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"Adam." I look toward the door.
"Jonathon's at the front door, and Adam's talking to him."
I go white as a sheet. "W-What?"
I jump out of bed only to realize that I'm wearing a large white button-up shirt and no bottoms. I quickly wrap the bedsheet around my bottom half. "Where are my clothes? I have to go!"
"Go where?" Robert steps in my path.
"I can't let Jonathon find me," I hiss. "Now get out so that I can––"
"Jonathon left," Adam's voice comes from the doorway. "I told him you've gone to attend a conference on my behalf. He didn't like it and demanded to know where you were, but since you don't work for him anymore, I figured it wasn't his business."
"He knows you're lying." I don't know what to do anymore. Even though Adam is now well on the path to becoming the next Alpha, it feels as if the walls are closing in on me. Surely Lydia had to be mistaken. I can't be pregnant. If I have this child, then it will also be a slave. I can't let that happen. I need to figure a way out. I could tell Adam about the child and give him the evidence about the blood debt. Surely, he won't want his child to be born a slave to his own family.
But a dark thought stirs in my brain. What if he doesn't want the child? What if he and Tina decide to take the child from me and raise it themselves? This little creature inside of me is still tiny, but it's mine. In this whole world, it's the first person who's mine. I want to protect it. I want to love it.
I watch Adam walk over to me and grab a robe off a hanger before helping me into it. "It doesn't matter what he believes. He won't be able to touch you, and that's what's important. You're going to be safe here."
I look between the two of them before reluctantly asking, "What about Tina? Won't she be upset at seeing me here?"
Robert lets out a sound. "I'm going to go deal with some things. Perhaps you two should talk."
"Talk?" I feel wary. Is he finally going to tell me that now that he's been able to turn the tables on Norman he has no more use for me?
My heart tightens painfully, but I ball my hand into a fist by my side. I can take it. This is a blow I'll absorb and deal with over time. I was already expecting it, so this won't take me by surprise. I'm mentally prepared for it.
Adam takes me by the hand and guides me back to the bed, sitting down beside me.
"Tina and I––" he begins, and I immediately pull my hand out of his.
"I don't need an explanation." I trip over my words. "I'm happy for the two of you. You don't need to give me a speech. I unders––"
"You don't understand anything," Adam says calmly, grabbing my hand and yanking me back toward him, this time trapping me on his lap. "You're just assuming things. Tina and I grew up together, and we're friends. Very close friends. There is nothing romantic between us."
His words stun me, and I shake my head. "You're lying to me."
"I'm not," Adam says firmly. "Watson is the one pushing for us to be together. I admit there was a time we considered it, and we did agree that we should get married for me to become Alpha, but that was because there was no one in my life who was that important. I hadn't found my fated mate at that point, Cynthia. Now that I have you, I would never be with Tina. She knows that, and she doesn't have a problem with it."
I want to believe him, but I saw the way he was with her, how miserable my wolf felt at each touch. "You expect me to believe that all those romantic dates and presents––"
"Those were hardly dates." Adam rolls his eyes. "They were more like business meetings. Tina has been working with me on some social issues within the pack. We've been working together to create two bills for reforms. That's it. And as far as the gifts are concerned, that was Watson pressuring you to get them for her. Tina likes free stuff, and she enjoyed it, but she knew those weren't from me."
It doesn't seem like he's lying, but I still don't feel certain about this whole thing. "So Tina knows that you and I are fated mates?"
"She doesn't know that, but she knows that you and I are together," Adam tells me.
"And what about Watson?" I demand. "What does he know?"
"Watson is my problem," Adam says, his voice serious. "Look, Cynthia. I acted stupid. You were so adamant about throwing me to Tina that it upset me. That's why I never said anything. I thought that perhaps seeing me with Tina would get you jealous and then we could hash it out. I didn't know you were going to step back so easily and give your place up to another female. That kind of hurt. If you want, you can talk to Tina and verify all this information. She won't lie to you."
He seems to be telling the truth, and if he's willing to bring Tina into this, then he has no reason to lie. "So why let Watson believe all this? Why not tell him the truth?"
"It's complicated with Watson. My father has managed to upend a lot of the values the previous alpha maintained. This economic disparity never existed in the pack when my grandfather was the alpha. The slums were never a real thing. Each pack member was gainfully employed. But ever since my father took the reins, bribery and corruption have become commonplace. He's managed to create a wealth disparity, and most pack officials are enjoying the benefits of it. There are a few like Watson who support me and want to revert the current situation of the pack back to its original state. They're supporting me. Now that Father has gone against tradition and nominated Norman, I need Watson's support. And when it comes to his daughter, Watson is very particular. I was waiting for Tina to talk to him. But we have to wait until I become the alpha. We can't take the risk of Watson taking back his support right now. If he, in his anger, decides to shift support toward Jonathon, then even with the current scenario, there is a chance that Norman might become the next alpha."
Adam's words make my heart sink.
It's making sense to me now, why Adam has been sticking to Tina. And his becoming the alpha is more than crucial to me now, more than ever. Before giving birth to this child, I will need to be rid of this blood debt.
