Those blue eyes met mine. "I'll be honest, I had thought about it until I saw your face that night, smelled your scent and realized what you were to me. Then things changed. She was upset, not wanting to be without her honor; she begged me. But I won't. I can't do that to you, to myself." Hands grasped mine from the ground amd I gasped as I peered into his eyes deeper. He called to my wolf.

"You. You are my gift. I know what you must think of me, and I know you won't have me now. But if there's even the slightest bit of hope, I'm hanging onto it. Everything in me tells me to mark you as mine, but I'd never humiliate you that way. My only obligation to Grace now is to help her through her pregnancy. I haven't decided what to do after the pup is born but I can't just send it on with Grace back to Blue Moon."

His words had crushed me even more, my soul tearing to shreds. My heart was a bleeding ulcer. What other option did he expect? Him not marking her was the only truly good thing out of all of this... But if the the Alpha from Grace's pack wanted to unite their pack through their mating, he wouldn't be too happy about Zaryn refusing to mark her as his, taking away his only heir's honor.

Females can't inherit a pack. They must mate with another Alpha and they would inherit it. Her true mate would be an Alpha if she were to find him. That was how it went. Female Alphas are only mated to Alpha males because a male can't just be given an Alpha title. Male Alphas can be mated to whatever rank because their female would take on the Luna title no matter what.

I looked at him with watery eyes, the emotions coming from the both of us were so thick. "So, you're going to make her pack? Raise the pup together? Her father wouldn't allow that if she's his only child" I tried to stay calm but my voice cracked as more tears stained my cheeks. All of this was weighing heavy on my shoulders.

It's not every day that the male your supposed to love is starting a family with someone else.

He sighed, "She can't be pack. I know this. She has obligations to her own pack, to mate with an Alpha who would take over. And now that she's pregnant, her father expects me to be that. But, you know the chances of wolves having pups with wolves other than their mates." He rasped.

I stared into those baby blues, watching his tears roll down those angular cheek bones. My hand tremored, fighting the urge of the mate bond, wanting to wipe them away and comfort him. I had to restrain myself.

He was right.

It was possible to have children with another wolf other than your mate, It happened all the time, but it was difficult. Miscarriage along with stillbirth were the effects of breeding outside of your own mate. If your souls weren't tied to one another, it was hard to tell the outcome. But it was useful to wolves who's mates had died, rejected them, or never found them at all. The moon would feel their pain and allow them to mate with another and procreate. But a male with a mate in his graces? One that was never given the choice to place her mark?

It would be hard to tell if that pup would make it or not. Me being here around the both of them made Grace's chances of having that pup slim to none.

Surely the moon didn't hate me that much.

Could this work out in my favor?

How selfish of me, wishing for a life to be taken away so I could be given a chance.

It would crush him, losing a pup. No matter who the mother was.

I couldn't want that for him...ģ&

A finger pressed under my chin, angling my face up to his. It sent pleasurable palpitations through my heart, a fire burning within. My insides clenched at his touch, that one finger on my flesh sending shockwaves throughout my body, all the way to my core. I felt it there. A need.

Once my red-rimmed eyes were back on his own hooded blue ones, his hand left me, leaving a trace of numbing cold in its wake as he inhaled, eyes closing, taking in my scent.

I couldn't help but to want his touch back on me. I felt the wolf within me send out her instincts to lean toward him, but I ignored it. I had to.

If I did anything, it would be the wolf's fault and I couldn't stand to feel more shame than I already do.

He shook his head out of the trance. I felt his pain. His lust. Just as he felt mine.

"She's upset that I refuse to mark her. Upset because I doubt the outcome of this pregnancy. She's jealous of you because she knows I feel everything for you and nothing for her. I don't know what will happen between her father and me, but I'll leave her without honor for your sake. I don't love her. She never was anything to me, just a mistake. And I haven't touched her since that night. I won't touch her again."

He said it as if it mattered anymore, but it was comforting to my wolf to know.

I closed my eyes, thankful for his honesty and the fact I was wrong about what I had seen that day out of my window. But that didn't mean I would offer him myself. I wouldn't wait around and be his backup plan.

The knot in my stomach slowly unwound, offering me a solace of comfort, relaxing my organs - which had been so tense at his expense.

"Zaryn... What are you going to do if the pup is born..." The question he didn't know the answer to.

The breath he let out warmed my skin, allowing tingles to spread where it hit.

Those bloodshot blue orbs seemed hollow now as the sunlight danced between the leaves overhead, flecks of light shrinking his pupils. He seemed so young in this moment.

"I haven't thought it through yet, but I'll have to raise my pup with her nearby while he's young. It's only right." His shoulders fell in defeat as a hand ran through windswept dark hair.

"Where? I'm not sure. But my being future Alpha, I need to stay here. But she will never be my mate. Our pup would inherit her father's territory, as she is his only child. I'll allow it. He has no other male heirs. The child will be male since I'm an Alpha. I have thought a little about it, by 10, the pup would be expected to live at Blue Moon pack with Grace to go through their rigorous training, spending summers here with me. That would be the best outcome. Maybe she will find her mate one day and he would understand her situation. I know it breaks you for my first child not to be yours. It breaks me too. But you are my gift. I can't just not acknowledge that... "