Chapter 3

Harper steered awake slowly, looking around blankly before recognizing her new room. She groaned, recounting the details of the ceremony yesterday. She was bonded. She would not  have believed it if she didn’t catch a glimpse of the silver bonding mark on her wrist.

Her stomach reminded her that she also didn’t eat  last night so she changed into shorts and an old sweatshirt and stumbled out of her room, she opened the door and ended up slamming into something hard. She looked up, pretty sure that she’d opened the door, and saw her mate smiling at her.

“Good morning, Harper .”

Harper hastily removed her palms from the broad expanse of her mate’s very bare chest, mumbling an apology and a soft “good morning”. She was relieved she didn’t trip over her own feet but mortified that she’d used Ethan as a wall in preventing her fall.

The alpha did not seem to mind. Harper realized that Ethan must have come from an early morning run. His dark hair was matted and stuck out in some parts.

A bead of sweat created a path from his temple to his chin and Harper noticed a small mole on his cheek. He wore shorts and held his sweat-soaked shirt in one hand.

“Would—” Harper  cleared her throat and barely avoided staring at her mate’s abdomen. “Would you like breakfast? Pancakes? I’ll go see if you have the ingredients.”

“Thank you, but no,” Ethan stepped toward her bedroom. “I have a full schedule today. I’ll just grab something on my way out.”

“Okay.” The omega nodded. She wandered into the kitchen and surveyed the contents of the refrigerator and the cupboards. Ethan hadn’t been kidding when he said he had food. The freezer and the pantry were filled. For now, she settled on cereal.

Ethan entered the kitchen a few minutes later, fresh-faced and smelling of soap and alpha male.   The top buttons of his undershirt were open and a striped blue tie hung around his neck.

Harper’s knees nearly buckled. She gripped the cereal bowl tighter and made her way to the table, thankful that she actually sat down without making a bigger fool of herself that morning.

The alpha rummaged through the cupboard and stuffed a granola bar and some candies into his pocket. He made his way toward the table but seemed to think better of it and strode toward the door. “I’ll see you later, Harper .”

Harper  could only nod in response. She took out her phone and pulled up her emails to check if she needed to come in to work today. There was one where Knox specifically told her to take it easy today but Harper figured Anna probably made him type and send  it.

She was about halfway through breakfast and still scrolling through her messages when she heard the doorbell ring. She sprang up, thinking Ethan might have forgotten something.

"Mrs Harper?" A tall man in a pin-striped suit stood on the other side of the door. "I'm Mason Harris, one of the lawyers for Reynolds Corporation. I don't know if Ethan has mentioned it to you.  but he told me he wanted to have a marriage contract ready for both of you."

Her  mate didn't say anything about a contract but Harper had expected something of the sort. The Reynold’s family owned multiple businesses and while Ethan was the third son, he was still a Reynold’s. Harper’s own father would have approved of the idea.

"Thank you," she nodded and tucked the envelope under her arm as she closed the door.

Harper  sat back down and decided that breakfast can wait while he browsed through the contents of the contract. She slid the thin folder out and started reading.

She paled, her hands shaking as she placed the contract on the table. She didn't even want to finish reading what was in it anymore. She pushed herself out of her chair and started pacing. She threaded a hand through her already disheveled hair as she walked toward the table.

"I don't believe it." She murmured, voice cracking slightly. Earlier, she felt as if her mate was actually trying to make this marriage bearable. But this contract had rules that stated that Ethan could control almost every aspect of her life.

Harper held up her left hand, her wedding ring shining in the bright morning light, taunting her .

She had  worked hard to get to where she was at the moment and was proud of what she had accomplished so far. If the alpha thought he could just come in and sweep it all out from under her like he did with the businesses he flipped, he had another thing coming.

Harper turned, and marched toward her bedroom. She was not going to roll over and play dead for anyone . She was going to get dressed. And she was going to give Ethan Reynolds a piece of her mind.

She was too Angry up to drive so she left her car in the garage and took the subway to Ethan’s office, all the while thinking of how she was going to face her mate. Harper was confused, disappointed, and extremely angry. She thought back to their conversations and couldn't find any hint of the alpha within the words of the contract. And yet, the terms she had read definitely pointed to relinquishing just about everything she had to her mate and that didn't sit well with her at all.

By the time the elevator doors opened with a soft ding, Harper was seething. She strode past Ethan’s second secretary and flung her mate's office door open.

"Wait! Ma’am! You can't just barge in here!" The middle-aged secretary hurried after the omega and turned to Ethan with a ninety-degree bow. "I'm so sorry, sir."

"It's okay, Susan , Harper is my mate. You can let her in whenever she wants to even if I’m busy."

The secretary's jaw dropped as she threw Harper a look of surprise. She glared at her in return. "Get out." She snarled at her and slammed the door in her face on her way out.

"I don't think—"

"You arrogant son of a bitch," Harper cut her mate off and brought his fists down on his desk, rattling everything that was on top of it.

"I may be an omega but I am Still a Davis. And I will not be treated like a gold-digger or a piece of property, goddammit. You will not have access to my money, my clients, my schedule or my friends unless I say so those are My TERMS. I have worked my ass off for DreamCatcher and I will not allow you to take that away from me. I didn't ask to be bonded to you but I am your mate and I deserve to be treated with respect. Do you understand me, Ethan Reynolds? I am not—I've never—I could—You —" Harper  broke off with a low growl, too furious to say anything else.

She fumbled for the contract she stashed in her bag and flung it onto the table. "You can take your money and your so called alpha rules or whatever the fuck these are, and you can shove them up your ass."

She turned around sharply and exited Ethan’s office with as much rage as she came into it, still muttering obscenities on her way out.