Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
“Mateo wants to take you back,” Silver said.
“What? No, I refuse,” Harper said.
Silver sighed. “He is your mate.”
“And he rejected me,” she said. “Right at the very beginning. It’s why I’m here. It’s why I … don’t know what it is like to be mated. Why I’ve had to deal with a lot of people curious about what I did to cause that rejection.”
She hated to even say those words, but it was all true.
“I am sorry if my pack has been less than welcoming,” Silver said.
She closed her eyes and took a breath. “It’s not that. In the beginning, it was difficult, but you and I talked about that, remember?”
Silver nodded his head.
“I don’t want to go with him,” Harper said. “He banished me. Isn’t there, like, a law, I don’t know, where it says no take-backs?”
He chuckled. “No, there’s no law, but I also value your opinion and if you don’t want to leave this pack, then you don’t leave.”
“I don’t want to leave.”
“I do want to warn you, though, that I cannot force Mateo to leave either.”
“What? This is your pack. This is your life. Your rules.”
“And getting between a mated couple is not ideal,” Silver said. “Until you and Mateo, I had never heard of a mated couple even living separately like you two.”
“Yeah, I know it is messed up,” she said, sighing. “But we’re not mates.”
“You are mates, you’re just going through a difficult time.”
This made her laugh. There was no way they were going through a difficult time.
“So, what you’re saying is, you’re not going to force me out of the pack, but Mateo gets to stay.”
“Yes, unless he … causes trouble, there is nothing I can do.”
“You do know this sucks, don’t you?” she asked.
Silver smiled. “Is there any part of you that might still love him?”
She opened her mouth and closed it. “I don’t know.”
He sighed. “That is … sad. Being with a mate is the most wondrous feeling in the world.”
“Then take that feeling of finding your mate, and imagine she crushed your heart within the next second. That’s what Mateo did to me. He hated me.”
“I don’t think he hates you.”
“He certainly doesn’t love me.”
“I think you’ve got that wrong.”
She wasn’t in the mood to argue with him.
Mateo was going to stay, and she couldn’t stop him, but that didn’t mean she would make this easy for him. He’d crushed her heart, dampened her spirit, and darkened her soul with his rejection.
She was not going to fall into his arms without a second thought.
****
Franny didn’t like him. They sat outside a coffee shop, and she continued to glare at him.
He wasn’t used to being on the angry side of a woman. Apart from Harper’s mother. She’d not liked what he’d done to her daughter, and she refused to be respectful to him. He’d been able to avoid the woman at most situations but it had been difficult.
“So, you’re back,” Franny said.
He noticed they were gaining some attention.
“Yes, I’m back, and I want to thank you for taking care of Harper—”
“Don’t.”
He looked at her and waited.
“Don’t try to pretend that you did anything good,” she said.
“I know I’ve upset you—”
“You have not upset me. I don’t like you and I think you’re a big asshole, but I know for a fact you won’t be able to win over Harper.”
“And why do you think that?”
“I know how broken she was when she came here, and from what she told me, you and she didn’t even share a kiss.” Franny shook her head. “You broke her heart. Crushed her. I hope you know that.”
He had already made an enemy out of Franny.
This was not his idea to be away from his mate. Walking into that shop, the place had smelled like Harper, and his wolf finally felt peace for the first time in seven years. He’d not known this feeling in such a long time, he’d forgotten what it was like.
“Harper will forgive me.”
Franny laughed. “Is this because you feel that as the alpha, she is going to have no choice?”
“I am her alpha, but I’m also her mate.”
“Wow, I think if they did a reward for most delusional, you’d be right on top of that list.”
He didn’t appreciate the sarcasm, but he had a feeling she’d just enjoy antagonizing him even more.
Lifting his coffee, he took a sip. In his own pack, there was no judgment. His pack, apart from her parents, had accepted what had happened. They figured Harper had done something and he’d not changed their minds. It was easier that way.
“Ah, my father is coming,” Franny said.
He turned to see Silver approaching. Several men and women stopped him in his tracks, and he took time to speak to them.
Harper had come to a good pack. Her father had done her proud.