Chapter 30 STRIPPED AND BROKEN
DEREK’S POV
Heart thumping against me, and I can’t move, I don’t want to. I’d rather hold her like this and let the comfort her presence brings wash over me.
I have my hands around her waist and my face in the crook of her neck, with her leg resting on me and her hand holding mine to her body.
I feel myself harden in response to her at the feel of her skin against mine and her ass terribly close to my member, but I ignore it, focusing solely on the peace that overcomes me, with her right here.
For these few minutes, I want her to just be my mate, the one I’ve waited for, for decades, not the daughter of Alpha Snow, not someone that could betray me, and not someone being with would dishonor the memory of my mother.
I hold her silently, letting my scent wrap itself around her and hers around me. Everyone would know who she belongs to once she steps out of here. Especially Damien.
At the thought of him, I feel my jealousy spike, but I don’t dwell on it as I feel her stiffen in my arms, indicating that she has woken up.
I pull her closer to myself, tightening my hold on her and flattening my palm on her stomach, reveling in the seconds she doesn’t move or pull away from me.
My wolf purrs in satisfaction that she loves my touch as much as I love hers, but I cannot bask in the feeling for long as my door suddenly gets pushed open forcefully, and I feel him before he speaks.
“You’d better tell me that your mating has already been completed, and I’m yet to feel a connection because I’ve not been close to you for a while,” my father says, and I groan, deciding to ignore him and just keep holding her, but she has other ideas as she begins wiggling in my arms.
I sigh inwardly as I let her go, and she moves away from me speedily.
“Good morning to you too, father,” I say, refusing to look at him and feeling the usual waves of emotions, ones that I feel daily crash into me.
Annoyance that he barged into my room. Frustration, about wanting to pull her near me and push her away at the same time. Irritation, that he keeps meddling in my affairs with my mate and not letting me handle it the way I see fit. Sadness, because I know he’s barely holding on, and his will to live is slowly fading.
“I’m not here for pleasantries, Derek. You have a duty, have you done what is expected of you?” he asks authoritatively, and I lift myself off the bed.
“I told you I would get it done, Father, barging into my room this early doesn’t exactly help the situation,” I say, bottling down my annoyance.
“I wouldn’t be here if there was any progress, do you think this isn’t the last place I want to be?” he asks, still fuming.
“I’m handling it, father, but there has been so resistance,” I say, fully aware that we are both speaking as though Amber is not in the room when she’s standing and staring between both of us.
“What resistance can’t you pull through? You would have to wait another decade if we don’t hold the ceremony on this blood moon. Do you really want to risk that because of some resistance?”
More like he wouldn’t want to risk that.
“I can’t exactly force her to mate with me father; she has to be willing to do it for the bond to be formed,” I state, trying to explain why this has taken this long.
“She doesn’t have to be willing to get your mark. Why don’t you mark her and get this over and done with?”
“You know why I can’t do that, Father. She cannot be a part of me; I cannot be that close to her, and I refuse to let her get that close to me. Marking her is not an option; I won’t risk being lured into a trap that will cause the downfall of the pack because I am too attached to her,” I state firmly.
“This has taken an awfully long time, Derek, can’t you entice her with something to gain her acceptance?” he asks, still not addressing her with so much as a glance.
“It isn’t that easy. She’s stubborn and difficult, hence why I hardly slept last night,” besides the throbbing of my pulse to bury myself inside her with a fierce need. “She wants nothing to do with me, and in her delusional mind, she believes that she has a choice.”
“She has been living and breathing the same air as freely as we have, and she’s trying to prove that she is good for nothing? Even such a minimalistic task of mating you for the good of the pack? She is clearly a Snow, selfish and insensitive. Simply evil,” my father says with spite, and for the first time, turns to her, making her visibly tense under his gaze.
“I’ll handle it, Father. There are many ways to control a person’s decision.”
“Ask her what she wants and give it to her. Get her to sleep with you immediately.”
“What would you want in exchange for your compliance, Amber? We need to mate before the blood moon rises at midnight,” I say to her, turning to read her expression, but I find a blank stare, fixed on me, and an impassive look on her face.
She opens her mouth to answer, but words don’t come out, so she shuts it and just keeps staring at me, which irks me.
“I asked you a question, Amber,” I say, more fiercely now, and this time she responds.
“I don’t want anything from you, Derek, or your pack. I never wanted anything. But I need something,” she says, taking a deep breath, her voice icy but quiet, “I need you, your father, and your pack to all go to hell!”
“How dare you?!” my father’s voice booms as he glares at her, but she is quick to retort.
“I’m not finished Alpha Steele, your son asked me a question,” she says, her tone and gaze unwavering as she stares at my father ignoring the fury in his eyes before turning to me, “I despise you, Derek. I despise all you stand for and I would never have anything to do with you,” she says to me, each word laced with venom and I feel stung by the fiery passion in her eyes.
“Watch your tone, you –” my father starts saying, now emitting a deadly aura while I keep silent, observing.
“No! You both watch your tone!! Right now, I hold all the cards. By virtue of the tribunal’s ruling, you cannot hurt me, by virtue of the baby in my womb, you cannot punish me, and by virtue of your need for my consent, you can’t touch me.” She pauses and drops her tone, “I need you all to stay the fuck away from me, I owe you nothing, and I sure as hell won’t give you anything,” she says, turning away and walking towards the door.
I watch her walk away, and I stand stunned, confused by the feelings her utter rejection just brought to me to the point of silence. For one second, I feel her words strip and break me, and in this second, I realize how much I care about her opinion of me.
But this second is fleeting, and proper reasoning returns almost instantly.
“Don’t take another step, Amber,” I say authoritatively, and she stops walking, holding tightly onto the door handle as I watch her body shake with rage.
“I answered your question,” she says, but I walk closer to her.
If no one will have an effect on her or be able to control her, then I will be the exception.
“If by midnight, I don’t see you on my bed, sexy as hell and ready to be properly fucked, I will ensure that for the next decade I’ll make your life a living hell. I haven’t made you suffer yet, Amber; you don’t know the extent I would go to hurt you. It’s your choice,” I say quietly into her ears before leaning, placing my hand on hers on the doorknob, and pulling the door open for her.
FURY IN HER EYES