Chapter 17 Biological Inconvenience
Lira pov
"That's exactly what you said!" My voice rang out, echoing off the stone walls. "You want to use me when it's convenient, discard me when it's not, and keep me grateful for whatever scraps of attention you decide to throw my way."
His jaw clenched. "You're twisting my words." His hands curled into fists.
"Am I?" I stepped closer, glaring up at him. "Because from where I'm standing, it sounds like you want all the benefits of having a mate without any of the commitment."
"Commitment is the problem!" The words exploded out of him, his control breaking. "Don't you understand? Once this bond is complete, I won't be able to let you go. Ever. I'll kill anyone who threatens you, destroy anyone who looks at you wrong. Is that what you want?"
"Maybe it is." My answer was calm but defiant.
"You don't mean that." He shook his head sharply.
"Don't tell me what I mean!" I stepped closer, poking him in the chest. "I'm so tired of everyone deciding what's best for me. What I can handle or what I deserve."
"Because you make terrible decisions!" His voice thundered, raw with anger.
"Like what?" I demanded, my tone biting.
"Like this!" His hands framed my face, holding me still. "Like pushing an alpha who's barely holding onto control. Like thinking you can handle the kind of male I am."
"Show me." The challenge came out breathless. My eyes didn't leave his. "Show me exactly what kind of male you are."
Something snapped in his eyes. Before I could react, his mouth crashed down on mine, all heat and aggression and barely leashed violence. I gasped, and he took advantage, his tongue sliding against mine with devastating skill.
When he pulled back, we were both breathing hard.
"This is what you want?" His voice was rough, broken. "To be owned by someone who'll never let you out of his sight?"
"Yes." My answer came without hesitation.
"To be marked so completely that your scent changes? So every wolf who meets you knows exactly who you belong to?" His hands trembled as they cupped my face.
"Yes." My voice shook, but I meant it.
His eyes went molten gold. "To have a mate who'll fuck you until you can't walk straight, then do it again because he can't stand the thought of you being anywhere but under him?"
My breath hitched. "Yes," I whispered, my cheeks burning.
The word seemed to break his last thread of control. With a growl that was more wolf than human, his head dipped to my throat.
I felt the scrape of his canines against my pulse point, the warning pressure that made my entire body go puddly with anticipation.
"Last chance," he breathed against my skin. "Say no, and I'll walk away."
Instead of words, I arched my neck, offering myself completely.
His teeth sank deep as the world exploded.
Pain unlike anything I'd ever experienced tore through my nervous system, followed immediately by pleasure so intense it bordered on agony. I screamed, the sound echoing off the stone walls as my body convulsed in his arms.
But the physical sensations were nothing compared to what happened in my mind.
Kael.
I could feel him—not just his emotions, but his very essence flooding into my consciousness. His memories, his fears, his desperate need to protect what was his. The loneliness of eleven years in exile. The betrayal that had shaped him. The terror of caring about someone who could be taken away.
Lira.
His voice in my mind was agonized, and suddenly I understood—he was experiencing my memories in return. I felt the connection open both ways as twenty years of my darkness and abuse flowed through our bond. The constant fear. The bone-deep certainty that I was worthless, unwanted, broken.
No. His mental voice wrapped around me. Never worthless. Never unwanted. Mine.
The bond snapped into place with the force of a lightning strike. Every nerve ending in my body lit up as our souls recognized each other, accepted each other, claimed each other completely.
My strength gave out. I collapsed, and Kael caught me before I hit the stone floor. "Lira," he said hoarsely, his voice raw.
Through the dimming haze of consciousness, I caught glimpses of his face—gray with shock as he processed what we'd just done. What we'd just become.
Then darkness claimed me.
Kael's POV
The taste of her blood was still on my tongue. Sweet, metallic but addictive. My wolf was singing with satisfaction, finally complete.
But looking down at Lira's unconscious form, seeing the perfect bite mark I'd left on her throat, reality crashed over me.
"What have I done?" I whispered, my arms tightening around her.
The bond pulsed between us, stronger now than anything I'd ever experienced. I could feel her heartbeat, her breathing, the dreams flickering behind her closed eyelids.
She was mine now. Completely and irrevocably mine.
And that terrified me more than anything I'd faced in exile.
Because now I had something to lose. Something that could be used against me. Something that mattered more than my own life.
I gathered her carefully in my arms, feeling the bond settling into place like a living thing in my chest. Every instinct screamed at me to take her somewhere safe, somewhere private, somewhere I could guard her properly.
But as I looked down at her peaceful face, one thought echoed through my mind like a death knell: Fate just made us both targets.