Chapter 2

“And?” Faith clutched her bag tighter, as if it contained everything precious she had left in the world. Perhaps it did.

“And I’m not going to,” he said simply. “Reject you, that is.”

Faith’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “What game are you playing now?”

“No game.” Harrison swallowed hard. “I’ve been a fool, Faith. Worse than a fool. I’ve been cruel to my own mate because I couldn’t see past my own ambition.”

“Don’t,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “You’ve always said you wanted a strong mate. Well, I’m not her, so it’s just better for everyone. My father, who hasn’t seen me anything more than the ghost of his late mate, my stepmother, making sure that I could never be allowed to look like anyone of importance and lastly, you, the guy who competed with his elder brother once for Alpha of your real father’s lands, which switched to me once you both moved here. Not that it mattered, I knew that I wouldn’t take power in this pack. Father told me that you would be the next Alpha of this pack six months before you even moved here. And I was to do whatever my stepmother said.”

Harrison stared at her, the words hitting him like a physical blow. Six months before they’d even moved here? The revelation settled over him like a cold shadow. All this time, the game had been rigged from the start.

“You knew?” His voice came out hoarse. “All this time, you knew I was going to take what was rightfully yours?”

“What difference did it make? It was either you or my cousin Malcolm. I knew that I could never take my birthright, why coz I was born female. This pack has a rule that it must be a male heir, so it was unimportant which one got it.”

Harrison’s jaw tightened. A male heir rule? No one had ever mentioned that to him. Not his mother, not his stepfather. More manipulation, more lies.

“That doesn’t make it right,” he said, taking another cautious step forward. “Faith, I’ve been—“ He stopped, searching for words strong enough to carry the weight of his regret. “I’ve treated you like an enemy when you were never even in the fight.”

Faith’s fingers tightened around the strap of her bag until her knuckles went white. “It doesn’t matter now. You won. You’re Alpha.”

“It matters to me,” Harrison said. The words felt strange in his mouth, but true. Something fundamental had shifted inside him, like tectonic plates rearranging themselves. “My mother told those Alpha heirs I would reject you. She’s been playing us both.”

Faith’s shoulders slumped. “Your mother has always made it clear what she thinks of me. The ghost of my father’s past, not worthy of nice things, certainly not worthy of being an Alpha’s mate.”

Harrison’s wolf howled in protest beneath his skin. He thought of all the times Faith had gone quiet when his mother entered a room, how she’d shrink into herself.

“The wolf pendant,” he said suddenly. “At the market. You wanted it.”

A flicker of surprise crossed Faith’s face before she masked it. “What about it?”

“You put it back. You always put everything back.”

Faith looked away, her throat working. “I learned a long time ago not to want things I can’t keep.”

The words pierced him. Harrison took a final step forward, close enough now to catch her scent properly, sage and roses, but underneath, something that called to his very core.

“Faith,” he said her name like a prayer. “I don’t want the Alpha position if it means losing my mate.”

She looked up sharply, disbelief written across her features. “You can’t mean that. You’ve fought for it your entire life.”

“I fought because I thought it was what I deserved,” he admitted. “Because my mother told me it was my right. But she’s been using me to control this pack, hasn’t she? Using both of us.”

Faith said nothing, but her silence was confirmation enough.

“I want to make this right,” Harrison said, his voice rough with emotion. “I don’t expect you to forgive me, not yet. Maybe not ever. But I won’t reject you, and I won’t let anyone take anything else from you.”

Faith’s eyes glistened with tears she refused to let fall. “Pretty words, Harrison. But you’ve said cruel things before.”

“Then don’t judge me by my words.” He held out his hand, palm up. Not demanding, not grabbing. Offering. “Judge me by what I do next.”

Faith stared at his outstretched hand, conflict evident in every line of her body. Years of mistrust warred with the undeniable pull between them.

That’s when he saw a bruise on her shoulder, “Did I…I do that?” His face was full of horror when he remembered that he had barged past her in front of his friends as they walked past her in the halls of the packhouse, making his friends laugh. “Let me look at it, please, and umm, I bought this after you left it at the time I thought it was just because it was for your birthday, and now I wonder if I knew there was something more between us.”

Harrison reached into his pocket, pulling out the silver wolf pendant. It caught the light from the window, its polished surface gleaming. He held it out toward her, the delicate chain draped between his fingers.

“I saw how you looked at it,” he said softly. “I didn’t understand then, but something made me go back for it after you left.”

Faith’s eyes widened at the sight of the pendant. Her hand rose halfway before dropping back to her side, as if she didn’t trust that it wouldn’t be yanked away at the last moment.

“Why would you do that?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.