Connor’s head barely moves with the impact, but when his gaze meets mine again, his eyes are glowing. Actually glowing, that same amber gold I saw when he showed me his partial shift.
“I warned you,” he growls, his voice dropping into a register that vibrates in my bones.
The world flips upside down as he hauls me over his shoulder like I weigh nothing at all.
I scream and pound my fists against his back, but he doesn’t even break stride. He moves through the medical center at a pace no human could ever match, fast enough that the hallways blend into smears of color around me. Before I can draw another breath, we’re outside, and the cool evening air slaps against my flushed cheeks.
By the time he sets me on my feet in front of a large wooden building, my entire body is shaking.
“How dare you?” I shove both hands against his chest, and he doesn’t move a single inch. “How dare you treat me like that. Like I’m some kind of possession you can just pick up and relocate whenever you feel like it.”
“I did what I had to do to keep you safe.”
“Safe? Is this how you treat your mate? Manhandling her, ignoring her wishes, and making decisions without her consent?”
“My wolf was screaming at me to protect you. I couldn’t just—”
“I don’t care what your wolf was doing. I’m a person, Connor. A human being with my own thoughts and feelings andthe right to make my own choices. And if this is what your protection looks like, then I don’t want any part of it.”
He stands there in front of me, breathing hard with that amber glow slowly fading from his irises. I can see the war playing out on his face, the battle between instinct and reason.
But he doesn’t apologize. Doesn’t step aside. Just watches me with those impossible blue eyes while the last of the daylight bleeds out of the sky behind him.
Chapter 10 - Connor
She’s looking at me like I’m the monster she always feared I’d be.
I can see every ounce of fury burning in her pale blue eyes. Her cheeks are flushed, her breathing is ragged, and she’s curled her hands into fists at her sides. She looks ready to take another swing at me.
Part of me wishes she would. At least then I’d know what to do.
“You had no right,” she seethes. “No right to—”
The front door of headquarters bangs open behind me, and I don’t need to turn around to know who’s standing there. Nic’s presence fills the space like a physical force as his Alpha energy radiates outward, and he takes in the scene before him.
“What the hell is going on out here?” he demands. “I could hear you two from my office.”
I don’t take my eyes off Fern. Can’t. My wolf is still riding too close to the surface, still howling at me to protect her, to claim her, to make sure no one can ever threaten her again. The rational part of my brain knows I’ve already pushed too far. The animal part doesn’t care.
“Her ex may have found her,” I state. “He’s been sending threats. She’s not safe.”
Nic moves to stand beside me as his eyes bounce between us. “Explain. What kind of threats?”
“Text messages. Phone calls. Dozens of them, all saying the same thing—that he’ll find her, that she belongs to him.” I clench my hands at my sides. “He broke into her apartment twoweeks ago and told her he’d kill her if she tried to leave again. That’s why she ran. That’s why she ended up here.”
Fern flinches, and something twists in my gut. I shouldn’t be airing her secrets like this, shouldn’t be laying her trauma bare in front of the Alpha without her permission. But she won’t protect herself, so someone has to.
“Is this true?” Nic asks her directly.
She lifts her chin with defiance burning in her eyes. “It’s true. But that doesn’t give him the right to drag me through the medical center like a sack of potatoes.”
“I was protecting you.”
“You were controlling me. There’s—”
Nic holds up a hand, cutting her off. “Enough. Both of you.” His Alpha authority bleeds into the words, and even I feel the pull to obey. “What exactly are you proposing here, Connor?”
“The mating ceremony,” I declare. “We need to hold it tonight.”
