Chapter 161: The Second Time

Connor’s POV

The woman…Monica, I later heard her name shrieked…lunged for my mate’s arm, nails curved like claws, but instinct snapped inside me.

My wolf ripped free with a feral snarl.

I yanked my mate back to me, crushing her against my chest, the pull of her body into mine so natural it was like breathing.

The moment our skin met again…barely a graze of her wrist against my hand…electricity detonated. It wasn’t subtle. It was a violent current, a lightning strike straight to my spine, shooting into every nerve ending until my lungs locked and my heart threatened to beat itself out of my chest.

She stiffened, a sharp gasp escaping her parted lips. She felt it too.

The bond. The undeniable tether of mate.

Her trembling body pressed against me, tiny compared to my frame, but gods, she fit. My wolf was near feral now, chanting, Mine. Ours. Protect her. Never let go.

I bent low, my breath hot against her ear, unable to stop the deep words from tearing free. “Touch her again, and I will end you.”

Monica’s eyes widened before she stumbled back, her painted lips curling in disdain. “She can’t go until she’s paid her debt.”

My head snapped toward her, disbelief boiling into fury. With my eyes still glued to my little human mate, I forced the words out through clenched teeth. “And how much debt gives you the right to treat another person like an animal?”

They faltered, whispering like cowards, the man’s voice wet with blood seeping from his cracked lips. “Two hundred thousand dollars.”

I felt my jaw lock. Two hundred thousand. For a slip of a girl?

But before I could respond, my mate’s voice cut through, sharp and breaking all at once.

“Lies!” she screamed, so loud I swear I heard some bells rattling. Her gray eyes burned, brimming with tears and fury. “That’s not true! I’ve worked my ass off for years. I’ve given you everything…more than my family ever owed! I don’t owe you anything!”

Her voice cracked on the last word, but her spine didn’t bend. My wolf howled, drunk on her fire.

I swallowed down my admiration and instead reached for my wallet. My fingers moved in sharp, deliberate motions, peeling bill after bill, my gaze never leaving theirs. Exactly two hundred thousand. I threw it at their feet, the money scattering across the dusty floor.

“Take it. And hear me clearly…if you ever come near her again, I’ll make sure you don’t live long enough to spend it.”

They scrambled like vermin, grinning, chuckling, stuffing notes into their greedy fists. The sight sickened me.

But before I could move my mate deeper into my protection, she slipped from my grip.

“No—” My hand shot out too late.

She bent low, gathering half of the scattered bills into her small hands. Monica screeched and lunged, but my mate moved with stunning agility…sidestepping in one clean, fluid motion. The woman went sprawling face-first onto the ground, her shriek cut off by the thud of impact.

“Rachel! You ungrateful wretch!” Asher’s voice tore through the room, raw and sharp.

“Rachel,” I muttered. That’s my mate’s name. It rolled off my tongue like a sin and a prayer all at once…pure, exquisite, and dangerously divine…just like her.

My mate straightened, her curls wild, her chest heaving. Her voice sliced the air like a blade.

“That is all you get, Monica. And that is because I want you out of my life for good. You don’t deserve even a penny. You and your entire family are terrible people. And I don’t owe you a dime.”

She spat at Monica’s feet, then turned to me. Before I could even breathe, she caught my hand and pulled…pulled me…away from the chaos, not after stuffing the bills she picked up back into my hand.

I let her pull me away. Gods help me, I let her.

We ducked into a corner of the street, out of sight, and only then did her strength crumble. She collapsed against the wall, her knees buckling, and I steadied her, hands framing her arms.

“Hey, hey—you’re okay. I got you,” I whispered, softer than I thought I could be.

Her eyes finally lifted, meeting mine, but what I saw there wasn’t relief. It was unease. A flicker of fear.

Her gaze darted from my hand gripping her arm back to my face. She stepped back quickly, severing the contact as though it burned.

“Sir,” she began, her voice breaking but steadying itself, “I’m… I’m so grateful for your help. Truly. But—please. Just give me your number. I’ll work hard. I’ll pay you back for the money.”

Her words pierced through me like silver. Pay me back?

“I don’t want your money.” My chest tightened. The truth clawed out before I could stop it. “I want you.”

Her eyes widened, horror flashing across her face. “Excuse me?”

Shit. Wrong words. Terrible words.

“I didn’t mean it like—” I stumbled, every attempt to salvage it sounding worse. “I don’t want to own you. I want…You’re…you’re destined to be mine. My mate. Don’t you feel it? That spark? That pull? The Moon Goddess—”

I froze, seeing her face twist with disbelief. With fear and confusion.

Connor, what are you doing explaining the mate pull to a human like that?!

Fuck. Every word I spoke only made me sound more unhinged. Like a lunatic raving about fate and goddesses.

“Wait, please,” I tried again, reaching for her, desperate. “I’m not crazy. You’re—”

But before I could finish, she spun and bolted.

One second she was there, gray eyes stormy with confusion, her scent still flooding my lungs. The next, she was gone…slipping into the crowd, swallowed whole by strangers and noise.

“NO!” I snarled, shoving past bodies, my wolf thrashing, desperate. But she was gone. Vanished.

My chest heaved, fury and panic collided until my vision blurred.

“Fuck!” The word tore out of me, raw and ragged.

For the second time in my cursed life, the goddess had given me a mate.

And for the second time… she’d slipped right through my fingers.

What the hell is wrong with me?