CH.5

RORY

The heavy glass door of a private conference room clicked shut, cutting off the murmur of the Council lobby.

I didn't waste a second. I started pacing the length of the long conference table, my boots striking the floor like gunshots.

I felt like a caged animal, and the fact that I was locked in here with a six-foot-something mountain of walking arrogance made my skin crawl.

Evren didn't move from his spot by the door. He watched the sharp line of my jaw, the way my chest heaved with furious breaths, and how I unconsciously bit down on my lower lip.

His wolf was clawing at his mental walls, pacing with an aggressive, irrational need to dominate the infuriating female.

She isn't our mate. Evren forced the roaring beast down. The bond didn't snap. She's just a political headache. Keep it together!

"Stop pacing." Evren finally reached his limit and pulled out a chair at the head of the table. "Sit down so we can hammer out these terms."

"Fuck your terms!" I halted my march.

"I'm not doing this. I'll take my chances with a war." I gripped the back of a leather chair, my knuckles turning white.

"You'd sacrifice your entire pack just to spite the Council?" Evren raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were smarter than that."

"Don't patronize me." I bared my teeth.

"Sit down and act like a leader." He pointed to the chair. "We're both trapped. I won't let my kingdom fracture because you're too stubborn to negotiate. Sit."

My eyes narrowed with venom. "Fine. But I've got rules. And if you don't agree to them, I'm walking out that door and you can explain to those ancient pricks why their little peace treaty went to hell."

Evren leaned back, lacing his fingers together over his stomach. "Let's hear them."

"One." I ticked off a finger, my voice hard as diamond. "Separate bedrooms. I don't share my space. Two, we only do public appearances when it's absolutely necessary. Three, I maintain full Alpha control over my territory. You don't step foot in my business, I don't step foot in yours. And four." I swallowed hard, fighting the tightness in my throat. "An ironclad divorce option after one year. Once the territories are stabilized, we dissolve this farce."

Evren watched me in silence for a long moment. I expected him to fight me, to throw his Alpha weight around. Instead, he gave a single nod.

"Agreed."

I blinked, thrown off balance. "Just like that?"

"They're fair terms." Evren folded his hands. "But I'm adding one of my own. Neither of us takes other partners during this year. I won't have the Crown humiliated by rumors of infidelity."

"Fine by me." I scoffed. "I hate everyone anyway. People are exhausting."

A ghost of a smirk touched Evren's lips before vanishing. "There is, however, one complication the Council will expect us to address."

"Which is?" I crossed my arms.

Evren looked up, his gaze darkening. "Consummation. To legitimize the union under ancient pack law."

My face flushed a violent, furious red. I shot to my feet, the chair scraping loudly on the floor. "Absolutely fucking not. Never. If you think I'm letting you touch me, you're out of your royal mind!"

"I didn't say I agreed with them." Evren lowered his voice to a dangerous whisper. He stood up slowly, the sheer size of him suddenly dominating the room. "But they'll look for the mark. They'll look for the scent change."

"Then let them look!" I yelled, panic bleeding through my anger. I backed up instinctively as Evren began to walk around the table. "I'm not sleeping with you. Put it in the contract. No physical contact."

Evren didn't stop walking until my back hit the cold glass wall.

He didn't touch me. He simply planted his hands on the glass on either side of my head, trapping me in his shadow. The heat radiating off his body was intoxicating. He smelled of pine, woodsmoke, and raw, unfiltered power.

My breath hitched. I tried to duck under his arm, but he shifted his stance, blocking my escape.

"Move!" I snarled.

"You smell like panic." Evren leaned down until his face was inches from mine. "But that isn't all you smell like, is it?"

"I'm pissed off!" I spat, my chest rising and falling rapidly beneath the lapels of my blazer.

"Are you?" Evren's gaze dropped to my mouth, then slowly trailed down to my neck, watching the frantic pulse beating at my collarbone. "Your heart is racing. Your pupils are dilated. You're trembling."

"I'm holding myself back from ripping your throat out!"

"Liar!" His voice was a velvet rasp on my skin. "You're fighting it. But your body knows."

My hands came up, pressing flat on his chest to shove him away.

But the moment my palms met the solid, heavy muscle beneath his suit jacket, my fingers curled slightly, betraying me. I could feel his heart hammering just as fast as mine.

Evren leaned closer until his breath brushed my cheek. "I could put a no-contact clause in the contract."

He lowered his mouth a fraction of an inch from mine. "But we both know you'd break it before the ink was dry."

"Go to hell!" I breathed.

"I'm already there." Evren shifted slightly, reaching past me to slide the contract across the nearby table.

As he did, his knuckles brushed the bare skin of my wrist, right above the silver bracelets.

A violent, electric shock snapped between us.

I gasped, jerking back so hard my head bumped the glass.

Evren froze, his eyes widening as the spark traveled straight up his arm and settled like a burning ember in his chest.

"Static." I choked out, my face flushed and my hands shaking as I rubbed my wrist. "The building is dry."

Evren looked at me, a slow, predatory smirk finally breaking through his icy facade.

They both knew it wasn't static.

Before he could close the distance again, the shrill ring of a cell phone shattered the heavy silence.

I practically lunged for my pocket, pulling out my phone.

I looked at the screen, my chest heaving as I fought to regulate my breathing. "Pack emergency."

I slipped under Evren's arm, putting the length of the table between us in a matter of seconds, and grabbed the handle of the door.

"Write up the contract." My voice dripped with forced ice, though it trembled slightly on the edges. "We're business partners. Nothing more. Don't ever box me in like that again."

With that, I threw the door open and vanished down the hall.

My legs were shaken as I walked.

I'd taken my suppressant and was supposed to be numb. I was supposed to be empty.

But as I touched my fingertips to my lips, they were still tingling from the heat of his breath.

I dragged in a cold breath, readying myself for a battle because I was in serious trouble.