Page 64 of Wolf's Claimed Mate
I stared around the room at men who used to be my brothers. A man who had once protected me from my family, took me away to a new town where I’d started a new life full of hope. He had dashed that hope, left me floundering, and then the other men had picked me back up and let me remain as family.
Now, they were nothing to me.
They were power-hungry men who had their own gains in mind without regard for my life. It had all been a sham.
“I hope you’re fucking happy with yourself,” I spat at Jackson. “You’re a prick. I hope Fenrys rips your head off.”
“Oh, you grew quite the tongue!” Jackson said, leaning into me. He grasped my hair, exposing my neck painfully. He buried his nose in my skin, sniffing. “I always wondered what that anger would taste like. Oh, Sasha, darlin’, I had to stop myself from taking you so many times. But you were promised to Kato, weren’t you? Never tome, the one that found you. The one thatsaved you.”
“You didn’t do shit,” I snapped, jerking my head to get him away. “You took advantage of me. You brought me to the pack, knowing exactly what they wanted from me.”
He pulled back, his gaze hungry, roving his eyes over my body. I bared my teeth at him. He wore a ratty t-shirt with his college name on it, a leather jacket, and torn jeans. I laughed at him.
“You’re not quite the king that Kato was, are you?” I asked, cocking my head. “He got respect just from what he looked like. What do you have, Jackson? What did it take for you to get the pack’s loyalty after Kato was killed?”
His expression shut down, anger rolling through him. “Watch your mouth, Sasha. I don’t want to hurt you.”
I snorted. “Okay.”
“I’m serious. All I ever wanted was to show you how loved you were. You were wanted by this pack, don’t you see that?”
“Wanted as theirtoy,” I seethed. “I wanted a home, Jackson. Afamily. And I thought I had that until I realized who Kato truly was. What youall—” My eyes assessed all of them. “Truly were. Vile little cowards playing at being big, tough wolves.”
Jackson kicked the chair, sending me backward. He caught me by the collar of my jumper. “I should have let you rot in that house with your father. He’d have sorted you out eventually.”
My blood boiled. I spat in his face. He yanked me back so the chair was flat. “And I should have asked Fenrys’s pack to kill you all last year. It’s a shame he only got to take out the true leader of this pack.” Snarls answered me, a threatening noise rippling through the shifters. The office I was in was spacious, big enough for them to shift if I pushed my luck too far.
“I’m sorry you never got to fuck me,” I told Jackson, smiling up at him sweetly. “Maybe Kato would have been the better dick for me to have first, anyway. Shame you won’t live up to it.”
A hand came across my face, slapping me so hard my head snapped to the side.
“Bitch,” he hissed.
“Coward,” I snapped.
I didn’t indignify myself by asking if anything we had was ever real. I knew it wasn’t. Any shred of reality that the relationship held was gone along with the burned pictures. I would never be able to unlearn everything I now knew about this pack and their intentions.
“I’ll never be your pack’s little pet,” I told him. “Never. No matter how much you threaten me or hurt me, I’ll never give in. I’ll fight you every second of my life if that’s what it takes, Jackson.”
“I’m glad you’re at least warming to the idea that I’ll survive long enough tomakeyou the pack pet. Don’t worry, we’ll pass you around often enough that you won’t get bored.”
I screamed, kicking up at him, and slammed my boot into his stomach.
He’d only tied my hands, leaving my feet unbound. I was already loosening the rope around my wrists.
Jackson laughed, picking himself up off the floor. “Don’t think I can’t smell that beta on you, you reek of him. Are you still playing at thinking you’ll be enough for a wolf, Sasha? You’re not one of us.” He cocked his head, utterly sardonic when he smiled. “How does it feel knowing you left your family home for nothing? Remind me, it was good before you met me, right? They only shunned you for liking someone not of your shifter species.”
My whole body trembled with rage. I was not some weak female. I was my own woman, reliant onnobody. I had fought for everything I had and given myself everything in life without waiting for anyone else. It wasmylife.
A shadow fell across the window. I smiled.
“You know, Jackson,” I said, “Kato always had eyes for me when you weren’t looking. I suppose getting rid of you back thenwasplanned because he knew he’d have access to me without you being in the way. I’d have gone to him willingly.” The lies tasted sour on my tongue, like burning acid. “But you never noticed how he looked at me. How he kissed me the first time I met him in the restaurant while you ordered our food. You just had a habit of always turning your back to the real threats.”
Jackson looked confused for a minute before rage settled in. It made me realize hehadfelt some sort of possession over me, whether it was sexual or romantic. He’d wanted me purely because he’d found me and didn’t like that he was contracted to share his plaything.
Then, realization dawned on him at my meaning.
A light brown wolf leaped towards him, smashing through the office window. Glass shards flew everywhere. More wolves fanned out around the office and building. Howls echoed in the distance.
