Alden does not flinch. He pushes off the window frame and crosses the room with measured steps, every movement controlled in a way that makes my pulse misbehave despite everything currently wrong with this situation.
“Yes,” he says calmly.
I stare at him. “That is your explanation?” I demand.
His jaw tightens slightly, but his tone stays even. “It was necessary.”
“Necessary?” I repeat, disbelief sharpening the word.
I swing my legs off the bed and stand, ignoring the brief sway of dizziness. The room tilts for half a second, then steadies, and I square my shoulders toward him.
“You do not get to decide what is necessary for my body,” I snap.
Alden stops a few feet away, and I can see the faint scrape marks on his shoulder from the fight. His eyes track the movement of my hand still pressed to my neck, something dark flickering there before it vanishes behind control.
“The mark legally binds you under my protection,” he says.
I blink. “That is not better.”
“It signals to every male and every shifter that you are untouchable,” he continues, voice steady and deliberate. “No one will challenge that claim openly.”
My stomach drops. “Claim,” I repeat slowly.
Alden holds my gaze. “The mark is associated with mating.”
My eyes nearly pop out of my head. “WHAT?”
“And now,” he adds, quieter, “the pack recognizes you as mine.”
For a long moment, I cannot speak.
I know werewolves exist. I know they shift. I know the world is a lot stranger than I thought two weeks ago. What I did not plan for was waking up legally attached to the most dangerousman in the territory because he made an executive decision with his teeth.
“You are telling me,” I say carefully, “that I am now… what? Officially mated to you.”
Alden’s silence is answer enough.
Something in my chest goes tight and furious.
“You made a life-altering decision for me,” I say, my voice rising despite my best effort to keep it level. “Without asking. Without warning. Without even the basic courtesy of a conversation.”
His expression hardens slightly. “You were about to be exposed in front of wolves loyal to the rogue and half the council.”
“That was still my choice,” I shoot back.
“It would have been your death,” he counters.
I take a step toward him, heat rising fast and sharp under my skin. “You do not know that.”
“I know exactly what was closing in around you,” Alden says, his voice dropping lower.
The quiet intensity in it makes my pulse jump, which only makes me more irritated. I am furious, and my body is acting like this is some kind of charged standoff instead of an argument about bodily autonomy.
“You dragged me into pack politics I do not understand,” I press. “You branded me in front of your enemies. You tied me to you legally, socially, and apparently biologically.”
His eyes flash at that last word. “It was the only option,” he says.
“That was not your call to make,” I snap.
