Chapter 0971

“You’re a boy, Mark,” Pippa says, soft and sad. He raises his head enough to see her looking down at her baby, tears clinging to her lashes, threatening to fall. “I – I already have one child, I don’t need another. I’m sorry – I’m being cruel but…” she takes a deep breath and raises her eyes to his, her mouth trembling a little. “I don’t accept this bond, Mark. I – I can’t. It’s too hard – I have an Alpha I very much like, and he…I need to concentrate on that relationship before it all collapses before me. I’m sorry. I…I’m very sorry to cause you pain, but no.”

She turns sharply, moving swiftly out of the alcove and back down the hall towards her room, her head tucked low as she goes.

Mark watches her until he can’t see her anymore, his heart aching to see her go, his wolf howling for her to come back. But even as his wolf howls and nips and scratches him internally, urging him to go after her, Mark keeps his place.

After all, he knows better than to press a lady when she says no.

And it’s not that he’s given up… he just…needs time to think. After all, not accepting the bond is not precisely the same as a rejection, is it? Even if it is not a fantastic start.

No, Mark sighs, thinking that even if it pains him, it may be best to just give Pippa what she needs and asks for right now, even if that is for him to step away and give her space. Because she is his mate, and what she needs is now, incontrovertibly, his top priority.