Page 46 of The Careless Alpha

The desperation in his voice was almost enough to crack my resolve. Almost. But then I remembered the feel of the matebond severing, the agony of his rejection, the way he'd looked at me with such disgust and fury.

"I don't want to hear your explanations," I said, my voice growing stronger. "I don't want to hear about how you were wrong or how you've changed. I lived with the consequences of your choices. I'm still living with them."

"Annalise, please—"

"Is there a problem here?" Rita's voice cut through the tension like a blade. She stepped out from behind the counter, all five-foot-two of her bristling with protective fury. Despite her small stature, she managed to look formidable as she positioned herself between Marshall and me.

Marshall turned to face her, and I saw him blink in surprise at the fierce determination blazing in her eyes. "I'm Marshall Kane. I'm Annalise's—" He caught himself, glancing around at the human faces surrounding us. "I'm her... partner. We need to talk."

"Partner?" Rita's laugh was sharp and bitter. "Boy, you gave up any right to call yourself that when you abandoned her while she was pregnant. She's not your anything."

Our family,Sapphire said with fierce pride.These humans are more family than our pack ever was.

"You don't understand," Marshall said, and I heard the first hint of his old arrogance creeping into his voice. "This is between me and—"

"And nothing," Tom interrupted, rising fully from his seat. The hardware store owner was a big man, and he used every inch of his height to loom over Marshall. The Alpha was still larger, but the significance wasn’t lost on Marshall. "The girl's made it clear she doesn't want to talk to you. Time to go."

"She's carrying my child," Marshall said, his voice growing desperate. "My son."

Months after calling my baby a bastard, of accusing me of cheating, he dared to claim ownership now?

"Where were you when she was sick every morning for two months?" Rita demanded, stepping closer to Marshall with the fearlessness of a woman who'd faced down much worse than one entitled Alpha. "Where were you when she could barely afford to eat? Where were you when she was scared and alone?"

"I was looking for her," Marshall said, but his voice lacked conviction. "I've been searching—"

"For how long?" Mrs. Walker spoke up from her table, her teacher's voice cutting through his excuses. "How long have you been looking, exactly?"

Marshall's jaw tightened. "Weeks."

"And before that?" Tom pressed. "What about when she first left? What were you doing then?"

I watched Marshall's face crumple as he realized he couldn't answer that question. He couldn't admit that he'd probably done nothing for weeks, that he'd been content to let me disappear until his guilt, or maybe Luna Etta’s desire for her grandpup, finally drove him to action.

"I made a mistake," he said again, the words sounding hollow and desperate now.

"You made a choice," I said quietly, and the room went silent again. Every eye turned to me, but I only had eyes for Marshall. "You chose to believe the worst about me instead of the best. You chose your pride over our... relationship. You chose to throw me away rather than admit you might have been wrong."

Something in Marshall's expression cracked, and for a moment I saw through his careful composure to the pain underneath. "I was scared," he said, his voice breaking slightly. "I was twenty-three years old, and I'd never felt anything like what I felt for you. I didn't know how to handle it. But I was always planning to be the partner you deserved once you turnedeighteen. I was going to stop everything else and be completely yours."

The admission hung in the air between us, raw and honest in a way that reminded me of the boy I'd fallen in love with. But it wasn't enough. It could never be enough.

"After my eighteenth birthday?" I repeated, my voice growing stronger. "You were going to be completely mine after you'd spent years showing me exactly how little I mattered? After you'd let every other girl bully me while you entertained yourself with them?"

Marshall flinched, but I was on a roll. "You were scared?" I continued, my voice barely a whisper. "I was seventeen and pregnant and alone. But you were scared?"

"I know," Marshall said, taking another step forward. "I know I don't deserve your forgiveness. I know I don't deserve a second chance. But I'm begging you to give me one anyway."

"Why?" The word came out as a broken sob. "Why now? Why after all this time?"

"Because I can't live without you," he said simply. "Because I wake up every morning wishing I could take back what I did. Because our son deserves to know his father."

Pretty words,Sapphire said with disgust.But words are easy. Actions are what matter.

"Your son?" I placed both hands on my belly, feeling the strong kicks of the life inside me. "You mean the child you wanted nothing to do with? The child you accused me of creating with someone else?"

Marshall flinched as if I'd struck him. "I was wrong about that. I was wrong about everything."

"Yes," I said, my voice growing stronger. "You were. And now you want me to just forget it happened? Pretend those months, no years, of hell never existed?"