EMMA'S POV
Marcus's private chambers are exactly how Emma remembers them.
The massive windows overlooking the pack lands. The dark furniture that smells like him. The bed where they spent three years tangled together. Everything is the same and everything is different because Emma is standing here angry and pregnant and she's spent three months hating him.
The door closes behind them.
Marcus reaches for her immediately. His hands come up like he's going to pull her close and Emma steps back before he can touch her. Her hand goes up between them like a barrier.
"Don't," she says and her voice is sharp. Dangerous. "Don't touch me until you answer my questions."
Marcus freezes. His hands drop to his sides but his eyes stay locked on her. They're desperate. Hungry. Like he's been starving for three months and she's the only thing that can feed him.
Emma ignores the pull of the bond and the way her wolf wants to go to him.
"I'm pregnant," she says and she watches his face. Watches the moment her words hit him fully. Watches his jaw clench and his hands curl into fists. "Seven weeks when I found out. Alone. In a cabin bathroom. With no one. No one to tell me it would be okay. No one to help me. Just me and a pregnancy test that showed two pink lines."
Marcus takes a step toward her and Emma takes a step back.
"I carried this alone for two months," Emma continues and her voice is shaking now but not from fear. From anger. From three months of rage that's been building inside her like a storm. "I didn't know if the baby would survive. I didn't know if the bond would kill it. I didn't know anything except that I was alone and pregnant and the father of my child chose someone else."
"Emma, I can explain," Marcus starts but Emma cuts him off.
"Why?" The word cracks like a whip. "Why did you do it? Why did you stand on that stage and announce a bonding with Elena when you're supposed to be my mate? Why did you throw away three years like I meant nothing to you?"
Marcus runs his hand through his hair and he looks like he's in pain. Like her words are physically hurting him.
"The council was pushing for it," Marcus says. "Territory was shrinking. We were losing resources. Elena's pack had what we needed. The alliance made sense politically."
Emma laughs but there's no humor in it.
"Politically," she repeats. "You rejected our bond for politics. You walked away from me for territory. You made me feel like love didn't matter as long as the pack prospered."
"That's not what I meant," Marcus says and he's moving closer again. His alpha is starting to show. The part of him that's used to being obeyed. The part that's used to getting what he wants. "Emma, you have to understand. I was trying to save the pack. I was trying to do what was right for everyone."
"And was it?" Emma asks. Her voice gets quiet. Dangerous quiet. "Did the alliance work? Did you get what you needed? Did the pack prosper without me?"
Marcus's face goes completely still.
Everything freezes. Even the air seems to stop moving. Emma watches him and she knows. She knows before he says anything that the answer is no. That whatever he did, whatever he sacrificed her for, it didn't work.
"Talk," Emma says. "Tell me the truth. Did the alliance actually help your pack or did you destroy me for nothing?"
Marcus turns away from her and walks to the window. He's looking out at the compound with his hands pressed against the glass like he's trying to hold something together.
"The bonding never completed," he says finally. His voice is hollow. "Elena kept pulling away. She felt my hesitation. She knew I didn't want to actually bond with her. It was supposed to be official that night. I was supposed to stand in front of the pack and complete the bond. But when it came time, I couldn't do it. My wolf wouldn't let me."
Emma watches him and waits for more.
"The alliance fell apart anyway," Marcus continues. "Within weeks. Elena's pack decided I was unstable. A leader who couldn't even complete a political bonding wasn't reliable. So they backed out of the deal. Territory kept shrinking. Resources kept disappearing. And I realized that rejecting you didn't save anyone. It only broke everything."
"So you did it for nothing," Emma says and it's not a question.
Marcus turns back to face her and his eyes are shattered.
"I did it because I was scared," he says and the words sound like they cost him. "I was scared that loving you wasn't enough to keep the pack safe. I was scared that being alpha meant I had to make choices that destroyed the person I loved. I was scared and I chose wrong and by the time I realized it was wrong, you were already gone."
Emma feels something inside her crack open.
She doesn't want his pain. She doesn't want his guilt. She doesn't want any of this. She wants to hate him. Wants to walk away. Wants to raise this baby alone and never look back.
But standing here looking at him, she realizes something worse than hatred.
She realizes that he was broken too.
"I spent three months thinking you chose her," Emma says quietly. "I spent three months hating you. Three months believing you didn't care. And then I found out I was pregnant and the bond shifted and Derek called and you were hunting me like I mattered. Like you actually wanted me back."
Marcus steps toward her again and this time Emma doesn't move away.
"I've been searching for you since I felt the bond shift," Marcus says. "I don't care about territory or council or anything else. I care about you. I care about our baby. I care about fixing this."
"You can't fix this," Emma says and her voice breaks. "You can't go back three months and unmake the choice. You can't unhear the words you said to me. You can't take back the way you looked at me like I was nothing."
She puts her hand on her belly where the baby is moving and Marcus watches the gesture with eyes that are hungry and desperate and broken.
"So what do we do?" he asks.
Emma opens her mouth to answer but before she can speak, something shifts in the compound.
The alarms go silent. Every wolf in the territory suddenly stills. Emma feels it through the pack connection. Something just changed. Something just happened that's made the entire pack freeze.
Marcus feels it too.
His alpha senses activate and he moves to the window and his entire body goes rigid.
"Someone's here," he says and his voice is cold now. Dangerous. The alpha is back. The protector is back. "Someone who shouldn't be."
Emma moves to the window and her breath catches.
Through the glass, she can see figures moving in the compound courtyard. Not pack members. Unfamiliar wolves in unfamiliar territory. And standing at the center of them, directing them with hand signals, is a face Emma recognizes.
Elena Price.
And she's brought an army.