LOGINHis hand wrapped around my throat in claim, as he pinned me against the cold stone wall. “You’re mine,” he growled, his breath hot against my lips. “Every breath and every heartbeat you take. Mine.” But his nephew’s voice echoed in my mind: “You deserve better than a man who treats you like furniture.” I never wanted this bond. Alpha Zane forced me into a contract marriage—bear him an heir, then disappear. He made it clear I’m nothing more than a child-bearing vessel. A servant elevated to Luna only because the Moon Goddess cursed us both. But his nephew, Kaius, sees me differently. He’s kind where Zane is cruel. Gentle where Zane is possessive. He offers me everything my mate hides from me: respect, partnership, freedom. The problem? My body responds to Zane’s dominance even as my heart breaks from his coldness. And the more Kaius shows me what love could look like, the more dangerous this becomes. Because Zane may not love me—but he’ll destroy anyone who tries to take what’s his. Even his own family. Torn between the mate who owns my soul and the man who sees it—which desire will damn me first?
View MoreI became certain the moon goddess heard me because just after his question, the music stopped. Still, was it a kind of mockery that it only stopped after his question? Now I could not even pretend that I had not heard him. His words echoed in my ears, louder than the applause that erupted around us. “Then how do you explain being with him, late in the night the other day, at the private lounge?” My heart slammed against my ribs. He knew. He had known this entire time. Cold sweat began to drop between my thighs. What could I even say? “Alpha Zane,” a wolf suddenly walked to us. “If you don’t mind, there are issues we have to discuss.” Zane released me suddenly, his hands dropping from my waist as if the contact burned. He stepped back, putting distance between us that felt like miles. “Zane, I…” “Not now. I might listen to your excuse some other time.” ‘Excuse’ I almost scoffed. Except that I had more important worries to handle. Zane turned away before I co
“Yes.” My response came after about a minute. “Then why,” Zane said, pulling me even closer, “did it seem like it was more than that? Why are you nervous just from talking about it?” “It wasn’t. I am not ner—” “Did he hold you like this?” His voice dropped lower. “Did his hand rest here?” His thumb traced a slow line along my waist. “Did you feel this?” The bond flared between us, hot and insistent. My breath caught. “No.” “No?” “It was different.” “Different how?” I didn’t know how to explain it. How dancing with Kaius had felt safe and easy. But dancing with Zane felt like standing at the edge of something vast and terrifying. A high and wild cliff end overlooking the ocean. “It just was,” I whispered. We turned again. The music shifted into a rhythm much more slower and intimate. Other couples around us moved in their own rhythms, lost in their own worlds. But I was hyper-aware of every point where Zane touched me and every shift of his body against mine.
Tiana I was not sure the answer Zane was expecting from me, and even as a part of me felt he was going to mention it, it came as a shock. “Tiana, I asked a question. Why did you agree to a dance with him?” The question hung in the air between us. Clearly, there was no way I could avoid this one. Zane’s hand remained firm on my waist as we moved through the next steps. His eyes stayed locked on mine, waiting. “I didn’t mean to be disrespectful,” I finally replied. He guided me into a turn, freely, like no tension hung between us. When I came back to him, his expression hadn’t changed. “That’s not an answer.” My throat tightened. “I didn’t think it was a big deal. He requested a dance. You were right there, so I did not think much of it. I couldn’t just—” “Leave his hand hanging?” Zane’s voice sounded empty like it held no emotions, but it did not deceive me. “That’s what stopped you?” “Yes. It would be rude to do that.” We moved through another sequence. His han
Zane After Kaius disappeared somewhere in the hall and I did not care where, I loosened my grip on Tiana and walked out of the convergence ballroom. I had walked halfway across the hall before Ezra caught up to me. “Alpha.” I turned on him, my jaw so tight that I could feel my teeth grinding. “What?” “You need to go back inside.” “I need,” I said, each word clipped, “to not be in that hall right now.” Ezra didn’t flinch. He had served as my Beta long enough to know when to push and when to retreat. This, apparently, was a pushing moment, for him. “I understand you’re angry—” “Do you?” “—but leaving now will have consequences. For the pack and did her.” The mention of Tiana made a tightness twist in my chest, but I didn’t let it show. “She made her choice,” I announced. “She chose to dance with him.” “Alpha, I believe she chose to avoid causing a scene. I can see reasons with her.” I wanted to argue and tell him that he was wrong, that Tiana had looked com






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