“Fine.” The word tastes like defeat. “I’ll go.”
I button my shirt halfway and grab my shoes, which I pull on as she approaches to shut the door behind me.
At the threshold, I pause. “This isn’t over.”
“Yes, it is.” Her voice is quiet but firm. “We’re over, Kain. We were over the moment you said the bond wasn’t there for you. This…was a mistake.”
The door closes behind me with a finality that makes my wolf howl in anguish.
I stand in the hallway for a long moment, my hands clenched into fists, my entire body vibrating with the need to go back in there. I don’t want to leave things like this. But she told me to go, and I owe her at least that much respect.
I make it to my car before the fury really hits.
She’s going to keep seeing him. Going to let David touch her, kiss her, court her as if he has any right to her.
To my mate.
The steering wheel creaks under my grip.
No. Absolutely fucking not.
I don’t care about the mission. I don’t care about the organization or the consequences or any of it.
Anne is mine. And I’m going to prove it to her.
I’m going to win her over no matter what it takes. No matter what I have to do. Everything else—the mission, the lies, the danger—can go to hell.
I’ll deal with the fallout later. Right now, all that matters is her.
And making sure David fucking understands that he never had a chance.
Chapter Twelve
Anne
I feel like a mouse caught in a trap.
I can barely focus on the spreadsheet in front of me, my eyes scanning the same row of numbers for the third time without actually processing any of it. All I can think about is how I’m going to get through today avoiding both Kain and David, even though they’re both here, in this building, probably both eager to see me.
The thought alone is giving me a headache.
Last night with Kain...
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block out the memories, but they come anyway. The way his hands felt on my skin. The way he looked at me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered. The way my body responded to his touch as if it had been waiting ten years for exactly that.
It felt too good. I’d missed him so much—missed his touch, his presence, the way he always made me feel whole in a way nothing else ever has.
But my heart can’t take this.
The mate bond…Violet said that even when her wolf was suppressed, the bond was still there, making her feel an irresistible attraction to Darius. Maybe seeing me with David triggered it in Kain, woke up what he thought was dormant.
The thought makes hot fury spike in my chest. Is that all this is? Jealousy? He only wants me now because someone else does?
How selfish! Pushing me away, telling me the bond is dead, and then suddenly deciding he wants me back the moment another man shows interest.
I should continue with David. Give him the real chance I promised. He’s kind, attentive, and genuinely interested in me. He doesn’t deserve to be strung along while I figure out this mess with Kain.
But I don’t want to see him right now. I can’t look David in the eye when the memory of Kain inside me is still so fresh, so visceral. When I can still feel the ghost of his hands on my hips, of his lips on my neck.
