Chapter 7

Harper

He stood up, an amused look on his face, and started to move slowly towards me as I backed up.

"You rejected me!" I yelled. "You didn't just reject me. You humiliated me!"

He glanced at the door and hissed, "Keep it down!"

I knew that no matter how loud I shouted; the office was soundproofed, which I always found strange, but my dad said that it kept sound out as well as in. I didn't tell Colton that, though.

"What's wrong, Colton?" I raised my voice, and he lost the amused look. "Don't you want everyone to know how you fucked me and then broke me?"

"I mean it Strawberries, you do not want to see me angry." He had got closer and suddenly felt so much bigger.

"And then you come in here and decide that you made a mistake. What, am I good enough to settle down with now, or did daddy tell you off?"

"Harper, I am warning you," he growled.

"Maybe I should just accept your rejection right now and break the bond for good."

He went very still. All emotion disappeared from his face, but pure gold surrounded the black centre of his eyes. His powerful beta aura blasted into me, sending my body cold.

"Bite your tongue, little one, else I do it for you." His words held a promise that had me shivering in fear. I should have stopped there, but of course, I didn't. I stood straight and glared at him.

"I, Harper Kirby, acknow-" my words were cut off as I was pushed against the wall, and his lips smashed onto mine. I tried to push him away, but his hands grabbed mine and pinned them above my head in one hand. He kissed me hard enough that I was sure my lips would be bruised. I stayed unmoving, not kissing him back despite everything inside me wanting to. I could feel the damaged mate bond and the overwhelming need to fix it.

Colton growled into my mouth, and his free hand ran down my body and landed on my ass before squeezing hard. I gasped, giving him access for his tongue to slip in and explore my mouth. My walls broke, and I found myself kissing him back. All the need and lust rushed to the surface and washing over me. Colton let go of my hands, and I wrapped them around his neck, and he lifted me and pulled me hard against his body. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he groaned and ground into me. He moved over to my father's desk and sat me on the edge. My whole body reacted to him as I remembered the last night and the way our bodies melded together perfectly. The thoughts ignited a fire down below, and I could feel myself getting damp. Colton groaned as the scent of my arousal surrounded us.

Colton wrapped his hand in my hair, and I cried out as he yanked my head back, breaking the kiss.

"Now listen here carefully, Strawberries," he growled against my ear as he nipped at my neck behind my ear. "You belong to me. You have always belonged to me, and you always will belong to me. You are MINE!" I gasped as he snarled that last word, sending shivers down my body.

"And so help me, goddess," he growled. "If you ever try to pull a stunt like that ever again, I will mate you and mark you right where you stand."

My body reacted to the promise of the mark, and I couldn't help the moan that slipped out as his teeth grazed the very spot where he was to put his mark on me. Even Maia, my wolf, who had been silent since last night, suddenly made an appearance and yapped at the feel of him so close to me.

"Do you understand?" he growled, yanking my hair again, exposing my throat in submission, and bringing my attention back to his question. His eyes were pure gold, and his dominance played in overdrive, emphasising his anger. I involuntarily whimpered against the look in his eyes, but nodded.

"Y-yes, Colton," I stuttered, and he smirked in approval.

Suddenly his eyes bled back to their mostly hazel with the gold flecks, and his face rested into a flirty smile. He let go of my hair and hooked his finger under my chin, tilting it upward.

"Good girl," he cooed before brushing his lips gently against mine before pulling away. He smiled at me again, as if the past few minutes of aggression had never happened.

"Come on, baby girl," he cooed. "Let's go get some cake." He lifted me off the table and slipped his hand into mine. He laced our fingers together, pulling me towards the door and out of the office to our waiting families and cake.

Well, at least there was cake.

Everyone looked up as we walked into the dining kitchen. My mum's eyes zeroed in on Colton's hand wrapped around mine, and she grinned. I was thankful to see that Tommy hadn't left the house and was sitting in the corner of the room. He was glaring at Colton as soon as we walked into the room, but refused to meet my eyes.

The Alpha stood up and smiled.

"Here they are," he said cheerfully. "Come, take a seat, my dear. It is your birthday, after all." And then he held his chair out for me. Before I could sit down, though, Colton slid into the seat, and then I let out a surprised yelp as he pulled me down onto his knee. He wrapped his arms around my stomach and gently kissed my shoulder before looking around at everyone.

"I thought I would save a seat for someone else," he said with a shrug, and the Alpha started laughing.

"You do right, son," he said before sitting in the other spare seat.

I glanced across the table at Katie and Louise, who looked confused. Louise met my eyes and nodded toward Colton with a clear WTF expression on her face. I shook my head slightly, hoping nobody saw. Colton's arms tightened around me as an indication that he saw everything. I quickly looked down at my hands, and his grip loosened again. I looked up into the mirror on the walls behind the girls. Colton was watching me, and when our eyes met, he inclined his head, and a dangerous look flashed through his eyes.

Colton turned his attention away from mine, and I felt like I could breathe again.

"Oh, and apologies if you heard anything untoward just now in the office," Colton said, looking around the room, and the Alpha and Beta grinned. It was obvious what they thought he was talking about.

"Don't you worry about it, son," my dad said. "The office is soundproof. Nobody heard a thing." Crap! Caught. I couldn't help the mischievous smile, and glanced in the mirror again to see Colton glaring at me. He kept his eyes on mine as he leaned forward and whispered in my ear.

"If I had known that, I would have fucked you right there over the desk." I immediately went bright red, and Louise rolled her eyes.

"Well, everyone heard that untoward comment," she muttered, and Katie stifled a laugh while Colton glared at her.

"Darren, seriously!" Tommy burst out, his face set in a furious scowl. "Are you really going to allow this kind of talk?"

"Oh Tommy," my mum scolded. "They are a new couple in love. You'll understand when you eventually find your mate." I saw Tommy glance briefly at Louise, and she looked uncomfortable. I'd suspected for a few weeks that they were fated mates, but this confirmed it. Glancing in the mirror again, Colton had a sly grin on his face. He'd caught the exchange himself.

"Tommy, I have already told you once," my dad said in a warning tone, and Tommy stood up and growled before storming out of the room, stopping briefly and looking at me.

"Harper, could I have a word, please?" And then I heard him on the stairs. I went to stand up, and Colton's arms tightened around my waist. The Alpha laughed again.

"Let the girl go," he said. "You'll have your whole lives together." Colton growled low in his throat, but loosened his grip enough for me to stand up.

"Excuse me," I said to the room and headed out, following Tommy upstairs. He was standing in my room. I went in and closed the door.

Tommy still looked furious, but as soon as my door was closed, he rushed forward and pulled me into a hug.

"Shit, Kid!" he whispered. "I fucked up. I'm so sorry."

"I don't get it," I said, pulling away. "What happened? He was all for rejecting me and then suddenly, well... this!" I waved my hand with the engagement ring on around. Tommy went and sat on my bed and put his head in his hands.

"I told them," he mumbled. "I was all pissed off about what he did to you that I went storming up there. And then when I saw him gloating to his friends about it-"

"What!" I exclaimed. Oh, my goddess, all his friends were gonna know everything. How could I even show my face? Tommy looked up at me, sympathy in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry," he said again.

"Well, why did he change his mind then?" I asked, trying to stop the tears from falling, and Tommy shook his head.

"We were fighting, and the Alpha broke it up. I could tell that the little shit was going to get away with everything, especially since I was the one that attacked him, so I blurted out about him being your fated mate." He lowered his eyes at that last part. "After that, he was dragged into the office, and I felt pretty good that I had got him into trouble, until this afternoon when they all showed up here." The guilt on his face was evident, but I didn't blame him.

"I still don't understand why though," I said, sitting down next to him, and he sighed.

"Harps, there is so much about this little town of ours that you don't understand," he said. "It's not as quaint as it looks."

The town that our pack bordered was called Levington. It was a mid-size town. We had a cinema and a shopping centre. Pack members owned most of the businesses and the properties in town, and the pack bordered the edge. Most of us anyway. Like Katie and her family, some pack members lived in one of the apartment blocks that was owned by the Alpha, in and around the centre. This was mainly because omega-ranked pack members were not allowed to own property. It was a nice picturesque town with window boxes full of flowers and tourist awards and such. But I wasn't stupid. I knew that every town had a bad part.

I rolled my eyes at Tommy. He always saw me as sweet and innocent.

"Tommy, I'm well aware of the darker elements of town. I've snuck into Howlers before." Howlers was a seedy werewolf run bar. They had club nights on the weekends and were pretty much the only place in town. Despite the name, the humans in town still didn't know that a werewolf ran it or that we even really existed.

"Harps, it's not as simple as that." Tommy looked nervously at the door and lowered his voice to a whisper. "You haven't been told everything about our family heritage and how important it is to the town. There's a reason why it took so long for Susie to be able to move to Star Dawn with her mate, not until they realised it wasn't her."

"What are you talking about? What wasn't her?" He was talking crazy, and I was beginning to wonder if he had been injured in the fight last night.

He scratched his neck and stood up and put his ear to the door

"Listen, Kid," he said, turning to me. "If it were up to me, you would be out of this rotten town by now. I'm stuck here. I don't want you to be." He looked at me, and for a second, I swore his eyes glowed gold instead of their usual silver. "You're too important for that!"

I scoffed, "I'm not important." I'd been mostly invisible, happy to blend into the background my whole life. Susie enjoyed being the one everyone looked at with all the praise and attention. The very idea made me shudder.

"Oh kid, If only you knew," Tommy smiled. "You are more important than any one of us. I knew that from the moment you were born that you were-"

There was a knock on my door, and we both looked up.