Choose Egon… and Derek would destroy him.
Choose Derek… and I would lose everything.
The footsteps grew louder.
A moment later Egon rounded the corner.
Relief flashed across his face the instant he saw me. “Tori. I heard voices.” He closed the distance between us in two long strides. “Krag and Rohn were delayed downstairs by Jessica. They messaged me to attend to you.” His hands came up, framing my face, the warmth of his palms instantly grounding me. His golden eyes searched mine with fierce concentration. “Are you all right? Who were you talking to?”
His gaze scanned my face, my shoulders, the tension in my body. “You look… shaken.” He inhaled slowly, the beast’s eyes flaring as he processed. It wouldn’t be hard for him to figure out who I was talking to. Even I could smell Derek’s cologne in the hallway.
“Derek.”
He didn’t react.
“And I’m fine.” My response was automatic. And a lie. A complete and total fucking lie.
Egon
* * *
My mate was lying to me.
I knew it the moment I touched her.
My hand rested at the small of her back as I guided her through the quiet corridors of the resort, the thin fabric of her dress warm beneath my palm. To anyone watching, it might have looked casual—protective, perhaps—but nothing unusual.
To me, it felt like touching a live wire.
Tori’s body was tight with tension. Her muscles stayed rigid beneath my hand. Her pulse raced so fast I could feel the rhythm through the delicate bones of her wrist when our fingers brushed together.
Her breathing came shallow. Too shallow. And beneath the soft scent of vanilla and sunlight that always clung to her, there was another smell now.
Fear.
Not the sharp, immediate fear of danger. This was deeper. Lingering. The kind that settled into the bones and refused to leave.
Something had happened. Something she had not told me. The beast stirred uneasily beneath my skin. Demanded answers.
Kill him.
The instinct rose fast and hard—primal, brutal.
I couldn’t give in to the beast. Instead, I focused all our attention on the need to turn her to face me, to pin her against the nearest wall and kiss the truth from her lips.
But I was learning. Learning that my mate was not prey to be cornered or commanded.
She was strong. Proud. A female who had fought her way through life long before I had ever scented her across that crowded church.
If I pushed too hard, she would push back harder.
Patience.
The word felt like sand grinding metal gears inside my mind.
I gave her the time she asked for. Fucked her mindless. Held her as she slept. And now, standing with her in the harsh brightness of morning, I realized my patience had run out.
“You will tell me what Derek said to you.” The words left my mouth low and controlled, but the beast prowled just beneath the surface.
