Drake's POV
I punched the wall of my office so hard my fingers cracked and bled.
"Damn it!" I shook my hand, trying to ignore the pain. But the bodily hurt was nothing compared to the storm raging in my head.
Maya was pregnant. With my child.
I'd been pacing my office for three hours, trying to figure out what the hell I was meant to do. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her face when she told me. The hope in her eyes. The way she'd looked at me like I could fix everything.
But I couldn't fix this. I couldn't fix anything.
A knock on my door made me freeze. "Come in."
Marcus walked in, took one look at my bloody fingers and the dent in the wall, and shut the door behind him.
"Rough night?" he asked.
"You could say that."
"Want to talk about it?"
I laughed, but there was no fun in it. "Not really."
Marcus sat down in the chair across from my desk. "It's about Maya, isn't it?"
My cousin knew me too well. We'd grown up together, shared everything. But this? This was too big, too complex.
"I'm getting married in two days, Marcus."
"I know."
"To Lila Cross. It's all arranged. The whole pack is depending on this partnership."
"I know that too."
I slammed my hand down on the desk. "Then why does it feel so wrong?"
Marcus was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "Maybe because you're in love with someone else."
The words hit me like a physical blow. In love? Was that what this was?
"I'm not in love," I said quickly. "I'm just... confused."
"Are you? Because from where I'm sitting, it looks like you've been thinking about Maya Stone every minute of every day for the past month."
He was right, and I hated him for it. Maya had gotten under my skin in a way no woman ever had. Other girls threw themselves at me because I was the Alpha. They wanted my power, my money, my status.
But Maya? Maya looked at me like I was just Drake. Like I was someone worth knowing for who I was, not what I could give her.
"She's different," I allowed.
"Different how?"
I thought about it. How could I explain what Maya meant to me?
"When I'm with her, I don't feel like the Alpha. I don't feel the weight of everyone's demands. I just feel... free."
"And when you're with Lila?"
I made a face. "Like I'm playing a role. Like I'm trying to be someone I'm not."
"So why go through with the wedding?"
"Because I have to!" I stood up, starting to pace again. "The pack needs this union. We need the Crescent Moon Pack's help. Without it, we're exposed."
"There are other groups. Other ways to protect the pack."
"Name one."
Marcus was quiet, and I knew I'd won that fight. But winning didn't make me feel any better.
"What if you told the pack council the truth?" Marcus suggested. "That you don't want to marry Lila?"
"The truth?" I laughed bitterly. "The truth is that I'm supposed to put the pack first. Always. That's what being Alpha means."
"And what about what you want?"
"What I want doesn't matter."
But even as I said it, I knew it wasn't entirely true. What I wanted was Maya. I wanted to wake up next to her every morning. I wanted to come home to her smile after long days dealing with pack business. I wanted to protect her from people like those idiots who'd chased her tonight.
And now she was carrying my child.
"There's something else," I said quietly.
Marcus looked up. "What?"
"Maya's pregnant."
The color drained from my cousin's face. "What?"
"She told me tonight. She's having my baby."
Marcus was quiet for so long I started to worry. Finally, he said, "That changes things."
"Does it? How?"
"Drake, that's your child. Your eldest. The future Alpha of this pack."
I hadn't thought about it that way. I'd been so focused on the problem that I hadn't considered what it meant. My child. My son or daughter. Growing inside the woman I...
The woman I loved.
The realization hit me like lightning. I was in love with Maya Stone. Completely, desperately, madly in love.
"I have to call off the wedding," I said suddenly.
"What?"
"The wedding. I can't marry Lila. Not when I love Maya. Not when she's having my baby."
Marcus stood up, his face serious. "Drake, think about this carefully. If you call off this wedding, there will be consequences. Big ones."
"I don't care."
"The pack council will be angry. Alpha Cross will consider it an insult to his daughter and his pack. We could end up with enemies instead of friends."
"Then so be it."
"And what about Maya? Have you thought about what this will mean for her?"
That stopped me cold. "What do you mean?"
"She's an omega, Drake. If you make her Luna, there will be pack members who never accept her. She'll face obstacles and hatred for the rest of her life."
"I'll protect her."
"You can't protect her from everything. And what about your child? Growing up knowing that half the pack thinks their mother isn't good enough?"
I sat down heavily in my chair. Marcus was right, and I hated him for it. Loving Maya wasn't enough. I had to think about what was best for her, for our child, for the pack.
But how could I marry someone else when the woman I loved was having my baby?
"I need to talk to her," I said finally. "I need to explain..."
"Explain what? That you love her but you're going to marry someone else anyway?"
"I don't know!" I shouted. "I don't know what I'm going to say!"
Marcus looked at me with something like sadness. "You're going to break her heart, aren't you?"
"I don't want to."
"But you're going to do it anyway."
I didn't answer, because we both knew he was right.
An hour later, I was standing outside Maya's cabin, trying to work up the courage to knock. I could see light under her door, so I knew she was awake. Probably waiting for me.
What was I going to tell her? That I loved her but couldn't be with her? That our child would grow up without a father because I was too much of a wimp to fight for what I wanted?
I finally knocked, and Maya opened the door instantly. She'd been crying - I could see the tear tracks on her face. But she smiled when she saw me, like she always did.
"Drake. I was hoping you'd come."
"Maya, we need to talk."
She stepped aside to let me in, and I saw that she was wearing the necklace I'd given her. The silver moon charm caught the light as she moved.
"I know you're scared," she said softly. "About the kid. But we can figure this out together."
"Can we?"
"Of course. I love you, Drake. And I know you love me too."
The easy words nearly destroyed me. She was right. I did love her. More than I'd ever loved anything.
"Maya..."
"You're going to call off the wedding, aren't you?" Her eyes were bright with hope. "You're going to choose us?"
I opened my mouth to say yes. To tell her that I loved her, that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, that our child would never want for anything.
But then I heard voices outside. Angry sounds.
"Search every cabin if you have to," someone was saying. "Find the Alpha. The group needs to speak with him immediately."
Maya and I froze, looking at each other.
"Did you hear that?" she whispered.
Before I could answer, there was a loud banging on the door.
"Alpha Drake!" Elder Morrison's voice boomed through the trees. "We know you're in there! Come out immediately!"
Maya grabbed my arm, her eyes wide with fear. "What's happening?"
I didn't know, but I had a bad feeling we were about to find out.
The banging got louder, more forceful.
"Open this door, or we'll break it down!"
I looked at Maya, seeing my own fear mirrored in her eyes.
Whatever was happening, our time was up.