Eclipse Sector (V-Clan #3)

27. Ivana

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

IVANA

I stared at the ceiling, my palm on my belly.

The Alpha had told me to rest.

I didn’t want to rest. But I didn’t want to move either. I just wanted to… exist . Except my nest smelled wrong. Very, very wrong .

Too pepperminty.

Too masculine.

Too much like him .

My Alpha.

The one I’d chosen as a mate.

The one who had constantly rejected me.

And now, he was rejecting our child.

I drew my thumb across my flat belly, the life inside me too small to even be felt. Yet I sensed the spirit growing there, the very real understanding of the soul blossoming inside me.

Don’t worry, I whispered to my unborn child. Mommy won’t let anyone hurt you.

Including me.

Which meant I needed to eat.

The Alpha had said he would bring back some food, but that had felt like hours ago. Maybe it’d only been thirty minutes. I really had no way of knowing.

And I didn’t trust him to follow through on his promise.

Certain memories swirled in my mind, one repetitive and insistent.

“If you tell me to knot you, Vana, I won’t be able to ignore the need to bite you. I will claim you, even if in just name alone, and I will challenge any Alpha who tries to take you from me.”

His voice rolled through my mind, making me snort aloud now.

Because he’d lied .

Just another act of pity, I thought angrily.

“Well, fuck him,” I rasped out, my throat raw from days of fucking and screaming.

The Alpha had left some water beside the bed, but I hadn’t wanted to touch it. I didn’t want anything from him. Not anymore.

Done. I pushed myself upward to a seated position. I. Am. Done.

But I had to think about more than myself.

For you, I’ll get up and eat , I told my little one. For you, I’ll do everything.

My limbs protested as I moved, my inner thighs particularly sore.

“This is going to take some getting used to,” I told myself, wincing as my feet met the ground.

Being a V-Clan shifter typically allowed me to heal almost instantly.

But I was pregnant.

And pregnancy came with a whole slew of fun complications.

“It’ll be worth it, though,” I told my unborn baby, my palm finding my belly again as I glanced down at my naked form.

I was surprised to find that I was actually pretty clean, suggesting the Alpha had bathed me recently. Well, that was kind of you, I suppose , I thought darkly at him.

Not that he could hear me.

I’d put up another wall, this one reinforced with every mental block I could imagine.

He couldn’t expect me to remain open to him after he tricked me into claiming him, impregnated me, and then punctuated my lack of importance by just leaving me while still weak from my heat cycle.

No.

Done , I repeated as I forced myself into the bathroom for a quick shower.

The hot spray against my shoulders felt nice, the muscles along my arms seeming to loosen slightly.

My quick shower turned into a long shower as I just stood there, staring at the marbled tile wall.

But eventually the pang in my belly reminded me of why I’d left the nest.

“Fine, fine,” I grumbled before grabbing a towel.

I didn’t bother with clothes, just headed into the kitchen. Then growled at the empty contents of my fridge.

The Alpha had cleaned me out, probably to feed us both during my heat. I supposed I wouldn’t have had much in my kitchen anyway since I’d just been in Glacier Sector before this.

A frown taunted my mouth. How did Cil— the Alpha —feed me during my estrus?

I remembered fresh fruit.

A sandwich.

Even a pasta dish.

Someone must have brought him meals.

Although, my recently run dishwasher—and the items inside it—suggested otherwise.

Did he cook for me? I wondered, my palm finding my belly again as my frown deepened. That suggests he cares.

Unless I was reading into the action too much.

Or maybe I was overreacting to his responses earlier.

Except… except he’d blatantly stated he had no interest in biting me. Well, not like that. But he’d said he wouldn’t have done it even if he could have.

“Because I wouldn’t have wanted to,” he’d said, the words lashing at my heart as I recalled them now.

The Alpha had never wanted—and would never want—a mate. He’d made that perfectly clear in the cruelest of ways.

I leaned against my refrigerator and huffed out a breath. “Then we don’t want him either,” I said, speaking on behalf of myself and the little one inside me.

Alas, my need for food still prevailed.

So I trudged into my room, found some suitable clothes, and left my condo to find something to satisfy my aching stomach.

Unlike Glacier Sector, Blood Sector had multiple places to shop, eat, and socialize. However, we shared most of our space with the humans under King Kieran’s protection, which made the city a little more populated.

The mortals tended to stick to themselves, a preference that made sense to me. To live here, they had to donate blood—which my kind then imbibed to maintain our connection to our V-Clan magic.

That made for some awkward social moments.

Although, there were a few humans who didn’t mind at all and in fact seemed to fancy the idea of donating blood in sensual ways.

A group of those humans stood just outside my favorite pizza place now, their eyes on a pair of Betas standing across the street.

“Gods, what I wouldn’t give to feel all that power inside me,” one of them was saying.

“I wonder if Beta Yuko will offer to bite me again if I invite Yasmina to join us?” another asked, causing my brow to furrow.

“I bet it feels so, so good. But I’ll never know. I’m not pretty like Isla is.”

Blinking, I glanced at the group, trying to figure out who had said that last one.

“Pepperoni sounds good,” a slender woman was saying, her voice reminding me of the one who had just commented on Beta Yuko. But not as good as Beta cock, I heard her add without her mouth moving. Her black eyes went to the Beta in question as her tongue dampened her lower lip. Gods, what I wouldn’t give to have his fangs in my neck again.

“Can we add sausage?” another girl asked, causing my gaze to shift to her. I’m suddenly in the mood for it after seeing that Alpha shift into his wolf earlier. Talk about impressive.

I gaped at the blonde. How are you doing that?

She jumped, her brown eyes flying toward me. “Excuse me?”

I blinked again. You heard that?

Her eyes widened even more. “I… I…” A blush stained her pale cheeks, her thoughts suddenly an endless string of words.

She can talk into my mind. Oh, Gods, she read my mind. She heard me thinking about that Alpha. Gods, I hope it isn’t her Alpha. She’s an Omega, right? I… I need to go. I need to say something. I need to ? —

“Stop,” I begged, my hands holding my head as I fought off a headache.

Only, the others around her started thinking at me, too. Or just thinking in general. They were all suddenly concerned, their thoughts of the Betas disappearing into a cloud of bizarre judgment.

What’s wrong with her?

Why is that Omega clutching her head?

What’s going on?

Should we call someone?

She doesn’t look so hot.

I pushed through their group, my hands still on my head as I tried to shove them all out , and started running down the street to get away from them.

Eventually, the voices faded, but my head was still spinning. How is this possible? I wondered. What’s happening to me?

I leaned against a wall, the cool siding bleeding through my thin sweater. It felt good against my overheated skin.

Breathe , I told myself, inhaling slowly and reveling in the wintry air. Just breathe .

Several minutes passed.

Or maybe it was seconds.

Regardless, my head felt a little clearer.

At least until I overheard a voice that made my skin crawl.

“Pathetic,” Miranda spat at me, her tone akin to nails on a chalkboard.

I closed my eyes tighter, not at all in the mood to deal with her mean-girl bullshit right now.

“Looks like she finally got Cillian to knot her,” one of her wicked sidekicks—Chastain—mused. “Or maybe another Alpha did the job?”

“Oh, Gods, is she pregnant ?” Miranda went on.

I could practically hear her sniffing me.

Or maybe it was in my head.

My head , I repeated to myself as I looked up to find Miranda, Chastain, and Mindy standing almost a block away, all three of them staring right at me.

She is! She’s pregnant! Miranda practically yelled, yet her mouth didn’t move. But she’s… she’s not claimed.

Which Alpha could it be if not Cillian? Chastain was thinking at the same time, her thoughts clear as day as though she were speaking them aloud. Except her mouth remained shut, just like Miranda’s.

Oh. My. Gods. Pregnant and unclaimed. She’s even more pathetic now than she was before. Miranda’s words resembled a slap across my face, one I would normally return in kind.

But I didn’t have the energy to try. Nor did I want to put forth the effort.

Because what was the point? Miranda wasn’t wrong. Cillian had knotted me during a heat and hadn’t returned my bite.

It was pathetic.

I am pathetic , I told myself. And stupid. And naive. And so, so… tired.

My knees shook as my legs threatened to give out beneath me. All the while, I heard Miranda and Chastain judging me. Mindy, too.

I clutched my head once more, uncertain of when I’d stopped, and tried to cease the tremble working its way through my limbs.

But I couldn’t… I couldn’t stop shaking.

I… I couldn’t turn off the voices.

Unmated.

Pregnant.

Poor thing.

Guess she finally got what she wanted—the only part of Cillian he’ll ever be willing to give.

Stop, I begged, trying to turn off all the voices as the world swam dangerously around me. Please, stop. Concrete met my shins. Or maybe my knees? I was struggling to feel, to understand my surroundings. It was just so loud . So intense .

Look at her. She’s practically breaking down in the street.

Something is really wrong, Mindy was thinking, her statement underlined with fear. “Ivana,” I heard her say out loud.

Or maybe it was in her head.

“ Cillian !” she screamed, eliciting a wince from inside me, the source of it my heart.

Don’t , I wanted to tell her. But I… I couldn’t… I can’t… Oh, Gods…

Cillian! Cillian! Cillian!

Each shriek resembled a bullet to my heart. I didn’t want to hear his name, but it was screeching across my mind, engraving its presence in my very soul.

Tears clouded my vision, my head spinning with unwanted thoughts. Unwanted shouts. And wolflike snarls.

A loud growl echoed from deep within me, the vibration so intense that I hugged my knees to my chest in an attempt to quiet the sound.

Except I hadn’t been the one to unleash it.

Cillian, I heard several people think.

“Ivana.” His voice rumbled through me, like he was hovering over me. Surrounding me. Filling me with his warmth. “ Ivana .”

A purr followed, causing my wolf to mewl with want. We wanted an Alpha to purr for us. To care for us. To nurture us.

An Alpha who loved us.

Who wanted us.

Who chose us.

But I was alone. We were alone. Me. My wolf. The baby .

My arms curled around my belly protectively, my mind seeming to fracture beneath the intense uncertainty surrounding me.

The voices. So many voices. Too many voi ? —

Listen to me, one of them demanded. Only me, Ivana. Hear my thoughts. My words. Only mine.

I tried to shake my head, but I seemed to be immobilized against something hard and hot. The sidewalk? No. Too warm for that. I… I…

Ivana. The deep tone carried through my head, causing my wolf to whine at the dominance of that voice. Focus on me, macushla. Pretend there are doors in your mind and slam all of them shut except for the one connected to me.

No, no, I thought, trying once more to shake my head. Because no. No, I didn’t want to hear him at all. He doesn’t want us. Me or the baby.

My heart stuttered, the last vestiges of my strength seeming to disappear as heavy bands of muscle wrapped around me. Or maybe they’d been there for a while?

I wasn’t sure.

And I no longer cared.

Because everything had finally gone quiet.

Peace , I marveled, thankful for the mental reprieve. Finally… some peace.