Isla’s expression turned cold.
“Don’t call my child that.”
Coel’s smile widened when he realized he had struck a nerve.
“What else should I call it?” His gaze lingered on her stomach.
“A clinic filled you with some stranger’s seed.
You don’t even know what kind of animal fathered that thing.”
Anger burned through her.
Serena growled inside her mind.
‘The hospital made the mistake.
He betrayed us.
None of that shame belongs to you.’
She was right.
Isla had undergone IVF because she had believed it might save Coel.
While she endured the treatments, he had been sleeping with Hilda.
“My pregnancy is none of your concern,” Isla said.
“You lost the right to question my life when you slept with my sister.”
Coel’s face tightened.
His gaze moved over her dress before shifting toward the expensive car visible through the shop windows.
“Let me guess.
The father is some old Alpha too desperate to produce an heir naturally.” He chuckled.
“Is that where you got the clothes and the car?
Did he buy you along with the pregnancy?”
“You’re embarrassing yourself.”
Isla placed the socks in her basket and turned away.
Coel moved into her path.
“I’m trying to understand how a worthless Omega suddenly started living so well.”
The research institute badge was still clipped to her bag.
He noticed it and gave a mocking laugh.
“Are you pretending to be a scientist now?”
“I was offered a research position.”
“You?”
His disbelief no longer hurt.
Days ago, two independent laboratories had verified the value of her work.
Coel’s opinion meant nothing beside the evidence.
“Yes, me.”
She stepped around him.
Coel blocked her again.
“Why are you acting so cold?” His tone changed, becoming falsely gentle.
“We’re still fated mates.”
“No.
We aren’t.”
“A bond doesn’t disappear because you throw a tantrum.”
“What you had with Hilda wasn’t a tantrum.
It was a choice.”
His expression darkened.
Then his gaze dragged slowly over her body.
“You know, I might be willing to forgive you.”
“For what?”
“For rejecting me.
For letting another man’s pup grow inside you.” He leaned closer.
“Come back with me.
Sleep with me, and I might still be willing to keep you.”
Disgust crawled over her skin.
“You truly are delusional.”
“Don’t pretend to be innocent now.
You’re already carrying a stranger’s seed.” His smile turned vulgar.
“I’ve never had a pregnant Omega before.
It might be interesting to find out what you feel like.”
The slap cracked through the aisle.
Several customers gasped.
Coel’s head snapped to one side.
A red mark spread across his cheek as he slowly turned back toward her.
“You dared to hit me?”
“That was for insulting my child.” Isla’s injured voice remained low.
“Come near me again, and the next one won’t be with an open hand.”
Humiliation twisted his features.
Customers were watching.
A store employee had frozen beside the counter, staring at them.
Coel’s Alpha aura struck Isla without warning.
“Kneel.”
The command pressed down on her shoulders.
Pain shot through her bruised throat, and her knees threatened to buckle.
Serena surged forward.
‘He isn’t our Alpha.’
Logan’s blood still burned faintly inside them, strengthening the barrier between Isla and Coel’s dominance.
She forced her head higher.
“You don’t command me.”
Confusion flashed across his face.
Beyond the shelves, Isla saw the Vale guard enter the store.
His attention locked on Coel as he began moving toward them.
Coel noticed him too.
His aura disappeared.
He stepped back, but his shoulder struck a display of crystal baby keepsakes.
Isla saw his hand move.
He shoved the stand.
“Crash!”
Glass ornaments and expensive bottles smashed across the floor.
Customers cried out and hurried away from the spreading fragments.
It fell among the broken merchandise, making it appear as though she had knocked over the display.
A saleswoman rushed toward them.
“What happened?”
“She did it,” Coel said calmly.
“She became hysterical when I asked about her baby’s father.”
“That’s a lie,” Isla said.
The woman recognized him.
Fear immediately replaced the doubt on her face.
“Alpha Reese.”
Coel folded his arms, satisfied.
The store manager appeared from the back office.
He glanced at the destruction, then at Coel.
“What happened here?”
“This woman destroyed your display,” Coel answered before anyone else could speak.
The manager looked at Isla’s bruised throat and the scattered contents of her basket.
His unease deepened, but he clearly didn’t want to challenge a powerful Alpha.
“The damage will have to be paid for,” he said carefully.
“We can review the circumstances afterward.”
Coel smirked.
“You heard him.
Pay up.”
He expected her to panic.
Instead, Isla looked above the aisle.
A security camera pointed directly at the shattered display.
“Preserve the footage,” she said.
The manager hesitated.
“Ma’am?”
“I want a copy of everything recorded since I entered this store.”
Coel laughed.
“And what authority do you have to demand that?”
Isla opened her purse.
Logan’s Beta had given her a Vale household card after the marriage.
She had refused to use it, preferring to purchase the baby’s gifts with her own money.
Now, however, she wasn’t taking it out to pay.
She placed the black card on the counter.
A silver wolf gleamed across its surface.
Coel’s smile vanished.
The manager’s face turned white.