Chapter 70 — I Chose My Husband

Hallie found him before the visiting party was ready to leave.

People were already carrying the last of their things across the yard. The signed agreement had been packed with the other papers. Nothing political remained unfinished between the two packs.

One thing remained. The young Alpha saw her coming and stepped away from the others without taking her anywhere private, a choice Hallie appreciated.

“You said you would answer me,” he said.

“I did.”

He waited. Hallie had spent most of the night trying to find a version that would be kind without being false. There wasn’t one.

So she started with the truth that made the answer hardest.

“You are a good choice.”

His expression did not change.

“You’re respected. You listen. You don’t need me to explain why the work I was trained for matters. With you, I could walk into a role everyone already understands.”

He nodded once.

“And I am attracted to you,” Hallie said.

The words were easier now that she knew they were not a betrayal. His gaze held hers.

“I respect you. I think I could have a good life with you.”

She saw the flicker of hope before he controlled it. Hallie did not punish him for that.

“That is why I needed to answer you clearly.”

His shoulders settled.

“All right.”

Hallie looked toward the edge of the yard, where Grant was checking something with Caleb. He was not watching her. Good.

This answer was not for him to supervise. She turned back.

“If I chose you because the role fits, I would be doing the same thing I spent years letting other people do for me.”

The young Alpha frowned slightly.

“I would hope you would choose me for more than the role.”

“I know.”

“And I meant more than the role when I offered.”

“I know that too.”

Hallie smiled faintly.

“That is what makes this difficult.”

He accepted the sentence without trying to turn difficulty into opportunity. Hallie breathed in.

“With you, many things would be simpler.”

“Yes.”

“People would understand us. They would understand me beside you. I would not have to keep explaining why I belong in a room before they listen to what I say.”

“No.”

“And none of that is small.”

His expression softened.

“No.”

Hallie glanced at her ring. She could have used it as an ending. I am married.

She could have pointed to Austin and the mate bond that still pulled at a part of her life she had never chosen. Either would have let something outside herself carry the weight. She was done doing that.

“My marriage is real,” she said. “But I am not refusing you because a contract says I have to.”

The young Alpha stayed very still.

“And the mate bond?”

“Still exists.”

His eyes sharpened.

“It does not make this choice for me either.”

Hallie let the silence stand.

Then she said, “I already chose Grant.”

The words landed cleanly. Grant was not easier, the world did not approve, and fate had never made him unavoidable.

“I chose him when I married him,” Hallie continued. “That choice meant something different then. It was protection. A way out. A decision I could make when everything else felt decided for me.”

The young Alpha listened.

“But I have kept choosing him since.”

Hallie felt the truth deepen as she said it.

“In the way we work. In the way he listens. In the life we have built when there was no title telling either of us what it was supposed to look like.”

She did not call it love. She did not need to.

“I don’t want to keep a future with you open because it would be easier to explain,” she said. “And I don’t want you carrying home a maybe I do not mean.”

The young Alpha looked at her for a long moment. Then he exhaled.

“So the answer is no.”

“Yes.”

A small pain moved through his face. He did not hide it completely. Hallie was glad.

Dignity did not require pretending rejection felt like nothing. He looked toward the waiting members of his party.

“I hoped otherwise.”

“I know.”

“But I asked for the answer you wanted to give.”

“Yes.”

“And you gave it.”

Hallie nodded. He met her eyes again.

“Then I accept it.”

He answered without challenge, a last argument about what he could offer, or an insult toward Grant.

He held out his hand. Hallie looked at it, then took it. His grip was warm and brief.

“I meant what I said about your work,” he told her.

“I know.”

“And the agreement stands exactly as written.”

“I know that too.”

A faint smile touched his mouth.

“You are very difficult to negotiate with.”

“So are you.”

“That is probably why it worked.”

Hallie smiled back. Then they let go. When she stepped away, the possibility went with him.

The possibility felt completed rather than erased as he returned to his people.

Hallie crossed the yard. Grant saw her coming only when she was close. His eyes moved over her face, careful and searching.

He did not ask. Hallie stopped in front of him. For one second, she thought about saying everything immediately.

She could tell him later. That conversation belonged to the two of them, away from the departure happening around them. For now, she reached for his hand.

Grant looked down as her fingers slid between his, and Hallie closed them firmly without hesitation.

This was deliberate contact, impossible to dismiss as an accidental brush. Grant’s hand closed around hers, and Hallie stepped closer until her shoulder rested against his arm.

He stayed still beside her. Across the yard, the young Alpha gave the order for his party to move. Hallie watched them prepare to go without loosening her grip.

She had been offered a life that made sense. She had chosen the one she wanted.