Mighty Female Alpha, Fearless of Betrayal Chapter 03
Vivian waved him off without even looking up. “I’m fine. I’m strong. My pups are tough.”
She snapped her fingers at him. “Another pitcher.”
The nearby tables had gone quiet. Someone behind me whispered: “She’s pregnant and she’s drinking?”
“And he’s just sitting there cutting her steak for her. That’s not taking care of her, that’s letting her destroy herself.”
The murmurs drifted right past them. Ethan didn’t even blink.
Of course he didn’t care. The pup Vivian was carrying? That was mine. They were counting on the hex to do its work at birth. What Vivian ate between now and then was irrelevant to them.
I sat down and reached for my fork. Ethan’s hand shot out immediately.
“No shellfish. It’s not safe during pregnancy.”
Before I could respond, Vivian had already speared my lobster with her fork and pulled it onto her own plate. “Aurora, you need to put that pup first. Eat clean.”
Ethan slid a salad across the table at me. “Start with this. Doctor said your weight gain has been too fast.”
“You’re going to be a mother. You don’t get to be selfish about what you eat anymore. Everything you put in your body affects that pup.”
Vivian finished chewing and pointed at me with the wing bone. “Exactly. Raw shellfish is out. Cut the caffeine. No soft cheeses either. If that pup comes out with something wrong, it’ll be because you couldn’t hold yourself back.”
I looked at her, beer in hand, grease on her chin, a plate full of everything she’d just told me to avoid, and asked pleasantly, “And the alcohol? The fried food? What does that do to yours?”
Her face stiffened. Then the chin started trembling right on cue.
“You know how I grew up. No family. Bouncing between places, always hungry. When I see food like this, I just can’t help it.” Her voice caught. “My pup can feel what I feel. She goes crazy for it.”
She brought her fist down hard against her own belly. The sound made the nearest table wince.
Ethan grabbed her wrist and stopped her. Then he looked at me, frowning. “She had a rough life. Don’t make it harder.”
I nodded once and said nothing more.
The betrayal settled in my stomach like a stone. The man I’d given everything to and the woman I’d called my sister, hollowing me out from the inside to take what was mine.
I’d never been stingy with either of them. Ethan got ten thousand dollars a month in personal spending, no questions asked. Vivian lived in a house I bought her outright.
Some wolves are just never satisfied.
That night at home, Ethan handed me a mug of warm milk. “It’ll help you sleep.”
I made a show of sipping it, then dumped the rest down the bathroom drain while his back was turned.
I was drifting toward sleep when the mattress dipped hard behind me.
Rustling sounds.
Vivian’s voice, low and sticky. “Be quiet. What if she wakes up?”
Ethan’s low laugh. “Relax. She drank every drop. Nothing’s waking her up tonight.”
He’d underestimated what an Alpha’s senses could override.
Vivian shoved at him. “Don’t drug her again. My pup is in there.”
“Alright, alright. Whatever you say.” That pleading, eager tone he used when he was scared of someone.
Then the sounds started. Their scent spreading through my own bedroom like rot under floorboards.
“This is what makes it exciting,” Vivian breathed. Something twisted in her voice.
“Then let’s keep going.” Ethan’s voice came out rough and low.
The bed shook. Steady and shameless. Like they’d done this enough times that the risk meant nothing.
Then Vivian went tense. “Wait. I think I’m bleeding.”
Ethan stilled. “Bad?”
A pause. Then a quiet, cold laugh from her. “Doesn’t matter. As long as I don’t lose them, who cares about the rest.”
In the dark, I gripped the edge of the mattress until my knuckles ached. My claws nearly punched through the fabric.
In my own bed. In my own house. Zero shame between them.
Vivian, every ounce of pain you put me through, I’m going to hand it back to you a hundred times over.
