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Not in hundreds of years.

Ha-joon immediately texted me back where he was and that he was looking for me too. I hadn’t realized his mother would be with him… Or that his father had given chase after me.

I caught on to that too late, feeling him right as Ha-joon and Mrs. Clark came into view. I saw Ha-joon’s eyes flash something and I started to turn to face off with his father.

Except I couldn’t see anything. Ha-joon moved that fast and blocked me, pushing me behind him even.

And he was letting out his full Alpha aura.

“Don’t challenge me,” his father growled. “I cannot believe you would pick her over family.”

“I am picking what isrightover all else,” Ha-joon snarled. “She is scared and it’s focused on you, Da. So stand down before my wolf goes too far because he protects her. She isours.”

“Oh dear,” Mrs. Clark whispered. “Okay, well this complicates things if she is your—”

“No, we signed an agreement,” Ha-joon mumbled. “It’s complicated, but after we were both so badly burned—we—it’s between us.” He let out a slow breath. “Sorry to overshare, Ellie.”

“No, I started it when your dad tried to pull rank with me, though I don’t know why he’s upset with me,” I admitted. “And I need you to—I didn’t know that I knew him. I swear it. I never knew his name.”

He flinched. “Did you—have you been with my da?”

“No!” his dad and I exclaimed together.

“How do you know Ms. Reed, and why is she afraid of you, Marlon?” Mrs. Clark asked, her voice tight.

He sighed and I felt his wolf back down and Ha-joon reacted in kind but not all of the way. Enough de-escalated that I felt comfortable at least moving next to Ha-joon. We were by receiving and no one was around. Evidently, the Clarks had already been wanting to talk privately.

Alpha Clark scrubbed his hand over his head and met my gaze. “I’m sorry for what I did to you back then. Truly. I was scared and—”

“Explain then apologize,” Ha-joon snapped. “We’re—you went after Ellie now because you felt my unease?”

His father sighed. “Yes, I thought she wasn’t being fair with you at work. I didn’t realize you were together, and it was a hiccup. You were upset when I mentioned her and…”

“You put two and six together and came up with twenty,” I filled in, easily forgiving it. “Sorry I was shit back, but there is too much going on.”

“What did you say?” Ha-joon asked, snickering when I winced. “He deserved it.”

“Yes, but you never deserve being thrown in someone’s face,” I mumbled. “I’m sorry, and I’ll make it up to you later.”

He was quiet a moment. “Just explain why you were so hesitant this morning. That’s why I’m worried. I thought we were going to be okay, but then you were hesitant. Was it because you didn’t have nightmares with me like Dr. Carpenter thinks?”

“Yes.” I admitted it because it wasn’t fair for him to worry when it was my past and issues. But I didn’t like him bringing that up in front of his parents.

Though there was already a mess, sooooo… Life was fun.

“When I got too big for my britches, my da kicked me out for a bit to go become my own man,” Alpha Clark explained, his gazelocked on mine. “My family knows the story well, and I’ve said time and time again that it was the best thing for me and my da was a wise man and I’m not half the Alpha he was.

“But he made it clear that I needed to become a man on my own and that meant making a path—money—all of it. I wasn’t—I thought I had more ready and could handle that easily. I didn’t. I struggled, and after years of failing, I was ready to go back and admit that I failed and I wasn’t worthy of the pack.” He let out a slow breath. “Then I stumbled upon you.”

“Yes, you made it very clear that I was the prize you had been looking for and would drag home to be—”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, truly sounding like he meant it.

“Your son inherited your habit of interrupting it seems,” I bit out. I moved away from Ha-joon and shoved his father’s shoulder, reminding myself I wasn’t that scared girl anymore. “It wasn’t one slip. You chased me for amonthuntil—”

“Until I regained my senses and realized what I was doing to aperson,” he whispered, grabbing my wrist when I went to shove him again. He flinched when Ha-joon growled and immediately let me go. “I was young too. Too old to have behaved that badly. I know that. I’m sorry, and I did look for you later to apologize but…” He sighed.

“What did you think you would even get from bringing a vampire to the pack?” Mrs. Clark asked.