Chapter 13

The next day Emma came to help me with preparations. I’d ask her to keep me company, but Emma saw right through me. “

“Trouble in paradise?” She asked as soon as we were alone. I bit my lip, not wanting to drag her in it. But she leaned in and murmured, “Honestly, I wish you well in your marriage, of course I do, but I never really liked Mason for you.”

I felt my eyes go wide. “What, really? Since when?”

She grimaced. “Since… the whole time? You didn’t find it kind of stalkery how he was always there at just the time?”

“It was not always,” I protested.

Emma scoffed. “We practically had the same schedule that semester, remember? When you saw him, I saw him. And it was definitely always. Harper, he didn’t even go to our school then, remember? Then he transferred that next semester.”

I winced as I realized she was right. Mason had even joked that he transferred because of me, but I just took it as him flirting.

“And remember how he used to just show up when we went clubbing?” Emma pressed.

“Yeah,” I admitted slowly, “I guess he did a couple times.”

Emma cocked an eyebrow. “Harper, a couple?”

“A few times!”

I didn’t know why I was protesting, I knew now he was crazy. But some part of me stubbornly clung to the image he’d presented to me. Because if Emma had seen it from the beginning and I hadn’t… what did that say about me?

“And this is why I didn’t say anything,” Emma said, not unkindly. “You were so determined to be in love with him. If he stalked his way into your heart, so what, I guess, as long as he treats you right?”

Tell her. Tell her he bit you and did some weird magical torture thingy. Tell her he forced a bond you don’t want. Tell her you’re trapped and you need help!

But I couldn’t.

“Yeah, he does,” I said, looking down at my hands.

Emma was quiet for a second. “You’re sure, Harper?” she finally asked. “You want this marriage?”

I forced myself to smile and hug her. “Yes. Yes, of course I do. But thanks for worrying about me, Em.”

“Always. Just…” she sighed, squeezing me tight. “Just stay vigilant, okay?”

I nodded, unable to speak. If I did, I’d blurt out everything, but just couldn’t drag Emma into my problems. It would cause even more trouble. Emma wasn’t the most levelheaded and Mason was her alpha. There wasn’t much she could do besides get us both in trouble.

“Hey, why don’t we play hooky this afternoon?” She said mischeviosuly.

I grimaced. I wasn’t sure Mason would let me off the property without an “escort,” or how I’d explain it to Emma… but maybe having her along would be enough.

“Pleeaasseee,” she whined playfully. “Come on, some of our old classmates are in town for the wedding, and you have to see the girls before the big day!”

Before I could reply, Mason knocked on the door – and opened it at the same time. I bristled, but made myself smile.

“Good morning! Need me?” I asked. Emma rolled her eyes where he couldn’t see.

Mason shook his head. “No, just heard talking, I wanted to see who it was. Hey Emma, keeping my girl company today?”

Was he always so suffocating? I couldn’t even have a conversation in my own bedroom? Now more than ever I wanted to get out and actually relax.

I looked at Emma and mouthed, “You ask!”

Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she turned to him. “I sure am. I was actually going to take her to a special lunch with some of our classmates, you remember Tracy and the girls?”

I held my breath, hating that I was waiting for permission. But it would be so much easier if he didn’t fight me on it, or send along a guard. Mason considered, then nodded. “Yeah, you deserve a day of fun, Harper. Just the ladies, right?”

“Oh of course,” Emma said, nodding quickly. “We’re banishing all husbands and boyfriends. It’s a Girl’s Only lunch.”

Mason laughed, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “Sounds perfect. Let me know when you get there and when you leave,” he said, and I pretended not to hear the threat in his tone.

…

“Harper!”

“There she is, the smartest girl in our class!”

“Here comes the bride!”

My old friends were happy to see me, and it brightened my mood – the bottomless mimosas definitely helped.

We relaxed, talking about their lives, the boyfriends they had, the kids they wanted, the businesses they were about to start. It made me wonder what I would do once I got away from Mason.

“You know, I can not believe you really dropped out for a guy,” Tracy, well past tipsy, drawled at me, “even an Alpha like Mason. I mean, you were the top teacher at school!” She hiccupped and giggled.

“Top student!” another woman corrected, “You really were, we just knew you were going places.” Somone slapped her arm and she jumped. “Not that Luna isn’t great!”

My cheeks burned with shame. They were right. Looking back now, it was so dumb of me, but I thought it was what Mason needed, what we needed. But the other girls all chorused their agreement and I just waved off the comments like they didn’t hit their mark.

We’d been there an hour or so when the bartender came over. Emma sat up straighter and leaned towards him.

“Uh yes, sorry, are we being too loud?” She asked, grinning like a fiend.

The bartender, who was so jacked he looked more like a body builder, grinned at her. “That depends, are we celebrating something ladies?”

Giggles burst out around the table, and I looked around confused. What was so funny?

“Yes we are,” Emma said above the giggles. She came around and pulled my chair out from the table. “My friend here is getting married!”

The girl’s all cheered and like that was the cue, music started from nowhere, the lights cut out and lasers started shooting all over. Suddenly, it was a nightclub.

“Is that so?” the bartender said huskily, prowling up to my chair. He spun me around and my friends cheered harder. “Well I’ve got a gift for you, lucky lady.”

Then he ripped his shirt off.

OH. Oh no. The girls cheered even louder as his pants followed, leaving – Nope, nope, eyes on the ceiling!

He gyrated towards me, but I jumped out of the chair and moved where I thought I remembered the door. Emma laughed and blocked my way.

“Don’t be such a prude Harper!” She pleaded, “You’re supposed to be having fun!”

I shook my head. “You told Mason –”

Emma grinned. “What? We are hanging with just ladies. Not your fault the bartender has a bridal special.” She winked, spinning me back around.

“Come on, it’s just a dance,” he coaxed, thrusting his hips – and tuxedo-thong-clad cock – to the beat of the music. “I don’t bite.” He winked at the table. “That costs extra.”

He turned toward me, trying to rub his firm chest against my body.

Just as another round of sheers went up, the doors burst open and Mason strode through.

My stomach dropped. Why he was here?

He was following, spying, controlling me again?

But he smiled, nodded at Emma, and to my friends. “Afternoon, ladies.”

The stripper had the sense to back up and held up his hands. “Hey man, I just—”

Mason slammed his fist into the man’s head.

I screamed, we all did, but Mason didn’t stop. He punched, kicked, elbowed – just beat the poor man bloody. He didn’t stand a chance against Mason’s fury. Only when the stripper was a red-streaked, sniveling mess, begging for mercy, did Mason finally stop.

He stepped back, as calm as could be, and pulled out his wallet. He took out a few hundreds and tossed them at the stripper’s feet.

“That should cover it,” he said casually. “Harper?”

Emma’s hands tightened on my shoulders, but I knew better than to disobey him. She could very well be next. I moved quickly to Mason’s side, and we left. Only when the doors closed behind us did the girls start screaming in shock.

All I could do was shake.

Mason was silent the entire ride home. I just sat there trembling, unsure what would trigger him with the mood he was in.

When we got back to the pack house, he took me straight back to my room. I braced myself, remembering the last time we’d been here alone. I swallowed. “Mason, I –”

But he turned around and knelt. In his hands was a velvet ring box with a large pink diamond nestled in the center.

“Do you like it?” he asked earnestly. “I saw it this afternoon and I knew it had to be yours. So?”

I blinked, speechless. The stripper’s blooded face was still playing in my mind and he thought I cared about a diamond?

When I didn’t react, Mason’s expression flipped into a hard frown. He closed the box with a snap.

“Who exactly are you thinking about?” he demanded, pushing to his feet to tower over me. I stumbled back confused.

“What are you—”

“Is it that man you wrote about in your diary?”