Chapter 10

Lauren

I stare at the woman who has been nothing but a thorn in my side since the day she came back into our lives. My hate for her was burning deep, especially now. I was this close to finally restoring Blue and me back to normal, yet even that she had to ruin; she had to take it away. I was fuming mad. "Angry" wasn't even close to describing how I was currently feeling.

"You can’t mark her. I won't allow you to,” Miranda insists.

“I don't get where you got the fucking idea that you can allow me to do anything,” Sebastian says coldly, making Miranda swallow, all her bravado now gone.

We were surrounded by Sebastian's pack. I was glad to note that none of them seemed particularly welcoming towards Miranda. They were growling at her, ready to charge in her direction and tear her to pieces. She must have been a real piece of work to be hated this much.

Sebastian was next to me. He didn’t seem at all fazed or bothered. He just regarded her with a cool and calculating look. He may not have been showing any outward emotion, but I knew what he was underneath that suit: a beast, a predator, who would strike when you least expected it.

“Lauren!”

Darren's voice cuts through the cold night. He looks like a wild bull charging towards us. I guess he had shifted; that was the only explanation for why he had gotten here so fast. That, or he had been somewhere nearby.

He comes and stands next to his mate, wrapping his arms around her in a show of protection. I doubt he would continue doing the same when he finds out that Miranda was here to prevent me from being marked.

"Since we're all here, Miranda, why don't you enlighten us on why the hell you chose to interrupt my mating ceremony?” I address her sarcastically.

I wonder if she would have the courage to do that now that Darren was present. It would only prove to Darren that, no matter what, the bitch still wanted Sebastian—that she only settled on him because Sebastian kicked her to the curb.

"Sebastian can't mark you. He shouldn't mark you.”

“You keep saying that, but you haven't given the reason why he shouldn't,” the Elder who was overseeing our ceremony snorts at her in disgust.

It seems that Miranda wasn't well-liked at all. I survey those surrounding us; they all have a look of disgust directed at her, making me wonder what she did that made her so unpopular with the pack. In my survey, I note that the children are no longer present. Someone must have taken them inside the pack house when Miranda arrived, causing drama and interrupting a sacred ceremony.

"Why are you interrupting their ceremony, my love?” Darren asks her in a soft, intimate voice. “Just let them be. Let them have their happiness.”

I roll my eyes at that just as I hear Sebastian snort next to me. What a dickhead. As if we needed his permission to be happy.

What Darren said seems to trigger her, because she finally explodes.

“Because I'm pregnant with his child!” she shouts, pointing at Sebastian.

Everyone stands still, frozen in shock, unable to comprehend what she just said. It was as if we were stuck in a time loop.

“That's not possible,” Sebastian says coldly, his eyes fixated on Miranda. The look he gives her sends shivers down my spine.

“I'll have to agree with him,” Darren adds, his jaw clenched.

Darren seems astounded, like he just couldn't believe what came out of her mouth. He looked at her like he had never seen her before, like he doesn’t recognize the woman standing before him.

I watch them, watching the drama unfold, unable to do anything. This couldn't be happening—not now, when I was about to get everything in my life sorted, when I was about to say goodbye to going feral.

“It's true,” she says, looking at me smugly, like she has won. “I told you Sebastian is mine. They're both mine.”

The shocked looks turn into disgust once she says that. It's as if they couldn't stomach looking at her.

“How's this possible? How are you pregnant with his baby?” Darren whispers.

I can already tell the heartbreak that is taking over after realizing that Miranda must have cheated on him if, indeed, what she was saying was the truth.

“No!” Sebastian growls. “She's fucking lying. We both know I haven't been with you since before we broke our mating.”

“I'm not lying. You just don't remember it. The night of the Hillview charity event, we spent the night together.”

“The same night you told me you would be out of town?” Darren asks slowly, his eyes downcast. She nods her head.

Oh god. I can't believe this woman. She had lied to Darren just so she could go sleep with another man? And what did she mean by "Sebastian doesn't remember it"? If I'm correct, that event was about three months ago—a month before I came back. Claire had mentioned that she would have to miss it because of Mason.

Sebastian looked out of character. His cool exterior was beginning to crack. The beast that usually hides just beneath his skin was starting to wake up.

"What did you do, Miranda?”

She doesn't say anything, just shakes her head. It was finally hitting her that by opening her big mouth, she had landed herself in trouble—that she had woken the monster that everyone is afraid of.

“I won't fucking ask you again. What the fuck did you do?” Sebastian's jaw is set and he grits out the words. His eyes keep shifting and his fangs start elongating, distorting his voice.

She doesn’t answer, and the next thing we know, Sebastian is lifting her off the ground, his hands wrapped around her neck.

"Fucking answer me,” he roars. His Alpha aura chokes all of us, and Miranda struggles to submit while claws are wrapped around her neck.

Everyone in his pack is forced to the ground while the rest of us struggle against the need to submit to him—Darren included.

I survey the clearing and heave a sigh of relief when I notice the children are no longer present. Someone must have taken them to the pack house when things started getting heated.

“I drugged your drink.”

Her squeak would have had me laughing under any other circumstance. The fear in her voice is palpable, but her answer brings furious growls.

Sebastian lets her go and she falls in a heap on the ground. No one moves to help her up, not even Darren. He looks broken, shattered.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? How do you drug someone and take advantage of them?” Micah asks in contempt, looking at Miranda as if she were the gum under his shoes.

“LEAVE!” Sebastian commands, and his pack members scramble, still in shock, to leave, tripping over each other to follow their Alpha’s command.

The only ones remaining are me, Claire, her mate, Darren, Micah, and the elders.

I honestly kind of understand what Sebastian is going through. He is an Alpha, and to be told that someone drugged you and basically raped you is a hit to them.

Sebastian turns to her. “I can get you hanged for this. You drugged an Alpha then took advantage of him. If I bring it to the council, what do you think they will do to you?”

Terror takes over her features. “You can't. They will kill me and your baby in the process.”

I couldn't help but snort at that. It was just too ridiculous. “If it's even his child. Knowing you and how easily you spread your legs, that baby could be anyone's.”

As much as she’s trying to pin the baby on Sebastian, I had a feeling that if she was indeed pregnant, then the baby would be either Darren’s or some other poor guy who had decided to get entangled with her.

"At least I have one; I can't say the same about you, given you couldn't carry to full term,” she sneers.

I pin her with a glare. “What did you just say?”

“Does Darren even know? That you're so useless you couldn't carry his second child to full term. What use is being a woman if your womb can't even hold a baby?"

Her jab makes me see red. “You fucking narcissistic bitch.”

When I think of how I lost my baby because of her and Darren—that the stress they put me through had caused me to have a miscarriage—I lose control.

“Lauren!” I hear my name being shouted, but I don't register it.

The pain of losing my son gives way for the darkness to take over. Nothing else penetrates my mind except this need to see her bleed, to see her pay.

The blood drains from her face and she starts backing up. I smirk, and just when she’s about to run, I pounce, bringing both of us down with me on top of her. She screams, but it only fuels the bloodlust in me. I raise my claws and bring them down, making her cry in agony. I can smell the blood and it's a sweet aroma to my nose.

"Oh god,” someone says in horror.

They try to get me off, but I'm too strong. They fail miserably. I raise my hand again, about to take the killing shot.

“Shit! Someone do something before she kills her!”

It's the last thing I hear before I feel a prickling sensation on my neck, and then everything fades.