Chapter 3

3.

I stood alone in the lounge.

Broken glass and crushed rose petals surrounded me. The air was thick with cedar and black amber―the custom scent I'd spent three months working with a French perfumer to create. All so he would feel completely safe on our bonding day.

I stood there, and suddenly I remembered a lot of things.

When I was small, my parents dumped me with my grandmother in Montana. They were working in Chicago. I was in the way. I grew up in the countryside, malnourished, dark and scrawny.

Every Thanksgiving they came back with Mia. She wore designer children's clothes, pale and soft, like a porcelain doll.

Once I reached out to touch her face. My father smacked my hand away.

"Don't touch her with your dirty hands."

I tucked my hands behind my back and swallowed my tears.

Later, my grandmother passed. I was brought to New York. Mia refused to let me stay in the guest room―threw herself on the floor, wailed, even ran away from home. My parents looked pained and conflicted. I said nothing. I moved into the basement on my own.

What I got in return―"Harper is so understanding."

The basement was damp in summer, drafty in winter. Mia watched Netflix upstairs, threw parties. I squeezed in time for AP homework, plus mowing the lawn, washing dishes, cleaning the house.

I endured that life for six years. The day I got my full-ride scholarship, I escaped.

All those years, they'd fastened an invisible collar around my neck. Two words were engraved on it: Be Good.

That night, I dragged myself back to the Brooklyn townhouse, exhausted.

Warm-toned wallpaper, chunky-knit rugs, throw pillows I'd hunted down at Target―every piece hand-picked by me. It was full of everything I had imagined for our future.

Now all those things were suffocating me.

A low whimper pulled me back to reality.

Buster.

My pure-white Alaskan Malamute padded over, rested his enormous head on my knee, and nudged my hand with his wet nose.

Three years I'd raised him. He had always been distant, barely letting anyone touch him.

But today, he felt it.

I bent down and buried my face in his thick back fur. The tears finally broke through.

"Buster... why are they doing this to me..."

He couldn't speak. He just licked the tears off my face with his warm tongue, a low whine rumbling in his throat.

The keypad lock beeped from outside.

Caleb was back.

He sat beside me, one arm draped across the back of the sofa, nearly enclosing me in his territory. His cedar pheromones were heavier than usual―he was asserting dominance.

"Harper, this situation is one I created."

A one-second pause. His tone shifted.

"But I don't regret it. Mia is dying. I know you don't like her―so I wasn't going to ask for your permission. This is her last wish."

I turned my head. Outside the window, the full moon hung over the rooftops of Brooklyn.

"Caleb."

My voice was quiet. "Do you have any idea what I poured into that ceremony?"

He narrowed his eyes. Reached out, gripped my chin, forced me to look at him. The pressure wasn't hard―but it allowed no escape.

"The one I love is you, Harper. My fated mate can only be you. That day was just an act. Mia is your own sister. Are you really going to watch her die with regret? Don't fight me on this."

I pushed his hand away.

A memory flickered through my mind. A few years ago, I'd accidentally overheard his friends ribbing him behind a bar.

"Caleb, you still not over Mia? She rejected you in high school, so you went after her sister?"

In the dark, Caleb lit a cigarette. He was silent for a long time.

"Doesn't matter if she chooses me or not. As long as she's doing well."

"Being near her―that's enough."

I stood in that back alley that night. Didn't move. I'd always thought I'd stumbled into a love that was mine alone.

I was just the stand-in. He'd picked up the one Mia threw away.

But I'd loved him for too many years. I buried those words at the bottom of my heart. Pretended I'd never heard them. As long as he stayed beside me, I acted like I didn't know.

Now that illusion had been ripped apart.

"Caleb."

I stood up. Looked at him.

"We're done. I reject you as my fated mate."