Page 32 of The Alpha's Baby Girl

“It’s okay, we will—”

“No!” Juniper interrupted Rowan. “It’s not okay. There’s nothing remotely okay about this. How can I have a child with you? You’re the alpha of the Moonwood pack, and you have already rejected me before. Clear as day, for the whole town to see.”

Tears gathered in her eyes and she covered her face with her hands. “And when I leave Moonwood again, then what? How am I going to take the baby with me? Will the baby be a shifter? How do I care for a baby all by myself? Nothing is okay!”

Juniper’s voice had gone up and up the more she spoke, until she was yelling. Rowan watched her quietly and listened as she spoke, holding onto her hand gently but firmly.

Juniper looked down at his hands holding her, and then up at his face, her lips quivering in fear and anger.

“Hey…calm down. Okay? Calm down.” Rowan covered Juniper’s hand in both of his and scuttled closer to her on the bed. “Listen to me, Juniper. I haven’t been able to tell you my true feelings. I’ve been trying to find the best time to speak with you, but I realize now that there’s not going to be a better time than right now.

“The truth is that I am sorry for what I did to you. I never should have rejected you the way I did. By doing so, I called you a liar and led people to think that you were just being crazy. There’s no excuse for what I did, and no justification either.

“I did it because I was scared. Scared of what people thought. Worried about what they would say if they found out about what we had. Worried about what my friends would think of me. But I was a fool to care about all those things.

“I was a fool, because from the first time I saw you, I knew you were my mate. From the first time we were together, I heard my wolf howl for joy all through the night. What we shared, it’s the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me.

“I should have fought harder to preserve it. To protect it. To protect you. But I didn’t, and I will never be able to forgive myself for that. I will never forget what I did to you. That night, when I saw you enter the bar, torn, battered and bruised…”

Rowan shut his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, they shimmered with tears. “That night, all I wanted to do was kill those boys. Kill Elena. Kill everyone who dared to laugh. Everyone who so much as snickered at you. I could have killed them all.

“But most of all, I wanted to kill myself. Because I should have been the one to protect you. Instead, I caused you more pain than any of those people could have dreamed of doing, not in a million years.

“Not a day went by that I didn’t mourn your loss. Not a day went by that I didn’t hope for a chance to right my wrongs. And then, you came back. You came back right when I needed you. You returned, Juniper, and I know that it was not a mistake. I know. I feel it in my bones, and I know you feel it too.

“I know I have lost the right to ask you for this, but please, give us a chance to raise this child together. I know you found a life for yourself in the big city, and I know you plan to leave as soon as this is over. But Juniper, please. Stay.”

Juniper stared at Rowan with disbelief, tears pouring freely down both her cheeks. Rowan had tears in his eyes as well, confusing Juniper.

She felt completely overwhelmed, like her difficult life had just gotten much worse. First, she had learned in the worst way that she was pregnant, and now this man was finally admitting to how much he had hurt her in the past, and asking for forgiveness.

She felt her eye twitch in anger at that. She felt frustrated by his words, because she had no idea what use such fanciful words were to her in that moment. Did he think he could just say some words and make everything go away?

Most of the pack still felt disdain toward her. That little boy had been willing to risk his life, just because the warning had come from her.

For years, all she had tried to do was be accepted by her pack.

And a part of her had hoped that her relationship with Rowan would be the catalyst that brought a change to how the whole of Moonwood looked at her.

Instead, it had been the very thing that had made them turn away from her. She was a witch and a liar. The first, she had been born with and was proud of. The second, however, was because Rowan had denied her.

What did he think? That a few words of affirmation here in private could make up for the damage he had already done?

The damn motel wouldn’t even give her a room. That was the town he wanted her to stay in? What was he thinking?

“Juniper?” Rowan asked, a look of worry on his face.

Juniper turned to look at him, her eyes as hard as rocks and as cold as a winter eve. “How dare you?” she asked in a grating voice. “How dare you? Do you have any idea what you’ve made me endure? Do you have any idea how you ruined my life?”

She tugged her hand sharply out of Rowan’s. “You come in here and say big words. For years, I was abused! You promised me that you were going to put an end to the bullying! You lied then. You’re lying now.

“How dare you ask me to stay in a town that has hated me for being born? How can I stay when all people see when they look at me is a lying witch. Even my own sister thinks I threw myself at you. I was willing to bear all of that, because I had you. But I was young. And foolish. I’m not so foolish anymore, Rowan.

“This is my problem to solve. There’s nothing left for me in this town. As soon as we find the fiend in the woods, I will disappear from your collective lives for good. I have never been a wolf, and your people have made it abundantly clear that I am not wanted or valued.”

It was only after Juniper got quiet that she realized she had been yelling loudly. The look on Rowan’s face was that of pain and hurt, but Juniper didn’t care. She knew that she had been harsh and maybe unfair to him. While he had made mistakes, he wasn’t a bad person. She wasn’t even frustrated with him.

Unfortunately, she needed to let it all out, or she would go mad. And he was the one who was here, so she took it out on him. She turned him into the receiving end of all the unfair things life had thrown at her.

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