Isabella Carson

The guard in front of me led me to Malcolm's office. He sat at his desk with Prisilla who looked ready for a fight. Her eyes met mine and she curled her lips in disgust. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the seat next to her since it was the only available one.

A quick curt knock on the door and Damon entered the room. He glanced at Prisilla then at me before moving to stand on the opposite end of us. It has been days since I have had time to even be with Malcolm. There was another secret I haven't told him yet. I haven't had a chance and with all that has been going on, I wanted to wait until everything has calmed down. In my defense, I had only just found out a few days ago when I noticed the symptoms.

My hunger had increased dramatically and when I slept, I slept like the dead. In addition, my lycan has become more anxious and protective. My mood was swinging from left to right. I'm happy once second and the next I'm wanting to bawl my eyes out. My lycan was reserving energy and saving it for the little life that was growing inside of us.

I was carrying Malcolm's child inside of me.

Seeing Prisilla hug him in Alastair's room, added fuel to my jealousy and it didn't help that I was a pregnant and protective lycan. Instantly, my mind was screaming that he must have found solace somewhere else since I have been so busy but my logical side was telling me I was overreacting. Malcolm was not that type of person. Prisilla, however, is untrustworthy.

The whole time walking Alexine back up to her room, I spent the time telling myself that it wasn't what I thought it looked like. Malcolm looked just as surprised and stressed when he saw me. I only hope it wasn't because I caught him comforting Prisilla but because his uncle had died.

"Prisilla told me she saw you near Alastair's room late this evening." Malcolm started and instantly I knew where this was going. Any lycan in their right mind knew exactly where this was going.

His eyes met mine and I knew he saw the shield I put up. My defense was up and my jaw clenched in anger. I was being suspected of killing Alastair.

"Bella." Malcolm's soft voice tried to damper my rising fury. I looked down at the ground for a brief second before glancing back at him.

"You think it was me," I stated.

"Of course not. I know you but I need to hear everything first before I make a decision." Malcolm quickly snapped, his eyes also flaring up in anger at my statement. So...he doesn't think it was me. My guard fell a little.

"It was her!" Prisilla screeched. "How can you say that? I saw it with my very own eyes."

I scoffed, "I don't believe you for a second. I'm not a fool, Prisilla. I have no ill intentions towards Alastair."

"You know he never liked you. Maybe that's why you wanted to kill him. So that you can stand next to Malcolm and become his forever." Prisilla snapped back.

I pulled down the collar of my shirt, revealing Malcolm's mark on my shoulder. "I am already his! I don't need anything else to say otherwise. I don't care about Alastair or what he wants."

Prisilla's eyes darkened with rage when she saw the mark on my neck, "You're lying!"

"Enough." Malcolm interrupted before we could jab each other further. I turned to glare at Malcolm, feeling angry with the whole situation.

"I'm not going to sit here and be accused of something I didn't do." I moved to stand up.

"Sit down," Malcolm ordered me with a rough irritated voice. I was clenching my jaw so hard together, I think they will snap any second.

Settling back down, I leaned back and crossed my arms. I threw him a good glare. The corner of his lip twitched. I don't know why he found this amusing. For me, all I wanted to do was gouge Prisilla's eyes out and possibly kick Malcolm between his legs.

"You can't believe her, Malcolm." Prisilla was literally jumping out of her seat with each word.

"Actually, he can," Damon spoke up finally. We all turned to him. "You said that the females in your corridor knew exactly where you were tonight. It took a bit of coaxing as you have instilled so much fear into them but they finally spit out the truth."

Prisilla's eyes widened slightly as Damon pushed himself off the bookcase he was leaning on and walked towards us. Damon placed one hand on Prisilla's chair and the other on the desk as he leaned down close enough to Prisilla.

"You know what they told me?"

"They're lying." Prisilla immediately answered.

Damon chuckled. "Lying? But you don't even know what they said."

Prisilla pushed Damon away and turned to me. The look in the female's eyes was vengeful and filled with hate. There was also a look of desperation and insanity that glimmered behind those irises. Her large bosom's heaving like she ran a mile.

"You weren't in your room all night, Prisilla," Damon announced. "I also spoke with Alexine and Izzy was with her."

Prisilla looked between all of us. She looked like a trapped animal. Her eyes snapped to me and glared at me accusingly.

"It's all your fault!" She pointed a finger at me.

"Excuse me?" I looked at her.

"You shouldn't have come back. Malcolm is mine. I was there for him when you weren't. You don't deserve him. I do! I love him! You don't! If you did you wouldn't have left him. I hate you so much." She screamed and launched herself at me. My seat toppled back and I fell hard onto the ground.

I grabbed her hair and yank her off from me but she only screamed some more and reached behind her back. She pulled out a small pocket knife and popped it open. I can hear Malcolm and Damon shouting and coming to my aid. I grabbed onto her wrist that held the knife. She swiped the knife and it slid across my cheek. I felt the sharp sting.

Growling, I snapped her wrist right before Malcolm and Damon lifted her off from me. She was thrashing and doing everything she can to escape them. I pushed myself off from the ground and touched my cheek gingerly.

Malcolm took one look at me and his eyes turned golden yellow. His pupil dilated and his nose flared up in rage. His eyes zipped towards Prisilla and he grabbed a fistful of her hair before twisting it hard and yanking it back. Damon disarmed Prisilla immediately, tossing the knife across the room.

The dominating and possessive Alpha male lycan before me was not happy upon seeing blood dripping down my face. He looked ready to kill and his large clawed hands were just about to do that before Damon stopped him. He placed one hand around Malcolm's wrist.

"You can't kill her."

"She hurt Bella." Malcolm's voice growled out like a wild animal. His lycan fighting to take over and protect me.

"I understand but you know it will not be reasonable. The King will arrive by tonight if not by tomorrow. Killing another life will only add on more suspicion." Damon reasoned with him.

It was true. Our race already had a hard time with reproduction. With so many dead already, the King will surely arrive by tonight or tomorrow. One more life will be harder to explain. Damon extracted a screaming Prisilla away. He proceeded out of the room and I heard his voice distantly ordering the guards to take her down to the dungeon and lock her up with heavy guards.

Malcolm came to my side, his eyes still glowing with his lycan's eyes. He touched my cut cheek with his thumb.

"It will heal in an hour," I told him.

"I still don't like seeing you hurt." He mumbled, his voice returning to normal.

Smiling to assure him I was fine, I moved my hand to cup his cheek just the way he was holding mine. He sighed and leaned into my hand like a little baby.

"I missed you," I admitted in a soft whisper. It seemed like an eternity since I touched him and talked to him. We barely see each other for the past few weeks.

His eyes opened and met mine, "I missed you more, Bella. I want you to know I never once believed it was you who did it. You don't have it in you."

I felt happy that he believed in me but a part of me still remembered Prisilla's words.

"I appreciate the confidence in me, Malcolm, but maybe Prisilla was right. I came running back into your life when it looks like you were doing fine without me."

He scoffed, "And you believe what she said?"

"It has its truth, Malcolm. You are much stronger now."

"Stronger, yes, but not the same. I love you, Bella. It was hard for me to back then but I must admit I was happy to see you again. I can never let you go, Bella." Malcolm leaned down and kissed my forehead affectionately. "Know that you are my heart. When you ran away, you took it with you. When you came back, I felt alive again."

He lifted me in his arms and carried me out of the office. I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head on his shoulder. My mind mulling over what will happen next.

Malcolm walked us over to his bedroom and opened the door. He swung it close once we entered and walked to the bed, placing me down gently before disappearing into the bathroom. He came back out with a clean wet towel and gently dabbed at my cut to clean the blood.

We both weren't speaking about it but we knew what will happen very soon. Feeling fear creep into my veins I moved to hold his hand in mine, stopping him from wiping my cheek. I wanted him to understand that I will not leave him. I am going to stay by his side and protect him just like he had always done for me.

"No matter what happens we stick together," I told him.

He smirked and leaned in to give me a quick chaste kiss on the lips, "I'll never let you go."

"Good," I whispered before tangling one hand in his dark midnight hair and pulling him back down for a deeper kiss.

It has been so long and tonight I needed him to make love to me more than anything. Who knows what tomorrow will bring to our door but tonight all I knew was I wanted him to show me how much he loved me and I wanted to show him how much I loved him. I promise that after all this was over, I am going to tell him about our baby.