Chapter 4

His mother smiled, a cold, calculating expression that made Harrison’s skin crawl. “See? This is why you need to reject her. She’s already promised elsewhere.”

The pieces clicked together in Harrison’s mind with sickening clarity. His mother hadn’t just been trying to keep Faith down; she’d been actively plotting to remove her permanently. Send her to a known mate-killer, wash their hands of her, and secure whatever dark bargain they’d made with the Brigham pack.

Faith trembled beside him, but her chin remained lifted in defiance. The silver wolf pendant glinted in her white-knuckled grip.

“You knew,” Harrison said, turning to his mother. “You knew she was my mate all along.”

His mother’s momentary flicker of surprise confirmed his suspicion before she could mask it.

“That’s why you’ve been pushing me to reject her before the bond could fully form,” he continued, the truth burning through him like wildfire. “You couldn’t risk me discovering what she really meant to me.”

Faith’s father stepped forward, his expression hardening. “This is ridiculous. The agreement with Alpha Brigham is already finalised. Faith leaves tomorrow.”

“No.” The word left Harrison’s lips like a physical force. “She doesn’t.”

His wolf surged beneath his skin, desperate to protect what was his. The primal need to claim her, to keep her safe, overwhelmed him. But he tamped it down. Faith wasn’t a possession to be claimed; she was a person who had suffered enough at the hands of those who should have protected her.

“Faith isn’t going anywhere, she doesn’t choose to go,” Harrison said, his voice steady despite the storm raging inside him. “And neither of you has any say in the matter anymore.”

His mother laughed, the sound sharp and cutting. “And who’s going to stop us? You? The pack laws are clear; her father has final say until she’s mated.”

“Unless,” came Wallace’s voice from the doorway, “the rightful Alpha of this pack says otherwise.”

Harrison turned to see his brother standing there, arms crossed, several of the pack’s elders behind him.

“What is the meaning of this?” Faith’s father demanded.

Wallace stepped into the room. “I’ve been doing some research into your pack’s history. Interesting things in my father’s office that I found out since taking Alpha of my late father’s pack. You can’t sell bloodline, and since she is the only one born to the current Alpha, and you legally had no male heirs, the elders found your contract void. Which Alpha Heir Anil Brigham’s father seemed to have no idea about such a mating since his son is now on his deathbed due to an unknown illness, some believe that it's due to the Goddess taking revenge for the girls he had killed.”

The elder council members murmured their agreement, nodding solemnly. Harrison watched as the colour drained from his stepmother’s face. For the first time since he’d known her, she seemed genuinely afraid.

“That’s not possible,” she hissed, her composure cracking. “You’re lying.”

Wallace smiled grimly. “Am I? Perhaps you’d like to explain to the council why you’ve been intercepting communications from the neighbouring packs? Or how you forged Alpha Brigham’s seal on documents?”

Faith’s father took a step back, his gaze darting between Wallace and Harrison’s mother. “You said this was legitimate,” he whispered to her. “You promised me—“

“Shut up, you fool,” Harrison’s mother snapped, but it was too late.

Harrison turned to Faith, who stood frozen, the pendant still clutched in her hand. Her eyes were wide with disbelief, tears threatening to spill over. The scent of her fear permeated the room, but beneath it, he caught something else, a flicker of hope.

“Faith,” he said softly, ignoring everyone else in the room. “I can’t change what’s happened. But I swear to you, no one is sending you anywhere. Not to Brigham’s pack, not anywhere you don’t want to go.”

The elders stepped further into the room, their presence carrying the weight of pack law and tradition.

“Alpha Harrison speaks truth,” said Elder Miriam, the oldest among them. “By pack law, Faith Blackwood is the rightful heir to this territory. Her father’s attempt to circumvent this through an illegal contract is void.”

Faith’s father slumped against the wall, the fight leaving him in an instant. Harrison’s mother, however, wasn’t ready to concede.

“This is absurd! You can’t possibly expect a mere girl to—“

“A mere girl?” Harrison cut her off, his voice dangerously low. “Faith is the daughter of an Alpha line that stretches back fifteen generations. She carries more wolf blood in her little finger than you have in your entire body.”

The room fell silent at his words. Faith’s eyes locked with his, questioning, uncertain.

“Is that why?” she whispered. “Is that why you’ve changed your mind? Because I have Alpha blood?”

The question struck Harrison like a physical blow. After everything, she still believed his interest was in power, not her. He couldn’t blame her.

“No,” he said firmly, taking a step toward her. “I changed my mind because I finally opened my eyes. Because my wolf has always known what my pride wouldn’t let me see.”

Harrison reached out, not touching her, but offering his hand palm-up. “I don’t care if you’re Alpha or not. I care that you’re Faith.”

Faith stared at his outstretched hand, conflict evident in every line of her body.

“You have a choice,” Wallace said from the doorway. “That’s what all of this is about, I watched for too long, little one. And my gift to you is giving it back.”

“I remember when your father was alive, Harry uh I mean Harrison, you used to call me Pearl, but as soon as you moved in, you stopped like it was banded or something.”

Harrison felt something stir in his chest at Faith’s words. Pearl. The nickname she’d mentioned hit him like a physical blow, unlocking memories he’d buried deep, of laughter shared between packhouses, of summer days before ambition and bitterness had poisoned everything.

“Pearl,” he repeated, the syllable foreign yet achingly familiar on his tongue. “I’d forgotten that.”