Chapter 12 Chapter 12
Darius
A blackmailer? I didn’t expect this outcome.
When I saw her walk timidly towards us in that red dress, years of self control were almost shredded in that simple moment but thank goddess, my uncle was there to remind me we were looking at the enemy.
At first I was mesmerized, then slowly it seeped into anger as I connected the dots and realized she couldn’t have predicted I would be in attendance.
If my uncle hadn't insisted I joined him, I wouldn't have been here.
He only told Leonard he would escort the girls, I was a plus one.
It was a silly notion, but the stark contrast of her in that glamorous gown and her sister dressed so casually made me understand she had a choice.
And she chose to test my willpower or maybe someone else’s.
That’s when the wheel in my head began spinning. Heat crawled up my throat the way it always did when something I wanted wasn’t mine alone.
I had always been a jealous type, I didn’t like sharing, my throne, my wealth, my power and my women.
Iris was my mate and though I couldn’t claim her, the idea of another man touching her sent a violent squeeze through my chest.
I didn’t want her to be with anyone else.
Especially not after what we shared. I had no plans to stop that so she had no right to move on, not until I permitted it.
The moment she stepped in the stall, I caught her scent, my wolf stirred and I tried to ignore it but the thought she came to see another man was my undoing.
Only for the end result to be a blackmail and that made it worse for whoever was behind it.
“How long has this been going on, Iris?” I questioned, squeezing the note in my hand.
She lifted her chin, her brown pupils dilating trying to understand my intention. “I’m handling it.”
My jaw tightened, she didn’t need to, that was the problem.
“Tell me everything you know about this?” I said raising the note up every nerve in my body on edge
“I said I'm handling it,” she said, her voice a tone higher this time. Her jaw lifted, but when I frowned, her breath trembled and her gaze dropped.
Her little dance of defiance was cute, she was trying to show the tough nature of her alpha nature, but with me she was like an omega. Submitted to me and my desires.
“When I ask a question…” I took a dangerous step forward.
Her breath hitched.
Good. Let her feel it.
“You give me an answer.”
She looked away and my body moved before my mind caught up. Gently, I pinned her back against the wall.
The cool wall met her back with a soft thud, and heat radiated from her skin through my palms.
“Answer me,” I demanded, nudging her chin up with my thumb until she met my eyes.
“It’s the second note,” she whispered.
I forced a breath through my teeth., then tossed the paper. “You won’t worry about this anymore. Nothing is going to ruin the alliance.”
Her whole body flinched.
It was tiny—barely a twitch—but I felt it. I felt every shift in her, every heartbeat, every drop of hurt she tried to hide.
“What was that?” I demanded.
“Nothing.”
I pinned her again, my grip firmer this time. “Iris. Don’t lie to me.”
She closed her eyes.
My wolf lunged inside me. Claim her. Mark her.
Everything in me screamed to pull her against me and never let go. But I forced the instinct down, suffocating it beneath duty and the ugly truth of the world we lived in.
“I want to leave,” she whispered, voice cracking around the edges. “I shouldn’t be in here. I shouldn’t be—this. Any of this. You’re supposed to get married to my sister, and I’m—” She swallowed hard. “I’m just a one-night stand.”
My entire body went rigid.
One night stand.
How could she think that way?
Maybe because I never showed her, maybe because it was easier to keep my emotions in check.
She was more than that. I had never been tangled in a one night stand. It didn’t matter how drunk I was, I always made a conscious decision to be with any woman.
But with her, I was swept away, I was compelled to be with her and she didn’t see the effect she and the mate bond was having on me.
If she knew what it did to me to hear her call herself that…
But I couldn’t tell her the truth, she couldn’t know the power she had over me.
So instead, I grabbed her face with both hands and crashed my mouth against hers. Her lips parted under mine, soft and warm, tasting faintly of caramel and something unmistakably her.
It was like we had a psychic connection, our tongues doing a little dance of romance as I tasted every inch of her.
Since words couldn’t be used, I hoped she could feel how much I burned for her.
She wasn’t a fling.
She wasn’t replaceable.
She was the one thing I shouldn’t want but couldn’t stop reaching for.
I forced myself to break away before I could forget the damn world outside the closet.
Her eyes were wide. Lips parted. Such a beauty to behold.
This lady would be the end of me.
I forced myself to look away then stepped back, letting the cold air replace the heat between us. She reached out without thinking—just a small movement—but dropped her hand the second she realized what she was doing.
I’d learned long ago not to repel a pull; it only made the connection stronger. That was a risk I was willingly to take with her.
Without saying goodbye I strutted out of the closet, wondering if the kiss was a mistake.