Alpha Nathan Pov.

The weight of my actions was beginning to settle on me, and I found myself buckling under the pressure.

Somehow, in that moment, I felt myself not caring about Isabella anymore, as if I could simply close my eyes and erase her from my life completely.

But for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to throw her out. I had no idea why. "What's stopping me?" I wondered. "If I don't care about her, why can't I just end this now?"

There was something holding me back, some invisible force that prevented me from cutting her loose entirely.

I was being selfish as hell! I recognized that about myself. But ever since she had appeared in my life, everything had turned into one problem after another.

All I wanted was to live peacefully, without all this drama and complication. I couldn't deny the strong attraction between us, the intense affection that seemed to flare whenever we were together.

But still, I convinced myself she wasn't worth fighting for. Or at least, that's what I believed at the time.

"Life would be so much simpler without her," I thought. "Without these feelings I don't understand, without this pull toward someone I shouldn't want."

I scoffed coldly, "So, you want to jump? Then do it! I won't try to stop you. I still don't believe you're pregnant anyway."

The words tasted bitter on my tongue, cruel and dismissive. I saw the hurt flash across her face, quickly replaced by determination.

"You don't mean that," she whispered, searching my face for any sign of the man she thought she knew. "You can't possibly mean that, Nathan."

And in just a blink of an eye, before I could take back those terrible words, she was jumping out that window.

I rushed to pull her back, my heart stopping in my chest, but I was only able to watch helplessly as she fell, landing with a sickening thud in a growing pool of blood below.

"ISABELLA!" I screamed, my voice tearing from my throat. "Oh God, no! ISABELLA!"

I pressed my hands against the window frame, staring down in horror at her crumpled form.

I almost screamed out loud, the sound catching in my throat. I felt a sharp pain in my chest, like my heart was being ripped out.

I ran like a madman down the stairs, shouting to wake all the servants, "Call the doctors now! NOW! GET THEM HERE IMMEDIATELY!"

My voice echoed through the halls, raw with panic and desperation. "Don't you dare die," I muttered as I took the stairs three at a time. "Don't you dare leave me like this, Isabella. Not like this."

And I couldn't tell if what I was feeling was guilt or love or just basic human concern. But I had to admit, I wanted to break down crying seeing her like that.

"This is my fault," I kept thinking as I raced toward her. "I drove her to this with my cruelty. With my selfishness. With my inability to be honest about what I truly want."

The regret was crushing, almost paralyzing in its intensity.

I gathered her up in my arms, cradling her unconscious form against my chest.

She was completely blacked out, looking so pale and still that for a terrifying moment, I thought she might be dead.

But I could feel the faint rise and fall of her chest - she was still breathing, still fighting.

"Stay with me," I whispered against her hair. "Please, Isabella. Stay with me. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry for everything."

I carried her to another room on the first floor to save precious time. She needed immediate medical attention, and thankfully, the doctors arrived quickly, responding to the panic in my voice when I'd called for them.

"She jumped from the third floor," I explained breathlessly as they rushed in. "She's bleeding badly. She said... she said she was pregnant."

The words stuck in my throat, almost impossible to say aloud. "Please, you have to save her. You have to save them both if you can."

All I could think about in that moment was 'why did she jump?' The question tormented me as I paced outside the room.

Was it weakness - a desire to end her life because the pain was too much to bear? Or was it bravery - a final, desperate act to make me realize what I was throwing away?

"Either way," I thought miserably, "this is on me. All of it." The guilt was overwhelming, crushing me beneath its weight.

As quickly as they had arrived, the room filled with medical staff. Everyone was shouting at me, "Get out, Alpha, please. Now! We need space to work!"

Their voices were urgent, their expressions grim as they assessed Isabella's injuries.

I caught glimpses of her pale face between the bodies surrounding her, and each glimpse felt like a knife to my heart.

And I calmly did as they asked, stepping out into the hallway. And guess what? I didn't even wait around to hear how she was doing.

Once they told me, "She's alive," I walked away, heading back to my room - to my Luna's room.

"What am I doing?" I asked myself as my feet carried me away from Isabella. "Why am I walking away right now?"

But I couldn't seem to stop myself, couldn't force my body to turn around and go back to her.

My Luna was there waiting for me, as if she had known all along I would return to her.

She opened her arms invitingly and said with perfect serenity, "I forgive you for cheating on me. We can start over now."

Her eyes were filled with what looked like love, her voice calm and forgiving.

But something about it felt wrong, artificial somehow. "How can she be so calm?" I wondered. "How can she act like nothing happened when Isabella is fighting for her life downstairs?"

And I fell asleep next to my Luna as if nothing had happened, as if Isabella wasn't possibly dying at that very moment.

It was like I was under some kind of spell, unable to feel the appropriate concern or guilt.

"What's wrong with me?" was my last thought before unconsciousness claimed me. "How can I just lie here while she's suffering because of me?"

But despite these thoughts, sleep came easily, dreamless and deep.

I guess I had made the decision to move forward and start over with my Luna. To give her a second, better chance just as she was doing for me.

"This is the right thing to do," I told myself as I drifted off. "This is what's expected of me. This is my duty."

But even as I thought the words, they rang hollow in my mind, like lies I was telling myself to make the guilt more bearable.