Chapter 5: Giving In

CHLOE’S POV

It all felt like a sick dream.

One moment I was being lifted into the back seat of a car, the next, I woke in an unfamiliar room, voices drifting through the space as two people argued heatedly nearby.

"That's not what Malcolm and I agreed to." My mother's voice carried over, sharp and angry. "I can't sell my daughter for only twenty-five percent of the debt."

I lay still, unable to believe my ears.

Sell?

"Well, that's what Alpha Malcolm instructed," a strange man's voice answered coldly. "If you have a problem, take it up with him directly."

"Take it up directly?" My mother let out a disbelieving laugh. "My daughter just came of age. She hasn't been touched. It has to cost more than twenty-five percent of my debt. Hell, I'd even raise the price to fifty!"

I looked down to see my clothes were now gone, replaced by a sparkly bra and underwear with a thin silk robe tossed over top.

My hands were also tied tightly behind my back with a piece of fabric.

My heart hammered as everything clicked into place: the wine my mother forced me to drink tasted funny before it dragged me into a faint.

How could she sit there and bargain away her own flesh and blood? 

Who was I being sold to? What debt did she owe him that made this seem acceptable?

Hot tears spilled down my face before I could stop them. I couldn't breathe, couldn't fully process the nightmare closing in around me.

We need to leave. My wolf snapped inside my head, voice fierce and terrified. You cannot let them touch you. Escape now. Do it, Chloe.

I didn't argue. She was right. I couldn't spend my life trapped by my selfish mother.

I twisted my wrists against the bindings, the fabric burning my skin, until I finally wrenched it free.

My eyes locked onto the door. My mother and the stranger were still deep in their argument, backs turned to the room.

I slipped off the bed, dropped to my hands and knees, and crawled toward the door. Once past the threshold, I scrambled up and ran.

I sprinted down the hallway, searching for a staircase, but the corridor kept stretching out, lined with identical doors.

My wolf senses picked up footsteps behind me. Shouting cut through the air. They'd realized I was gone.

"What the fuck?! Who let the girl go?"

My heart thudded as I pounded desperately on the nearest doors, begging for anyone inside to hide me.

Door after door remained locked, their footsteps getting closer.

When I reached the last door at the end of the hall, my pursuers breathing down my neck, I hammered on the wood. It took a minute, but the door swung open.

I stumbled forward, looking up to find the last person I expected to meet here.

Drake Dawson.

His dark hair was tussled, as if he'd run his hands through it a hundred times in frustration. He wore a gold silk robe hanging open, chest bare, his striking blue eyes burning into mine.

My first instinct was to back into the hallway. But a split second later, footsteps and shouts echoed around the corner.

"Check the doors! She couldn't have gone far!"

I turned back to Drake, without much of a choice now.

"Please," I choked out, my voice breaking. "Please, let me in."

Drake stared at me, brows knitted in confusion. The shouting down the hall grew so deafening that without thinking, I lunged forward and grabbed his arm. "Please! I'm begging you, Drake."

He stood there, still shocked.

When it sounded like I could be caught any second, he grabbed me, yanked me into the room, and slammed the door shut behind us. My back hit the door as he pressed me against it.

I stood frozen, inches from him, hyper-aware of the heat coming off his body, an overwhelming pull blooming in my chest.

Without thinking, I pressed my forehead to his chest, relief flooding through me.

"Thank you," I whispered, my voice trembling. 

The words felt strange, meant for the boy who'd spent years tormenting me. But no matter how much I hated him, he'd just saved me.

Drake looked down at me, his expression twisting into annoyance, like he wanted to demand how I'd ended up here and why I'd dared touch him.

But before he could, heavy fists struck the door behind me.

"Open the door! The girl belongs to Alpha Malcolm!"

Something in Drake's face changed. His eyes darkened, and a low growl rolled out of his chest.

He pulled me away from the door and placed me behind him before opening it to face them.

"She is under my protection," he said.

One of the men tried to argue. "Master Drake, this has nothing to do with you. Her mother already accepted the terms."

The air turned heavy under Drake's Alpha power.

"I said leave."

The men glanced at me but didn't dare move. They turned and disappeared down the hall.

Drake shut the door and locked it. When he turned around, his gaze dropped to the red marks around my wrists.

"Who tied you up?"

I pulled the robe tighter around myself. "It doesn't matter."

"I asked you a question, Chloe."

"My mother," I snapped. My voice cracked despite my effort to control it. "She owed someone money. She drugged me and brought me here to settle part of her debt. Are you satisfied now?"

His body went still. "She sold you?"

The disgust on his face made me look away. "You already know what my family's like. Laugh about it tomorrow, just let me stay until those men leave."

"I'm not laughing."

I looked back at him. His hands clenched into fists, his wolf flashing behind darkened eyes, angrier than I'd ever seen it.

"No one touches my mate," he growled.

My heart stumbled, but his expression hardened almost immediately.

"Not before we complete the rejection," he added.

Of course.

I hated myself for reacting at all.

"You don't get to call me your mate, not after what you did with Prisca." I said stubbornly.

"I don't want this bond any more than you do."

"Good. Then reject me now."

"Not while you're drugged and my wolf is trying to tear its way out of me."

He stepped back, but his gaze dragged over the robe and the scraps of clothing beneath it. My skin burned wherever he looked.

The fog in my head had cleared, but another heat spread through me, sharper than the drug, alive with his scent and the bond.

Drake must have felt it too. His breathing grew heavier, and he turned away, gripping the edge of the table until his knuckles whitened.

"Stay on that side of the room," he ordered.

"Stop ordering me around."

I took one step toward him to prove I could. The bond snapped tight between us.

Drake crossed the space before I could take another breath. His hand caught my waist and pulled me against him. His mouth crashed against mine, angry and hungry.

For one terrifying second, I kissed him back. Then he tore himself away.

"You're drugged," he said roughly. "I'm not touching you. You don't know what you're doing."

"No." I shook my head. "My mind is clear."

His gaze searched my face, like he was looking for any sign I wasn't myself, before he swallowed hard. "Then tell me who I am."

I held his stare. "Drake Dawson. My mate. The boy I hate more than anyone in this pack."

His jaw flexed.

"And you still want this?"

Want was the wrong word. I wanted free of the heat in my blood, and of the bond that made me need the person who'd hurt me for years.

"Only tonight," I said. "Tomorrow, you reject me and I leave Sterlink. This changes nothing."

"No mark," he said firmly. "No claim."

"Then at sunrise, we end the bond."

"Agreed." He nodded and neither of us moved.

Drake held my gaze, as if giving me one last chance to change my mind.

I didn't. Instead, I reached for him, grabbed the front of his robe, and pulled him to me.

Drake caught my mouth in a hard kiss that tasted of whiskey, his hands gripping my hips with rough possession as he dragged me down onto the mattress.

"Fuck," he rasped against my lips, his hands tearing at his shirt and ripping it away.

I shrugged off my silk robe, unclasping my bra and slipping off my panties so that we were completely bare.

He stared down at my body with a dark, twisted look before sneering, "If it weren't for the bond, I would never spare you a second look."

His words hit a nerve, and I glared up at him with instant fury, trying to shove him away.

Instead, he caught my wrists, pinning them hard against the mattress as he leaned in close, his voice dropping to a low growl. "Too late to go anywhere now."

I watched him stroke his heavy length, the sight alone driving me insane. Then he pressed forward, sinking into me all at once.

My back arched with a loud, sharp cry as the sudden intrusion stole my breath away.

The initial sting slowly gave way to pleasure as he moved in and out of me, relentless.

I bit down on my lip, trying not to moan or show I was enjoying it, until he caught my rhythm and moved even faster.

After minutes of relentless pleasure, his body shuddered against my neck as he came violently inside me.

…

When I opened my eyes again, pale morning light was slipping through the curtains.

Drake lay beside me, awake and staring at the ceiling. Neither of us spoke for several seconds, then he sat up.

"Last night was a mistake."

The words hurt more than they should have, but I forced myself to sit up too.

"We agreed it would be."

His eyes moved toward me, as though my answer had surprised him.

"Get dressed," he said. "We'll complete the rejection today."

I nodded sharply in agreement.

My clothes were still somewhere in the club, so Drake tossed me a black shirt. I pulled it on over what I had left, reaching my mid-thigh and smelling like him.

I had barely finished buttoning it when someone pounded on the door.

"Drake!"

His face changed at the sound of what seemed to be his father's voice.

"Shit! What time is it?" he muttered.

"Eight," I said after looking at the clock.

A key card beeped before Drake reached the door.

Alpha Victor stepped inside with his Beta behind him, his anger vanishing the moment he saw me standing beside the bed in his son's shirt. His nostrils flared.

Drake moved in front of me. "This isn't what you think."

Alpha Victor looked between us, his eyes sharpening with something I couldn't understand.

"Are you two mates?"

Neither of us answered. Drake's wolf growled as his father stepped toward me. Mine answered before I could stop her.

Alpha Victor's mouth curved into a faint smile.

"It doesn't matter," Drake said coldly. "We're rejecting each other today."

"No," his father said. "There will be no rejection."

Drake went completely still.

Alpha Victor looked directly at me. "The matter of Sterlink's future Luna is settled. You will marry Chloe before the week ends."