Chapter 10 Chapter 10
Zane
The elder droned on about territory disputes, his voice making a meaningless buzz in my ears.
I should have been paying attention. It was very crucial that I cared that the Silvercrest Pack was encroaching on our northern hunting grounds again. But all I could think about was where the fuck Kaius was with my mate.
My mate.
The words tasted wrong in my mouth. Like claiming ownership of something I didn’t want but couldn’t let go of.
I’d asked him to take her back to her chambers—a simple task. That was fifteen minutes ago. What the hell was taking so long?
My wolf stirred restlessly beneath my skin, pacing and snarling. He’d been agitated since the moment I’d handed Tiana off to Kaius, and now he was borderline feral.
“Alpha Zane?” The elder’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Your opinion on the matter?”
“Handle it,” I said curtly. “I trust your judgment.”
I had no idea what I’d just agreed to.
My gaze drifted to the window overlooking the courtyard, and that’s when I saw them.
Kaius. With Tiana on his back.
Her arms were wrapped around his neck, her thighs bracketing his waist, and her head… her head was tilted back as she laughed for another male wolf.
The sound didn’t reach me through the glass, but I could see it in the way her shoulders shook, and how her mouth curved wide and unguarded.
I’d never seen her laugh like that.
Not once in the eight years she’d lived in this pack house. Nor in the weeks since I’d forced her into this bond.
But Kaius—my nephew, who’d known her for all of five fucking minutes—had her laughing like she didn’t have a care in the world.
Something hot and violent twisted in my chest.
“Excuse me,” I said, already standing. “Something requires my immediate attention.”
I didn’t wait for their response.
I caught them just as Kaius was lowering her onto her bed.
His hands lingered on her waist. Her hand was still on his shoulder. And they were speaking in low voices, comfortably in a way that made my vision blur red at the edges.
“She won’t need anything from you.”
My voice came out harsher than I’d intended, but I didn’t care.
They both froze.
Tiana’s eyes went wide, her face flushing as she pulled her hand back from Kaius like she’d been burned. Good. She should be guilty.
Kaius, on the other hand, straightened slowly and turned to face me with that infuriating calm he always wore.
“I was just bringing her back from treatment,” he said evenly. “Like you asked.”
“That was over twenty minutes ago.”
“The healers delayed us for a bit, addressing the next round of treatment.” His eyes held mine, unflinching. “She could barely walk. So I had to help her, on my back.”
The implication hung between us: You weren’t there. I was.
My wolf snarled, pushing against my control. I wanted to grab him by the throat and throw him out the window. And make it clear to him that touching my mate—even innocently—was a privilege he’d never have again.
But I was an Alpha. I had control.
“Leave,” I said quietly.
Kaius glanced at Tiana, some quiet communication passing between them that made my hands curl into fists. Then he nodded and headed for the door.
He paused in the doorway. “Uncle, she’s been through hell today. Maybe you should let her rest.”
Then he was gone.
Nonsense! He was now telling me how to run my home.
Silence filled the room as I shifted my gaze to Tiana.
She sat on the edge of her bed, her hands twisted in her lap, looking small and exhausted and—
And beautiful.
The thought came unbidden and unwanted. But I couldn’t unsee it now that it was there.
The way her dark hair fell around her face in messy waves. The curve of her neck where my mark still stood out, silver against her skin. The fullness of her body that I’d spent weeks telling myself I found unappealing.
Lies. All of it.
She was soft where other she-wolves were angular and curved in the places that they were sharp.
And something about that softness—the way it contrasted with the steel in her eyes when she’d snapped at me yesterday—called to a part of me I didn’t want to acknowledge.
My wolf certainly had no problem acknowledging it. He wanted her. To be precise, he had wanted her from the moment the bond snapped into place, consequences be damned.
“You were enjoying that,” I said, my voice coming out once again, rougher than I intended. “His hands on you,” I emphasized.
She looked up, and there was some weight in her eyes I hadn’t seen before. It was not fear. Nor was it submission.
It was exhaustion. Bone-deep, soul-tired exhaustion.
“What do you want from me, Alpha?” Her voice shook, but with frustration instead of fear, the thing I needed her to have for me. “You told Kaius to bring me here and now you accuse me wrongly.
It’s obvious you can’t stand to touch me, but you lose your mind when someone else shows me basic kindness. You forced this bond, but you act like I’m the one who trapped you.”
She stood, swaying slightly, but her eyes never left mine.
“I’m tired. I’m in pain from the injections and I don’t have the energy to decode whatever game you’re playing.”
Some wiring snapped inside me.
I crossed the room in three strides, backing her up until her spine hit the wall. My hands came up on either side of her head, caging her in.
“Game?” I growled, my face inches from hers. “You think this is a game to me?”
Her breath came faster now. I could see her pulse fluttering in her throat, right below my mark. And my nostrils picked the smell of fear on her—but underneath it, something else. Something that made my wolf rumble with satisfaction.
Arousal.
She was afraid of me. But she wanted me too.
The realization sent heat straight to my groin.
“You’re mine,” I said, my voice dropping lower. “Every breath. Every heartbeat. Mine. We are bonded and you will listen to me. I am your Alpha and I will not share you with anyone.”
“Then act like I’m yours,” she shot back, and the fire in her eyes made my cock throb. “Stop treating me like I’m nothing.”
My hand moved of its own accord, sliding from the wall to her waist. Her body was warm under my palm, soft and yielding in ways that made me want to—
No.
This was dangerous. This wanting.
Because if I let myself have her in this way, I’d lose the upper hand. She already had leverage over me by being the only woman who could bear my heir. If I added desire to that equation, if I let her see how much I wanted her…
She’d have power over me.
And I couldn’t allow that.
But my body didn’t give a fuck about that reality.
My thumb brushed the underside of her breast through the thin fabric of her dress, and she gasped. The sound went straight through me.
“You have no idea,” I murmured against her ear, “how hard it’s been to keep my hands off you.”
Her eyes fluttered closed. “Then why do you?”
Because I’m afraid. Because you could destroy me if I let you in. Because I don’t know how to want something this much without losing myself in it.
But I couldn’t say any of that.
Instead, I leaned in, my lips hovering over hers. So close I could feel her breath and I could taste the anticipation in the air between us.
Her lips parted. An invitation she probably didn’t even realize she was giving.
My wolf roared in triumph. Take her. Claim her. Make her understand she’s OURS.
I was a breath away from closing the distance when—
“Alpha?” Beta Ezra’s voice came through the door, sharp with urgency. “The situation with the southern border requires your immediate attention.”
I froze.
For one long moment, I stayed exactly where I was, my body pressed against Tiana’s, my mouth hovering over hers. I felt her trembling. Saw the confusion and want warring in her eyes.
Then reality crashed back in.
I pushed away from her, putting distance between us before I did something stupid that I couldn’t take back.
“This isn’t over,” I said, my voice rough with need I couldn’t quite hide, then left the room.