Chapter 2: YOU ARE MINE

ANDREA’S POV

My vision blurred as I moved. I was desperate to leave what was officially the worst Hunting Festival in history and nurse my broken heart in peace.

Then I felt a hand grip my wrist, halting me. The point of contact sent electricity sizzling up and down my arm, and I didn’t need to turn to know who it was.

Alpha Kade pulled me to him, turning him to face me.

“Where are you going?” he hissed, almost furiously. The skank that had been on his arm was nowhere to be seen.

I bit my lip, unable to meet his fiery gaze. The nirvana of finding my mate had faded, and all I could think of was the huge gap between us and the gossip about Kade. We would never work.

'Andrea, our mate wants us!' Emrae jumped excitedly. 'I can feel his wolf. He's so damn hot and powerful!'

Powerful? Beck had made it painfully clear—an Omega like me wasn’t enough. And this man? This towering, ice-eyed Alpha who reeked of power and dominance? He would laugh in my face if I dared suggest fate had bound us together.

“If you’re done staring, I’d like to be alone,” I said as I tried to push him away. But the moment my hand touched his firm chest, a jolt of electricity passed through my spine to my core, throbbing uncontrollably.

“You don’t get to dismiss me,” he said, low and dangerous.

I had no way to retreat.

I kept my head low. I knew just with one more glance, I wouldn't be able to control myself any longer from pouncing on him.

“Tell me your name,” he demanded with an irresistible authority in his voice.

My heart trembled. I knew why he wanted my name. He needed that to complete the rejection.

I exhaled shakily, “Andrea.”

I braced myself for the rejection. It was good it was happening now, so I could kill two birds with one stone and nurse my twice broken heart in one night.

But it never came.

Instead, Kade smirked, tilting his head to the side as he watched me. Like I was a puzzle he intended to solve.

And then I smelled her—a lingering trace of perfume, sweet and cloying, clinging to his skin. My stomach twisted. Of course. He’d been with someone else before. Some real superior she-wolf, no doubt.

I stiffened, my pride flaring. I'd never repeat the same mistake! The same stupid shit that I had suffered from Beck! I needed to snuff out all illusions right at the very beginning.

I balled my fists, "You should just reject me now and get it over with."

His gaze darkened. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." I forced steel into my voice, even as my wolf whined in protest. "Do it. Reject the bond. Save us both the trouble."

A low growl rumbled in his chest, and suddenly, he was right there, crowding me against the greenhouse glass. His heat seared through me, his scent wrapping around my senses like a claim.

"You don’t command me, little Omega." His voice was velvet and venom. "I decide what happens here."

I should have shoved him away. Should have run. But my body betrayed me, leaning into his touch like a flower starving for sunlight.

His fingers traced my jaw, rough and possessive. "You think I’d let you go so easily?"

I opened my mouth to argue—but then his lips came crashing down on mine, and my world exploded.

The kiss was unlike anything I’d ever experienced—passionate and hungry and fueled with a fire that burned throughout my entire body. My legs wobbled under the intensity of it, and Kade wrapped his arms around me, molding our bodies together as our lips collided in a frenzy.

The mating bond shone brightly between us, like a live, tangible thing I could hold on to. I felt my wolf call out to Kade’s and he answered with a deafening roar that blotted out everything else.

I don’t know how or when we moved, but the next thing I knew, Kade was kicking the door of a private cabin shut behind us.

Stumbling blindly backward, he kissed me with a primal ferocity that made molten desire pool in my belly. I stopped when I felt my knees hit the bed.

We broke the kiss then, and Kade leaned his forehead against mine, panting harshly. I could feel his heart thundering almost as fiercely as mine.

MINE.

The word echoed between us, unspoken but undeniable.

I hated him for this. Hated how easily he unraveled me. Hated the way my body arched into his, desperate for more.

But most of all?

I hated that I wanted it.