After Six Years The Alpha Begs For My Return Chapter 08
Reese said it again, his gaze fixed on Graham, his impatience and disdain unconcealed.
The last of the superiority vanished from Graham’s face. He forced a smile. “Mr. Beaumont, the agreement between Avery and me was arranged by our families’ elders. I wasn’t aware that you and she had already…”
“Now you are,” Reese cut in.
Graham’s expression turned ugly. He shot a look at Ophelia, a clear question in his eyes: *Didn’t you say she was alone, with no pack to protect her?*
Ophelia looked even worse.
She bit her lower lip, her eyes wet. “Avery, if you found a mate in France, why didn’t you tell the family? Mom is so sick, and you still kept something this important from us…”
“I’m telling you now, aren’t I?” I didn’t look at her. My gaze swept from my grandfather to Franklin, then settled on Gideon. “I don’t need a matchmaking meeting, and I don’t need anyone signing a pair-bond agreement for me. I chose my own mate. His name is Reese.”
Reese didn’t tighten his arm, only maintained the close, possessive distance recognized by wolf custom.
Gideon stood two steps away. When the word *mate* left my mouth, he looked as if he’d been punched.
His jaw locked. The veins stood out on the back of his hand. A darkness crept into his eyes, his wolf wanting to reclaim a right it had already lost, but he no longer had any standing to intervene.
The black-and-gold ring on his knuckle caught the light, and I narrowed my eyes.
I looked away.
My grandfather was silent for a long time, tapping his cane against the ground before finally speaking. “Young Beaumont. Your grandfather and I may be old acquaintances, but Avery has been gone from White Ash River for six years. Tidewatch granted her sponsorship without ever formally notifying her blood family. How do you intend to settle that account?”