Chapter 6

DANE.

This car ride had been hell, and it wasn’t over. Two more hours to go.

What I hadn’t been prepared for was how potent the mate-bond would feel. It was overwhelming.

Her raspberry and cream scent was taken in with every breath. It required a lot of restraint to keep myself from inhaling deeply.

I fucking hated that she smelled delicious.

It also didn’t help that she was sexy as fuck with curves that would drive any real man wild. It pissed me off that she was my type. From the long blonde hair that would look great wrapped around my fist to the set of tits that were the perfect size to fuck to an ass that would jiggle as I left my mark on it.

She had another thing coming if she thought that she could speak to me however she wanted to. Being ‘Luna’ didn’t entitle her to shit. It was her position in name only. She wasn’t my equal and never would be.

Aria Morgan served a purpose, and it was nothing that she thought it was. Collateral damage. It was her designation. A means to an end.

Some would call me heartless monster, but I didn’t give a fuck what anyone thought about me.

‘Obviously,’ my wolf, Jericho, stated. ‘Just remember that you reap what you sow.’

‘And I want you to remember that we’re doing this for a reason.’

Everything that I was doing, everything that I had already done, was for Sam.

It didn’t matter how much time passed by. The loss still hit me hard. I felt like I failed him because it was the duty of the big brother to protect the younger one.

Failure was not something that I was ever good at dealing with, but this hit me even harder because it was Sam.

The loss of Sam hit everyone hard, especially our family. My parents hadn’t been back here in two years, opting to live their lives jetting around the world. I knew that they were suffering, but they weren’t the only ones.

‘Have you paid yet?’ I asked Jerome, impatient to get back on the road.

‘We’re coming out now. I was given a Luna command to allow her to pay for herself.’

A lesson would be learned if she thought that she could get away with shit like that.

“Cute trick with the Luna command so that you could buy junk food,” I told her when she got into the car.

She took me by surprise when she informed me of what she actually got.  

She was clearly not happy with my assumption about junk food, probably used to people judging her based on looks alone. Having curves and a larger physique didn’t necessarily equate to being unhealthy.

Silence ensued as I went back to ignoring her because there was no way in hell that I’d be apologizing to her.

Aria needed to learn her place in this arrangement.

I was able to get a lot of work completed during our trip, even if a part of me was distracted by her presence. Thankfully, the two hours passed by quickly enough.

Aria proved that she was going to be challenging after she blew up upon me telling her like it was in regard to her mother. The promise of being whipped should deter her from trying her luck with me.

Being fated to a Morgan was something that I despised. Like I said, she was simply a means to an end – collateral damage.

When the time was right, and my revenge plan succeeded, I would reject her. She would be sent off into the world as a lowly rejected bitch who nobody wanted.

Jericho growled at my thoughts. He hadn’t been thrilled with the contract idea in the first place, but that got worse when it came to the fact that it would be a fated mate tossed into the mix.

‘Shut up, fuckhead. I’ve always wanted my mate. I agreed to let you play with your whores until our mate came along. You gave me your word that there’d be no more of them once we found her. It was something that YOU agreed to. That is one line that I won’t let you cross. You already know the consequences of it if you do,’ he warned me.

‘Are you seriously threatening me? Over her – a mate who jumped at the chance to become a stranger’s chosen mate, knowing that his mark would’ve made it impossible to find her fated mate? A mate that just so happens to be you.’

Oh, he had been furious when Jason told us how eager she was to sign the contract.

‘Yeah, she really seems eager,’ he said mockingly. ‘Let me guess, she also strikes you as the type who wouldn’t break the contract conditions, knowing that she’d lose the sizeable funds that she’ll gain access to as long as she plays by your rules.’

What was he on about?

Jericho sighed as if this conversation was exhausting.

‘It’s not this conversation that’s exhausting,’ he muttered under his breath, deciding to just show me what he meant.

Perhaps I had been too focused on suppressing the mate-bond while holding a tight rein on my control. I re-fucking-fused to ever let her think that she had anything that I wanted.

I saw what he meant. She really hadn’t acted like Jason had led me to believe that she would. Perhaps she was just playing hard to get? This wouldn’t be the first time that chicks had done it.

‘She agreed that her father had told her what was at stake. She knows about the money,’ I pointed out.

‘Yes, to the first part. What’s to say that was what she was referring to? Perhaps he laid down his own stipulations. He wouldn’t want this deal to fall through because it’ll provide the resources to keep Morgan Enterprises afloat after the losses that he’s been suffering. C’mon, Dane. Just because we’ve dealt with sharks bigger than him doesn’t mean that he isn’t a shark himself.’

In our shared mindspace, he stood up at his full height, leveling me with a look that commanded my attention.

‘But let’s circle back to my earlier comment. Yes, I’ll leave you if you dare to fuck a whore while there is still an intact mate-bond. I’m not saying to be head-over-heels for her or anything, but you will not disrespect the bond that way because of the immense agony that it’d cause her. I’m not thrilled about her being a Morgan either, but I do trust my Goddess.’

He shut me out after he said that, leaving me to thoughts that were louder than ever before.

I could feel the pack’s happiness when I introduced Aria as my Luna. Our pack had been waiting year after year for me to find her or to take a chosen mate.

She played her part perfectly, a look of warmth and happiness at being received like this, not even hinting at the sadness that I could feel through our bond.

Next, she was introduced to my Beta, Adam, Gamma, Finch, and his mate, Bex.

“It’s so nice to meet all of you,” she said, smiling. “I know that it’ll be a transition for me to learn how this pack runs, but I promise to do my best. I’m excited at this new opportunity that fate decided to put in my path.”

At least she was a good actress. It’d make it that much easier to keep this act up.

Adam and Finch studied her with keen observation, just like they did with anyone new. This pack had faced a lot of shit over the years, which just served to hardwire it into us. Aria seemed to meet their approval, as could be seen by the genuine smiles on their faces as they greeted her.

Bex was the excited one, thrilled that she was no longer the only female. It had been two years since she joined leadership but had been a trooper.

“Can you set her up in the room right next to mine?” I asked, interrupting their conversation. “I agreed that we could take this slowly as she settles in.”

There’s no telling if the blush on her cheeks was part of her act or not.

Bex grinned widely, linked arms with Aria, and walked off. Bex was the type of person that could make anyone feel welcome.

Well, this was not a permanent arrangement. Not that anyone but I knew that.

The guys told me that there was something in my office that had been recently delivered and was urgent. That didn’t sound good.

I sat down at my desk and opened the envelope that Adam handed to me.

My blood boiled as I flipped through the contents, elevating into full-blow fury when I got an article that detailed the death of a legend – Samuel Holden.

“Who the fuck sent this shit?” I demanded to know.