to open the door.
“I didn’t think—” he started to say, falling silent when he realized that the face at his door wasn’t Harper, but someone just as familiar.
“Hello, William.”
“Dante.”
They stood looking at one another for a long moment, the cold evening air flowing in around them.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
William wanted to slam the door in his face, but before he could, Dante pushed past him and sauntered inside. Letting go of the door, he stumbled after him.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to see you. What else? You don’t answer my texts, you don’t take my calls, you never reply to any of my letters.”
William had blocked every number Dante had ever contacted him with, returned every letter unopened, and had done his level best to forget the omega’s existence.
“I think you should leave.”
“Of course. As soon as you hear what I have to say.”
William crossed his arms, as much to seem strong as to hide the way his hands were shaking.
“I want you to go. Now.”
Dante smiled a little sadly. “What happened between us hurt you, I know. It hurt me too. But I’ve never given up on us, William. I’ve never stopped loving you, never stopped dreaming and hoping that you’d come back into my life. But then I realized I was going about it all wrong. If I wanted you back, I had to come get you.”
Dante took a step toward him, and William took a hurried step back. He didn’t trust himself, didn’t trust his hurt not to turn to anger and bubble up from under his skin.
“I really think it’s time you left.”
“You’re not hearing me, William. I’m standing right in front of you, pouring my heart out to you. Doesn’t that mean anything? Doesn’t this?”
He held out his hand, adorned with a ring so familiar that it made William’s heart ache. “I never took it off. Our love is forever, through thick and thin.”
William felt like he’d stepped into another universe. “It’s been five years, Dante.”
“Yes,” the omega said softly. “Five long years. And I’ve never once given up on the idea of us. No matter how much you hurt me—with your leaving, with your silence—I never gave up hope. You are the most handsome man I’ve ever met, the strongest, the bravest. I will never love any man the way I love you.”
William was frozen in horror as the omega stepped closer and closer. He heard the distant sound of the door but couldn’t take his attention away from Dante, couldn’t move from where he was backed against his office chair. Every muscle was held tight, afraid that his anger would explode free and someone would get hurt. As he tried to draw breath to ward Dante off, the omega pushed up onto his tiptoes and kissed him.
The chair behind William gave way, and he stumbled back a step, raising his hands as if to fend off a blow. As he did, he caught sight of someone else in the room, and the blood drained from his face. Harper. God, no.
“Harper, this isn’t…”
But Harper wasn’t alone. William’s father stepped into the room, acting as if it hadn’t been years since they’d set eyes on one another.
“Dad?” He looked frantically from face to face. “I don’t understand.”
“Oh, William. I shouldn’t still be cleaning up your messes, not at your age. But the truth had to come out somehow.”
“What are you talking about?”
None of this made any sense. Why was Harper there? His dad? Dante? What the hell was going on?
“Harper knows, William. I’ve told him everything. How could you do that to the poor boy? And to Dante. It’s bad enough you’ve insisted on staying in this city while Dante has had to do without his fiancé for so long. But cheating on him? Getting another omega pregnant? I raised you better than that.”
“Dad, that’s not… Harper, please…”
“I know our separation has been hard, William,” Dante said softly, his lower lip trembling. He looked every bit the part of the hurt mate. “It’s been tough for me too. And I hate that you betrayed me like this. But I’m not willing to walk away. What we have is special, and I won’t turn my back on it.”
“But we’re not— Harper, none of this is—” Every word of it was a lie, but how could William prove that with Dante and his father contradicting him?
Harper spoke. “I know, William. I know everything.”
That got his attention. There was something very sure and certain