears pooled in Tess’s eyes as her wolf pawed at her chest.

“No,” she said softly.

Ryder stopped his pacing. “I need to catch the demon in that big wolf, Tess. I want to be more involved in finding a house and preparing for the baby, but my first duty has to be protecting the pack from further attacks. It’s especially important now. We know the demons are targeting you.”

Tess got to her feet. She felt unsettled as she pulled in a soft breath. “That’s not it. I’m saying no, Ryder. There won’t be a mating ceremony. We’re not moving in together.”

“What do you mean?” Ryder’s eyebrows pulled together, his dark blue eyes intense.

“I mean that I won’t take you as my mate,” Tess said. She could barely hear herself, but her wolf whimpered at every word. Tears burned her eyes as she stared at the floor. “You’ll be a father, and I hope we can raise this baby amicably together, but I can’t go through with a mating ceremony.”

She waited, praying for him to say something. For him to understand where she was coming from, or just something. Her heart felt as though it was breaking. If she didn’t have these lingering feelings for him, maybe this wouldn’t be so hard.

“We’d be miserable together,” she continued, hating the silence. “Up until two months ago, we couldn’t even have a civil conversation. I’m not going to bring a child into an environment where they have to live with two people who hate each other. I saw that enough with my parents. I won’t put a baby through that. And I won’t put myself through it, either. I’m sorry, Ryder. I’m so sorry.”

Her gaze flicked to his face. The tears blurred her vision, and she turned and fled the house before they could clear. She didn’t want to see his expression, and she didn’t want to have to process it.

She should have been smarter. Should have insisted on using protections. That was her responsibility, after all. And she didn’t even have the luxury of saying she hadn’t thought of it.

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