HIS to CLAIM ALPHA ZEKE

"Get out, Layla.""I'm pregnant, Cecelia.And it's your husband's baby."

I looked up at her stunned.The crystal wine glass slipped from my fingers, shattering against the marble floor of the pack house dining room.Red wine spread on the floor, soaking my shoes and hers.

"What did you just say?"My voice shook.I was not understanding.How?Why?

Layla, my beautiful, perfect sister, stood across from me, the definition of everything that I thought I was not.She was graceful, could get anything she wanted, men worshipped the ground that she walked on.Why my husband?Even as she delivered the news that rocked my world, she looked like a goddess.Her hand rested protectively over her still-flat stomach, and tears glistened in her blue eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Cecelia.I never meant for this to happen."

"You're lying."I gripped the edge of the dining table until my knuckles went white."Zeke wouldn't... he wouldn't do that to me."

"Wouldn't he?"Layla's voice was soft and full of pity."Be honest with yourself, sister.Has he ever truly been yours?"

The mate mark on my neck ignited at her words and my hands flew to the pain point in an attempt to soothe it.I struggled to stand up, as I glared at her with all the hate in me.

She always had everything.Why couldn't she let this one thing I was happy with be?She just had to ruin it.Six months ago, Alpha Zeke. Brooke had shocked everyone by choosing me, the plain, adopted Cecelia over my stunning sister for the peace treaty marriage.I felt too bare in his gorgeous world.But he made me feel loved, and perfect.Six months since I'd foolishly started believing in fairy tales.

"He chose me," I said, hating how desperate I sounded."At the betrothal ceremony, he chose me over you."

"Did he?"Layla walked over to me with graceful steps."Or did he choose the path that would let him have us both?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Think about it, Cecelia.If he'd married me, you would have left the territory.Gone to find your own pack, your own life.But by marrying you..."She paused, letting the implication hang in the air."By marrying you, he ensured I'd stay close.Family always stays close."

My legs gave out, and I collapsed into the nearest chair.

"No.No, you're wrong.Zeke and I... we've been happy.He's been kind to me, gentle-"

"Kind?"Layla laughed, but there was no humor in it."Cecelia, whywhen was the last time he told you he loved you?"

The question hit me like an arrow to my chest.My world spun as I considered it.Six months of marriage, and those three words had never passed his lips.Not once.

"When was the last time he looked at you the way a mate should look at his chosen?"she continued relentlessly."When was the last time he came to your bed without you having to initiate it?""Stop."Tears burned my eyes, but I refused to let them fall."Just stop talking."

"I can't stop, because I can't keep lying to you anymore."Layla sank into the chair across from me, reaching across the table