Chapter Twenty-One

I lay on my bed and stare at the ceiling, wondering what Raya was doing.

“Why have I been thinking of her these past few days? She is beginning to have an effect on me and I don't like it.”

I shake off the thoughts and head outside to the training field, it's my personal space, a place where I feel peace. I need to quiet the voices shouting in my head since morning, my wolf feels tired and weak.

I step out of my chamber, the air and the sunlight make me feel alive, unlike my dark and hot room. Everything is in order, the guards shifting their weight, a few warriors sparring on the far side of the yard.

I’m almost at the field when I stop, a guy is talking to Raya and he’s standing too close to her. My blood boils immediately, I move closer to the stone wall near the training ground.

I try controlling my breath but my chest feels like it's on fire. I can't hear what they are talking about but the look on her face says it all.

“They must have history together,” I thought.

I can't see the face of the person. Her head is slightly bent, she has this unbothered look she always has on if she doesn't want anyone to see what she's thinking.

I try to hear what they're discussing. I lean closer, focus, stretch my hearing. My wolf sharpens it for me, but then, just as I catch the faint sound of her voice, a stabbing pain hits the side of my head.

“Damn it.”

The sound slips out before I can stop it. My wolf pulls back. He’s weaker now. I place my hand on my chest, as the burn spreads, from pain.

He touches her arm before walking away, she rolls her hair up in a ponytail, her skin glowing under the sunlight. The pants she wears hug her hips, making her curves visible.

My wolf groans inwardly and I’m in front of her before I knew what was happening.

Raya turns, surprised. I grab her wrists and pin her firmly against the wall.

“Rex, what is wrong with you? Let me go!” she warns.

“Who was that?” I ask roughly. “The man who just left. What did he want with you?”

“How does it concern you, sir?” She teases me, struggling to free herself from my grip.

“Nothing. It really has nothing to do with me. But you’re in my pack, Raya. Whatever happens to you here, good or bad, reflects on me.” I say calmly, trying not to raise my voice.

“You really think anyone would blame you? The great Alpha Rex? You could burn down this place, and they’d still call it fate. I am just a lowlife rogue." She scoffs.

“Who said you’re a lowlife rogue, Raya?” her words get to me but I hide it well.

I let her go and moves back.

She meets my eyes, calm but cold. “You did. You treat me like one every day. So forgive me for finally calling myself what you see me as.”

“That’s not your personality,” I say, my voice dropping. “Don’t twist it.”

“But you always make me feel that way,” she fires back.

We stay silent, my heart beats like it would explode anytime from now. I don't know what to say to fix this, everything I say comes out wrong.

“You know what, I’m done arguing. I just don’t want that man near you or anywhere in this territory.” I declared.

She lets out a dry laugh. “A threat? He just came to talk. He didn’t attack anyone. He didn’t break your precious rules. He was just talking to me.”

“You don’t understand,” I snap. “I can smell danger from miles away. And I can feel it in him. He’s not just another rogue wandering in for a chat.”

She folds her arms, her jaw tightening. “He’s not going to cause a problem. He won’t. So please, don’t do anything stupid.”

Her voice softens at the end, almost pleading. Something inside me twists at the sound.

“Who do you think you are,” I say quietly, “to tell me what to do?”

She looks down for a second, then back at me. “I’m no one,” she says softly. “But I’m hoping that maybe you’ll listen to me anyway. You don’t always have to act out of anger, Rex.”

Something in me snaps. My wolf surges forward, loud and possessive. Before I can stop him, the words come out:

“Anyone who touches you or wants you the way he does, I’ll see them as a threat.”

Her expression freezes. Then she laughs, a sharp, disbelieving sound. “Really? So you don’t want me, but you don’t want anyone else to want me either? What the hell is wrong with you, Rex? I’m not your property.”

I let out a breath that feels like fire. “You are,” I say before I can stop myself. “You are my property. You’re bound to me.”

Her lips part slightly, disbelief and fury mixing in her face. “Now I’m your mate?” she says, her voice trembling, half-laughing, half-breaking.

“Now? After all this time? When I begged you to see me, to claim me, you turned away. You made me feel like I was nothing. And now, you remember I’m your mate because someone else looked at me?”

I shake my head. “I’m not here because he touched you. I’m here because…” I stop, clenching my jaw. “Because I don’t take what’s already been used.”

Her laugh cuts through the air like glass breaking. “Oh, right. Rex doesn’t do leftovers. That’s who I am to you then. Leftovers.”

Her words taste bitter even in my mouth. I should take them back, but I don’t. I just stare at her.

She looks radiant under the sun. Angry, hurt, alive. The light catches the curve of her neck, the faint line of sweat on her skin, the sharp rise and fall of her chest. My hands twitch at my sides.

I take a step closer. She doesn’t move away.

I can feel the pull between us, strong, almost unbearable. My wolf howls inside me, begging to close the space, to grab her, to kiss her until she stops talking, until she forgets what that guy even looks like.

But I don’t move.

Because if I do, I won’t stop.

She looks at me with that same mix of defiance and pain, and whispers, “You can’t keep doing this, Rex. You can’t keep breaking me just because you don’t know how to love me.”

Her voice cracks at the end, and for a moment, everything goes quiet.

She stares at me, hurt and furious all at once. “Don’t expect me to keep standing here waiting.”

She turns to leave, brushing past me. The scent of her wild, sweet, maddening floods my senses.

I want to reach out. I want to stop her. But I don’t. Because if I touch her now, I won’t be able to let go. She walks away without looking back.

The sunlight feels colder now. My wolf growls low in my chest, angry at me, at her, at everything. I press a hand to the wall where she’d stood moments ago, the spot still warm from her touch.

“Damn you, Raya,” I whisper.

But what I really mean is damn me.