Chapter 32 CLAIMED ONCE AGAIN
AMBER’S POV
“I should do it, shouldn’t I?” I ask, walking closer to him, just as he picks the tray of food from the ground.
“Yes, Princess.”
“I should walk over there and demand to be treated with the respect that I deserve, shouldn’t I?” I ask with a firmer tone, picking grapes and putting them in my mouth, thinking about my baby’s health.
“You should definitely do that, Princess,” he says, watching me intently, with an encouraging look in his clear blue eyes, but there’s also an underlying emotion within them that I can decipher.
“I should tell him that I want to be more involved in – no – completely involved in running the pack as the Luna, right?” I ask, my voice gaining more strength, while I peer into his eyes interrogatively, popping grapes into my mouth.
“You should demand that,” he says, egging me on and staring at me intensely, observing my reaction.
“I should ask to be moved out of this shabby old room to one that befits a queen,” I say, eating the already chopped beef once the grapes are finished, not once looking away from him.
“Surely, princess, you deserve to be treated like royalty,” he says solemnly, still watching me, and my skin prickles with the raw energy that seemed to have wrapped us in a bubble.
I don’t say a word after this and simply look at him, taking in the structure of his face, noting things I haven’t noticed previously. The outline of his cheeks accentuates the shape of his lips, pink and perfect, complementing the crystal blue of his eyes, which stand out against the backdrop of his jet-black hair that falls over his forehead in a slick fashion.
He has a scar beside his left eye that goes unnoticed without scrutiny. He has such immaculate features that for the first time since I got here, I appreciate the level of creativity the Goddess put into creating him. I’m sure making such a fine man isn’t a small feat.
“Should I have sex with him?” I say, my voice a whisper and my tone mellow, and I feel the tension between us thicken at my question.
He doesn’t reply for a bit, and in this moment, I see it, the underlying emotion which he tried to mask, the hurt and conflict raging within him that he was masterfully subduing, the clear displeasure in his eyes.
He turns away from me, bending to place the tray down, before wrapping a hand around my waist and pulling me in for a hug.
“You’re his mate, and you’re my Luna,” he says quietly, seemingly more to himself than to me, and the sadness in his tone pricks me.
“Mm,” I hum while settling my face in the crook of his neck and inhaling, seeking a bit of comfort to calm the turmoil going through me and aiming to give the same in return.
None of this makes sense. I shouldn’t be able to feel this way toward someone other than my mate, and the worst is, the moment I leave him and go into Derek’s arms, I would have these exact feelings for Derek, if not amplified.
“You should go to him, bargain for your freedom, then perform your duty as the Luna. I’ll be waiting for you once you’re done,” he says, his tone a crisp monotone, and I nod once he pulls away from me.
“Okay,” I say, with this, I don’t waste another second before walking away from him, knowing that with each second I stay back, I’ll convince myself not to leave his side.
I keep walking until I get to Derek’s room, not once looking back, while silencing the sadness I feel and the confusion in my mind.
Once I get to his door, I realize that he’ll instantly smell Damien on me, and it will undoubtedly piss him off. This motivates me to open the door without knocking, already sensing him inside.
“I have demands if anything is to happen between us,” I say, ignoring the instant pulsing need I feel and the loud purr of my wolf, once we spot him sitting without a shirt and staring at us with a frown on his face.
A significant switch from the way I felt just a few minutes ago, which proves my point; each time I’m with either of them, we seem to be cocooned in our own little world, shutting every other person or thing out.
“You can state your demands while we are in the bathroom,” he says authoritatively, standing up and walking towards me, pinning me with his predator gaze.
“I’m not bathing with you, Derek. I need you to listen to what I have to say,” I say, now glaring at him, irritated by his disregard of my first statement.
“And I won’t listen to anything you have to say while you stand here wearing my beta’s scent like a second skin,” he growls fiercely, his emerald eyes glowing with a hint of crimson, and I stiffen at the intensity of his displeasure. There’s a prominent shift in the air from warm to scathing, but I ignore it.
“What I have to say to you is important, and you need to listen to me before you start making demands of your own. You don’t get to shut me up because you are upset,” I say, surprised by the firmness of my voice when my wolf is quivering inside, and he growls fiercely again, stepping even closer to me, so that I now have to look up to meet his eyes.
“You think I’m upset, Amber? I’m fucking furious, and I’ve murdered my beta in more than a thousand ways in my mind, the second you made that statement, my favorite way is boiling him in hot oil and watching his skin fry till his scent changes into that of cooked meat, and then I’ll feed him to –”
“Enough,” I say, appalled by the malignity of his thoughts.
“Why?” he asks, matching my tone, and my skin tingles at the murderous look in his now glowing red eyes, and I can tell his wolf is taking the reins of control as he looks like my interruption of his explanation just proved to him why he needs to kill Damien.
“I’ll take a shower,” I say, giving in and attempting to walk past him, but in less than a second, I feel his arm around me as he lifts me off the floor and places me on his shoulder.
“I said we, not you, Amber. I’m washing every inch of your body until there isn’t an inkling of Damien around you. You are mine, and you shouldn’t have another male's scent on you,” his possessive words pour over me like gasoline to my fiery rage at his insolence.
I’LL GIVE ANYTHING