Into the Alpha’s Keep Chapter 121: 121

"You've changed a lot since you got here. At first, you were a skittish wolf, but quiet. You didn’t speak much, didn’t trust anyone. But, over time, you started to blossom, like a flower."

He took a deep breath.

"I have many flaws, Savannah. And all of them will remain part of me, but you've learned to deal with each one of them, to know me, just as I did with you. It wasn't a short process, nor was it easy, but it was on our time."

He pulled his hand away.

"That's why I knew it was a lie the moment Marilyn opened her mouth." My heart was racing, out of sync.

"Did you kill her?" I asked, my mouth dry.

"Yes, I killed her."

"But..." I licked my lips.

"Did she tell the truth?"

He nodded.

"When she realized I wouldn’t be manipulated anymore, yes. I killed her for her betrayals against me. I personally buried her body in the middle of the forest, condemning her to a death without dignity, preventing her from entering the valley of the dead. No one knows the exact location of her body, only I do. And that’s a secret I’ll take to the grave."

His jaw muscle clenched.

"I also forbade anyone from speaking her name. She will be completely forgotten and reduced to nothing, just as I promised on her deathbed."

I couldn’t condemn Fenrir for his choices. Marilyn had dug deep into his chest and hurt him. He trusted her. And trust was something far too special, far too important to be broken. Marilyn was even more treacherous with him than Hunter had been with me.

He deceived me for a while, but showed me who he really was before something worse happened. But she didn’t. She got close to Fenrir, took advantage of his wound.

A wound she caused herself.

"I'm sorry, Fenrir. I’m sorry she did all that."

He shook his head. "The wrong one was me, for letting myself be deceived for so long. Because of my mistakes, innocent and important people died."

I wiped away my tears, taking a deep breath. "I’m sorry for Catalina, but I’m even more sorry for Anton. His death hurt me deeply."

"His death hurt all of us. We gave him a proper funeral, with a huge pyre made of fine wood. Andrei and I personally carved the logs."

He didn’t mention Catalina’s name, but I imagined he wouldn’t. Involuntarily, my hand slid over my abdomen. The movement didn’t go unnoticed by Fenrir's scrutinizing gaze.

"I’m pregnant," I confessed, whispering. "I mean, I still think I am. I don’t know if the baby survived, after everything that happened, and I don’t understand how it happened, but... it means we’re destined partners. I know you thought Catalina was your partner and everything..."

He placed his hand over mine on my abdomen and shook his head. "I never said I thought Catalina was my destined partner."

I frowned. Indeed, he had never said anything on the subject; I was the one who reached that conclusion. "So..."

"Catalina was my lover. She helped in the creation of the pack and was my first love. For years, she tried to get pregnant and never could. She knew, just like I did, that we weren’t destined." He stared at me. "What made you think she was?"

I blinked, incredulous and confused. "I don’t know. You always spoke of her with so much pain, so much guilt. I thought she was your great love."

"I loved her, yes, and I was willing to share my life with her, even knowing she wasn’t my destined one. To be honest, I never thought I’d find my partner. I never had hope of having children, I was training Anton to take my place if I died before him, just as he should train a successor."

His shoulders shifted with a heavy breath. "And all the guilt I carried about Catalina’s death came from the fact that she died on my territory, under my protection. I failed as her alpha, as her fiancé and partner. That failure cost her life and my dignity. That’s what hurt me, that’s what left me dazed for the last few years."

He didn’t say anything about the baby, about the news that I was pregnant with him.

"You knew..." I accused, narrowing my eyes at him. Something flickered in his eyes.

"Yes, I knew," he confirmed.

"I spent the last few days focused, listening to his heartbeat, ensuring he’d be okay, just like you."

I couldn’t control the sharp cry that made my body tremble. Fenrir approached and pulled me into his arms, kissing the top of my head.

"Is... is he okay?" I sobbed.

"Yes, he is. His heart beats like the wings of a bird, strong and persistent."

I clung to his shirt, burying my face in his chest, letting the tears wash over my soul.

"I tried so hard to fight for him, to tell you the truth, so you could at least know he existed."

He held me a little tighter.

"Anton raised the suspicion that we could be destined, and Andrei that you could be pregnant. He suspected by the way we were acting, me hunting and trying to please you, and you guarding the nest, sniffing scents and being skittish."

"I found out why a male tried to attack me."

He growled, furious at the information I had given him.

"My wolf reacted on its own, taking control and protecting the abdomen. That’s when I realized."

He caressed my back. "I feel like resurrecting Hunter, just to kill him again."

I pulled away from him to look at him. "You never said anything about us being destined."

He touched the curve of my face with his rough fingers. "I should have noticed the details the moment we met. I’ve never lost control before, even living with many wolves in heat, but I was so blind, so disbelieving that my partner would appear, that I didn’t think it was a possibility."

"Why?"

"The last destined partner of one of the Carpathian alphas who appeared was Lucian’s, whom he had killed when she was a pup. Never heard of one from any of us again. It was easier to consider the possibility that I was going crazy than to think I had finally found my other half."

I ran my fingertips along his beard, playing with the growth.

"I even raised the possibility when the heat lasted little, but I discarded it because I thought Catalina was your partner. And you always said with so much conviction that you couldn’t have children..."

He ran a hand through his hair, pushing the curls over his forehead.

"Not because she was my destined one, as I said, but because I thought I’d never find mine."

He laughed, but there was no humor on his face.

"I should have noticed the signs. Our beasts felt it long before we did, they noticed it. That’s why my wolf acted strange when it came to you, just as yours did when it came to me."

"She also knew about the baby."

"Just like mine. He became wilder in the last few days, I had to make an effort to control myself, to make sure he didn’t take control and spread real chaos out there."