Chapter Eight
The Pull
Acheron
She hasn’t run, and that alone should calm the beast pacing inside me.But it doesn’t do a damn thing to his shitty disposition.If anything, it makes my dragon more alert.More possessive, aggressive, agitated.
She’s upstairs in my bed.Wrapped in my sheets.Leaving her scent all over my territory and she smells like mine.I offered her a room of her own but gave her the master bedroom.I will sleep on the couch in my office until she accepts what I already know, that we belong together.
I watch her on the internal security feed, a silent voyeur.She doesn’t know the camera in the corner of the suite is there.Or maybe she does and doesn’t care.She moves slowly, hesitantly, like someone navigating a trap she can’t quite see.
She hasn’t touched the food I had brought up.She hasn’t changed out of the clothes I peeled off her the afternoon before.And she hasn’t slept.She just sits at the edge of the bed with her knees drawn to her chest, staring out the window like the city below holds all the answers she’s too afraid to ask.
And still, she hasn’t run.Not that it would do her any good, because I’d only go after her.
My dragon settles briefly at that thought.Not in satisfaction, but in certainty.We know what she is to us.The bond has begun, however reluctantly on her end.And now, I need to be patient even if my dragon is clawing inside me to get out and to her.
Clearly, patience has never been a strength for either of us.I have always gotten whatever I want, whenever I want.
I step away from the monitor, pacing the length of my study.The fireplace crackles in the hearth, the scent of pinewood smoke curling through the room, but even that can’t mask the lingering hint of Zahara in the air.
She’s still burning through me.
I pull a crystal tumbler from the bar and pour a few fingers of single malt.I swirl it, but I don’t drink.I think of the way she flinched when I said mate.The way her voice cracked when she said she didn’t choose this or me.
Something in her past is broken.Someone hurt her or left her unprotected in a world that eats omegas alive.And I hate that I don’t know who it was or what happened to my mate.
I built an empire on information.Nothing moves in this city without my knowledge.I can destroy a man’s entire legacy with a single call.
But Zahara is a ghost.Her records are wiped of any information that may lead me to the answers I need.Her history has been altered and every time I dig, all I hit are walls.Which means someone powerful didn’t want her found or someone wanted her hidden.
I don’t like mysteries.They make my brain itch and I need to solve them.Fast.
And Zahara is the most dangerous mystery I’ve ever encountered.
****
Hours pass before Igo upstairs.Not because I’m avoiding her, but because I need her to feel the illusion of space.Of choice.Even if we both know she has none.When I reach the suite, I pause just outside the door.Her scent is stronger now.Softer and less defiant.
I knock once.“Zahara.”There’s a rustle of movement, followed by silence.“I brought you some food.I know you haven’t eaten.”
Still nothing.My dragon grumbles in the back of my mind and I know he is frustrated by her lack of communication.I slowly push open the door.
She’s in the same spot, her eyes rimmed with red, and her jaw is clenched like she’s holding back a scream.
“You’re watching me,” she accuses quietly.
“Yes.”I answer honestly.I will never lie to her even if it is for my own benefit.
“You don’t even try to deny it.”Her brow rises as she frowns at me in confusion.
