CHAPTER 17
HAYDEN POV
I went to my office to catch up on work I had fallen behind on while Harper went to talk to Arabella. I didn’t think it was a very productive conversation because Harper returned to my office only about ten minutes later and sat down on the other side of my desk.
“How is she?” I asked.
“Depressed. She just wants to be left alone,” Harper replied.
“That’s understandable. After being set up like that, she actually looked like she was enjoying the attention that Kai was giving her, as if he was genuinely interested,” I said.
“Yeah, oh, and Arabella mentioned that she doesn’t like your sister,” Harper said, causing me
to laugh.
“No one likes Addy. She’s a b***h,” I replied.
“Well, apparently she made that clear at the dinner you organized,” Harper said, staring
straight into my eyes.
Oh no. She’s going to be so mad at me. I did this. I brought everything to light. I let Arabella
see what was happening.
“I know I shouldn’t have done that, especially not with Addy involved. But I didn’t know what
else to do. I tried to stop Landon from going through with it, and I tried to warn Arabella not to
trust Kai. Nothing worked. I knew
had to be drastic. Does she hate me too?” I asked.
“No, not as much. She knows you were on the sidelines. But since you didn’t tell her directly,
she’s upset with you for that,” Harper explained. I nodded in understanding.
I felt a wave of relief wash over me when I realized that Harper wasn’t angry with me. I really
need to get my feelings under control. She’s Landon’s sister, and that’s a boundary I can’t
cross. Just because Landon has gone there with my sister doesn’t mean I will, too.
―
However, I can’t help but think about how many times I’ve dreamed of having Harper in my
arms it’s gotten to the point where I’ve had to take cold showers to shake off those
thoughts.
“Are you alright?” Harper asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah. Sorry. I just have a lot on my mind,” I replied.
< CHAPTER 17
“Yeah, I shouldn’t be keeping you from your work,” she said.
+8 Points)
“No, it’s fine. I was actually thinking about what we’re going to do about Arabella and Landon.
He obviously doesn’t care about her situation. I wonder if he would even notice if we smuggled
her out of here,” I said, leaning back in my chair.
“We can’t do that. Not if her stepfather is going to send people unannounced to check if we’re
keeping up our end of the alliance. Arabella has to stay here,” Harper explained.
“Hey, don’t you have a spare room in your house?” I asked.
“I do,” Harper said, leaning forward.
“We could find a way to move her to your place instead of her being stuck in this miserable
house. Landon has to know by now that she’s not a spy,” I suggested.
“Forget it,” Landon growled from the doorway.
We both turned our heads toward the door, and there stood Landon, tense and visibly angry.
“Landon, we’re trying to help her. You saw how she reacted when Milo tried to touch her,”
Harper argued.
“I don’t care. She’s my wife, and she’s staying in this house,” Landon growled.
“Why do you hate her so much? She hasn’t done anything wrong,” Harper pressed.
“Just stay the hell out of my marriage,” Landon replied, starting to walk away.
“Some marriage! You sleep with anything in sight and make sure your wife finds out about it!“`
Harper yelled as he halted just outside my office. He turned back to glare at his sister, and I
stepped out from behind my desk.
If I needed to protect Harper from my Alpha, then that’s what I will do. Damn the
consequences. I’m not going to let him hurt someone that I care about.
“What are you going to do, Hayden? Will you stop me from putting my sister in her place?”
Landon asked.
“I’m going to stop you from making a mistake,” I corrected him.
I grabbed Harper’s arm and pulled her behind me, watching Landon size up to me. Standing up
straight and staring me in the eye before he finally laid a punch on me that caused me to fall
onto the top of my desk.
Harper started screaming at Landon, but I got up and I grabbed him around the torso and forced him backwards until he hit the wall and I punched him in the ribs. But I didn’t stop
2/4
< CHAPTER 17
+8 Points >
there. I started punching wherever I could, and he was dodging wherever he could and getting
in as many hits as possible.
Soon enough, Kai and a couple of warriors rushed into the office and broke up the fight. They don’t usually intervene in a confrontation involving the Alpha, but since he was fighting the Beta, they knew they had to step in. It was the hierarchy of their pack; they couldn’t let us
continue this way.
Once they pulled Landon and me away from each other, Landon stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him. Harper quickly ran over to me, concern etched on her face as she noticed the cut on my skin. Blood trickled down, blurring my vision.
Just then, someone else entered the room. Harper helped me sit down, and when the blood was finally washed out of my eye, I saw that it was Arabella. She must have heard the commotion and come to check on us. To my relief, she had a first aid kit and was preparing
the stitches.
“Brace yourself. This might hurt,” Arabella said as she began to stitch up the cut above my eye without numbing it–unfortunately, we didn’t have any anesthetic in the house.
After she finished putting in the stitches, Arabella checked me over and determined that I had a couple of broken ribs, but that was about it. I’m a werewolf, so they’ll heal in no time.
“You do good work.” Harper said.
“It’s not the first time I’ve had to do stitches. It’s just the first time I’ve had to do them on
someone else,” Arabella explained.
“Thank you,” Harper said, who had been sitting next to me the whole time.
“No worries,” Arabella replied as she packed up the first aid kit.
“Hey, don’t worry about what’s going on around here. Everything will calm down soon,” I
assured her.
“I’m a laughing stock. I actually thought that prick was interested. I should have known better. And I should have realized that Landon would never want another guy to take me out. That’s too far outside of his control,” Arabella explained.
“You’re going to get through this, and we’re going to help,” Harper insisted.
“I’ll be alright. I just need a couple of days,” I said. Harper nodded, and Arabella left the room.
“Do you really think she’ll be okay?” Harper asked.
“I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know her that well. Neither do you,” I replied.
>
3/4
< CHAPTER 17
“Well, maybe we should keep an eye on her, either way. Just check in on her. She’ll probably try to lock herself up in her room after this,” Harper said.
“Probably,” I replied, glancing around at the mess in
my
office.
“Come on. I’ll help you get home. You can clean this up tomorrow,” Harper offered, and I
started to laugh.
“You’re going to take me home?” I asked.
“Yeah. You’re the one who’s hurt,” Harper replied.
“Because all you did was stand back and scream,” I teased her.
“Oh, shut up,” Harper said, playfully hitting my arm.
I was the Beta and she was insisting on taking me home. That’s definitely a bit different to the
way things usually go around here. But I guess, I couldn’t argue with it. It meant that we could
spend a little more time together. Even just talking. I usually took whatever opportunity I could
to be with Harper. Even if we couldn’t be romantic with each other. This way was just as good,
for now.
