Alpha’s Baby(14)

“I love you, Bella.”

I froze, my pulse suddenly pounding between my ears. “What did you just say?”

He looked at me earnestly and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. “I love you.”

In that moment, I understood that he meant that he loved me, not as a stepsister, but as a lover.

“You can’t mean that,” I finally whispered.

“I do. I’ve been in love with you for a long damn time.” Without a word, he pulled me into his arms, smashing his lips into mine. Immediately, my body felt like it would burst into flames as desire roared through the pit of my stomach.

I don’t know how long we stood there embraced in a kiss, but it felt like an eternity.

Finally, he pulled away and I let out a gasp, gulping down air. Looking down at me, Stefan gently caressed my face. “I’ll protect you from here on out, Bella,” he said softly. “You don’t have to worry about the school’s stupid investigation. We’re going to be okay.”

The feeling of nausea began to return, and I wondered if it was the stress of all of this or if it was the same nagging sickness that had been plaguing me for the past few days.

“We’re going to ditch this dumb ass school and transfer to a different campus where no one knows us, and then . . .” Stefan paused, his face twisted in concern as he studied me. “Bella, are you okay?”

I pressed my hands to my stomach as a feeling of horror washed over me. Suddenly, I knew why I had been sick the past few days.

It shouldn’t be possible, I thought to myself. No fucking way. We were safe!

“Stefan,” I said weakly, holding back the urge to throw up on his toes.

“Yeah?” The concern in Stefan’s eyes touched me. “What is it, Bella? You look really sick.”

I took a deep breath. “I think I’m pregnant.”



“Wait one damn second . . . how could this have had happened?” Stefan demanded as he paced the living room floor of my dorm. I was sitting on the small couch, cross-legged, watching him, my mind awash with thoughts of doom. “I took every precaution. I mean, I had a fucking condom on!”

Fresh from outside, my hot stepbrother was still soaking wet from the rain, his t-shirt plastered to his washboard abs. His hair was a wet mess and he had fresh stubble shading his powerful jawline. He had never looked hotter to me in that moment, but for once, I wasn’t being overrun by my raging hormones for him because of our present dilemma.

“I don’t know,” I replied, my voice shaking. “I really have no idea.”

“Fuck,” he hissed, turning on his heel and walking in the opposite direction, only to turn back around and walk back the other way.

Tears slid down my cheeks. This was all my fault. Had I not agreed to go along with the stupid Sacrifice just to prove myself to the sorority, this would have never happened. Never mind the fact that I had also gone along with it just to prove to myself that I could forget about Stefan. Guess I was wrong.

“We must have been so into it that the condom broke.”

“I guess.” The theory seemed to be the only plausible one.

Stefan nodded and replied, "Unless . . .”

“Unless what?”

“Unless you’ve been with someone else.”

The flash of jealousy and anger that appeared in Stefan’s eyes was frightening, and I found myself rearing back against the couch.

“No,” I said quickly, my pulse pounding in my ears. “I swear, I haven’t.”

The only guy I’ve ever wanted to be with is you, I thought to myself. It’s part of the sick reason I did the Sacrifice anyway . . . to forget about you.

I was thinking these words, but I couldn't find the nerve to actually say them to Stefan. Frankly, I was still embarrassed over the entire ordeal. It seemed so unbelievable. We should've recognized each other behind the costumes.

Stefan was probably right. Deep down, we had known but chose to ignore it. We were in a fantasy and went along with it. I was having a hard time swallowing this notion. Of course, I was always attracted to him, but I didn't think I'd ever act on it.

“How am I supposed to believe that?” Stefan demanded. “When you were willing to sleep with me before even knowing who I was?”

I wrapped my arms around my chest and looked down at my legs in shame. I had the response, but it was hard to speak through the lump inside my throat.

Stefan resumed his pacing. “Speaking of which, I can’t believe that you were willing to sleep with a total stranger. I really thought you were above such behavior, Bella.” There was bitter anger in Stefan’s voice, and the sound of it stung my skin like a wasp.

“I don’t see why you’re bringing this up now,” I said weakly. I wanted to be angry, but with the way my stomach felt and everything else, I just felt pounded, destroyed . . . helpless. “You didn’t seem to have a problem with it after you found out.”