Page 40 of Bind Me

He doesn’t respond immediately. His jaw is tight, his chest is sticking out, and there’s no denying he’s a predator who gets his way.

“You want to leave me?” he asks in a cold voice, striding across the room, stealing the space between us.

I stand my ground, even as his fingers reach out and stroke the length of my throat, running along my jawline. Goosebumps race over my skin, covering me, as an excited shiver zips down my spine.

I half expect Chowder to go all feral on him, but he surprises me, staying on the couch quietly, studying us. Has he completely betrayed me and already taken to Kaden?

Glancing back up at Kaden’s dark expression, my insides squeeze, knowing I’ve pushed him too far.

When I don’t speak, he drags his thumb across my lips.

“It would devastate me if you ever leave.”

His touch has my body melting, ready to give in to him. It’s the fated-mate connection between us that weakens me. That has me wanting to fall to my knees before him.

“You’re confusing me.” My words tumble out in a whisper. “I can’t leave, then?”

“Of course you can. You head to work, go anywhere as you wish,” he explains. “But you return to your home here.”

Fear and allure twist inside me. “I’m not your possession.”

Silence meets me as his intense, deep blue eyes burn into me.

“You are mine, Sasha, my fated mate, my everything. You think I won’t fight for that?” he states with a growl in his throat.

His hands slide down my arms, gentle yet firm in their hold. I can barely breathe, hating how vulnerable I feel, how desperately I stare at his mouth, needing him.

As if reading my thoughts, he leans in, our lips meeting, our kiss a clash of worlds—intense, tearing through me, anger and lust fight for power. I grasp his shirt, pulling him closer, needing to taste him, lifting myself up on my tippy-toes, though I’m also secretly hating myself for falling under his charm so quickly.

I suddenly rip myself from his kiss, somehow having found a sliver of strength to fight the infatuation consuming me. Kaden is stubborn, and whether I want to ignore the situation or not, he’s my fated mate. And he’s not going to leave me alone either, is he? It also doesn’t help that part of me craves him insatiably.

“Fine,” I exhale the word, my pulse thundering. “I’ll give living here a try.”

Kaden smiles, a dazzling, relieved grin that has my heart doing an involuntary flip, yet I see the tightness around his eyes that says it’s not exactly the response he wants, but that’s all I can give him right now.

“A man like me isn’t capable of letting go of something as precious as you, something that belongs to me.” His hand slides into mine, our fingers intertwined. “Come, I’ve arranged for breakfast.”

An overwhelmed sensation washes over me as if I’ve now completely lost control of my life. Except, who am I kidding? I lost that the moment I moved to Norway.

Chapter 12

Sasha

“Chowder, where’d you go?” I whisper in the main living area, my voice barely cutting through the silence. It’s past midnight, and the bedroom door cracked open when I woke up. Chowder wasn’t in the bedroom, so now I’m worried about him getting lost or in trouble.

Stepping into the hallway, the darkness presses around me as I move slowly through the unfamiliar house, wondering where he’s vanished to. I head through the next doorway and into the kitchen, flicking on the lights.

I blink against the bright light in the expansive room. Chairs and tables are on one side with white marble walls glistening under the light. Chandeliers and paintings are on the walls, displaying ships at sea during wild storms. The other end has a small island in the middle of the kitchen, complete with pots and pans hanging from the ceiling. There’s a U-shaped counter, and everything is made of white marble, the doors and the counter adorned with thin lines of gold.

It leaves me thinking back to Kaden telling me he was a kraken, and as much as a large part of me doesn’t believe him, a small part does… mostly due to the huge chip on his shoulder and the way he carries himself as though nothing can touch him. Even my seahorse shifter ex, who claimed to be a kraken, never pulled off the level of Alpha prowess Kaden carries effortlessly.

I’m curious, though, to discover the truth.

If I’m moving in with him, then I want to know exactly who my fated mate is. Anyway, back on my search, tracing my steps, I remember how much Chowder loves the bathroom in my cabin.

I’m there in seconds, pushing open the door. Light from the aquarium beyond the glass window gives the room a glowing haze, and there, inside the amethyst bathtub, I find Chowder. The tub’s half-filled with water, and he’s floating on his back, fast asleep. I hadn’t put the water in there, so was it Kaden? I creep out to let Chowder sleep, a soft smile tugging at my lips at how easily he’s adapted to this mansion.

Just as I start to head back to bed, a great splashing sound comes from somewhere in the house. I freeze, feeling like something huge just entered the aquarium. Curiosity and a bit of dread gnaw at me, so I follow the sound back to the living area and down another corridor that shoots off from the kitchen. The hallway is elaborately decorated with carvings and paintings of the ocean, with more closed doors, yet it’s eerily quiet.

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