Lahat ng Kabanata ng Claimed by the Alpha, Desired by His Blood: Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

“Yes.” My response came after about a minute. “Then why,” Zane said, pulling me even closer, “did it seem like it was more than that? Why are you nervous just from talking about it?” “It wasn’t. I am not ner—” “Did he hold you like this?” His voice dropped lower. “Did his hand rest here?” His thumb traced a slow line along my waist. “Did you feel this?” The bond flared between us, hot and insistent. My breath caught. “No.” “No?” “It was different.” “Different how?” I didn’t know how to explain it. How dancing with Kaius had felt safe and easy. But dancing with Zane felt like standing at the edge of something vast and terrifying. A high and wild cliff end overlooking the ocean. “It just was,” I whispered. We turned again. The music shifted into a rhythm much more slower and intimate. Other couples around us moved in their own rhythms, lost in their own worlds. But I was hyper-aware of every point where Zane touched me and every shift of his body against mine.

I reached for another glass. The server had stopped hovering. Maybe he’d given up on trying to monitor my intake. Or he didn’t care anymore. The champagne didn’t taste as good as it had at first. The bubbles felt harsh against my tongue. But I drank it anyway. I did not want to give my brain any time to remember the look in Zane’s eyes when he had asked me about the lounge. I moved away from the drinks table, weaving slightly as I walked. The hall had grown louder, and everything began to feel too much. I found a column near the edge of the room and leaned against it, pressing my forehead to the cool stone. Breathe. Just breathe. But my thoughts would not quiet. Did Zane actually care? About me? Or was this all just wounded pride because another male had gotten too close to something he owned? Did he believe I wanted Kaius? That I had gone to that lounge hoping for something to happen? Did he think I would betray him? My body felt overheated despite the cool ai

Zane I was furious, so furious I could barely hear myself think. If Kaius had been anywhere near me, I might have punched him first and dealt with the consequences later. Because why and how had he become a point of comparison to me? Just hearing his name twisted something violent in my chest. But even worse than that… were the things Tiana kept saying. “What about the lounge?” I asked, my voice deceptively calm. She giggled. “Lounge… it’s a secret.” She paused dramatically, as though she expected applause. “Tiana.” “You always get so serious.” Her fingers moved on my chest again, tracing something that looked like it wanted to be a circle but ended up a half-hearted zigzag. “Like this. Serious face.” She tried to mimic me, but her features didn’t match what she thought she was doing. “What happened at the lounge?” “Movie.” She nodded too hard. “We watched… what was it again?” Her brow wrinkled. “Something with… people. They were… talking? Kissing? No… or yes…” S

Zane I grabbed her wrists and pinned her against the tile wall, her back hitting the cold surface with a gasp. “Enough,” I growled. The water poured directly over us now. Cold spray hitting my shoulders and cascading down, soaking us both completely. She looked up at me, her eyes still glazed but defiant. “I want you to touch me,” she breathed. “Want your mouth on me. Want you to…” “Stop talking.” “...taste me.” I covered her mouth with my hand. Not roughly but firmly enough to silence her. “You need to stop,” I said, my voice low and strained. “Right now.” She made a sound against my palm. Then her tongue flicked against my skin. I yanked my hand back like I had been burned. “You have to stop all of this now. I kept her pinned there. Let the cold water keep falling while her shivering intensified, until the alcohol’s heat started fading under the relentless chill. She tried to press against me once. Then again. But her movements were getting weaker and slo

Zane didn’t answer immediately. He just stood there, backlit by the morning sun filtering through his curtains, looking every bit the Alpha he was. Commanding, untouchable, and impossibly distant. And I was sitting in his bed, drowning in his shirt, waiting for him to ask me something I could guess I may not want to hear. “There’s a pack alliance being discussed,” he finally said. His voice was measured. Like he was briefing his Beta about territory disputes instead of talking to his mate. “One that could benefit Fangstain significantly.” I pulled the blanket tighter around myself, suddenly feeling more exposed than I had moments ago. “What does that have to do with me?” His eyes flickered just for a second, before that mask of control slid back into place. “It involves Kaius.” My stomach dropped. Because at that point, I was certain where he was headed. “A marriage arrangement,” he continued, each word careful. “A political union with one of the packs in the central