Chapter 3

Harrison swallowed hard. The pendant felt warm against his palm, almost alive. “I don’t know. I just... couldn’t stop thinking about the way your face changed when you saw it. For a moment, you looked like the girl I remember from before. Before everything changed.”

Faith’s gaze flickered between his face and the pendant, searching for deception. The bruise on her shoulder seemed darker now in the fading light of the room, a physical reminder of all the harm he’d caused.

“May I?” he asked, gesturing toward her injury.

After a long moment, Faith gave a small nod and lowered her bag to the floor. She stood rigidly as Harrison stepped closer, her breathing shallow and controlled. He moved slowly, telegraphing each movement, aware that any sudden motion might send her bolting from the room.

His fingers hovered over the bruise, not quite touching. Heat radiated from her skin, and this close, her scent was overwhelming, not just sage and roses, but something wilder, something that called to his wolf like nothing ever had before.

“I did this,” he said, his voice thick with self-loathing. “And not just this bruise. I’ve been hurting you for years.”

Faith remained silent, but her pulse jumped visibly at the side of her neck.

“I can’t undo what I’ve done,” Harrison continued. “But I swear to you, Faith, no one will hurt you again. Not my mother, not your father. Not me.”

He lifted the pendant once more. “This belongs to you. No strings attached. Whether you stay or go, whether you ever forgive me or not, it’s yours.”

Faith’s fingers trembled as she finally reached for the silver wolf. When her skin brushed against his, a jolt of awareness shot through him, his wolf surging forward with such force that Harrison nearly gasped.

“Thank you,” she said, curling her fingers around the pendant. For the first time, she met his gaze directly, her eyes no longer shuttered.

A commotion erupted from downstairs, raised voices, the sound of breaking glass. Faith tensed immediately, her hand tightening around the pendant.

“That’ll be your mother,” she said, her voice hardening. “She always knows when something of value might come my way.”

Harrison’s jaw clenched.

“She freaked out when I didn’t take the courting gifts from the other Alpha Heirs. Wait, you did this after I had been with one of the suitors, Heir Kurt Clifford. We were just talking, he seemed to be the more reasonable of the Alpha Heirs, his scent must have been on me.”

Harrison’s chest tightened with sudden understanding. Heir Kurt Clifford. The Alpha heir from the Northern Territory, known for his diplomatic skills rather than brute strength. The pieces clicked into place—his mother’s whispers about Faith entertaining suitors, his own irrational anger when he’d caught her scent mingled with another wolf’s.

“Is that why I...” He gestured at the bruise, shame burning in his gut. “I smelled him on you.”

Faith nodded, her fingers still curled protectively around the pendant. “He was kind. Just talked about books we’d both read. Nothing more.” A bitter smile crossed her lips. “Your mother interrupted us before he could even offer a formal courting gift. Told him I was spoken for.”

The heavy thuds of footsteps on the stairs echoed through the packhouse. Harrison made his decision in an instant, stepping between Faith and the doorway.

“Pack what you need,” he said quietly. “We’re leaving.”

Faith’s eyes widened. “We?”

“Yes, we. Unless...” He hesitated, the weight of years of cruelty hanging between them. “Unless you’d rather go alone. I would understand.”

Before Faith could answer, Harrison’s mother appeared in the doorway, her face contorted with rage. She froze at the sight of them standing together, her gaze darting between Faith’s face and the silver pendant clutched in her hand.

“What is the meaning of this?” she demanded. “Harrison, the Alpha heirs are waiting for your announcement. You know what needs to be done.”

Harrison felt a calm settle over him, the kind that came before a storm. “Do I? Because I think I’ve been doing exactly what you wanted for far too long.”

His mother’s expression hardened. “Don’t be ridiculous. Everything I’ve done has been for your benefit. For your future.”

“No,” Harrison said, stepping closer to Faith. “It’s been for your power. You never cared about what was best for this pack or me.”

His mother’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You ungrateful—“ She lunged forward, reaching for the pendant in Faith’s hand. “Give me that! You don’t deserve nice things!”

Harrison caught his mother’s wrist mid-air, his grip firm but controlled. “Enough.”

The single word resonated with newfound authority. Not the borrowed power he’d been wielding, but something deeper, something that came from finally seeing the truth.

“Faith is my mate,” he said, releasing his mother’s wrist. “My true mate. And I’ve been too blind to see what was right in front of me.”

His mother’s face paled. “You can’t be serious. She’s nothing. A weak, pathetic—“

“The next words out of your mouth better be chosen carefully,” Harrison warned, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl. “Because they might be the last you speak as a member of this pack.”

The threat hung in the air between them.

“She needs you to reject me, don’t your stepmother, oh father dearest, you're here, did you know I have already been sold to Demon Alpha Heir, what was his name, Anil Brigham, who has killed all his mates within weeks of them turning up to his pack.”

Harrison’s blood froze at Faith’s words. Demon Alpha Heir Anil Brigham. The name was infamous throughout the packs, a sadistic wolf who had gone through three mates in as many years, each death more suspicious than the last. No pack would willingly send their daughters to him, unless...

Faith’s father stepped forward from behind Harrison’s mother, his face an emotionless mask. “It’s a beneficial alliance,” he said flatly, as if discussing a business transaction rather than his daughter’s life. “The Brigham pack has resources we need.”

“Resources?” Harrison’s voice shook with barely controlled rage. “You’re trading your own daughter for what, territory? Money?”