Forbidden Flames

RAVEN

I ran.

Not away from the warehouse, because Dominic would just catch me. I ran deeper into it, past rusted machinery and broken crates, until I found a corner where shadows swallowed me whole and I could finally breathe.

Mate bond. Fated mate. The words looped through my head like a curse.

He was marrying my mother in four days. Four days. And he just told me we were destined to be together? That some cosmic force had decided we belonged to each other?

"This is insane." I pressed my hands against my face, feeling the heat there, the way my skin prickled with something that wasn't quite fear. "This whole thing is insane."

"Running won't change it." Dominic's voice came from the darkness, closer than it should have been. He moved like a predator, silent and sure. "The bond doesn't care about human morality. It doesn't care that I'm about to marry your mother. It just is."

"Then break it." I spun to face him, finding his silhouette in the shadows. "If it's so wrong, just break it. Reject me. Isn't that how it works in all the supernatural stories?"

"You think I haven't tried?" His laugh was bitter, broken. "I've been rejecting it since the moment you walked into that diner. Every time I look at you, every time I get close, my wolf fights me. Demands I claim you. Mark you. Make you mine in every way that matters."

Heat flooded through me at his words, unwanted and undeniable. "Stop."

"Stop what? Telling the truth?" He moved closer, and I backed into the wall. "You feel it too. Don't lie to me, Raven. I can smell arousal on you every time we're in the same room."

"That's—" Humiliating. True. I swallowed hard. "That's just biology. Pheromones or whatever."

"It's the bond." He was right in front of me now, one hand braced against the wall by my head. "And it's only going to get stronger. After you shift, after your wolf recognizes me as hers, fighting it will be impossible."

"Then I won't shift." Desperate, stupid, but I was grasping at anything. "I'll find a way to stop it."

"You can't stop it." His free hand came up, hovering near my face. "The blood moon will force the shift whether you want it or not. And when it happens, your wolf will take one look at me and know. Will demand what's hers."

"I'm not yours." But my voice shook, betraying me.

"Not yet." His thumb brushed my jaw, and electricity sparked where we touched. "But you will be. And the fucked up thing is, I want it, want you. Even knowing how wrong it is, even knowing it'll destroy everything I've built, I still want you more than I've wanted anything in forty years."

My breath came faster, my heart hammering against my ribs. "You're going to be my stepfather."

"I know." His hand moved to my throat, not squeezing, just holding. "I'm going to marry your mother, give her the protection she needs, keep my word. And then I'm going to spend the rest of my life watching you from across rooms, wanting something I can never have."

"Then why tell me?" Anger sparked through the confusion. "Why make this harder?"

"Because you deserved to know." His eyes glowed in the darkness. "Because in two days, when your wolf chooses me, you'll hate me for keeping it from you. At least this way, you go into it with your eyes open."

I should have pushed him away. Should have demanded he take me home. Instead, I leaned into his touch, into the warmth radiating from him, and whispered, "What if I don't want to fight it?"

His control cracked. I saw it happen, watched something feral and hungry slide across his face before he locked it down. "Don't say that."

"Why not?" Boldness I didn't know I possessed pushed the words out. "If we're fated mates, if this bond is real and inevitable, why are we pretending it doesn't exist?"

"Because you're eighteen." His voice was raw. "Because you're Diana's daughter. Because I'm supposed to protect you, not fuck you."

The crude word sent heat pooling low in my belly. "I didn't say anything about—"

"That's what the mate bond is." He leaned closer, his breath hot against my ear. "It's not just emotional. It's physical. Primal. When you shift, when your wolf recognizes mine, she'll want me inside you. Marking you. Making you mine in every possible way. And I'll want the same thing so badly I'll barely be able to stop myself."

My knees went weak. "Dominic"

"But I will stop myself." He pulled back slightly, and I saw the war raging in his eyes. "Because you deserve better than an Alpha who can't control his own wolf. Better than a man old enough to know better. Better than me."

"What if I don't want better?" The question escaped before I could stop it. "What if I want you?"

He made a sound like a wounded animal, his forehead dropping to mine. We stood there, breathing the same air, the space between us crackling with everything we couldn't have.

"You don't know what you're asking for," he whispered.

"Then show me." My hand came up, touching his chest, feeling his heart thunder beneath my palm. "Show me what this bond means. What I'm going to become. Show me—"

His phone rang, shattering the moment. He jerked back like I'd burned him, pulling the device from his pocket with shaking hands.

"What?" The word came out as a growl. Then his expression changed, going cold and hard and dangerous. "When? How many?" A pause. "I'm on my way. Lock down the compound. No one gets in or out until I get there."

He hung up and looked at me, and I saw something that made my blood run cold.

Fear.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"The Silverfangs." He was already moving, pulling me with him toward the exit. "They just attacked one of my wolves. Left him barely alive with a message carved into his chest."

"What message?"

He stopped at the warehouse door, his hand tight around mine. "They want you. And they're willing to go to war to get you."

"I don't understand. Why me? What's so special about...."

"Because you're not just a wolf, Raven." His eyes met mine, and I saw the truth in them before he spoke. "Your father wasn't just an Alpha. He was the Alpha Supreme, the leader of all packs. And when you shift, when your true nature manifests, you'll inherit that power. You'll be able to command any wolf, from any pack, anywhere."

The world tilted sideways. "That's not possible."

"It's not only possible, it's happening." He pulled me toward his bike. "And every pack in the territory is going to want to control you. Starting with the Silverfangs."

"What do they want with that kind of power?"

"The same thing everyone wants with power." He threw me a helmet, his expression grim. "Everything.”