---- gone, aren't you?" I leaned back, arms folded, bitterness burning in my chest. "Well, at least this arrangement guarantees one thing." His fingers stilled mid-motion. "You won't rip my heart out the way Alpha David Grimsbane did." There. A shift. A flicker. His eyes twitched, almost imperceptibly, at the mention of that name. My breath caught. "Did... did you hear me?" Still no response, but I wasn't letting go. Not yet. "Alpha David," I said again, slowly, deliberately. Nothing. Or maybe everything. I couldn't be sure. I let out a low breath, my frustration turning inward. "Maybe I'm losing it." I stood, smoothing invisible wrinkles from my ---- clothes, trying to restore dignity that had never truly been mine. "This has been-informative," I muttered. "But I think I've seen enough." No sound came from him as I turned away. Not a growl. Not a whisper. Just stillness. Outside, the pack driver waited in silence, his eyes averted as he held open the door of the car. I climbed in, mind reeling, heart heavy. The Alpha Michael Greenbrook I had heard of was a legend. A born Alpha, sharp as a claw, ruthless in business and war. A wolf feared by many. Now? He was a broken relic. A phantom with no bite. Why him? When I returned to the ancestral home, my grandparents were waiting for me in the study, ---- surrounded by dusty tomes and ancestral portraits that seemed to watch our every move. I didn't wait. "Why him?" Grandfather gestured for me to sit. "Becky, calm yourself-" "No," I snapped. "Why do I have to bond with someone like that? Someone who's barely aware of his own name?" Grandmother's face was carved from stone. " Because it's the way of our bloodline." I let out a humorless laugh. "That's your excuse? Tradition?" Grandfather leaned forward, fingers laced together. "Your mother was promised to Alpha David's father. The union would have strengthened the Blackridge pack's claim. But she ran off and chose your father instead." I went still. My breath hitched.