Page 19 of True Wolf

“Youwon’t,” he warned with narrowed eyes. I swallowed thickly and flinched when Zion crossed the room with slow, deliberate steps. Those blazing eyes remained on me the entire time and no matter how intense they were, I couldn’t look away. “Regardless of the secrets you’re keeping, Nessah. You’re mine. Mine to decide if I want to keep…” He reached out and his long fingers grazed the curve of my jaw, softly at first before a firm grip took my chin in his hand, tilting it upward until our gazes locked. His intense eyes bored into mine with attraction and anger swirling in them. “Or if I’m going to find a way to make you as miserable as I’ve been chasing someone who should have never had my attention because it wasn’t hers to have.”

It had always been mine…

The room was charged with tension as he loomed above me, the weight of his presence was crushing, but he was unyielding.

“Do you think you can handle my torture, Nessah?” he questioned, his voice was low and gravelly, each word dripping with dominance.

My breath caught as his thumb brushed lightly against my jawline, a contrast to the fierce grip he held.

Once again my wolf felt the challenge and pushed my response. “You might want to be sure you can handleme.”

“Don’t push your luck, beautiful,” he murmured, his voice a dangerous whisper that sent shivers down my spine. I held his gaze, the fire and defiance in my eyes matched his and then he let me go and crossed the room again. When he reached the corner, he yanked a bottle of Cognac and turned it up, smiling sinfully devilish at me when he was done.

“Tell me your secrets, Nessah, because if you don’t hand them over, I’ll force them out of you.”

In that moment, we were locked in a battle of wills, both refusing to back down, yet also feeling the magnetic draw that threatened to snap our composure.

CHAPTER NINE

ZION

She was stubborn, defiant, and so fucking sexy. My little storm. I loved that she was challenging my authority but I would prefer to have her challenge me while she was in my bed. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get to that until she fessed up to the true reason why I wasted three fucking months chasing a ghost.

A mate that didn’t exist out there in the wild because she washere, living under my gotdamn roof with the pack I selfishly left behind.

I watched her from across the room while summoning every ounce of restraint I owned and some that didn’t exist also, just to keep from stripping Nessah bare and sinking my dick so deep in her that she would internally be marked, while my teeth visibly marked her pretty brown skin for everyone else to see.

She would be marked, because she was mine, but I was still so fucking angry about how we’d gotten here. My stubborn wolf sat silently for the past ten minutes, refusing to give me what I wanted…answers.

There was also the small detail that she threatened to reject me. She was adamant and fearful, both palpable, which had me conflicted. She barely knew me yet spoke the word rejection.Why the fuck was that? What had I done? A thought surfaced out of nowhere…

“Is there someone else?”

“What?”

“You belong to me, yet you let me chase another. Even now, I feel your attraction. I can damn near taste it and you threatened to reject me. It doesn’t make sense. Tell me why?”

I tried my best to tap into her thoughts but she blocked the pack link. I hadn’t mated her yet so our bond wasn’t there.

“Just trust me when I say it’s not a good idea.”

“I don’t fucking trust you. You’ve already betrayed me…” I threw my glass to the floor and it shattered on the hardwood. She froze, glaring.

“Yet another reason why this won’t work. If you can’t trust your mate, then you can’t trust yourself, Zion. There’s no point to this. Just please…”

I stalked across the room, stopping inches from where she stood. There had to be someone else. That was the only thing that made sense and the thought pushed fire through my veins. I dropped my face beside her so my lips brushed her ear when I made clear, “You don’t want to tell me, then I’ll make the decision for you. There’s no choice to make. It will never be him ormebecause as soon as I find out who he is, he’ll no longer exist. There will only be me.”

I pressed a kiss to her neck and let my tongue glide down to the curve where it connected with her shoulder. My canines grazed her skin before I pulled back. Not taking what I wanted almost fucking killed me but I wouldn’t mark her until she accepted that she was mine.

“Your best bet is to stay put. You can run if you want but I promise you won’t get far.”

I pulled back and left my apartment. The second I shut the door behind me, my wolf was howling in protest. I neededanswers and since Nessah refused to give them to me, I decided to force them from the only other person who would potentially know the secrets she was hiding.

With a newfound motivation, I made my way to the elevator and traveled to the second floor where I exited and headed straight to Mina’s apartment. I knocked several times, to no avail, then shouldered my way through the door. She was nowhere to be found, which pissed me off and had me taking the elevator back up to my floor. Jo would either know where she was or have her cell phone number. If she ran, I could use that to track her.

Either she and Nessah were hiding the same secret or she had one of her own.

As soon as I reached my brother’s apartment, I let myself in and a frown etched onto my face before my eyes darted between Lazar and Jo then settled on the face of the person I was coming here to get intel to find.

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