They Fell Into Bed [Editing]

III. A

Harper looked at Bryson steadily as he sat up, dropping the book to the floor and looking around the room.

"I'm not exactly sure how I got here," his words a bit strung together. "I was having a drink, and I guess I thought I should come here," his lips pulled down into a frown, as if the explanation made as little sense to him as it did to her.

Harper breathed out a sigh. "We aren't really friends, you know that, right? So why would you come to my house of all places?"

Bryson shook his head slowly, looking at her now. "I-I honestly don't know. I think-" he tilted his head and his eyes glinted, and Harper felt her skin prickle.

"You think what?" she asked, shaking herself off as if to remove the static like feeling. Bryson opened his mouth, but no words came out. After a second, he closed his mouth again, and started laughing. Harper narrowed her eyes at him. "And what's so funny?"

"Nothing, just thinking about how ironic it is I ended up here, don't you agree?" Bryson asked.

Harper snorted. "Ironic that the alpha's son is at the pack slut's house, or ironic that my ex friend is at my house? Your pick." Harper and Bryson had been childhood friends; most of the children had been friends, because there were never too many born around the same time, so they bonded over their commonalities. Bryson had befriended Adam first, since they were both older, but he also became a friend of Harper's while they were growing up. It was no surprise though that once it was revealed that Harper was a fertile, Bryson stopped coming around. He was right, she thought, it was ironic that he was here, considering the last time they talked one on one he had her in tears and she swore she'd never forgive him for the things he had said to her. Yet here he was now, drunk on her couch. Harper crossed her arms and waited for an answer, not really expecting one to her question but wanting on all the same.

Bryson just shook his head and laughed. "You are something else, Harper. Come sit down." He patted the seat next to him innocently enough, but Harper didn't know if she felt comfortable getting that close. He had hurt her a long time ago, and she wasn't a person to forget a pain that ran that deep. It was more than a case of hurt pride; he had said things to her, about her, that made her feel like the dirt under his shoe. He watched her as she hesitated and raised a brow; Harper sighed and went to sit down next to him.

"Will you at least tell me why you're shit faced?" Harper asked, a sarcastic lilt to her voice.

Bryson's smile dimmed, and he looked down. "Uh-" he started, and stopped himself. "I uh, well.." He scratched his chin and thought for a second about how to answer the question. "My dad's stepping down soon."

Harper's mouth dropped open. "What? When? How do you know that?"

"He didn't exactly try and hide it. He's been hinting at it in every pack meeting for the past few months, Harper."

Harper glowered. "You and I both know I'm not exactly welcome at pack meetings, so it isn't as if I've been there to see the hints he's been dropping."

"Well, I'm telling you now. Besides, he didn't have to drop hints tonight. He came out and told me that it would be happening within the year, given I find a suitable mate that my father approves of."

"You have to find a mate to take up the alpha position?"

"Yeah," Bryson nodded, "it shows strength and a team leading the pack, not just one single leader. But here's the thing: he didn't say I had to find my mate. Just a mate. I don't have time to go out and search for mine, so that's out of the question. I just have to pick someone within the pack or a pack that is allied with us, or my father is stripping me of the right to the alpha position." Bryson held his head in his hands and groaned, "And what kills me is the idea that I could have been given more time. I could have traveled the world and found my mate, but thanks to my father, now I only have the rest of this year. There's no way I'll find her. There's no way she even exists. We all know how unlikely it is to find a mate - your true mate. But I still want it." He breathed out and didn't continue, but Harper knew how much this affected him. She knew exactly what he was feeling, because she felt it everyday of her life. She knew the yearning to find a mate - to actually be lucky enough to have a mate. Not everyone had one. Only a lucky few. And even of those who were born with another half, most of the time they were born on opposite sides of the world, and never even had the chance to meet. It was an ache so painfully deep that she felt it to her core.