Chapter 2

Korrin

The mate bond gnaws at me from the inside. I feel it in my teeth. In my claws. In the ache between my legs. In my world, we call this Z’korth—the bite between souls. It turns warriors into madmen. Into protectors. Into killers. I feel it now. Pulling. Burning. 

This female is mine, and I'm fighting the instinct to claim her with a bite and roar. 

There is just one problem: she is a werewolf. 

The moon goddess must have gone mad making us mates, but I am not going to reject my own mate. She is attractive for a human and will become my wife and the mother of my kits. 

Yes, she is different with her round face, pink skin and red hair. She is also tiny, but the mate bond doesn’t lie. This female is fully capable of carrying my heir and I can’t be picky. There are no zareth females left in my world and my clan’s survival depends on me having a successful mating with this werewolf.

“You need to sit still,” she says while preparing a cloth to wash my wound.

I’m sitting cross-legged on the floor inside her house, silent since I don’t see my mate as an equal. Zareths are proud and royal creatures. We do not speak with lesser ones. This werewolf might be my mate, but that means nothing. I will not talk to her.

Yet here I am. Obeying like a lovesick puppy and staring at her lips like a fool. I should not want her voice. I should not care that she is afraid of me and yet...I do.

“Okay, here we go…don’t move…”

The female places the wet cloth against my wound. It hurts like hell, and I immediately hiss at the stinging feeling, frothing at my mouth until the female growls right back at me.

“GRAAAAH!!” She damn near yells.

Scary!!!

I immediately close my mouth and sit my ass down like the well-behaved boy that I am.

She immediately puffs out her chest, looking proud. “That’s what I thought,” she says. “You might be bigger than me, but don’t you think for one second that I will shrink for you.”

My cock twitches. What a strange little thing. A mouse baring teeth at a beast. In my clan, she would have been claimed on the spot. Carried to a room to be marked. But here, I sit and obey like a leashed animal. 

The female continues to wash my wound, speaking while doing it. More to herself than me really, “What have you gotten yourself into, Sienna? If the pack finds out you’re taking care of an injured zareth they are going to murder you…”

Sienna? That’s…pretty.

“And you—” She points a finger at me, the face she is making so intense that I actually gulp when she glares at me, “—will behave while living under my roof. This house might be ready to fall apart, but if you hiss at me again, you’re on your own, pal. I don’t care if you have washboard abs and a pretty face. You threaten me again and you’re gone. Capish?!”

I gulp again before giving her a nod. I know better than to challenge a female this fierce. I'm not stupid. She must have taken me home to finish the mating bond, but it's clear that this is a girl who likes to be in charge. I will not interfere with her preferences.

“Good,” she says with a smug face. “It's very important that you know your role here, which is being my guest. That means you’re sleeping on the couch and NEVER entering my room.”

What is so special about her room?

“ARE WE CLEAR?!”

I nod again and she smiles.

“Excellent,” she stands up and nods sideways. “Come on, the living room is this way.”

I stand up and follow her through the house. It's…not bad. My clan lives in a large cave. We are not modern, but Sienna isn’t either. She does not own a lot of stuff and the floor creaks under my clawed feet.

I feel right at home.

"Try to always keep the curtains closed. My neighbors are nosy as hell and they can't know that I'm housing a giant alien."

Sienna walks inside a large room. I trail behind her, taking in the whole place. It's mostly empty. Just a table and a couch...some weird black thing hanging on the wall with a smooth surface.

Weird room, but at least it smells like her. Soap. Sweat. Her. My cock twitches again. This woman is mine, mine, MINE! And now she has taken me to her love room. This is probably where she will mate with me.

I look down at her, ready to flirt, but freeze when she points at the couch.

"Lie down and sleep," she orders.

I squint at her as if to ask if she is serious.

“Don’t you dare give me puppy-eyes!”

I tilt my head even more and take a step forward to challenge her. 

She immediately places her hands to stop me from leaving the room. "No, you're not going to fight me on this!”

Those small hands try to push me and I…go nowhere. Is she even trying?

I huff in amusement and her face turns red. “Stop laughing at me! Just…behave, okay? I need to shower and you're forbidden from leaving this room. Do you understand?"

Shower before making love to me. This I understand. She wants to be fresh for me.

I nod in obedience and she stops trying to push me. “Thank you.”

I give her a quick smile before turning around and that’s when I see it. 

A small stack of books on a side table. Glossy covers. Illustrated.

I lean down. One shows a blue male. He is not zareth, but similar. Glowing skin. Sharp teeth. Muscles. He is lifting a small human female like she weighs nothing. Her thighs are wrapped around him and her face is flushed.

“Alien Daddy?” I read the title slowly, sounding it out.

"W-wait, did you just talk?!" Sienna exclaims. 

I flip the book open without answering. There are pages full of images and drawings. Scenes of mating.

Sienna gasps. "NO! GIVE ME THAT!"

I turn it so she sees what page I’m on. It shows the male licking the female’s inner thigh.

“This is your fantasy?” I ask. “They look like me. This male pleases her. You… like this?”

Her face explodes red. “That’s not...it's just art! It’s fantasy smut! Don’t judge me!”

I lower the book and stare at her.

She is panting. Flustered. Beautiful.

I tilt my head. "You have many books like this... Are they mating guides?"

She groans. “Oh my god—no! They are not guides! They are… they are stories, okay? Fiction! Fantasy!”

I nod solemnly. “Training scrolls.”

“NO.”

I rise slowly, holding the book like sacred text. “You studied these to prepare. You have wanted a mate like me for a long time.”

“I’m going to pass out.”

“You are ready for me.”

“If you take another step toward me, I will tase you.”

I pause. “Is that a mating ritual?”

Her entire body goes red. “Get. On. The. Couch.”

I smile for the first time. “I am going to court you. In the morning, I will bring the best part of a deer and leave it on your bed.”

“You are NOT putting animal organs on my bed!”

I wrinkle my nose. "Gifts are not your love language?"

She opens her mouth, closes it again.

I smirk in her direction and hold up the book one last time, turn to a page with knotting, and nod to myself. "I can make this happen."

Sienna shrieks. "Okay, that's enough! Give it back!"

She tries to jump for the book, but I easily lift it over her head and blink down in amusement. "You're very small—" I stop myself right there and then to stare harder at her face. There are bruises there. She is bleeding. How did I not notice? "Who hurt you?"

Her eyes widen, then she presses her fingers to her lip. "N-no one..."

"Lies," I grip her hand, gaze down into her eyes. "I do not know a lot about werewolves, but I do know you have...certain roles that get abused. Are you one of them?"

The look in her eyes is murderous. "I'm not an Omega," she growls and pulls herself free from my hand. "I just...haven't had the best luck with men before."

My claws twitch. I imagine wrapping them around a male throat and squeezing. Hard. In my world, you never hurt a female. Only if she asks for it when you deliver her pleasure. 

"Werewolf males abuse all of their women? Not just omegas?" I can't hide how disgusted I am.

Sienna gives me a strange look, but we are interrupted by a sound coming from the hallway. 

"Shit!" she exclaims, looking panicked. "That's the doorbell and you—" She looks me up and down. "You need to hide. If that's my Alpha, then you're not safe."

Her facial expression is...strange.

"Is he the one who hurt you?"

She does this weird pause that tells me everything.

I snort. "Do not worry. He cannot hurt me."

I begin walking for the door, ready to get rid of this Alpha once and for all, but Sienna grabs my hand.

"I don't want you to hurt anyone!" She blurts out. "I know you're a zareth, but please just hide."

I consider her words, not even moving when the doorbell rings again. She looks desperate and miserable, those large green eyes of hers full of unshed tears.

It makes me feel like a monster.

Full of loathing, I remove her hand with my other one and sit down on the couch. A dull ache gnaws at my thoughts. "You do not trust me."

She gives me a pained look. "No."

"Why not?"

"You're a stranger."

"I'm your mate."

She stares at me, mouth wide open, until the doorbell sounds for a third time. That's when she leaves me alone inside the living room.

"Don't go anywhere!“

I nod and stare down at my feet. I'm trying here. I sat when she roared at me. I let her touch me. I did not bite. Yet she is looking at me like I am the danger. How do I win my mate's trust?