Chapter 1

It was supposed to be just a one-time encounter — just letting out the steam that had been fuming between us. He was not made for relationships, while I just got out of one and was not ready for another.

But that one-night stand turned into two nights, and then three, until I could no longer count the number of times he knocked at my door whenever he wanted to get laid.

And I just let him in.

Every damn time. 

But then, the nights of passion turned into two stripes on the pregnancy stick.

And he wanted nothing to do with it.

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CHAPTER 1.

LEXI.

“Lexi, you’re six weeks pregnant.” Clotilde’s voice kept resonating in my head as goosebumps rose from my skin.

My period had always been on time, so when I realized I was late for more than a week already, I tried a pregnancy stick.

Two stripes. 

But I needed a second opinion, so I went to the maternity ward in the hospital where I was working and asked my friend to check on me. I was really pregnant. 

I held the steering wheel tightly. My car was parked in the open space outside my apartment building, and I’d been sitting on it for the last thirty minutes, contemplating my life choices and the decisions I had to make. 

At 23, I was not ready to be a mother. I just got my residency from the big hospital where I was working and was just starting to take control of my life. 

This was all Austin’s fault. He shouldn’t have visited this city and tempted me to have sex with him. He was so good at it that even if I kept telling myself I would hold myself together and not let him seduce me, I still failed.

“Why Alexandria?!” I groaned and bumped my head on the wheel so hard that it began to honk, startling the people in the parking lot. I tilted my head up and stared at their annoyed expression as if what I did was a deadly sin. 

It was just a damn honk, not as if I ran over them!

I snorted before resting my head on the wheels again, carefully this time. 

Why did I have to let Austin back into my life? Why?

He was one of the reasons I left the Black Shadow Pack, and yet the first time I saw him after I left the pack, I let him into my life again. 

Austin was almost two years younger than me. I was sixteen when my mother died, and Mama Janna and Dad Aaron took me under their guardianship. Austin is their son.

He was fourteen then, yet he was taller than me, and being the Gamma’s son, he was trained earlier, so he already had an athletic build by that time. Plus, he had a smile to die for. 

He was good-looking even at a young age. One smile and he would make my panties twist, but he never paid attention to me. Every other female was better than me, and it irritated the heck out of me. So, I tried to sabotage him whenever he tried to flirt with females around my circle. I kept telling them he was a lousy kisser.

Petty, right? I know. I just couldn’t help it.

But I did my best to hold off any budding attraction I had for him after I moved in with his family. He was supposed to become my step-sibling. 

And he would make sure everyone around us knew that. 

So I just gave up and moved on from crushing on him. Besides, he was younger, and I was sure that I wanted to be pampered and not the one taking care of him. 

With Austin, I will definitely grow gray hair. He was already a playboy at fourteen, and I was sure he would not grow out of it by the time he came of age. He was not the type of male who would take any female seriously. He changed the females he dated like he changed his socks. 

Fine, I was making an excuse why I shouldn’t like him. But enough of that. I had more important things to deal with. 

My name is Alexandria Ricafort. Or call me Lexi for short. 

My mother was an ordinary she-wolf mated to a human, making me a half-breed shifter.

After my father’s untimely death when I was fourteen, my mother and I left the human territory and sought shelter in a new pack — the Black Shadow Pack. 

That was Austin’s pack. 

His mother and my mother forged such a great friendship that when my mother passed away with a broken heart, no one questioned when I was left under her care. I didn’t mind either. 

But with Mom gone, my surroundings full of shifters, and I being the only female at eighteen without a wolf in that pack, I made a big decision to move out of the territory and find my luck somewhere else.

Mama Janna tried to talk me out of it and told me many others had their wolf come out at a later time, and it shouldn’t be a problem. Of course, I knew that, but I told her I was no longer happy there.

I knew it broke her heart, but she finally let me go and made me promise to keep in touch. So I packed my bags, thanked her and her mate for their love and generosity, and moved out of the Black Shadow Pack to start my own adventure.

For the last five years, I had never been back to visit, but I kept in touch with Mama Janna, and whenever she visited Bernice City, I would make sure to make time to meet her. 

But never with Austin. So, seeing him on that fateful day at a random gas station in this city was a big surprise.

He was alone and looking like fresh meat out of the oven. He had always been confident, but his aura had changed massively. Together with confidence, his sex appeal was oozing out, and I couldn’t help staring at him that morning while we caught up with each other. 

I was smitten again.

And before I could even think, I had already invited him to my apartment. The simple breakfast led to another. The next thing I knew, I was already straddling him while he was ripping my clothes off as if we had done this thing before.

I told myself just one taste, and I should be good.

Big mistake. 

I got addicted.

So when he came back a few days later, I opened my door again and let him in. And it seemed I was not the only one who got addicted. Because the one-night stand became two and then three. Until it became a routine, and I could no longer count the number of times we did it.

But it was a no-strings-attached relationship. Just sex. Just letting out the steam fuming between us. We both made it clear what we were getting ourselves into. 

Austin was not made for a commitment, and I just got out of a two-year toxic relationship where my ex-boyfriend needed to know everything I was doing in my life. 

I wanted a break. Just to have fun and not think of anything but myself and the orgasm that I would get from him.

All was going so well. I had a sexy man in my bed who knew all the right buttons to push. Plus, he knew how to compliment me and make me blush without me needing to tell him how my day should start and how it should end. 

It was too perfect. 

But I should have known better. Nothing in life is too perfect. 

A baby was not part of “the having fun only” thing. 

I had no idea how I would tell him. But he needed to know because I couldn’t do this alone. 

My phone suddenly rang, making my body jerk up. I let out a huff and grabbed my bag, rummaging inside it until I found it.

“Hi!” I answered, not even pretending to sound happy about the call.

“Are you home? Are you okay?” It was Clotilde. We were not able to talk after she told me the result, as she had a staff meeting to go to, and she just squeezed me in on her schedule so I could do the pregnancy test. 

“I don’t know what to feel right now,” I told her. She knew about Austin and our encounters.

“You need to tell him.”

“I know. But I can already see his reaction.”

“You’re judging him. I’m sure he’ll be ecstatic, too.”

“I don’t know.”

“So what if he says no? Will you abort it?”

Her words sent shivers down my spine. 

Abortion? I was so worried about being pregnant, but I was sure I didn’t even think of disposing of my child. I knew a lot of things would change with this pregnancy, but abortion was not part of my plan, even if I hadn’t laid out any plans yet.

“Of course not. I will raise it on my own. I’ll be fine. I have work, I can take care of myself, and I’m sure I can take care of a baby.”

“Atta girl! That’s all I want to hear, and you know that if you need help, I’m just a  call away.”

“Thanks, honey.” 

“Now go and call lover boy, and tell him his sperm was so potent it did what your previous lovers couldn’t.” She said in a teasing tone, making me softly chuckle, but in reality, I was nervous. 

“I’ll wait when he comes over. Better say it  face-to-face than over the phone.”

“Your choice, girl. But the sooner, the better. So, as soon as he gets there, ride him, and then tell him the news right after he orgasms. I’m sure after having a release, he will still be high, and he knows he can’t stay away from you, so he better accept that baby.” She giggled, and I forced a chuckle because I didn’t know what else to say.

I hope it was that easy. But we were talking about Austin. What he could get from me, he could get it from any other female if he wanted to. 

I let out a deep sigh after the call ended, and I knew I should get inside. It was almost ten in the evening. I was tired and hungry. But I just wanted my bed. 

I would sleep it all off first and think about it tomorrow.