My nostrils flare with rage.
“But you don’t let that physical weakness stop you. You’re foolish enough to think you could still stop vampires and witches alone. You’re the bravest, stubbornest, most determined female I’ve ever met. That makes you strong. You aren’t afraid of me when everyone else is, including Emeric. You’re my mate, and you know it. Denying it won’t change anything.”
“I’m—” I start but cut myself off. He’s probably right, but I still hate it.
“It doesn’t change anything,” I finally say. “It doesn’t change that I hate you. That you want to control me. That I still refuse to be yours and follow your every command the rest of my life.”
His eyes narrow, and he takes a deep breath, his gaze softening.“I was afraid.”
My heart stops as I hear him through our bond. His words going straight to my mind feels so intimate, like he’s pouring his soul into me.
“I was terrified that I was about to lose you out there.”
“But you didn’t. You’re the strongest alpha the world has ever seen. You didn’t even have to fight to get me to safety.”
He shakes his head as a strand of his hair falls in his face out of the half up bun on top of his head. And then I see the change, the moisture gathered in his eyes. The air changes between us. “Nyx sent them—the vampires and witches.”
“Nyx?”
He nods. “He’s the only alpha who can rival me. All he wants to do is defeat me and take over as head of all the packs. If he does, he’ll unleash hell on all the packs for exiling his Bloodmoon pack for all these years. He’ll let the vampires and witches wreak havoc until we are all destroyed.”
I study him closely and see that he’s truly afraid of Nyx. Of what could happen. But right now, I don’t care about Nyx. Or the vampires. Or the witches.
“Do you know what the mating bond does to a male? Especially an alpha?”
I shake my head slowly, trembling slightly as he moves his hands up my body.
“Let me show you. And then you can tell me if you think we are mates or not.”
Chapter 20
Lumi
Every time he speaks to me in my mind, it overwhelms me. It feels like an invasion, a caress, and an intense look into his mind. But then I remember he has the same access to my mind, and I freak out. I still don’t know how it all works. What he can hear or feel, or how he blocks me out when he wants to—I don’t understand any of it. I don’t understand how the mating bond works, or the curse, for that matter. Not really.
But I do know that it’s real.
“Why block me before?”I finally speak back into his mind, opening myself up to him again, feeling incredibly vulnerable.
“Because you shouldn’t grow close to me. It’s not safe. Not until you can shift and have your full strength. I don’t trust myself around you.”
“And now?”I raise my eyebrows.
He stills.“I still don’t trust myself around you. I’m not sure I ever will. But I don’t have a choice; letting you in seems the only way you’ll listen to me so I can keep you safe.”
I growl at that, but before I can respond, fear overwhelms my mind. A bitter taste engulfs my tastebuds as my skin grows clammy, and my breath becomes shallow. My eyes are blinded by darkness despite my sharp eyesight.
“What’s happening?” I ask as dread turns my skin ice cold.
Before Ambrose can answer, my sight has returned, but instead of seeing Ambrose standing in front of me in the cell in the basement, I’m looking out a glass window at the back garden, looking at my side profile. I’m looking through Ambrose’s eyes and feeling everything he’s feeling. White-cold terror freezes me to the spot for a split second.
Less than a second—that’s how long it would take one of those vampires to sink their teeth into her neck. A witch could kill her even faster with the flick of their magic, breaking her neck.I have to move,I think.But should I jump out the window? Or do I have time to move to the door? How do I save her?
Suddenly, we’re walking inside the house. My body has turned from ice cold to flaming hot fire. The fear quickly turns to rage and an intense desire to keep her safe. My mind is a whirl, trying to figure out the best place to keep her safe. I consider sending her away, just locking her in my room, but it’s not enough to keep her safe. Not from me.
I only have one option. One that will keep me from claiming her in every way possible. One that will keep me from forcing her to shift, to become a member of my pack, of completing the marking ceremony, of fucking me over and over until she’s mine, completely mine.
Next, I’m locking the door to her cell, and shame floods my mind.It’s the only way.The only way to keep her safe from the alpha male that is overwhelming me, shouting at me thatshe’s mine, mine, mine. That I can’t let her go.
