CHAPTER 112:Crossing Over
SELENA
His voice was low, barely above a whisper, but it crackled with restrained rage.
“Who are you communicating with?”
The air between us thickened. I could feel the storm swirling behind his calm exterior the tightening of his jaw, the darkening of his eyes. Shadows flickered in his irises, and for a second, I swore I saw his wolf glaring at me through them.
“It’s… nobody,” I said, too quickly, too softly.
He didn’t believe me.
A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips, but it didn’t reach his eyes. It was the kind of smile that made your bones chill a warning disguised as patience. He sat beside me slowly, his movements controlled, precise, like a predator calculating every inch of distance between him and his prey. His hand found mine, gripping it firmly not enough to bruise, but enough to make me feel it.
“Speak to me, Selena.”
His tone dipped into something darker. “Who are you talking to... with your mind?”
I tried to look away, but his grip tightened. Pain pinched through my hand.
“It’s Adam,” I whispered, barely audible.
His eyes shifted in an instant gold bled into deep crimson. His wolf was rising. I felt the heat of his fury before I saw the full transformation in his gaze.
His grip clamped down, harder now. My breath caught as pain shot up my wrist. Tears welled in my eyes, unbidden, slipping past my lashes.
“Stephen please,” I gasped, “you’re hurting me.”
At the sound of his name, something in him pulled back. His hand dropped from mine as though burned. I held my throbbing wrist, blinking past the tears as we stared at one another.
And then, a strange warmth surged between us an invisible thread glowed red, flickering like fire between our hands.
He saw it too.
“My mate,” he murmured, his voice reverent and wrecked at the same time.
He reached for me again, this time not with anger, but need. His mouth crashed against mine, urgent and raw. The kiss was hungry, aggressive, a clash of emotion and desire that stole the breath from my lungs. I whimpered beneath him, struggling to keep up with the storm he unleashed.
His lips trailed to my neck, brushing the mark he’d left on me his claim, his promise. His hands moved with purpose, memorizing my skin as if afraid I might vanish.
“You are mine, Selena. And you always will be.” His voice dropped to a growl. “I forbid you from ever speaking to Adam again.”
A shiver slid down my spine. The possessiveness in his tone should’ve terrified me, but instead it pulled me in, wrapped around something inside me I didn’t want to name.
“I don’t want to talk to Adam,” I said breathlessly. “I broke things off with him. I swear to you I love you, only you.”
Something in him shifted. The hardness in his eyes faded, replaced by something softer. Almost broken.
He leaned in again, kissed me slow this time gentler, yet still full of fire.
And then… a jolt.
I gasped and pulled back, hand flying to my stomach.
“What is it?” he asked, instantly alert.
“The baby,” I whispered, eyes wide. “It kicked.”
Stephen’s gaze dropped to my stomach. He placed a hand over the swell, eyes wide with awe.
“Our baby…”
As if the baby recognized his father’s presence, it kicked again. Stephen’s face lit up with something fierce and tender, a smile breaking through the storm still lingering in him.
“I think the baby feels you,” I said, watching him.
“The baby is mine,” he said, eyes locked on me. “And so are you. No one will ever take you from me again.”
ADAM
I felt the moment she chose him like a blade sliding between my ribs.
The bond we once shared didn’t snap like a string. It unraveled slowly, thread by agonizing thread. I didn’t need to hear the words to know. I could feel it. The way her energy no longer searched for mine. The silence in my mind where her voice used to echo. The absence was deafening.
And still, I stood there. Hoping. Like a fool staring at an open wound, waiting for it to stop bleeding.
It didn’t.
Selena was his now.
And I… I needed to get away before I started hating her for choosing someone who wasn’t me.
The walls of the pack house felt tighter with every breath. Her scent lingered in the halls jasmine and rain. Her laugh clung to the stones. Every space, every sound, reminded me of what I lost.
I needed somewhere untouched by her.
The human world.
She used to talk about it like it was paradise. Skies that burned pink at dusk. Music that made you feel like you could fly. Streets that pulsed with life and stories, messy and raw and real.
Maybe if I went there, I could forget the way she once looked at me.
I found my father standing at the edge of the training field, arms crossed, his presence cutting through the air like a drawn blade. He didn’t turn to greet me. He already knew.
“You’re leaving,” he said, not asking. Just stating the inevitable.
The weight of his voice settled on my chest.
“Only for a while,” I replied, the words dry in my mouth. “I’ll come back.”
He finally turned, eyes locking with mine. His disappointment wasn’t loud, but it was sharp.
“For how long?” he asked. “You are heir to this pack. You were born for this. You can’t just run when it hurts.”
“I’m not running,” I said, but even I didn’t believe that. “I just… I can’t breathe here right now.”
A long silence stretched between us. He studied me with those Alpha eyes the ones that had watched men fall in battle, had seen betrayal and loyalty tangled too tightly to separate.
He nodded once and jerked his head toward the woods. “Walk with me.”
We moved through the ancient trees in silence. Wind rustled above us, birds quieting as we passed. His private garden lay at the heart of the forest, hidden from most of the pack. A sacred place. Even the air was different there cleaner, heavier, like it carried the voices of our ancestors.
He ran his fingers along the trunk of an old cedar. “The human world… It’s not as golden as they paint it, Adam. It’s soft. They break easy. Love hard. Die faster.”
He turned to me, voice roughened by memory. “Don’t go chasing something you think will save you. Don’t fall for their fragile beauty. It won’t last. And you weren’t made for temporary things.”