Rebecca’s POV
I needed to get out of that study.
Now.
Out of panic, I pushed myself to my feet before Kaden could say anything else. The walls suddenly felt like they were closing in on me. The air was too thick, heavy with the suffocating weight of what he had just felt—of what he almost realized. Every instinct inside me screamed that I needed distance between us before he touched me again and felt something even stronger.
"I should go." My words tumbled past my lips before I could stop them, my legs trembling so badly I had to lock my knees to keep from collapsing.
Kaden frowned and immediately stood. "Ruby."
"I need to go."
I took a step toward the door, but he closed the distance between us in two long strides, not blocking me exactly, but moving close enough that I had to stop.
"Wait." His expression softened, shifting from brooding suspicion to genuine alarm. "I’m sorry."
I swallowed hard, my voice cracking. "For what?"
"For frightening you." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking genuinely bothered. "I shouldn’t have reacted like that. My wolf is just... he’s on edge. I’m on edge. I don’t even understand what happened, and I started questioning you like you’d done something wrong."
My chest tightened painfully. If only he knew.
"You didn’t do anything," he continued. "Whatever my wolf felt is my problem. Not yours."
"Kaden, please." I couldn’t look into his eyes. If I looked into those intense, searching eyes, he would see everything. The guilt. The lies. The fear.
His brows pulled together.
"Just let me go."
Something in my voice must have reached him because he immediately stepped aside, giving me a terse nod. "Okay. I’m sorry, Ruby. Go rest. I’ll come check on you later."
I nodded quickly, unable to look at him for too long. As I walked past him, his large hand caught mine gently.
I froze, my breath catching in my throat.
"I’m not going to hurt you," he said softly.
My throat tightened so painfully I couldn’t speak. That wasn’t what I was afraid of. I was afraid he was going to remember me. I was afraid his wolf was going to figure everything out before his mind did. And most terrifying of all, I was afraid that tiny baby inside me was somehow going to expose the truth I had fought so hard to hide.
I slowly pulled my hand from his loose grip. "I know."
Then I turned and practically fled, my footsteps echoing far too loudly against the floors of the hallway. I forced myself to walk as normally as I could past the guards and servants stationed outside. The last thing I needed was anyone seeing me running away from Kaden’s study looking terrified.
By the time I reached the safety of my room, my hands were shaking violently. I pushed the door open, stepped inside, and slammed it shut, twisting the lock with trembling fingers.
"Shit."
I pressed my back against the door and squeezed my eyes shut, my breath coming in harsh, short gasps.
This was bad. No, this was so, so bad. This was fucking terrible.
Kaden had felt the baby. Despite the choker around my neck. Despite my scent being suppressed, my wolf being buried, and every spell meant to hide the bond between us.
He had felt our child.
My eyes snapped open. The realization made my stomach twist into violent knots. I crossed the room quickly, sliding down until I hit the floor and pulled my knees to my chest before my trembling legs could give out beneath me. My hands instinctively moved to my lower stomach, flattening against the still-flat plane of my belly.
The baby. His baby.
I rubbed my palm slowly across my flesh, tracing gentle circles as tears burned the corners of my eyes. "How did he feel you?" I whispered into the quiet room.
The healer had warned me that the baby’s aura would grow stronger as the pregnancy progressed, but I hadn’t expected this. Not this soon. The choker was supposed to suppress my scent and hide my wolf, but it couldn’t completely hide the blood-deep connection of the bond.
Even through the dark magic, Kaden’s wolf had felt his child. The pull was too pure, too deeply rooted in their shared blood and soul to be entirely muted. He hadn’t just sensed a baby—he had felt the undeniable pull of a father to his unborn pup.
A sob tore out of my throat, and I pressed my hand hard over my mouth to muffle the sound. My breathing quickened into frantic hitches. If his wolf could already recognize our baby while my choker was still suppressing everything, what would happen as the baby grew stronger? What would happen next week? Or the week after that?
My trembling fingers moved from my stomach to the cold band around my throat. The second this thing came off, my real scent and aura would return. My wolf would return. The mate bond would snap back into place. Everything Kaden’s damaged memories couldn’t tell him would hit his wolf all at once.
He would know. He would realize that the child growing inside me wasn’t Kane’s, and that the woman in his bed was his true mate.
I squeezed my eyes shut, pressing my head back against the door. I couldn’t wait anymore. Whatever little time I thought I had was disappearing faster than I realized.
I needed that pin. I needed to open Helen’s locket. I needed to remove this choker.
And then I needed to leave before Kaden’s wolf figured out the truth completely.
Because after what I’d seen in his eyes this morning, I was beginning to understand something terrifying. My secret wasn’t safe anymore. My baby was already telling his father exactly who he belonged to.
The sharp, sudden knock at the door made me jump, my heart leaping into my throat.
I quickly wiped the stray tear from my cheek and smoothed down my cardigan, forcing my voice to sound strong. "Come in."
The door opened, and a young maid stepped into the room, bowing her head respectfully. "Forgive the interruption, Miss. Someone is downstairs asking to see you."
I frowned, my hand instinctively dropping back over my stomach. "Who?"
"She didn’t give a name," the maid replied softly. "She only said she is an old friend of yours."
An old friend? The confusion deepened, sending a fresh wave of unease through me. I didn’t have old friends here. No one from my past knew I was at the pack house, and anyone who actually knew my true identity wouldn’t be casually dropping by under the guise of friendship.
"Alright," I said slowly, pushing myself up from the floor. "Thank you. Show me where she is."
I adjusted the choker around my neck, taking a deep breath to steady my nerves before following the maid down the long, quiet hallway. She led me toward one of the smaller, private waiting rooms near the side entrance of the estate—a space usually reserved for low-profile visitors.
The maid gestured toward the cracked door. "She is inside, Miss."
I gave her a brief nod, pushed the door open, and stepped into the room.
A woman was standing near the far window, her back turned to me as she stared out at the gardens. She was slender, dressed in elegant, tailored clothes, with long, silky dark hair spilling down her back.
"The maid said you wanted to see me?" I spoke cautiously, keeping my distance near the doorway.
The woman turned around slowly.
My breath caught in my chest, and my eyes widened in absolute shock.
It was her. The woman from the coffee shop.
Kane’s mate.
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