Page 114 of Eclipse Sector

It hurt too much.

Shower. Eat. Figure out… everything else.

I started to push away from him, then winced as agony shot up from my core.

Gods, he really knotted me good…

And I sort of hated him for it.

“Let me take care of you,” Cillian said softly. “I?—”

“I think you’ve done enough,” I grumbled, cutting him off. “I’ll be fine on my own.”

I’d have to get used to it now anyway. Because no way in hell was I allowing him to raise our child out of pity for our situation.

“Ivana,” he growled.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I repeated harshly, nearly shadowing out of the nest, only to remember in the next breath that Icouldn’tshadow.

Because I’m pregnant.

I palmed my belly, then curled into a ball before releasing a frustrated sob.

“Fuck, Vana,” he breathed, his arm coming around me. “I…”

He trailed off, leaving us in silence as I tried to control my raging emotions.

Part of me knew this was a residual result of my heat, the fog in my mind clouding my better judgment. The pregnancy wasn’t improving matters, either.

Gods, I was a mess.

I needed to calm down, think this through, speak my frustrations aloud. But I wasn’t even sure where to start.

The memories swirled together in a chaotic cloud of lust, pleasure, and strong emotions. All culminating in a baby.

Our pup.

“I need to talk to Kieran,” Cillian said in a low voice. “We… we’ll figure this out when I get back, okay?”

Of course he was leaving me for Kieran. Why wouldn’t he leave me for Kieran?

“I can never put you first,” Cillian had warned me. “You deserve someone who will make you his world, Vana. Someone who will always choose you over everything and everyone else. I can’t be that someone.”

I’d fired back with, “Who says I want that someone?”

At the time, I’d believed that.

Now? Here? I… I did want that someone. An Alpha who would choose me. Bite me.Mateme.

But Cillian wouldn’t be that mate. He’d said it clear as day just moments ago—“I wouldn’t have wanted to.”

He wouldn’t have bitten me because he wouldn’t have wanted to.

What more was there to say to that?

“Ivana?” Cillian prompted.

“Yes?” I asked almost robotically.