Chapter 205 The Pup Card

At the sound of the door, Alpha Sebastian expected his mother or Isabella.

Serena walked in instead.

His jaw tightened. "I’ll call you back." He ended the call and set his phone on the desk. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard you were home from the hospital." Serena gave him a small, worried smile. "I wanted to check on you."

He looked worse than she had expected. His face was pale, his cheeks hollow, and an untouched breakfast tray sat beside his laptop.

Serena had known him since they were teenagers. He had been part of her life for ten years, and some part of her still cared about him.

But the way he looked at her now, cold and distant, hurt more than she wanted to admit.

"You need to eat something," she said. "If you won’t do it for yourself, at least think about the baby."

Alpha Sebastian’s eyes dropped to her stomach. "We’ve already had this conversation. "I don’t want a life with you."

"It’s not that simple." She rested a hand over her abdomen. "My doctor said ending the pregnancy could cause complications. I might not be able to get pregnant again."

The lie came easily.

Alpha Sebastian had once wanted a pup to keep Eira tied to him. Now Serena intended to use this baby to keep him from walking away.

"You know I’ve always had health issues," she continued. "I’m twenty-eight, Seb. This could be my only chance to have a pup. Are you really asking me to give that up?"

A flicker of hesitation crossed his face.

Serena moved closer. "Whatever happened between us, this baby is still yours."

Alpha Sebastian looked away. "Have you thought about what happens if you keep it?"

"We raise our pup."

"No." His answer was immediate. "There is no ...we.’ I won’t bond with you, and I can’t give you the future you want."

Her face tightened. "So you’ll just turn your back on your own pup?"

"I’ll take responsibility for the pup. Financially and legally." He met her eyes. "But that doesn’t make us a couple, and it doesn’t make this pup the Hale heir."

"Because you’re still holding out for Eira?"

"Yes."

Serena stared at him, almost laughing at the absurdity of it.

Eira had divorced him and severed their mate bond. Alpha Sebastian had spent years using their marital assets to support another woman. No amount of regret could erase that.

Eira had loved him once. Everyone had seen it. But the deeper the love, the worse the betrayal. Serena could not believe Eira would ever take him back.

"Seb, listen to yourself." She let tears gather in her eyes. "Eira left. She’s moving on with her life. I’m the one who came back. I’m here, and I’m carrying your baby. We still have a chance to build something together."

Alpha Sebastian was silent for a long moment.

Then he let out a bitter laugh.

"You’re right."

Hope flashed across Serena’s face.

"I should have seen the woman who was right in front of me."

She took a step toward him. "Exactly."

"For four years," he said quietly, "that woman was Eira."

Serena’s smile disappeared.

"She was there every day, and I treated her like she didn’t matter. I won’t make that mistake again."

"She left you," Serena said, her voice tightening. "Whatever you had is over."

"What’s over is you and me." Alpha Sebastian met her gaze. "The day I bonded with Eira, you should have become part of my past. I was too selfish to let go. That was my mistake."

Serena’s control began to crack.

"Do you really want her?" she asked. "Or do you want the award-winning scientist everyone suddenly cares about?"

Alpha Sebastian’s eyes turned cold.

"Before Eira’s name was all over the news, you didn’t even believe she could be Dr. Crawford," Serena continued. "When I told you the scientist from our lab had the same name as your wife, you laughed. You said Eira should be flattered by the comparison."

She gave him a bitter smile.

"So don’t stand there and pretend you loved her all along."

Alpha Sebastian’s face tightened. Serena knew at once that she had pushed too far. Instead of turning him against Eira, she had only reminded him of how badly he had treated her.

She quickly changed course.

"I know I lied about the Sovereign Processor Initiative," she said, letting her voice soften. "I wasn’t the project lead. But you spent ten years believing in me, and I was terrified you’d see me as a failure. By the time I realized how far the lie had gone, I didn’t know how to take it back."

Then she lifted her chin. "But I’m not washed up. Ryan Sullivan is launching a medical chip project, and he asked my grandfather to bring me on as lead researcher. I still have a career, Seb. I still have something to offer."

"That was never the point," Alpha Sebastian said.

"Then what is?"

His answer came without hesitation.

"I can’t lose Eira."

Serena went still.

Anything she said now would only push him closer to Eira. She had returned believing she could take back her place in his life. Instead, Eira had filed for divorce, walked away, and become the one woman Alpha Sebastian could not let go.

So Serena played the only card she had left.

"Then forget about us for a minute." She pulled an ultrasound printout from her leather tote. "Just look at your baby."

Alpha Sebastian did not reach for it.

"There’s a heartbeat now," she continued. "The doctor said everything looks normal."

His gaze dropped to the image. There was little more than a dark oval and a tiny blur, but the report at the bottom was clear.

Cardiac activity detected.

For the first time, his expression shifted.

Serena moved closer. "That’s your pup, Seb. Your firstborn."

She took his hand and placed it against her stomach.

Alpha Sebastian stiffened, but he did not pull away at once.

It was far too early to feel movement. He knew that. Still, the ultrasound had made the pregnancy real in a way Serena’s words had not.

His pup was growing inside her.