Sebastian’s POV

“She’s home, Sebastian.”

Mila’s voice came through the mind-link, and I could finally breathe. For three days, I’d called everyone I knew and sent warriors to search nearby cities. Now Emilia was home.

But I was at the Golurium Club, sitting across from the last woman I wanted to see. Abigail sat with her legs crossed and her chin raised. Her smile made me sick.

“End the pregnancy,” I said coldly.

Her smile vanished. “What did you say?” She pressed a hand to her stomach. “This is your child, Sebastian.”

“I don’t care whose it is.” I leaned forward. “End it while I’m still asking politely.”

Ryder stirred, harder to control than before. Abigail’s eyes widened, but she didn’t look away.

“If you refuse,” I said quietly, “you’re going to regret it.”

She jumped up, her chair scraping the floor. “I’m not getting rid of my baby! Go ahead. Let’s see what you can do.”

Her voice rose. “You want Emilia to forgive you, so you expect me to end my pregnancy? Forget it, Sebastian. We’ll see who wins.”

She stormed out. I stayed seated, fists clenched, while Ryder growled. He wanted me to stop her, to deal with her as wolves had always dealt with threats.

I forced myself to stay still. Killing her wouldn’t undo what had happened or make Emilia forgive me.

I left the club and drove home. Three days without knowing where Emilia was had been unbearable. I never wanted to go through that again.

Our bed was empty. Her scent lingered, but she wasn’t there. The door to the small adjoining room was closed.

I tried the handle. Locked. I rested my forehead against the wood.

“Emilia, what will shutting yourself in there solve?”

“I’m not hiding,” she said. “I haven’t done anything wrong. Why would I need to hide?”

“Then are you going to shut me out forever?”

She paused. “I can’t face you right now.”

I closed my eyes. “Tell me what to do. How can I make this right? What will it take for you to forgive me?”

“You don’t have to do anything.” Her voice trembled. “This isn’t about forgiveness anymore.”

My hands shook. I could cope with her anger, even if forgiveness took months. But this sounded as though she was giving up on us.

I couldn’t leave things like this. She was close enough to hear me, yet I was afraid I’d already lost her. I knocked again.

“Emilia, don’t leave me.” My voice broke. “Please open the door.”

She didn’t answer. I stayed, unable to walk away.

“I don’t know what I’d become without you,” I said. “I don’t trust myself anymore. You’re the reason I ever believed I could be a better man.”

I pressed my palm harder against the door. It was useless, but I needed her to hear me.

“This is my fault. You warned me that night, and I didn’t listen. I trusted Abigail for no reason and gave her the chance to trap me.”

My throat tightened. “It could all have been avoided. Now you’re suffering because of my mistake. I’m sorry, Emilia. I’m hurting too.”

For a long time, there was no answer. When she spoke, she was crying.

“It’s too late to say that now. It’s already happened. You need to take responsibility.”

She sounded exhausted, almost defeated. Emilia usually argued back and made sure I understood where I’d gone wrong. Hearing her speak as though nothing could help frightened me more than her anger ever had.

“Anyone else can shut me out,” I said, raising my voice. “The whole world can turn against me, and I’ll deal with it. But not you. You know how much I love you.”

“What good does that do me?” she demanded. “Does knowing you love me mean the baby belongs to someone else?”

At least she was arguing now. I hated that I’d pushed her to it, but I couldn’t bear that hopeless voice again.

“How do you know the baby is mine?”

“How do you know it isn’t?”

“We don’t know either way,” I said quickly. “We can’t let this destroy our marriage. We love each other. We can get through it.”

She laughed bitterly. “You make it sound so simple. That’s a living child, Sebastian. You can’t put it away like a toy and forget about it because it causes problems.”

“Then what do you want me to do?” I asked. “You can see what this is doing to me. Does that mean nothing to you?”

“You think you’re the only one hurting?”

The lock clicked, and the door opened. Emilia stood before me, her cheeks wet and her eyes red and swollen.

“This isn’t about what I want anymore.” Her voice cracked. “I want us to be okay, Sebastian. But wanting that doesn’t make the baby disappear.”

I reached for her, but she stepped back. I lowered my hand and waited.

“I thought we’d face everything together,” she said, struggling to catch her breath. “But you kept this from me. Now you’re asking me to believe that loving each other will somehow fix it.”

She wiped her cheek. “I know you love me. I don’t need you to prove that. I need to know whether that child is yours.”

“Emilia, we can’t know yet.”

“Then stop asking me to act as though it doesn’t matter.” She looked at me. “If there’s even the smallest chance that the baby isn’t yours, shouldn’t you be doing everything you can to find out?”

She was right. I’d kept asking her to forgive me when neither of us knew what she would have to live with. My fear of losing her had become another burden I was asking her to carry.

“You’re right,” I said, my voice shaking. “I need to find out the truth. And I can’t ask you to be okay before we know it.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be okay afterward either.”

I had no answer to that. I couldn’t promise the baby wasn’t mine, or that the truth would save our marriage.

“I know,” I said. “But please give me time to find out. I’m not asking you to forgive me tonight. Just don’t give up on us yet.”

For the first time in my life, I had no pride left to protect. I was the Alpha of Silver Moon, standing in my own bedroom, begging my wife to stay.