Sinclair
The world is fuzzy when I wake. I sit up, instantly on edge. My wolf knows something is wrong, not that this is any great feat of instinct. I don’t recognize my surroundings, and I have no recollection of falling asleep. The last thing I remember is being at the ‘have a drink with the Alpha’ event and talking about fatherhood with my constituents.
How much time has passed? I wonder, my thoughts trapped in a strange fog. I feel hungover, but I can’t imagine I had enough alcohol to render me in such a state. It’s already light out, and why do I smell…
“Lydia!” I exclaim, scanning the space for my ex-wife. The entire room reeks of her, and belatedly I realize we’re in a hotel. I can sense her presence in the other room, but as I slide from bed I realize I’m completely naked.
She appears in the doorway of the bathroom, leaning against the frame. She’s wearing my dress shirt from last night. It’s unbuttoned from collar to hem, making it clear that she’s nude underneath. I’m sure she intended it to give me tantalizing flashes of her tan skin, but I feel no attraction for her at all. My wolf is roaring in my head, my hackles raising defensively when Lydia flashes her fangs in a lethal grin. “Good morning, lover.”
“What have you done?” I snarl, not bothering to hide my outrage and disgust. Slowly, so slowly I feel furious with my own dull wits, a picture is forming in my mind. The puzzle pieces are slowly clicking into place. I feel so groggy, achy and nauseous, not because I’m hungover, but because I was drugged.
That metallic taste in my drink. I realize angrily, wishing I’d had the sense to walk out of the pub the moment I realized something was off. I glance again to the windows, realizing it must be morning already. I have no memory of last night and no way of knowing what I did in my drugged state. Did she give me something that unhinged me enough that I would actually sleep with her? Did I make a scene when I left the bar?
“Dominic, I haven’t done anything!” Lydia exclaims, looking offended. “Don’t you remember? We ran into each other after your event last night. I guess without your little pet hanging on your arm you were finally able to remember why we’re so good together.”
Ella! I think suddenly. I promised her I’d be home in time for dinner, she must be so worried! “Where’s my phone?” I demand sharply.
Lydia’s mouth drops open, and some of her haughtiness sleeps away. “Seriously?!” She bursts out, “that’s all it takes, one mention of the little bitch and you just forget I exist?”
Without thinking, I lunge for Lydia, my claws and fangs extended, my shoulders shaking with the effort of holding off the urge to shift. I stop myself short of reaching for her, though my wolf is sorely tempted. “Don’t you ever talk about Ella that way. In fact, keep her name and any other foul nicknames you come up with, out of your mouth completely.”
“What are you doing?” Lydia sputters, flinching and backing away from me. “I’m your mate. You can’t…. This isn’t…”
“You think I can’t threaten you? You think I can’t hurt you if you endanger my family?” I snap. “You aren’t my mate anymore, Lydia, and you weren’t ever worthy of being Luna even when you had the title.” Despite my words, even I’m shocked at how easy I find it to show aggression to her. Everything I know about fated mates has taught me that I shouldn’t be able to stomach raising a hand against her, but it’s almost as if she and Ella have traded places in my heart. Now my wolf only cares for protecting the mother of our pup, even if it means protecting her from my once-fated mate.
“I haven’t done a thing to your disgusting little family.” Lydia spits, hissing like a cat.
“You drugged me.” I accuse. “What if I let something sensitive slip under the influence? How did you get me out of that bar?
What if someone saw us leaving together? You might have compromised my campaign!” I thunder, “and that does threaten my family – make no mistake.”
“Who are you!” Lydia explodes, furious and cowering at once. “People don’t just stop being mates, Dominic! You can’t just erase our past because you found a new plaything. You always said I was more important to you than politics… and now it’s like…
Goddess, I don’t even recognize you!
“You didn’t really think that you could just walk out on me and I’d stay the same, did you? Did you expect me to wallow like a heartsick pup when I have a pack to lead and the fate of the entire fucking realm is on my shoulders? Did you really believe I’d stay here pining for you, and you would be able to walk back into my life like nothing happened?” I rumble coldly, wondering how I ever imagined myself in love with this woman. Ella would never ask me to choose her over the campaign, she wouldn’t want me to. “And for the record, Lydia. I said you were more important than politics, not the pack – not my duty to protect my people.”
“Well you didn’t care very much about your family or your pack last night.” Lydia announces spitefully, wearing a cruel smile that looks more like a grimace. “The time apart certainly didn’t cost us in the bedroom. You were every bit as ferocious and virile as ever. I might be pregnant already.”
I try not to let her see how deeply her words cut me. The idea that I had sex with her under the influence of her drugs makes me sick to my stomach. I have no way of knowing if she’s telling the truth. There aren’t any marks on her body from hickeys or lovebites, and I don’t feel any scratches on my back of physical signs of the kind of rambunctious lovemaking we used to have, but then again – if I was most unconscious then there wouldn’t be any of those signs. So while I’m sure her remarks about my ferocity are a lie, I can’t rule out sex entirely. The bed is in complete disarray, and she certainly smells like me. Is it just from sleeping together… or did she manage to steal my seed the way she’s suggesting.
“What would it matter if you’re pregnant?” I say instead. “I already have my heir.”
“You know better than anyone that the first born child isn’t always the strongest.” Lydia answers shrewdly, looking so cunning I wonder how Roger and I were ever fooled by her. “And your current heir hasn’t even been born yet. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to have a spare. Goddess knows anything can happen between now and the birth.” She doesn’t say the words as a threat, but it’s hard not to hear them that way with all the attempts on Ella’s life. However Lydia isn’t paying attention to the dangerous line she’s walking, she presses on, rubbing her belly as if it’s confirmed that she’s breeding. “I guarantee any child of mine will be stronger than that pipsqueak’s. Soon you won’t have any need of Ella at all.”
The petty part of me wants to lash out and tell Lydia that if it were possible for us to make a baby together it would have happened in the years we were married. I want to tell her she’s delusional if she thinks she can get pregnant at all. But damn it if Ella’s silky voice isn’t interrupting my thoughts, encouraging me to show compassion even though this monster doesn’t deserve any.
Just then I see my phone, balanced on the edge of the nightstand. I snatch it up and turn on the screen, immediately going to my messages. I’m not surprised to see multiple missed calls and texts from Ella, but I’m horrified when I see the response I sent her, and the photo. “You sent this to her?” I roar, thrusting the device towards Lydia’s sneering face.
She smirks, “Of course not, that was all you.”
I stalk forward, closing the final distance between us. “You better hope you are pregnant, Lydia.” I declare icily, “because if you aren’t, I swear to the Goddess I will hunt you down and make sure you can’t ever come anywhere near me, or my family again.”
I storm out without another word. I dial Ella as I race across town, unsurprised when she doesn’t answer the phone. My wolf is already in a panic about her reaction to Lydia’s taunting message. I don’t care how drunk or disoriented I was, I know I wouldn’t have ignored Ella that way – not when she’s all my wolf wants. Was she very upset? Did it exacerbate her stress to a dangerous level? I only stop for the barest second at a newsstand to make sure there’s nothing in the papers about Lydia and I, before continuing to my mansion.
But when I arrive, Ella is nowhere to be found.
