Understand

He stared down at the letter, gold eyes impassive. It was so damn…empty. She had given him the information about the pup, just as he had asked, but that was all. No small talk, no question about him, nothing that didn't have anything to do with the pup.

Irritated, he dropped the note to his desk and turned back to the wall of windows behind him. It surprised him, this desire to know more of what she was doing. Maybe more than it should have, considering he had not told her to stay. But he also hadn't asked her to, either.

Already he had gotten too many lectures from anyone who knew about the situation. No one seemed to fear that he might take off his or her heads for daring to speak to him that way. They all pitied him for letting her leave, and were proud of her for leaving. That in itself was degrading; they were supposed to support the decisions of their Alpha whether they agreed or not.

Narrowing his eyes, he crossed his arms over his chest and ignored the sudden ring of the phone on his desk.

Sesshoumaru could admit that he shouldn't have let her leave, if only to protect the pup. He could also admit that he had let her leave because the beast inside of him was starting to claim her; had already claimed her as pack, and as she was carrying their pup, it was only a matter of time before he claimed her as mate.

He didn't want or need a mate. She was providing an heir for him, which was the only reason he would have taken one to begin with. Why bother with it now, when he had the heir free of charge?

Inwardly, he cringed at those thoughts. Maybe she had been right to leave him, he thought in disgust.

He thought again of all the different sides of her he knew; the smiling teen she had been in the photographs of her family home. The young, abused wife. The jumpy supposed widow. And now the mother of his pup. Even with the knowledge of how she had changed over the years and why, Sesshoumaru still wasn't entirely sure he understood her, or who she was. He wasn't entirely sure he ever would.

o.O.o

Word Count - 387