Chapter 195 You Can Only Marry Me

Chapter 195 You Can Only Marry Me

Ember's POV

Asher's eyes turned dangerous as he said to me, "I don't agree, Ember. You can only be marked by me."

I laughed coldly and shot back, "Who are you to disagree? What are you to me? Who I choose as my mate is none of your business."

"Because I'm your only mate."

"Says who?"

"The Moon Goddess!"

I snorted and said to him, "So what if you are? What's the point of objecting now? When you hurt me back then, did you ever think that one day you'd be crawling back to me like a lovesick dog? Asher, it's too late. It's all too late." When he had rejected me back then, the mate bond between us had already been completely severed. What was the point of him coming back to bother me now?

Even after I called him a dog, Asher didn't get angry. Instead, he said urgently, "It's not too late. As long as you change your mind and get back together with me, it's not too late."

I felt like I was getting nowhere with him, so I just stopped talking and stared at him. Asher stared right back at me.

While we were at a standstill, my phone rang. The screen showed it was Zane calling. I glanced at Asher, stepped aside, and answered, "Hey, Zane."

"Ember, are you at the office?" Zane's voice sounded warm and gentle again, like his usual self. "I got you the sandwich and milk you like. I'll bring it up in a bit."

My heart clenched, and I instinctively glanced at Asher beside me, then said into the phone, "Don't bother, Zane. I already had breakfast."

"It's fine, I'm downstairs already. I'll bring it up — I actually have something I want to talk to you about too," Zane said on the other end.

"Don't!" I quickly cut in. "I'm in a meeting right now, really busy. Just head back, and we can talk tonight."

There was a brief silence on the other end, then Zane's voice came through, "Alright, get back to it then. Take care of yourself. I'll pick you up tonight and we can go try on wedding dresses together."

"Okay." I hung up and let out a long, heavy breath. I had just turned around when I saw Asher staring at me with ice-cold eyes.

"Trying on wedding dresses?" Asher's voice was as cold as ice. "Ember, are you really that eager to become Zane's mate?"

"Yes." The anger in me hadn't died down at all, and I snapped back at him, "I am that eager to become his mate. Zane is a thousand times, ten thousand times better than you. I'll be happy with him."

Asher's fists clenched so tight his knuckles cracked, his eyes burning with barely contained rage. Without another word, he shoved me into his car and drove straight to a hotel.

"Asher! Are you insane!" He pushed me into the room, and I turned on him furiously. "You just kidnapped me! Do you know that's illegal?"

"Kidnapped? I just want to have a proper talk with you. Since you won't sit down and talk face to face, I had no choice but to bring you here. We can talk in bed just fine." Asher replied coldly.

"I have nothing to talk to you about! Let me go!"

Asher grabbed my wrist and yanked me hard back onto the bed, then leaned over me, pinning me down.

"Let you go?" Asher lowered his head and whispered in my ear. "Let you go so you can try on wedding dresses with Zane? Ember, I'm telling you — not a chance." His kiss came down hard again, heavy with punishment.

I fought as hard as I could, but my strength was nothing against Asher.

"Asher! Let go of me! You bastard!" I cried and screamed at him. But Asher acted like he couldn't hear a word, and he only grew rougher.

The hotel room quickly filled with a charged, suffocating tension. This time, Asher was even more out of control than the night before — like he was trying to make me part of him, taking and taking without stopping. I went from fighting back with everything I had to going completely numb. I was like a hollow doll, letting Asher do whatever he wanted.

I don't know how much time passed before Asher finally stopped. He pulled me close and held me tight, his chin resting on top of my head, breathing hard.

"Ember, don't be Zane's mate, okay?" There was almost a pleading note in Asher's voice. "Come back to me. Let's start over."

I said nothing. I just cried silently. Seeing that I still wouldn't speak, Asher got even more frustrated. He grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him, growling, "I'm talking to you! Do you hear me?"

"Asher, you're disgusting." My voice was completely flat as I looked at him coldly. "All you're doing is making me hate you even more."

"Hate me?" Asher suddenly laughed, and the sound was full of bitterness. "That's fine. Even if you hate me, I'm keeping you by my side. That's still better than watching you become someone else's mate."

"You're completely unreasonable!"

"Yeah, I am." Asher leaned down again and kissed me hard. "As long as I can keep you, I'll do anything."

The two of us stayed in that room, tearing each other apart, and neither of us was okay. We clearly still loved each other, yet we kept hurting each other in the worst possible ways.

---

Zane's POV

I waited downstairs at Hart Group for a long time, but Ember never came down. I kept calling her, but no one picked up.

A bad feeling slowly crept over me. Then my phone buzzed with an anonymous text — just a photo and a hotel address. I zoomed in. In the photo, Asher was carrying Ember into a hotel room.

I gripped my phone so tight my knuckles went white. The warmth in my eyes vanished completely in that moment, replaced by something dark and cold that wouldn't budge.

"Asher…" I ground his name out through clenched teeth, one syllable at a time, my voice soaked in hatred.

I thought that if I was patient enough, understanding enough, Ember would eventually see how good I was for her. But now I realized I'd been wrong — completely, utterly wrong. Her heart had never really been with me. If she still couldn't let go of Asher even now, then I'd make the choice for her.

I was going to make Asher disappear from this world for good. That way, Ember would have no one left but me.

My expression cold and dark, I pulled out my phone and dialed a private number. "Hey," I said, "I need you to take care of something for me. Ten million when it's done."

I hung up and stared at the photo of Ember and Asher on my screen, a cold smile pulling at the corner of my mouth.

Asher, you brought this on yourself.