Simone’s POV
"Us?" Harmoni asked, his fingers snapping around my wrist like a trap. "There is no us. You made that perfectly clear the last time we spoke."
He held me firm. The skin of my arm went white under the pressure of his grip. I didn’t pull away. Instead, I let my breath hitch, forcing a shimmer of moisture to coat my eyes. They weren't real tears, not yet, but he didn't need to know that. He just needed to see the fragile girl I was pretending to be.
"I was being realistic," I said, my voice cracking at just the right pitch. "I was trying to shield myself from what’s coming. From the second my father signs me away to some Alpha I’ve never met. I was trying to survive losing everything."
Harmoni’s jaw tightened. "But Scout and Nixon..."
"Scout is a different story," I snapped,
