Page 35 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

Jace sighed wearily. “Two ways. The first, the most ideal, is for you to become attuned to your powers and somehow create a counter-curse. It would release me from all this and allow me to choose my mate. To find a shifter woman who might be a match for me, and I would be able to finally feel love.”

“And the second?”

“You and I mate. Eventually, perhaps one day, we have a child, an heir to the pack. Not a great choice, I know, but—”

“Not a great choice?” I hissed. “That’s putting it fucking lightly.”

He wanted us to mate? What was I, some harem girl? Fawning over myself as the big bad alpha came to take what was his? Maybe I should lift my skirts and bend over to grab my ankles, let him take me whenever he likes.

Bullshit. Walls flew up in my mind, blocking out any chance that I would do that. Ever.

“No,” Jace said, sitting forward fast as he saw my expression. “I didn’t mean that’s what we would do. I wouldn’t. I just told you the two options. I want you to lift the curse with magic, not—”

“You want to use me,” I ground out.

It was always the same. Men using me for one thing or another. For sex, status, money, security. Men were always using. Why would a shifter man be any different?

Jace looked shocked at my suggestion, and that only pissed me off more. Even if I somehow found myself feeling something for this man, he’d only toss me aside once I was no longer useful. I could already see it happening.

“I don’t want to use you, Kirsten,” Jace said.

“Enough!” I snapped, heaving in a breath. “I’ll do my best to help you break this curse if I can, but I am not mating with you. Fair enough?”

Jace looked relieved I wasn’t going to continue biting his head off. “Deal. Thank you. And please, don’t tell anyone about the curse. Only a few people know. If word got out that this had happened, it would throw my whole pack into chaos. Please?”

He looked so desperate that I couldn’t say no. “I promise I won’t tell,” I said. “No promises on whether I can help remove the curse, though. I’ll try, but hell, I just found out about all this magic shit yesterday. I’m no expert. I didn’t even know there was a ward around my house, for God’s sake.”

Jace frowned. “How’d you find out about it? Can you sense it?”

I ran a hand through my hair absently. “No, it was when Eren came to visit me today. He pointed out that he couldn’t cross over a certain point.”

Jace let out a deep growl that sent a shiver down my spine. “Eren was at the cabin?” he asked.

“Yeah, he—”

“What did he want?” Jace demanded. “Did he try to get close to you? Hurt you? Anything?”

“He said he wanted us to get to know each other and suggested we get dinner together at some steakhouse. Sounded like he was asking me out on a date or something,” I said, and Jace growled a little louder this time. “I told him no,” I added quickly. “And I could tell it pissed him off. I got rid of him, though.”

“Good,” Jace said, taking a deep breath.

“Why do you care so much about what that guy does?”

“Because you’re mine!”

His face went blank, as if he’d actually surprised himself by saying the words. My skin buzzed, a not entirely unpleasant sensation. The crystal at my neck throbbed at his words, but the vibrations were very different from when I was near Eren. Less irritating and more pleasurable. Almost as though the crystal wanted me to be near Jace.

“Excuse me?” I whispered.

Jace grimaced and raised his hands. “Not like that. It’s not what I mean. I, uh, I told you that you were my fated mate. My wolf thinks that you are his. Ours, so to speak. That’s all I mean.”

My body was betraying me. Hearing him say I was his filled me with some odd, animalistic yearning. It was all I could do not to step closer to him. How had things inside my head changed in a matter of seconds? It made no logical sense.

“Maybe,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “This is all new to me. I’ve never been a fated mate to a shifter before. I guess I’ll learn as I go?”

“Are you okay?” Jace asked, concern written on his face as he took a step toward me.

The rest of my anger drained away, the electric crackle on my skin increasing. The closer he got, the stronger the pull between us. He will be drawn to you like a magnet to iron. My palms became clammy, and my breath left me in short gasps. He was so close, I could smell him. What the hell was wrong with me?

---