He wasn’t interested in a relationship with me. He didn’t evenlikeme. He just wanted to screw me.
I’d barely escaped my fiancé. Mating with someone else I didn’t want to mate with, who didn’t want me for who I was, would only be slightly better than my last situation.
“I’m not kissing anyone else.” He didn’t leave any room for arguing.
“I need to know before I try to find a mate at the resort. I?—”
“Seal the bond with me,” he said.
The words silenced me.
“You need a mate. I’ve already claimed you. If we make the vows, we can figure out where to go from there. No matter what else, at least you’ll be safe from the alpha.”
There was a tense pause.
Then he added gruffly, “And if the bond is real, you could be pregnant.”
My eyes widened with horror. “No. You need to kiss someone right fucking now, Ambrose, or I swear?—”
He spun me around so I faced him.
With his hands on my hips, he took two large steps and had me pinned between his body and the wall almost instantly.
The heat that rolled through me with the sudden, intense show of dominance was enough to make his nostrils flare and his eyes darken.
“The only person I willeverbe kissing again is you, Madi. I don’t give a fuck whether or not the bond is permanent yet. You’re mine. I’m yours. Whether you like it or not.”
My stomach tightened painfully. “You can’t just decide that for me. I?—”
“I shouldn’t have bitten you without your agreement,” Bo said. His eyes were tight. His jaw was, too. “But it’s done, and it’s not the end of your freedom. Bears don’t always stay with their mates. If you want to live apart after we find out you’re not pregnant, we can.”
I could tell gritting the last part out wasn’t easy for him. “What if I am?”
I couldn’t imagine that.
I didn’t want to, either.
“Then we’ll figure something out.”
“Figure what out, Ambrose?” My voice lowered.
“How to live together as roommates if we have to. I won’t let my cub grow up the way I did.”
“So you’re not going to give me a choice,” I said flatly. “If there’s a baby involved, even an accidental one, you’re not letting me leave.”
“Correct.”
I shoved his arms off of my body and strode toward the bathroom. “Fuck you.”
The door slammed shut behind me.
“The mold isn’t safe!” Bo yelled from the other side of the door.
“It’s safer for me than you are!” I shouted.
He didn’t have a comeback as I turned the shower on and let my heavy dress fall into a puddle on the floor. My underwear followed.
Stepping beneath the falling water, I closed my eyes.
