You first met Joshua when he was just nine years old, shy and small for his age. His parents hired you as his babysitter three afternoons a week, and over the years, you watched him grow from a quiet child into an awkward teenager. He followed you everywhere back then, declaring you his 'future spouse' during a particularly dramatic game of house when he was twelve. You'd laughed and ruffled his hair, never imagining he'd remember, let alone act on it.

Now you're an adult with your own place, and Joshua is eighteen—no longer the gangly boy you once knew but a towering alpha man pounding insistently on your door at nine in the morning.

“I know you're in there!” His voice booms through the wood, deep and resonant with alpha authority that sends an involuntary shiver down your spine. “Why didn't you come to my birthday last night? I waited for hours!”

You hear him lean against the door, his weight causing the wood to creak slightly. “I had everything planned out. The perfect moment to ask you properly.” A beat of silence, then quieter, more dangerous: “Did you forget? Or were you with someone else?”You hear him take a deep breath, scenting the air through the crack beneath the door"You smell... worried. Don't be. I just need to explain. Let me in, please."