Page 17 of My Ruthless Alpha

“I’ve done enough thinking…you can’t change my mind.”

Beau looked at me like I slapped him in the face, but it was clear he wouldn’t let me go quite so easily.

Chapter 8 - Beau

I was panicking on the inside.

As much as I tried to mask it with my irritation, I was losing my mind.

Faye even uttering those words was enough to trigger that reflex to get her to stay…to convince her she didn’t need to go anywhere else. That she didn’t need to seek anyone else’s help.

Whether she knew it or not, I had everything there that she needed.

After all these years, it was a strange, almost intrusive thought, but I knew it was true.

I disappointed her before…I broke her heart and ruined everything between us, but I didn’t want to let that happen again. I didn’t want to be the cause of her pain anymore.

The thought of Faye and Margo leaving, even if they had only been there for a day, made me feel like I would lose my mind if they did.

I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t let her go…not when she had just come back to me, even if it was by accident.

“You have to reconsider this,” I urged her, taking another step closer while I held her gaze. I needed her to know I was serious.

Faye looked even more annoyed than I did and didn’t like me trying to tell her what to do. Even so, I felt it was my job to do whatever I could to convince her otherwise.

While she didn’t owe me anything, and I didn’t have a right to be making any demands, I couldn’t stand the thought of her and Margo slipping away. I wasn’t ready for them to go.

“And why do I?”

It was a valid question, which seemed to make it even harder to answer. “I don’t want to be the one to stand in your way…not after everything. But this is reckless. You have to know that.”

“Leaving my pack was reckless…staying here with you is reckless…going out there is too. But it doesn’t change that I have to leave eventually,” she argued, keeping her voice low to not disturb Margo down the hall.

“But why? Why do you have to leave? You two would be just fine here.”

“Because this isn’t our home…you aren’t our alpha, and this isn’t our pack,” she returned sharply, still not backing down. “We don’t need to overstay our welcome.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it? Why do you care so much?” Faye muttered, visibly getting more and more tired of me not conceding to her wishes.

“I care,” I said, feeling all the while my chest tightened, and my voice became quieter. As much as I didn’t want to speculate or confront her that way, I couldn’t stop the words from leaving my mouth. “Margo…is she mine?”

The question stunned Faye on the spot and seemingly took all the wind from her sails. Her eyes widened, and she struggled to find the words.

I let go of a breath and murmured, “The math checks out…she looks just like me and my brothers. And I…I feel this connection with her as if I’ve known her since the day she was born. Please, you have to tell me.”

The more I said, the guiltier Faye seemed while she averted her gaze as if she had finally been caught and couldn’t run away from it anymore.

It didn’t feel great to corner her like that, but I needed to know the truth one way or another. The question had been stuck in my head, and I couldn’t just leave it alone as much as I initially wanted to.

“Faye…is she my child?” I asked again, never raising my tone higher than those hushed words.

Finally, letting go of a heavy breath, Faye nodded. All the while, that guilt remained clear as day on her face. “Yes…”

The confirmation hit me like a tidal wave, and I still couldn't believe it, even if I had suspicions since the moment I saw her.

I couldn’t wrap my head around it all. Somewhere along the way, I got Faye pregnant, and after I left the pack, she had no way of telling me, and she probably didn’t want to either.

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