Chapter 131: A Father in denial

Malachi looked happy.

It was something she never thought would actually ever...happen. It reminded her of what she’d seen about him in the past - lifting his daughter and laughing like the happiest, most fulfilled man on earth.

And the battle of insanity was what he’d fought every day since Katherine did so much damage to him. The insanity that remained in his heart as a block of ice, and his eyes were like piercing shards of ice.

And just for that moment when he smiled, it looked like it was gone.

Something inside her chest shattered and melted at the same time. Her entire body began to tremble, so overwhelmed by happiness that she felt almost weak enough to collapse. She wanted to freeze this moment forever, to keep that smile exactly where it was and never let it disappear.

Suddenly, Malachi’s expression flattened again, and he quickly withdrew his hand as though he’d just been burnt.

He stood back up and took two steps away, completely shattering the fragile moment that had existed a second ago.

The cold was back, and even worse than before.

"I’m not the father of your child, Moonfire. Stop twisting things here,"

She smiled tightly, her body now shaking for something else entirely, "And how exactly did you come to that conclusion?"

"Talk to the Father of the child about that,"

"You are the father!"

"No!" He shot back angrily, "You were having an affair behind my back!"

Della terribly wished she could move her legs. She wanted to kick him between his legs, slap his face as hard as she could and pound her fists all over his head till his brain corrected itself of this misunderstanding.

"Whatever you think you saw, you saw wrong! Nothing happened between me and Alpha Cassian that night!"

"I know what I saw!"

"You clearly didn’t stay for long!" She fired back angrily, "It sounds to me like you’re just looking for another reason to hate me even more. You’ll do literally anything to hate me till you take your last breath! Because I know deep down you know this child is yours. You’re just afraid to accept that a rotblood is carrying an Alpha’s child!"

He looked at her again, and she knew her words had simply bounced off his trampoline of an ear.

"You should leave,"

Her breathing quickened, "You do not have to tell me that. I’ll be out of your prestigious pack very soon!"

"Good!"

He stood up, turned around and then he was out of the room like he couldn’t spend another second in there.

Della’s hand had turned into a tight fists. She was hurting herself, but she didn’t care.

That man needed to get his emotions checked out quickly!

"You’re hurting yourself again!" Annelise cried as she walked into the room and quickly forced Della to unclench her hand, "Doesn’t it hurt? Or are you suddenly immune to pain?"

Her temple was twitching uncontrollably, and her eyes were seconds away from releasing the tears they held. The stupid man had told her he missed her one second with a look so sincere in his eyes, then he’d asked her to leave the next minute with the coldest expression ever known to man.

.

.

.

Malachi stormed into his study and slammed the door so hard the entire room seemed to shudder.

The first scroll he saw went flying, and then another.

He swept an entire stack from his desk with one violent swing of his arm, sending parchment scattering across the floor. A chair crashed against the wall, and his bare fist went through the edge of the desk, splintering the wood beneath his fingers.

He was breathing like a beast.

His chest heaved, his jaw clenched so tightly it hurt, and his eyes burned with a fury that seemed to have nowhere to go.

He kicked the overturned chair across the room, "Fuck!"

His roar shook the windows.

And then he stood in the middle of the destruction, fists trembling at his sides.

Weeks of craving her presence, like he was about to die without it. He hadn’t simply missed her with his heart — it was almost as if the mate bond was still there, pulling at him every second of the day to go to her.

He told himself it would vanish and life would go back to normal. That was the lie he told himself every day in order to manage the madness.

Then, Cassian had told him about the baby, and his thoughts had been turned upside down again. And when he’d mentioned might be in trouble, it took him a dense amount of self-control just to sit there and pretend it didn’t matter to him.

And the second Cassian had left, Malachi had followed.

Explaining the bloodlust and tremor of guilt and pain he’d felt when he saw her lying there, almost lifeless and covered in her blood, was probably impossible.

The moment Malachi had seen Della unconscious, bloodied and broken, something inside him simply stopped. For one horrifying second, he wasn’t an Alpha, wasn’t the ruler of Eclipse Crown, wasn’t even the man who had rejected her.

He was just a man staring at the woman he had hurt being hurt by someone else.

Every bruise felt like a stabbing accusation that caused his breath to shorten, and the bandage she had now was proof that withdrawing her protection had consequences he could never take back.

She could have died!

His claws had dug into his palms hard enough to draw blood, because there was nowhere else to put the violence flooding through him. He wanted someone to pay. Everyone to pay. Yet beneath the fury was something infinitely worse — the sickening knowledge that he had left her vulnerable to this.

He didn’t even know what to do with his confusing emotions anymore. That woman had walked into his life and turned him into...this!

"Oh my God!" A voice screamed from outside.

Malachi had left the door open, and the guards were fixed to their spot and probably covered in sweat.

Selene rushed into the room and began picking up the scrolls from the floor, "Alpha, who did this?" She stopped to look at him, "Are you okay?"

He closed his eyes for a second.

Then he opened them again.

Somehow, he had become even more angry than before.

"Alpha?"

"GET OUT!"