Hunter #3
“Like hell you are.” Harrison's voice cracks through the silence like a whip. “Benedict is my only heir. He will marry an omega and continue the family legacy. It’s his duty.”
“See, that doesn’t work for me.” I click my tongue, with a nonchalant shrug. “Benny is mine. My Chosen.”
Besides me, Evans shifts anxiously, waiting for the impending explosion.
Harrison’s nostrils flare.
“An alpha can’t mate another alpha.” He tosses his head back, laughs at the apparent absurdity of it. There's also an edge of genuine disbelief, as if I've just suggested the moon is made of Swiss cheese. “Don’t be preposterous.”
I feel Benny tense, and I'm willing to bet that if I looked at him right now, I’d see the beginnings of a panic attack. “If you can’t treat him with respect, then we’ll just leave.”
Harrison blinks, surprise startling him for a moment before he straightens his spine.
Squaring his shoulders, he lets his alpha presence roll through the room like thunder. “Get out of my office Mr Ashbourne. Benedict, you stay.”
I feel the command there, coating his words like a sticky film. It gives them a weight that lands somewhere behind my ribs as the hairs on my neck rise.
Leave. Walk away. Submit. It's a well-crafted command, and he’s clearly an alpha used to getting his own way, which means it must work on most people.
I’m not most people.
I don't move, other than to fold my arms and stare at my future father-in-law.
“Here’s the thing about powerful alphas,” I tip my head slightly, the corner of my mouth lifting as my alpha demands I let him out to play. “They always forget other people exist.”
He makes a small huffing noise.
“Respectfully, Mr Crawford…” I spread my hands smugly and something in the air shifts. I feel Benny relax, the tension draining as I wrap him up in my pheromones. “You aren’t the only alpha in the room.”
“That title doesn't make you better than anyone else. Neither does your wealth.” I gesture vaguely towards the ballroom beyond the office walls.
“Take a look at the guest list—the building is filled to the brim with money and greed. So, that leaves your status as his father, if you even dare to call yourself that.”
I hold his gaze, letting my words linger. “Where were you when he was growing up? When his mother abandoned him?”
Something flashes across Harrison's face. Anger. Then guilt. Then anger again. Followed by a flash of sadness. Interesting. For the first time since walking into the room, he doesn't answer immediately.
His voice is quieter than before when he finally finds his words. “She abandoned me too.”
“You had a child to care for,” I spit, refusing to let up.
He’s caused Benny so much pain over the years trying to fit into the title of Benedict Evans Crawford II that he lost sight of everything else.
“A child who built a fortress around himself, clinging on to the cracks to try and keep you happy. But you’re never happy, are you? ”
Beside me, Benny inhales sharply, waiting. Watching it all unfold. He's staring at the floor, like hearing someone else describe his childhood is somehow more painful than living it.
Harrison’s jaw tightens again as he studies his son like he’s looking at him properly for the first time. Does he see the man I see? The one who tries so hard to be a good son, a good friend. The guy who works hard in college and then trains even harder on the field?
Evans may be a bit of an idiot, who gets into drunken trouble and likes to pull pranks, but Benny was softer around the edges, loving those he cared about with everything he had. Benedict, well, Benedict was driven, always pushing ahead, always trying to be a Crawford Harrison could be proud of.
“I can respect the love you obviously have for my son, Mr Ashbourne.” That wasn't the sentence I'd expected. “And I’m not an idiot, I know Diana would be hammering on my front door in a heartbeat if I dared to upset one of her brood.”
Despite everything, I feel the corner of my mouth twitch. Glancing across at my mate, we share a look and he smiles too. Sounds about right.
“However unruly and uncouth they may be. But this is not happening.” His eyes harden once more as he points a finger between us.
Outside the party has clearly picked up pace, the noise levels slowly increasing and on the other side of the door someone cheers.
“Mr Crawford, it appears you’ve misunderstood.
I’m not giving you a choice.” His eyebrow lifts and Benny’s gaze snaps to me once again.
The tension in the room is thick, oppressive as we circle one another, fighting for dominance.
“If you want any semblance of a relationship with your son, you will quietly nod your head, shut your mouth and play nice.”
“He’s my son.” The possessive, hollow words come out almost instinctively. It’s all he has left and he’s clinging onto it for dear life.
“‘Son’ is not the only role available to him in this life.” Scoffing, I roll my eyes at Harrison before I smirk at Evans, “And husband has a nicer ring to it.”