After Six Years The Alpha Begs For My Return Chapter 01
The day I found out Gideon had gotten my mother’s adopted daughter pregnant, I petitioned the Gray Harbor Council of Elders to dissolve our marriage pact. Then I formally renounced my ties to the White Ash River pack and left for France.
At the gate, my phone buzzed without stopping. The screen was a wall of messages from Gideon.
“This isn’t what you think. Let me explain.”
“Don’t do anything rash. The elders haven’t dissolved our pact yet.”
“Pick up. I’m begging you.”
Ours was never a fated mate bond, but an arranged union witnessed by both our families. It had lasted four years. Four years in which Gideon had refused to so much as touch me, yet here he was, admitting Ophelia was carrying his pup.
I stared at the name on the screen, the man who always wore such a cold mask. It was the first time I had ever seen him use the word *beg*.
My fingertip hovered over the power button for a full forty seconds.
My wolf knew his cedar scent. It remembered his promise to protect me. But now, all it gave me was silence.
In the end, I shut down the phone, removed the SIM card, and snapped it cleanly in two.
It wasn’t until my mother fell critically ill, six years later, that I returned to Gray Harbor.
…
I had just dragged my suitcase into the arrivals hall when someone blocked my path.
After six years, Gideon was thinner. The lines at the corners of his eyes were harsher, deeper than before.
His tailored black suit emphasized the rigid set of his shoulders. On the knuckle of his right hand was a black-and-gold ring engraved with a wolf—the signet ring of a mated Alpha, a symbol of a contract recognized by the White Ash River pack.
So, they were truly mates.
The realization didn’t stir a single thing in my heart.
He stood dead center in front of the exit, and his Alpha pressure settled over the terminal, lowering the ambient noise to a hush. Guards flanked him, forming a line that stretched from the hall to the driveway outside. Other travelers gave them a wide berth. Local werewolves from Gray Harbor avoided Gideon’s gaze, unwilling to be dragged into the White Ash River Alpha’s private affairs.
The moment he saw me, his throat worked.
“Avery.”
My wolf recognized the scent first—cedar and cold rain. The back of my neck tightened instinctively, but it didn’t urge me to move closer.
I didn’t answer. I tightened my grip on my suitcase and moved to go around him.
A hand suddenly closed around my wrist.
His palm was a shock of heat, his grip so hard I thought my bones might crack.
“The car’s outside,” he said, his voice rough. “I’ll take you to the werewolf treatment wing at Northbridge Medical Center.”
My gaze dropped to the black-and-gold signet ring. The wolf crest glinted coldly under the fluorescent lights.
I looked up at him. “That won’t be necessary, Mr. Locke. I’ve already called a car.”
The words “Mr. Locke” had barely left my mouth when his fingers tightened, a sharp spike of pain shooting up my arm. I almost flinched.
“Avery.”
His voice dropped, heavy with an exhaustion he couldn’t quite hide.
“It’s been six years. You’ve been hiding from me for six years. Isn’t that enough?”
I looked straight into his eyes.
I had spent twenty years of my life looking at this face.
I used to trail him through the old streets of Gray Harbor. As a teenager, I watched him drive off every young wolf who tried to get close to me. At the moon banquet after my first shift at eighteen, our families publicly sealed our marriage pact. He had said that once he officially took over as Alpha, I would stand at his right side and become White Ash River’s Luna.
I fell for him at twelve, hid my feelings at sixteen, and waited for our mating ceremony at twenty-two.
What I got instead was his announcement that my mother’s adopted daughter was carrying his heir.
“No,” I said, wrenching my hand free, my expression blank. “It will never be enough. Not even if I avoid you for the rest of my life.”
The color drained from his face, and he started to speak again.
I cut him off. “Move. My mother’s doctors are waiting for my signature. I’m her medical proxy, and I have to be there to authorize the surgery and confirm the details of the tissue match.”
He went rigid, as if he’d only just remembered the real reason I was back in Gray Harbor.
“I’ve already arranged everything for Miriam,” he said at once. “I had someone follow up with the transplant center about the matching report. The Northern Medical Alliance’s wolf specialists will be here for a joint consultation next week. Her wolf is too weak. This can’t be delayed. The car’s outside. I’ll take you.”
I stood there in silence for five seconds.
Then I ducked into his car.