When we married, she would be under my protection in every way that mattered.The pack would watch over her.My enemies would know that harming her meant war.
And she’ll hate you for it.
Yes.She would.
I leaned my head back against the leather seat and closed my eyes, letting the memory of her wash over me.Not the morning I had broken her.Earlier.Better.
The night she had given me her virginity.The way she had trembled when I undressed her, not with fear but with anticipation.Her scent thickening with arousal, her pulse racing in the hollow of her throat as I laid her bare.The sounds she had made when I finally pushed inside her, that soft cry of pain turning to pleasure, her body gripping me so tight I nearly lost my mind.
The way she had looked up at me afterward, vulnerable and sated.Blue eyes hazy with satisfaction, blonde hair spread across my pillow.Her scent mingled with mine on my sheets, marking my territory in a way that made my wolf howl with possessive joy.
I had nearly let myself claim her then.Nearly let my teeth sink into that tender place where her neck met her shoulder.The pull had been overwhelming, the desperate need to bind her to me forever.
I had stopped myself.Pulled back at the last moment, forcing him down with every ounce of will I possessed.Because I had seen what happened when wolves lost control.Had watched my father’s claws tear through my mother’s throat.And Lena had been so soft beneath me.So fragile.So human.One slip, one moment of weakness, and I could destroy her the same way.
And then the morning after, with Viktor’s warning still echoing in my ears and the Pakhan’s attention already turning toward her, I had looked at her sleeping face and made the cruelest decision of my life.
I had sent her away.Cold.Dismissive.I had removed the collar she had learned to accept and told her the contract was fulfilled.Watched her face crumble from confusion to hurt to rage.
Told myself I was protecting her.
Broke her to save her, and destroyed myself in the process.
My wolf whined at the memory, the sound reverberating through my chest.Two months of his grief had been nearly unbearable.The unclaimed mate bond pulled at me constantly, a phantom limb that ached where she should have been.Every night he had paced and howled, demanding I go to her, claim her, make it right.Every night I had pushed him down and reminded us both that we did not deserve her.
The Pakhan’s claws had been mercy compared to this.Physical wounds healed.The hollow ache of an unfinished bond only grew worse.
The Pakhan’s ultimatum had changed nothing and everything.Now I had permission.Had a reason that went beyond my own selfish need.But the truth remained the same.
I was returning to force a woman who hated me into a marriage she didn’t want, using legal traps and contractual obligations to bind her to my side.It didn’t matter that I was doing it to save her life.It didn’t matter that the alternative was killing her.What mattered was that once again, I was taking her choice away.
She would never forgive me for this.
And I would spend the rest of my life trying to earn forgiveness I didn’t deserve.
“Sir.”Parsons’ voice pulled me from my thoughts.“The hotel.”
I opened my eyes.
The Hughes Palace Hotel rose against the mountain backdrop, its stone facade bright in the mid-morning sun.I had seen it dozens of times before.Had walked its halls, dined in its restaurant, watched Lena navigate its politics with a competence that made my wolf purr with pride.
But today it looked different.Like a fortress I was about to siege.Like the last barrier between me and the woman I would destroy myself to protect.
I remembered the first time I saw her.A party in this very hotel, two years ago.She had been wearing a green dress that set off her eyes, her blonde hair swept up to expose the curve of her neck.My wolf had recognized her before I did.Had surged forward with a desperation I had never felt before, howling the word that would define every moment since.
Mate.
She had had no idea I was watching, laughing at her father’s joke while the monster across the room calculated how to possess her.Her scent had hit me even from that distance.
I had kept my distance.She was too young.So I had waited.Years of patience, of watching from afar, until she turned twenty and I finally allowed myself to meet her in her father’s office.
I had hated myself for the patience.Hated myself more for what came after.
In a few minutes, I would walk into that lobby and demand she marry me.I would use the contract she had signed to save her father and the will that controlled her inheritance and every piece of leverage I could find.I would give her no choice.
And she would look at me with those blue eyes burning with contempt, and I would accept it.Let it scour me clean.Let her hatred be the penance I deserved.
Because the alternative was her death.And my wolf, my heart, my very soul would burn the world to ashes before we let that happen.
