But that kiss… that damn kiss…

Damian's POV

I hated it. I hated the unfamiliarity, the disruption.

I hated her. I hated the way she made me feel things I’d buried long ago, emotions I’d meticulously entombed beneath layers of control and cold logic. Rage, certainly. Frustration, undeniably. But also… something else. A flicker of something that resembled… admiration? A dangerous, unwelcome sensation.

My wolf snarled again, louder now, a reverberating growl that filled the office, a low, guttural vibration that I could almost hear outside my own head. Loud enough that I gripped the edge of the desk, fingers digging into the stone, widening the cracks I had created. Heat simmered under my skin, a rising tide of primal energy that threatened to consume me.

He wanted her. Not just a mate, but her. The beast in me, the ancient, primal part of my soul, had recognized something in her. Not weakness. Not submission. But something else. Something fierce and enduring, a spirit that refused to be broken.

Mate. The word echoed in my mind, a profound, undeniable truth from the depths of my wolf.

No.

I shook my head violently, the world blurring for a moment. “No. Absolutely not. She’s not that.” My voice was a desperate denial, fighting against the undeniable pull.

She couldn’t be. The Moon Goddess wouldn’t be so cruel as to bind me to a human, to a woman who had seen my monstrous side, who was terrified of me. A woman whose life I had just essentially purchased.

I refused to believe that the fragile, teary-eyed girl I’d kissed was destined to be mine. It was preposterous. I didn’t want a mate. I didn’t want soft hands and pleading eyes. I didn’t want a responsibility, a vulnerability, a bond that would compromise my absolute control.

I wanted control. Absolute, unyielding.

Power. Unchallenged.

Silence. Utter and profound, to drown out the noise of the world.

But that kiss… that damn kiss…

It hadn’t been silent. It had screamed. It had roared. It had ignited a fire in my blood that I hadn’t known existed. It had been a chaotic, primal symphony that still reverberated through my core.

A knock interrupted again, less tentative this time, more insistent.

“What?” I barked, my patience worn thin, my voice still rough with the wolf’s agitation.

My assistant, bless her stoic nature, peeked in nervously, her gaze flicking to the cracked desk, but she said nothing. “Mr. Blackwood, there’s a woman on the phone. From St. Mercy’s Hospital. They said it’s… urgent. It’s about a payment made early this morning.”

I stilled. My entire body went rigid.

Hospital. Payment. The words hit me like a physical blow.

My heart dropped like a stone, sinking to the pit of my stomach. An icy dread, colder than anything the wolf had thrown at me, spread through my veins.

I strode to the desk, snatching the phone from her hand, my fingers brushing hers with a force that made her flinch. I slammed the door shut behind her, the heavy wood vibrating in its frame, sealing myself off from the world.

“Hello?” I said sharply, my voice clipped, betraying none of the turmoil raging within.

A nurse’s voice, chipper but formal, crackled through the line, oblivious to the storm she had just unleashed. “Yes, Mr. Blackwood? My apologies for the urgency, but we just wanted to confirm that the transfer of funds from your partner, Ms. Ava Sinclair, went through this morning. The full amount has been cleared for Elizabeth Sinclair’s operation. We are beginning pre-op procedures immediately.”

I blinked. Once. Twice. The information registered, slowly, surely, a punch to the gut.

She’d gone. First thing in the morning. Before the sun was even properly up, no doubt.

To the hospital.

She paid for the operation.

She didn’t even tell me. Not a word. No phone call, no triumphant announcement. Just a silent, defiant act.

And she hadn't used my name. Or Blackwood Industries. She’d done it herself. She’d somehow accessed the funds, initiated the transfer, completed the transaction, without a single outward sign of involvement from me. As if to prove that she was independent, that this was her sacrifice, her victory.

My grip on the phone tightened, my knuckles white, the plastic creaking under the pressure.

She had no idea what she’d done to me. No idea how deep she'd gotten under my skin, how thoroughly she had rattled the very foundations of my existence.

The kiss was supposed to break her. It was supposed to be a brutal assertion of power, a definitive mark of my ownership, a public humiliation. But all it had done was shake me. It had unearthed feelings I hadn't known I possessed, stirred a primal beast that now refused to be caged.

And now she was out there, somewhere, probably crying again for that sick brother of hers, relieved but still broken, burdened by the cost.

My wolf growled low, a furious sound filled with confusion and something dangerously close to… protection. An urgent, undeniable instinct to go to her, to see her, to understand the extent of her pain, to offer… comfort? The thought was absurd, repulsive.

I ended the call, slamming the receiver back into its cradle with unnecessary force. I stood in the quiet office, surrounded by the remnants of my shattered composure, trying to silence the thoughts crashing in my mind, a chaotic symphony of denial and dawning realization.

She’d kissed me back. A part of her had responded, however briefly.

She’d fought me. With a ferocity that matched my own.

She'd cried alone. Bearing her pain with a solitary strength.

And she still went to save her brother, immediately, without hesitation.

A woman like that… fragile but burning… she wasn’t supposed to exist in my world of cold calculations and ruthless ambition. She was a paradox, a walking contradiction.

But she was here. In my world. Tangled irrevocably in my life.

And she was mine. The wolf’s insistent declaration.

Even if I didn't want her. Every fiber of my being screamed denial, resisted the primitive pull.

Especially because I did. A chilling, undeniable truth that settled deep in my bones, a terrifying realization that would change everything.