Cursing

Cursing
Dante Scout POV

“Not like I’m expecting some hardcore romance. I don’t love you either. It’s all hate from my side. Don’t forget how I lost my parents and became an orphan.” The words tore out of me, sharp and burning, my hands tightening around the steering wheel as anger crawled up my spine.

How dare she say that when I was trying to be decent, trying to be someone I usually wasn’t. The irony tasted bitter. No matter how much venom she spat or how much I pretended to despise her, the Moon Goddess had already decided our fate. Bound. Tethered. Trapped together.

And the worst part was the lie I kept feeding myself. I didn’t hate her. Not really. No matter how hard I forced the feeling, twisted it, dressed it up as resentment. The hatred belonged to her dead parents, a festering thing that bled through me and stained her name instead.

“You are so corny,” she snapped. “Always making me remember, like I didn’t lose my parents in that same accident.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that your parents planned it and got caught in their own scheme.”

She turned to look at me. I caught her gaze for a heartbeat before dragging my focus back to the road. “Why don’t you ever tell me the truth?” Her voice pressed in, tight and unyielding. “You keep saying my parents schemed behind your parents’ backs, but you never explain anything fully.”

Calm down, Dante. Calm down. I repeated it like a mantra, my jaw locking as I fought the urge to say too much. “Why do you need to know more?” I asked, my throat tight. “All you need to know is that you’re going to pay for the sin of sharing their blood.”

“I am already paying,” she replied quietly. “It’s been years. I’m fed up.”

“Don’t worry, bunny. We have our whole life together, so you’ll get plenty of chances to be fed up. That’s exactly what I plan to do.” A low chuckle slipped out of me, the thought of her resistance almost entertaining. Nothing she said was going to soften what stood between us.

She wasn’t getting rid of me. This hatred, whatever twisted ride we were locked into, stretched far too long to escape. Painful or not, I was in it completely, and she was coming with me whether she wanted to or not. I am that obsessed with her existence.

A few minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot of my office and cut the engine. I stepped out, rounded the car, and stopped by her door.

She sat there, unmoving, eyes forward, refusing even the courtesy of a reaction. I opened the door myself. “Baby, come out.” The smile on my lips was deliberate. I knew exactly how it scraped against her nerves.

She stepped out without a word. So that was the game now. Silence.

I took her hands in mine, threading my fingers through hers, locking them together before she could pull away. Her tension traveled straight through our joined palms, a quiet resistance that made my grip instinctively firm.

“Is this necessary?” Her gaze dropped to our locked hands. “You’re an Alpha. No one even knows what kind of relationship we have, and I don’t think you want anyone to find out. Holding hands in broad daylight?”

“Bunny, it’s not something I’m ashamed of.” I didn’t slow, didn’t loosen my hold. “I don’t hide. You do. And since when do you know what I want?”

“You’ve never associated yourself with me before.” Her brows lifted, sharp and challenging, daring me to deny it.

“Still not an issue.” My fingers tightened around hers, not painful, just firm. “I associate with you when I want to, and when I don’t. Why does it matter?” I gave her hand a subtle pull, guiding her forward. “Let’s go, baby.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” she grumbled, letting herself be pulled along even as every step screamed defiance.

Her reluctance stayed with me as we walked, a quiet drag against my stride, but she didn’t pull away. The building loomed ahead, glass and steel catching the afternoon light, its reflection flashing across her face as we crossed the lot. Heads turned. Of course they did.

An Alpha didn’t walk in hand-in-hand without drawing attention, and I felt every glance like a challenge I refused to acknowledge.

Her fingers flexed once in mine, a small, instinctive movement, then stilled again. I glanced down at her, just long enough to catch the tight set of her jaw, the way she schooled her expression into indifference. It almost made me smile. Almost.

Inside, the doors slid open, cool air washing over us, carrying the faint scent of polished floors and power. Conversations dipped, eyes flicking our way before snapping back, pretending not to stare. I didn’t slow. If anything, I straightened, my grip steady, possessive, unmistakable.

Let them see.

She leaned closer as we moved through the lobby, her tone low, meant only for me. “You enjoy this, don’t you?”

‘More than you’ll ever admit you hate it,’ I thought, my thumb brushing once over her knuckles, a silent promise wrapped in restraint. I didn’t answer her. I didn’t need to. Every step forward told enough on its own.

“Why do you always make my life hell?” she gritted out. I heard every word clearly, my wolf’s hearing catching the tension beneath her words.

We stepped into my private elevator, the one only I and a select few ever used. I pressed the button for my floor. “You’re so bothered, Vin. Didn’t you act like nothing ever mattered before? So what changed now?”

“Dante, you are so fucking insane.” She cursed, and the way her lips shaped the word sent a sharp jolt straight through me.

“Keep cursing, baby,” I drawled. “I might cum in my pants right now.”

Her palm turned clammy in mine, her nails digging into my wrist. “You’re pathetic. Disgusting.”

“Go on some more, baby,” I murmured, leaning in just enough to crowd her space. “I’m just close…”