I’ve dragged this out long enough. Be happy, beautiful Lilly. I know you will curse me, throw things, and scream. Knowing your temper, you might even try to track me down and kick the shit out of me. I wouldn’t blame you. Hell, I’ll lay on the ground and let you. But that doesn’t change what is, what has to be.
Thank you for the time you gave me. Thank you for giving me you. I had no right, and yet you gave anyway. Two nights ago, you told me you’d given me your heart. I nearly demanded you take it back, but the selfish part of me wanted your heart. I wanted you to be mine, even though I could never be yours. There aren’t enough sorrys in the world. You gave me everything, and I gave you nothing in return. I am truly sorry.
Be well, my wild Lilly.
Lilly crushed the paper in her hand and pressed her other hand to her stomach. “You gave me something,” she whispered, “something better than any love you could have offered.” Her words didn’t stop the weeping. She rolled off the couch to the floor where she knelt and then folded in on herself until she lay on her side in the fetal position. She had no idea how long she laid there crying, burying her face in her legs and screaming. She could have never guessed it would hurt this bad. Lilly had known she was completely in love with Dillon Jacobs, but she hadn’t known he would have the power to rip out her beating heart. She hadn’t known he would be able to rob her of her breath. Lilly hadn’t known he would steal her life away when he left.
She slammed her fist onto the ground over and over. “NO! No, no, no,” she cried. “This wasn’t supposed to happen!” Her words were slurred from the tears. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to end.” She was pregnant with the child of a man who could never love her, at least not enough to stay. He would love his true mate without equal. Lilly wouldn’t even hold a candle to what Dillon felt for the woman who’d taken him. He’d made it all very, very clear when they’d had that conversation a year ago. She’d asked him not to sugarcoat it, and he hadn’t. But she’d been a fool. She’d thought they’d beat the odds, and maybe his true mate had died. Why else would he be able to fall in love with a human? To hear him tell it, Canis lupus didn’t date. They didn’t even date their own kind. It was frowned upon because they each had a true mate that held the other half of their soul. Why waste their emotions on someone else? But Dillon had told Lilly he didn’t feel like he was wasting his emotions on her. The way he’d looked at her, Lilly knew it had been real. But that didn’t mean it would last.
After a while, her devastation turned to rage. She climbed to her feet and picked up the first thing her hand could reach and threw it at the fireplace. It was a coaster, and it shattered. It wasn’t enough. Lilly marched into the kitchen, tears still streaming down her cheeks. She opened the cabinet containing their coffee mugs. To her surprise, he’d even remembered to take the ones she’d bought him. That just pissed her off more. Maybe she’d wanted to keep them. Had he considered that? “No,” she answered out loud. “He hadn’t because he’s a damn, possessive-ass werewolf who thinks he has a right to anything he touches.” Lilly grabbed one of her own mugs and threw it across the room. It hit the ceramic tile with a satisfying crash. She reached for another. One after the other, she threw the mugs, all the while cursing Dillon Jacobs. “You couldn’t even face me, you hairy-assed coward!” she yelled as a plate flew from her hand. She hadn’t even realized she’d gone through all the mugs and had moved on to the dinnerware. Somewhere in the back of Lilly’s mind, she heard a voice tell her to calm down, but she ignored it.
Today was supposed to be a happy day. Today, she’d confirmed what she’d suspected over the past couple of weeks: she was pregnant with Dillon’s child. Lilly had no idea how he would react to the news, but she wanted to think he would have been excited. He’d told her how rare Canis lupus children were. And here she was, growing a half-Canis lupus baby inside of her. Maybe the implications of that should scare her, but her fear paled in comparison to her rage. Instead, she screamed, “Can your new mate do that? Can she?” Lilly huffed and puffed as she continued to talk to her empty apartment. “Will she love you like I did? Will she run her fingers through your hair for hours just to hear your contented sigh?” Lilly roared as she stumbled. The memories of them together slammed into her, nearly knocking her off her feet. Who knew that mere memories would have the ability to make a person lose control of their physical faculties?
One day, if he hadn’t already, he would take his mate to bed and hold her as he’d once held Lilly. He would bite her, as he did Lilly, only it wouldn’t be playful. It would be a bite that would mark her as his forever. That thought pushed her over the edge. She ran for the nearest bathroom, hitting the floor in front of the toilet just as the vomit reached her throat and exploded from her body.
The images of Dillon and
