Page 64 of Checks & Bonds

I didn't know why, but I believed him. "Why?" I asked.

"Loyalty," he said, his voice firm. "Another lesson from my grandfather. Loyalty means everything. That, and honor. Not many people have it. And that Imprinting Ceremony… As much as I hated it, I'm treating it like a step towards our marriage. You're mine, yes, but I'm yours."

I swallowed hard, the weight of his words settling over me. "You can't run away," I said quietly. "If we're fighting, you have to… we have to talk or fight through it. Not avoid it."

"My grandfather —"

"With all due respect to your grandfather, this isn't about him," I said. "It's about you. About who you want to be, about what our relationship is supposed to be. I want you to be loyal to me, not because your grandfather told you to, but because you want to." I sighed. "Your grandfather built a legacy with the values he developed, and he passed them to you. But you're allowed to have your own values too. I don't want to be an obligation, some box to tic off. I want you to want to marry me, even if that seems naïve. And I want your faithfulness because you want to be faithful to me."

"Nothing happened," Henry said, turning to face me fully. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair from my face, his fingers lingering on my cheeks, then my neck.

A shudder ran through me at his touch.

I sighed. "Where did you go?" I asked.

"A fight club," he admitted. "I needed to punch something."

A smirk tugged at my lips despite the tension in the air. "I really riled you up, huh?"

"You have this uncanny way of getting under the skin," he murmured, his thumb tracing my lips gently. "Nothing happened."

The sincerity in his eyes disarmed me more than his words. It was as if he was laying himself bare in front of me, no pretense or walls.

My breath hitched slightly as he continued to touch me, his thumb still tracing the outline of my lips as if committing them to memory.

"I'm a very possessive man, Freya," Henry murmured, his voice low and intense. "I didn't know that about myself. Not until I found out about you and Dan. The thing is, I initially didn't care about loyalty, not to you. I didn't know you. If you wanted to fuck around before marriage, fine. I was doing thesame thing. But then, I saw you with him… and something in me snapped. And now, with Jensen after you… I could kill them and not bat an eye."

I sucked in a breath, feeling a mix of fear and something else—something dangerous and thrilling—curl in my chest.

"That's something no one taught me," he continued, his eyes never leaving mine. "No one but you. And I realized I don't want anyone else but what's mine."

I knew I should correct him. Tell him that I'm not a possession, not something to be owned or claimed. But the words stuck in my throat. Instead, my lower stomach fluttered with want, and I pushed the feeling away.

"You're my wife," he said firmly. "There is no one else. There will be no one else. Not because of something my grandfather says. But because of me. Do you understand?"

I nodded slowly, unable to break away from the intensity of his gaze.

"Good," he murmured, his voice softening just a fraction. "Because as my wife, I expect you at my game tomorrow night. And then,… well, then we get married."

The weight of his words settled over me like a heavy blanket—warm but suffocating at the same time. Marriage was supposed to be an agreement between equals, not an arrangement bound by possessiveness and jealousy.

Yet here we were.

Henry's fingers traced the line of my jaw before tilting my chin up slightly so our eyes locked once more.

"We'll make it work," he said with a confidence that made my heart ache.

I swallowed hard and nodded again, feeling the storm of emotions inside me threaten to spill over.

His lips curved into a small smile—a rare softness that hinted at the man beneath the armor.

"Goodnight, Freya," he whispered before turning off the bedside lamp.

In the darkness, I lay beside him, trying to make sense of everything—of us—of this life we were about to forge together.

Sleep didn't come easily that night.

20

---