Page 68 of Fated Alpha Baby

Clarissa’s eyes beam with a spark of excitement now. “Ooh! Can I watch?”

I chuckle, glancing at Conan. “I was hoping you would. You must learn who you really are. Like Nico, your wolf will come sooner than other children your age. So your father and I will have to show you the ropes.”

“No more potion?” she asks with skepticism in her raised brow.

“Just a little longer, Bug. Though I had other reasons to give it to you, it’s kept you safe all this time. And we need you to be safe a little longer. Okay?”

“Okay, Mommy.” She yawns then and bounces out of my arms before climbing into bed. “I’m gonna go to sleep now. Goodnight, Mommy. Goodnight, Daddy.”

Conan and I exchange surprised looks as he helps me to my feet. He turns off the light in Clarissa’s room, and we find ourselves in the hallway, the air suddenly charged with tension.

“It’s been a long day, hasn’t it?” I giggle nervously, wringing my hands together in front of me.

Conan rubs the back of his neck with equal awkwardness. “It has,” he admits. “But I’m glad it’s over now.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a folded piece of paper that he holds out to me. “I wanted to show you this before I got rid of it.”

I frown as I unfold the paper, my throat drying the moment I read what’s inside.

“I’m sorry, Conan, but you and I can’t be together.

The pack won’t accept it.

That’s why I must leave before you become alpha.

This is the best thing for both of us.”

I look up as tears begin to cloud my vision. “I—I would have never backed out, Conan.”

“I know,” he says as he reaches for my hand. “We were played by my grandfather. And I’d like to throw that note in the fire tonight. I’ve held on to it for eight years, believing that you abandoned me. But it wasn’t true.”

“Then let’s get rid of it together,” I nod. Conan smiles and turns, about to lead me down the hallway, when I stop him.

“Wait. There’s something else we need to get rid of. I’ll be right back.”

Leaving Conan in the hallway, frowning, I rush to my bedroom and find the note that was on my fridge that morning. Just like him, I’d kept the note for eight years, clinging to the illusion of his rejection, and wrongfully hating him for something he never did.

I open it one last time and read the words on it:

“I’m sorry, Hannah, but you and I cannot be mated.

Forget everything I told you.

The pack won’t accept you as my luna.

My grandfather won’t accept it, either.

You’re just a shiftless omega, and I cannot be seen with you.”

It was all a lie. And now, the words on this paper don’t have any effect on me, because I know who Conan really is. I know the real him, and understand how manipulated we both had been.

He never did anything wrong, and that’s why I can trust him now. Completely.

I find him waiting outside my door, and he notices the note in my hand.

“I don’t care what’s in there, because none of it was ever true, anyway,” he says firmly as he takes my hand again. This time, he leads me to the living room, and we stop by the fireplace. He nods at me, and I smirk before snapping my fingers and sending a spark that ignites the wood in the fireplace.

I fling both notes into the fire, and Conan and I watch them burn to ashes while he has one arm around my shoulders.

“I know we’ve only just learned the truth, but we’ve lost eight years together, and I don’t want to lose more time with you,” he says quietly.