Chapter 41: Secrets.

Bella’s pov.

“What do you want to talk about, Kadence?” I asked as I took a seat behind my desk. Folding my hands together in front of me as I waited for her to talk.

She sniffed the air, her face visibly darkening as she glared at me…

“You have his scent all over you…” she whispered, looking me up and down, making my entire body tense up.

“What? What are you talking about?” I asked as I mentally prepared myself for her craziness, knowing this won’t end well.

“John… his scent is all over you!” She hissed, her eyes blazing with anger at her words, her fists clenched tightly at her sides.

I stood up, not letting my guard down.

“You need to calm down, right now. I don’t know what is happening right now but I don’t like it. Beta John has been a great help for me lately. He’s currently watching my daughter… he’s in my home, obviously his scent is on me. Watch what you say,” I said calmly, watching her look me up and down in distaste.

Her head shakes as she thinks about what to say.

“I don’t even know what he sees in you… I’m better for him in every way! I'm prettier than you! I'm smarter than you! You need to get out of his life!” She yelled wildly, making me take a step towards her warningly.

Not about to let her talk to me this way.

“If you don’t watch your mouth… I’ll be escorting you out of here. And if you don’t stop acting crazy I will have you transferred to a different pack! Do you know any alphas that let a wolf live after being spoken to that way?! Because I don’t!” I yelled back, her eyes widening for a second before they were glaring at me again.

She scoffed, taking a step away from me.

“Oh, please! Try! You’re weak! You shouldn’t even have won that challenge! You must’ve cheated! You aren’t even a real alpha… you don’t deserve the title. John deserves better, he deserves someone like me!” She said through clenched teeth, the veins on her neck bulging from her anger.

Tundra pushed to the surface, her anger radiating off of us.

Not liking how she spoke to us one bit.

You could see Kadence’s slip in her posture, her wolf whimpering from the pressure of our aura pushing onto her.

“You’d do better to watch that mouth. If you don’t shut it I’ll shut it for you, do better to respect your alpha wolf,” she growled out, Kadence visibly shaking.

“He- he got me pregnant once! We were supposed to have a pup together!” She blurted out as a last resort, hitting the head of the nail with her hammer.

“He… what?” I stammered out, praying to the goddess that she’s lying. Not wanting to believe it.

“You heard me,” she said, her smirk coming back to her face as she realized she got to me, “he. Got. Me. Pregnant.”

I sucked in a sharp inhale of breath, staggering backwards a few steps as it sank in.

My heart dropped to my stomach, so many things racing in my mind.

Pregnant. He had gotten her pregnant.

“What… What happened to the pup?” I whispered, not able to meet her eye.

Needing to know if it’s alive out there somewhere.

“It unfortunately didn’t survive. The abuse and neglect we went through made it die,” she said with her chin up, a look of smugness on her face.

“How can you sit there and lie? John wouldn’t have done anything to kill his own pup. He would’ve made a great father…” I said softly, feeling… hurt, and lied to, by the both of them.

“Well he did!” She huffed, crossing her arms against her chest, “he’s the reason our pup is gone!  But I love him and I want him back. So you’ll do your best to back off. Or else. I need him back, I want to try again at a future together.”

“Get the fuck out of here, Kadence. And don’t let me see your face again, or you won’t like what happens,” I said through clenched teeth, Tundra about to come to the surface again.

She scoffed before opening the door and walking out, leaving the door open behind her.

Her presence still lingering behind her.

I stood up and growled, walking towards the door and slamming it shut as hard as I could.

The walls shaking from the force.

“Fucking hell. There’s always something…” I mumbled to myself.

Barrying my head in my hands.

Why him? Why John?

Why did she have to come here and tell me those things?

Why didn’t John tell me?

I have a child of my own. I wouldn’t have been angry or anything…

Now though, I feel like he was trying to keep me in the dark.

I don’t know how to feel anymore.

I don’t know what I should even say to him.

He’s in my home right now, watching my child while I’m supposed to be working but all I can do is think about what Kadence had said.

Should I stay away from him? Are they going to get back together?

I want to ask all of these questions to John but I can’t. I don’t know how I’d bring it up or what I’d say.

I think time and space would be good…

Maybe I’ll tell him I need space, to think, to gather my mind.

‘We don’t need space,’ Tundra growled in my mind, butting into my thoughts, ‘he'll be honest, just ask him!’

‘I can’t…’ I whispered back, ‘I’m scared to hear his answers.’

‘It doesn’t hurt to try…’ she said softly before disappearing again.

Leaving me alone again.

I can’t bring it up to him. Not yet.

For now, I think I need time.

To focus on the pack, on Megan. On my life, on the bond I have to dissolve.

Garrett… the man who was supposed to love me.

Elder Elian will need to contact the higher elders for me.

Let them know we need to hold the rejection ceremony soon, on neutral grounds.

They’ll want to know what happened. What he did and why he did it.

And I don’t think I have all of the answers they’ll seek.

But I’ll tell them the truth. About everything I know.