The Begging Alpha

Welcome Back

(Freya)

Her wolf was becoming unbearable. It wasn't loud, it was worse. Persistent.

A constant pressure behind her thoughts, like claws dragging slowly across a closed door. Freya sat at the long drafting table in Jasmine’s boutique office, one leg crossed beneath her, charcoal smudged faintly across her fingers as sketches and fabric samples littered the workspace around her. She should have been focused.

However, her wolf had other ideas.

Go back, her wolf urged.

Freya clenched her jaw. No, Freya snapped back mentally.

He apologized, her wolf pressed.

He hurt us.

He loves us.

That made her pause, not because she doubted it anymore. That was the problem. The dinner. The honesty. The way he had looked at her as though she was something precious instead of something expected. The kiss afterward—Freya shoved the thought away so hard her wolf snarled in irritation.

Coward.

I am not a coward.

Then why are you running?

Her charcoal snapped between her fingers.

Jasmine looked up from across the office immediately. “You okay?”

Freya blinked, realizing she’d missed the last thirty seconds entirely. “What?”

Jasmine stared. “You didn’t hear a word I said.”

“I heard enough.”

“That’s not reassuring.”

Freya sighed and rubbed at her temple. “Sorry. I’m distracted.”

That is putting it mildly.

Her wolf paced relentlessly beneath her skin now, increasingly agitated the more Freya tried to suppress her. She threw up a new block to try and suppress her wolf but it had cracks due to how tight she kept her emotions in check. Her wolf constantly probing it. A constant awareness that something wasn’t right. Or rather—That she wasn’t where she was supposed to be.

Freya hated that feeling, because it made no logical sense. The Severance was still happening. It needed to happen. Love did not erase neglect. A kiss did not rewrite years of silence. And yet—If Jasmine hadn’t interrupted them that night...

Freya’s stomach tightened. She would have gone back to him. Without hesitation, without regret, with a smile on her face. The realization terrified her enough that she buried herself harder in work.

Jasmine finally stood and crossed the office holding a black envelope trimmed in silver foil. “Fine. Since you’re mentally somewhere in another dimension, maybe this will help.”

Freya accepted it automatically.

“The boutique is hosting a welcome event,” Jasmine explained. “Officially reintroducing you to the industry. Media, investors, clients, elite families. The whole nightmare.”

Freya opened the envelope slowly. Inside sat a beautifully designed invitation embossed with Hale Atelier’s insignia.

WELCOME BACK, FREYA SILK.

Her chest tightened unexpectedly.

“You deserve this,” Jasmine said more quietly now. “People mourned you when you vanished.”

Freya swallowed.

“Apparently,” Jasmine continued dryly, “the fashion world took your disappearance more personally than some governments take economic collapse.”

A reluctant laugh escaped Freya. That was enough for Jasmine to keep going.

“The event center downtown approved everything this morning. Security’s already being arranged because apparently half the city’s elite want invitations.” She rolled her eyes. “And Prince Karl will be there, which means—”

Freya missed all of that, not intentionally. Her wolf surged suddenly beneath the block, attention snapping outward so violently it made Freya’s pulse jump.

He’s here.

Freya straightened instantly. “What?”

Jasmine frowned from where she was still leaning against the drafting table. “Prince Karl?”

“No.” Freya stood abruptly enough to shove the chair back several inches across the floor. Her wolf was suddenly alert—fully alert—in a way that sent tension racing down her spine.

He’s close.

Stop it, Freya snapped mentally, already grabbing her coat anyway.

Jasmine narrowed her eyes immediately. “Why are you putting your coat on?”

Freya blinked as if realizing she was doing exactly that. “You said the event center approved everything. We should probably go look at it in person.”

Jasmine stared at her for a long moment. “…You are terrible at pretending things are coincidences.”

Freya ignored that entirely and headed for the boutique doors.

A few minutes later they stepped out onto the busy sidewalk, heels clicking softly against concrete as city noise wrapped around them. Cars rolled past steadily while people moved between storefronts carrying shopping bags and coffee cups, most of them too wrapped up in their own lives to notice two women who could stop conversations simply by entering a room.

The event center sat half a block down from the boutique, large glass windows reflecting the late afternoon sunlight. Staff moved in and out through the main entrance carrying equipment and décor samples while security personnel already lingered nearby discussing placements.

Freya slowed, her wolf instantly pushed harder against the mental block.

There.

And then she saw him.

Bradley stood near the front entrance beside Brittany and several members of the venue staff. A pair of black SUVs sat parked nearby while security personnel discussed something with the building owner, pointing toward entrances and side access corridors.

Bradley looked...focused. Just entirely absorbed in what he was doing. His dark suit fit perfectly against his broad frame, black hair tied neatly back into the sleek ponytail she’d always secretly loved on him. One hand rested in his pocket while the other gestured calmly toward one of the entrances as he spoke.

Freya stopped walking completely. Her chest tightened painfully.

Gods. Why did simply seeing him still do this to her?

Mate, her wolf breathed.

No.

Look at him.

That part was the problem, she couldn’t stop!

Brittany said something beside him and Bradley rubbed briefly at the back of his neck—a small unconscious gesture Freya instantly recognized as stress. He nodded once, expression serious as one of the security personnel continued talking.

“They’re arranging security already?” Jasmine muttered beside her. “The event isn’t until next month.”

Freya forced herself to focus enough to answer. “Because of the guests.” A partially unrolled banner near the entrance caught her attention.

PLAYING WITH PUPS CHARITY EVENT

NEXT MONTH

Understanding clicked immediately. This wasn’t about prestige. It was about protecting children and of course Bradley would personally oversee something like this.

Her wolf softened instantly beneath the block.

That’s him. The real him.

Freya hated how much she agreed.

“He still hasn’t seen us,” Jasmine observed carefully.

Freya nodded faintly. Some irrational part of her was relieved. Another part was strangely disappointed. Below the controlled posture and measured movements, she could see it now. The emotional strain he was trying so hard to hide from the rest of the world.

Before the dinner, she would have missed it. Now she knew too much. The sound hit Freya straight in the chest.

Because it wasn’t forced.

It wasn’t performative.

It was real.

And once upon a time, she had believed she would never be someone he laughed with like that.

Freya watched Bradley speak with one of the security personnel, expression focused and composed. But now that she knew him—truly knew him—she could see the strain beneath it. The exhaustion, the effort, and worst of all...the sincerity. Because now she knew he had always loved her. He just never understood how to survive being vulnerable enough to show it. That truth hurt more than the idea of him never loving her at all.

Jasmine studied Freya carefully beside her. “You’re staring.”

Freya immediately looked away from the window. “I was observing.”

“That sounded dangerously close to longing.”

“It wasn’t.”

Jasmine crossed her arms. “Good.”

Freya didn’t answer.

Across the street, Bradley laughed softly at something Brittany said, and Freya’s chest tightened violently at the sound.

Her wolf surged again. There. That’s where we belong.

Freya squeezed her hands into fists so tight it hurt.

“No,” she whispered again.

But this time...she wasn’t entirely sure who she was trying to convince.