Nine.

Eloise felt it the moment Henry stepped outside to join her in the garden. Alpha auras always stood out to her, but there was more to it with Henry's. Probably because he had marked her, because he was her mate and her literal other half. His aura felt like a strong caress, like it wanted to wrap itself around her and pull her close. She supposed the promises it was trying to offer wouldn't have felt so suffocating had their story turned out differently. As it hadn't, it felt slightly suffocating and very cloying; what with the way it was always reaching and trying to force it's way through her protective walls.

"What do you want, Henry?" Eloise asked, refusing to look at him as he skirted around her to sit down.

Henry deliberately chose his path as to not block the sun his mate was basking in, though he still found he was puffing up his chest as he stilled beside her, his instincts kicking in despite his knowledge that his Alphaness probably wouldn't help him like that.

"At this moment, I want a great many things." He answered honestly, breathing in deeply as her scent brought him immeasurable pleasure.

Eloise merely sighed in annoyance.

"Don't be cryptic with me. I won't entertain riddles or games, or even this baiting bullshit disguised as banter. Either tell me what you want or leave me alone." She answered, taking away any illusion Henry had that this would be an easy conversation.

Henry grimaced internally, his face hardening to hide the hurt her tone had caused him.

"I want you to come home with me as my Luna." He spoke harshly, blurring out his core truth before he could sugar coat it.

"This has to be some kind of joke." Eloise scoffed, finally opening her eyes to look at Henry.

His jaw was tense, almost as much as his shoulders, and there were small lines between his brows as he reacted to her words.

"I don't see what's funny about my words, Eloise. You're my marked mate, by rights you should be by my side helping me to look after our pack." Henry all but spat at her.

"Wow." Eloise mouthed, shocked at his ordasity. She moved to stand, wanting to walk away from the lunatic who was sat beside her.

But Henry stilled her. His hand was on her thigh with the softest of pressures, but the contact was enough to fire up her stupid hormones and make her stay.

"Don't walk away. Talk to me, please." His voice was softer now, trying to coax her into staying.

Eloise's eyes were zeroed in on Henry's hand. The skin on skin contact below her shorts was even confusing her wolf. Her wolf who wanted to rip this man to shreds and rub herself all over him at the same time.

"Move your hand," Eloise whispered, tears pricking in her eyes as she warred with herself.

Henry sighed, lifting his hand as she had requested all the same; even if he did resent that she was fighting their connection. Instead, he placed it on the bench seat beside her own, so close he could feel the heat of her skin without actually touching her.

Eloise's face was marred with a frown as she still internalized her emotions.

"Please talk to me," Henry asked again, trying to hide his frustrations as he spoke.

"Why should I, Henry?" Eloise sharply asked, genuinely hoping there was some explanation he could give her, to justify how she felt.

Henry growled lowly, he didn't mean to, but he was struggling with the challenge Eloise unwittingly offered. "Because I'm your mate, and that makes me your true Alpha, and I asked you to. We can't fix..."

Eloise's own growl interrupted Henry before he could finish.

"No. You. Are. Not." She snarled. "I may bare your mark, but you will find mine is missing from your own neck, Henry. You left me before I could return the gesture if I recall." She seethed. "And, as for my Alpha? That's almost as good as you trying to guilt me into taking responsibility for a pack that's not mine."

Henry's chest was heaving as he focused on his breathing to control his wolf. He didn't think his wolf was a threat to Eloise in anyway, but still he had the urge to shift and make her submit and it was making it hard to think. Not that thinking when around this woman was his strong suit, even he knew he had messed up with his original comment.

"Look, I know I hurt you, but you ran!" Henry spat out, "I was cornered by my parents that night. That was the first I had heard of my supposed engagement, and it was also the last. If you would have stuck around you would have found that out. I told my parents that night I wouldn't mate Paula. But, you were already gone! You didn't fight for us either."

"I ran? I ran? No, Henry," Eloise shook her head, "You ran! You left me in my trashed home to fix everything, confused and on my own. The night I left the pack, I fucking flew." She scoffed, "I escaped you, and the only regret I had was losing my family and my best friend. So do not think for one minute, that you can come here and dictate to me that I owe the pack my care. That I owe you some kind of fidelity."

Henry was in his wolf form before he could stop himself, panting on all fours as the shock of what Eloise had said sunk in. He looked up at her just in time to see her walking away, her hips swaying with every step she took. She was walking away from the house, and she was still his mate, and the mother to his unborn child, and this conversation was far from over. So, Henry did the only logical thing his confused, hurt and addled brain could do.

He followed her.