Chapter 31 DANE

Evelyn didn’t say anything to me all the way back to the pack house. When I showered and came out to my room, she was sitting on my bed.

She had her hand on her stomach. She was hardly showing—only the slightest bump. But now that I knew, I could tell there was something different about her. The way she stood. Her scent.

“So,” she said. “Your ex-wife is the desire of your heart?”

I clenched my jaw and went to the closet to get dressed. I didn’t have anything on but a towel around my waist.

When I didn’t answer, she followed me. She walked up behind me and pressed her soft curves against my back. Her hands roved my stomach and chest.

There was no reaction. No heat. I couldn’t pretend there was when I’d had Aurora in my arms just hours ago.

The goddess must truly hate me, to make me want a woman who always betrayed me over and over again, instead of the ready and willing actress right in front of me.

I pulled gently away from her. “Maybe she was. Maybe I always held some hope that the woman I saved in the forest that night was innocent. After tonight, that hope is gone.”

“Then stop working with her!” Evelyn stomped her foot. “I don’t understand what her new pack has that’s so important! Why won’t you tell me?”

I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and tossed my towel in the laundry hamper. “I can’t.”

I left the closet. Evelyn followed me, seething. “I’m going to be your wife, aren’t I?”

I sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed my temples. The sun was up, and I hadn’t slept. There was important work I was supposed to do today. Meetings that would have to be shifted, duties I’d have to ask subordinates to do, both for the pack and for my business.

“Dane!” Evelyn practically shrieked.

“Yes!” I snapped. I immediately regretted it and softened my tone. “Yes, Evelyn. You are going to be my wife.”

“And your mate and Luna?” she asked. She came and sat by me on the bed.

“Yes,” I said. To my own ears, I sounded defeated. “If that’s what you want.”

Evelyn didn’t seem to hear it. She clapped, then she rose and straddled me, leaning over so I got an eyeful of her breasts, then going in for a kiss. “If we’re getting married, we should celebrate. Let me make you feel good.”

I let out my breath in a rush. Evelyn was beautiful, intelligent, bubbly. She could be charming when she wasn’t whining to get her way. She deserved a man who wanted her. Who’d love her.

I put my hands on her waist and set her back beside me on the bed. My body was hard and aching, wound up and yearning for release, but I wouldn’t find it in her. “Not tonight.”

She looked truly disappointed, and my guilt bit deep. I shoved it down. Now that I knew the depths to which Aurora would go to get her revenge, I’d get over her. Stop wanting her.

“It’s okay,” Evelyn smiled sweetly. “I can wait.”

“I don’t deserve you,” I said.

She laughed and kissed my cheek. “I know. But I love you, anyway.”

She paused for a moment, just long enough for me to realize she was waiting for me to say I loved her, too.

I wouldn’t lie.

But before I could say something else, she was up and moving toward the door. “I’d better check on the others. I know I didn’t come here much in the past, but I think I could get used to country life. For our pack. And our child.”

“I will marry you,” I said. I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince myself, or her, or both of us.

“I know,” she laughed. “Goodnight, Dane.”

“Evelyn,” I called after her, “With all this going on, I’m assigning you a permanent bodyguard. My bela, Archer.”

She pouted. “I’m not a doll, Dane. No one will come after me.”

“It will make me feel better,” I said, “When I can’t be with you.”

Reluctantly, her pout turned to a smile. “I suppose. For you.”

Then she was gone.

EVELYN

I closed Dane’s door softly behind me, then crossed my hands over my stomach and walked to the railing. I leaned down on it and looked into the main area of the pack house. It was empty. Most people were still asleep this early. Wolves kept late hours.

I’d always known he had… something for his ex-wife. I’d spent all three years after they got married trying to convince him to divorce her. He never would. She was the one who’d severed the mating bond and walked out.

That was when I knew she was a fool.

You didn’t just walk away from a man who could give you everything you ever desired. Money. Fame.

…Safety…

Dane Montague could do all that and was possibly the sexiest man on the planet.

Ann Reed, Aurora DeVere—whoever she was today—she was certifiably insane.

There was a movement out of the corner of my eye. Suddenly, arms came around me from behind. A warm body pressed against mine.

I tensed, then relaxed against the man I loved. He splayed his hands possessively over my stomach and murmured, “You have to tell Dane the truth. That’s my child, not his. I want it, and I want you.”