Chapter 9 - Mine

What the fuck? And I thought Tyson should be mad at me for trying to escape, why is he even angry at the guard for rough handling me?

“Im sorry Alpha, it won’t happen again.”

Tyson dismisses him with, “Thank you for bringing her, you can take your leave.” But it is obvious he is trying to get himself under control. He really doesn’t want me to leave?

The door shuts behind us.

And then, silence.

I lift my head.

Tyson stands across the room, his posture rigid, his expression carved from stone. But his eye, his eyes burn.

Ok, he is mad at me alright.

but his eyes was filled with not just anger, but with something deeper, something darker. Possessiveness.

He didn’t really want me to go? I thought he said I’m a spy.

“You ran.”

His voice is quiet. Too quiet.

I roll my shoulders like it doesn’t matter. “I walk out. There’s a difference.”

That is the wrong thing to say. I feel it immediately.

The shift. It isn’t just Tyson reacting, it is something else. Something beneath the surface. Something… animalistic.

He moves fast, too fast. One second he is across the room, the next he is right in front of me, his presence overwhelming, suffocating, claiming.

I hold my ground.

Barely.

“You cross my boundary,” he says, his voice dropping, rougher now. “You try to leave.”

“I did leave,” I shoot back. “Your people just drag me back.”

A low sound rumbles in his chest, not human.

If I am sane, i should be racing down the mountain running for my life. Hold on a minute, I did try to run, and that’s why I’m here.

But that sound…? Definitely not human.

And for the first time since I met him, I feel it clearly.

Not just danger, not just power.

Wolf.

My breath hitches slightly, don’t faint, don’t faint, I mutter to myself. But I mask it with a glare. “What? That all you’ve got? Growling?”

Big mistake. His eyes flash and suddenly, the air presses down on me.

Hard.

I suck in a breath as that invisible weight slams into my chest, my body reacting before my mind can keep up.

“What… is that?” I whisper.

“My restraint,” he says.

That shuts me up. For about two seconds.

“Well, maybe try using more of it,” I mutter.

A sharp sound comes from behind him.

Aiden.

I’d almost forgotten he is there.

“Why is she still here?” Aiden snaps, stepping forward. His eyes are wild, angry, barely controlled. “She crosses the boundary, Tyson. You know what that means.”

I glance between them.

Okay… this isn’t good.

“She doesn’t get to just walk back in like nothing happened,” Aiden continues, his voice rising. “We have enemies at our borders, a spy rotting in the cells who won’t talk, and now this” he gestures at me like I am a problem, which, fair enough, I probably am, “and you’re just letting her stand here?”

Tyson doesn’t look at him, his eyes stay locked on me. “She stays.”

Aiden goes still. “What?”

“She. Stays.”

The finality in his tone should end the argument.

It doesn’t.

“Have you lost your mind?” Aiden snaps. “Send her out. If she’s connected to them, let them take her. We don’t need this…”

“No.”

The word cuts through the room like a blade.

Aiden freezes. Not because of the word, because of how it is said. Something shifts in Tyson then.

Not just Alpha.

Something more, something instinctual, possessive and deadly. Something I can’t understand.

Aiden sees it too.

I can tell from the way his expression changes, anger giving way to confusion.

Then realization, slow and shocking.

“…No,” Aiden says again, quieter now, like he doesn’t quite believe it. His gaze flicks between us. “You can’t be serious.”

Tyson’s silence confirms it.

Aiden shakes his head, letting out a breath. “You should’ve said something.”

“What if it is the wolverines trying black magic on us again,” Tyson replies. “The timing. The circumstances of her showing up here… it doesn’t make sense.”

“Nothing about this makes sense,” I cut in sharply. “Care to include me in this conversation? Or am I just decoration?”

Neither of them looks at me.

Rude.

“The pull is too strong,” Tyson continues, his voice lower now. “Stronger than it should be. I can barely”he stops himself, jaw tightening. “ignore it… it’s real.”

Aiden stares at him for a long moment. Then, everything in his posture changes. The anger, the hostility.

Gone.

Replaced with something else. Understanding. Respect. Even a hint of… relief?

“Well,” Aiden says slowly, straightening. “That explains everything.”

What the hell is going on here?

I blink.

No, it doesn’t. It explains nothing.

Aiden looks at me again, but this time, the sharp edge in his gaze has dulled.

“I didn’t know,” he says, almost like an apology to Tyson, not me. “If I had, I wouldn’t have…”

Okay, enough of this. “Does someone want to explain what the hell is going on?!” I snap.

Aiden ignores me still.

Wow.

“Congratulations,” he says to Tyson, clapping a hand against his shoulder. “Though the timing couldn’t be worse.”

Tyson doesn’t respond. His attention is back on me, intense and unyielding. As if he couldn’t help it. Drinking me in.

And that damn pull, stronger than ever. I want to go to him.

I take a step back instead. “I don’t like this,” I say, shaking my head. “I don’t like whatever this is.”

“You don’t understand it yet,” Tyson says.

“You’re right. I don’t,” I shoot back. “And I’m not interested in finding out.”

Silence.

Then I laugh. Short. Sharp. Disbelieving.

“Mate?” I repeat, looking between them. “Is that what this is about? Some kind of… ritual thing? Bonding? Claiming?” I wave a hand between us.

“Whatever weird, fetishized practice you people have going on, count me out.”

Aiden blinks. He actually blinks, like he wasn’t expecting that. Tyson, on the other hand, doesn’t find it funny.

At all.

His expression darkens. “You think this is a game?” he asks quietly.

“I think you’re insane,” I shoot back. “Both of you.” I take another step back, putting space between us. “I don’t belong here. I don’t belong to you. And I definitely don’t want any part in whatever this is supposed to be.”

The words come out fast. Because that is the truth. I’ve spent my whole life running. Surviving. The last thing I need is to get tied down to some… supernatural nonsense I didn’t sign up for.

“I want to leave.”

The room goes still, completely still. Even the air feels like it stops moving.

Tyson’s eyes lock onto mine. Dark and dangerous.

“No.”

My heart kicks hard against my ribs. But I don’t back down.

“You don’t get to decide that,” I say.

“Yes,” he replies, his voice dropping into something deeper, something that sends a shiver down my spine, “I do.”

Something in his tone… something final. Something that tells me this isn’t a discussion anymore.

This is a fact.

I swallow, forcing myself to hold his gaze. “I’m not yours,” I say, quieter now but no less firm.

His eyes darken even further. “You are,” he says, “whether you accept it or not.”

My breath catches.