Chapter 3

I was walking out of the pack hospital just as Enzo's car pulled up to the curb.

He strode over and reached for me as if nothing had happened.

"All done? Are you hurting anywhere?"

I angled away, avoiding his hand.

Enzo's hand hung in the air for a second.

Then he reached into the back seat and pulled out a paper bag.

"You haven't eaten. Drink something warm first."

The irony was almost unbearable.

He could cook with his own hands for his Beta. And I, his Luna, got whatever takeout he had grabbed on the way.

We had been driving for a while when he suddenly asked, "You don't have anything else planned today, do you?"

As if only just remembering, his voice softened.

"If you're free this afternoon, let's stop by the mall."

"For what?"

"To pick up some baby stuff," he said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "We should start getting ready."

"I don't want to go."

"Elena."

There was already a warning edge in his voice.

"Stop letting your emotions get the better of you. It's not good for the pregnancy."

I turned to the window and said nothing.

Ten minutes later, the car pulled up outside a baby store.

Enzo glanced at his phone and said, "Nina's meeting us too. Her friend just had a pup, and she wants to pick up a gift while we're here."

I turned to look at him.

"And you're only telling me now?"

"It's on the way."

He said it like that settled everything.

"You don't need to be so hostile toward her."

A few minutes later, Nina pulled the door open.

"Luna, hope I'm not interrupting."

I looked at her and said nothing.

She, meanwhile, acted completely at ease. She walked straight over to Enzo and started looking at strollers with him.

"Enzo, is this the one you said had the better safety rating?"

She rested a hand on the handle and smiled up at him.

"You really know more about this than I do."

A sales associate came over, glanced between the two of them, and smiled.

"Shopping for your first stroller?"

Before Enzo could answer, Nina laughed and shook her head.

"Oh no, we're just picking out a gift."

She paused, then added half-jokingly,

"Though he really has been doing his research on strollers lately."

The clerk gave them a knowing smile.

"I can tell. You two are taking this very seriously."

I stood a few steps away, watching Nina push a stroller around and discuss materials, features, and brands with Enzo, as if they were the ones expecting a pup.

Enzo didn't correct her.

When the clerk stepped away to get a catalog, Nina idly picked up a baby monitor from the shelf and said lightly,

"Isn't it a little early to be shopping for all this?"

She looked at me, her tone casual.

"I mean, you still have to make it through the procedure first, right?"

The air went completely still.

Enzo's expression changed.

I looked at Nina.

"You have no right to discuss my medical information in public."

Nina's smile faltered. A second later, her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry."

She bit her lip, her voice going small.

"Enzo talks about it so much, I forgot for a second what I shouldn't say."

That apology was crueler than no apology at all.

She was telling everyone within earshot that Enzo had shared everything with her, my privacy and my pain.

Before I could say anything, Enzo frowned.

"She apologized."

I turned to him.

"You really can't hear what she's doing?"

"She misspoke once."

Enzo's voice turned cold.

"You don't have to take everything as a personal attack."

I stared at him, my chest tightening.

"She discussed my procedure in public, and you think that was just a slip?"

Nina was already crying.

"Elena, I really didn't mean to."

She tugged gently at Enzo's sleeve, as if she were trying to hold herself together.

"I was just worried about you. If you're upset, I'll leave."

Enzo turned to her immediately, his voice softening at once.

"You don't have to leave."

Then he looked back at me, his eyes completely cold.

"That's enough, Elena."

"Do you really have to make a scene in public?"

I looked at him, and suddenly I couldn't get a single word out.

Just then, the door opened again.

It was Mark, one of Enzo's friends.

He saw me, then glanced at Nina standing beside Enzo, and his expression shifted.

"Elena, are you and Enzo...?"

Enzo didn't look at me first.

The first thing he did was hand Nina a tissue.

"Take your time."

I turned and walked out.

Enzo came after me and caught my wrist.

His voice was low, but the anger in it was unmistakable.

"She apologized. How long are you going to keep dragging this out?"

I looked at him, and then, somehow, I smiled.

"Enzo, have you still not figured out that Nina was never the real problem?"

He frowned.

"Then what is?"

"It's you."

"You're the one who made her think she could schedule you, speak for you, and take my place by your side."

Enzo's face went cold.

"You're too emotional to talk right now."

"Then let's not."

I raised a hand to flag down an Uber.

Enzo tightened his grip on my wrist.

"Elena."

I looked down at his hand and said softly,

"Let go."

His grip loosened slightly.

"I didn't choose her."

I let out a quiet laugh.

"Then if she called right now and said she wasn't feeling well, would you leave again?"

Enzo was silent.

A second was all I needed.

I pulled my hand free and got into the Uber that had just pulled up.