Page 35 of An Uncertain Claim

“Sit.” I commanded.

“Am I going to spend the rest of eternity reminding you that I’m feline every time we see each other, dog?” she muttered as she continued walking.

“Peyton,” I growled, my anger growing, fueled by the ache in my chest at her words. This reaction was new, but I suspected it was because our attachment had been growing and the fact that she wasn’t feeling the same bothered me more than I wanted to admit. “Sit your ass in that chair or I swear, I’m finally going to give you the spanking you deserve.”

“So you always say,” she said flippantly. Gold flashed in her eyes; her panther didn’t like being ordered around anymore than Peyton. The warning in her gold irises only made my wolf more determined to bring the wildcat to heel.

“You really want to push me, baby? Because you know damn well that I never say anything I don’t mean.”

She paused, then slowly pivoted to glare at me, her hands on her hips and her emerald pools ablaze. “You do realize that I’m a jaguar, right? You shouldn’t mess with the predator at the top of the food chain, Nathan.”

I wasn’t going to let her deflect by drawing me into a pointless argument over who was the more dominant animal. In reality, despite being small for her breed, she was lethal to most opponents, but sometimes, sheer size just won out. When it came to us though, she’d never admit it, but her panther would always submit to me eventually. It was in her nature—and gave her great pleasure—to be dominated by her mate, after a good fight, of course. But we weren’t going to debate the subject right now. “Sit.”

Peyton’s eyes narrowed, but she took the few steps to the couch and dropped onto it. “It must drive you insane that you can’t control me.”

My wolf bristled and I banged my fist down on the desk, shouting, “I don’t want to control your mind, Peyton!”

Her gaze dropped to her hands in her lap, and she twisted the ring on her thumb. “That wasn’t—”

“Yes, it was,” I snapped.

She sighed and met my eyes. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It was—”

“Let’s discuss this ‘habit,’ shall we?” I interrupted. A rumble of agreement vibrated from my wolf.

“There’s nothing to say, Nathan. I—”

“Bullshit.”

Peyton huffed and hissed, “Would you let me finish one damn sentence?”

Neither my wolf, or I, were interested in her twisted truths and omissions. “I will when I think the words that are going to come out of your mouth are more than denials and diversionary tactics,” I replied as I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back in my chair. Her eyes drifted to my biceps and down my torso, heating and swirling with flecks of gold. Like always, the attraction between us was raging, but the sparks erupting from our heightened emotions weren’t helping. My body stirred under her hungry perusal.

“Focus, Peyton,” I rasped, even as I wrestled with my own growing desire. This nearly uncontrollable need for each other could be really fucking inconvenient. My wolf licked his chops and urged me to give in to the building hunger.Not the time, I told him, trying to convince myself as well.

She double-blinked and swallowed hard before crossing her legs and playing with the ends of her hair. “Sorry, what was I saying?”

“You were explaining how you acquired your instinctive distrust of Alphas with a pack web.”

“Um.” She shook her head as if trying to clear it. “I watched it be abused for so long…and not just by—” Her eyes went wide, and she cut herself off.

My wolf shot to his feet, all arousal shoved back by his fierce need to protect Peyton from whomever had created this jagged edge inside her. “By whom?” I demanded in a hard tone. When she finally told me who was responsible for instilling such fear and doubt in my mate, I was going to rip his throat out.

“Several Alphas whom I’ve come into contact with.”

I shoved to my feet and stomped over to Peyton, grabbing her arms and pulling her up, then bent my head so we were practically nose to nose. “Stop holding back, Peyton,” I demanded through clenched teeth. My wolf snarled in agreement. “Give me their names.”

“You can’t hunt down everyone who treats me—or has ever treated me—in a manner that you don’t approve of, Nathan,” she replied with a shake of her head.

“Why not?”

“Because you’ll spend the rest of eternity running after me instead of being here, where you are really needed.”

I let go of her and my hands curled into fists. My wolf growled, her words pissing him the fuck off.You and me both.We were fast approaching the limit to our patience with her. “What is it going to take to convince you that you are needed here too? That you belong with your true mate?”

Peyton’s eyes snapped with irritation and my cock became rock hard. “Why are we talking about thisagain?”

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my body and think rationally, but then my lungs filled with the scent of honey and cloves. “You’re right,” I grunted as I bent my knees and grabbed her ass, lifting her so her legs wrapped around my waist as I straightened. My wolf pushed close to the surface and his urge to dominate Peyton, to make her admit what she was to us, verged on consuming me completely. “Showing is better than telling.” My mouth crashed down onto hers and I tasted her deeply as I navigated to the bedroom.

---