Page 101 of Lord of the Lone Wolf
“I have elevated you above all others in my heart,” Nasume protested, taking another step closer. “You are the center of my existence.”
“Wrong. You do not want to love me. You want to own me. There is a difference.”
The wolf king’s eyes flashed with anger before he smoothed his expression once more. “Perhaps I have been overzealous in my pursuit, but can you blame me? You are everything I have ever wanted.”
He reached out to caress Kitsuki’s face, but the dragon king caught his wrist.
“Do not touch me,” Kitsuki warned.
Rather than pulling away, Nasume leaned into the grip, his smile widening. “Your touch still burns me, even in anger.”
Disgust rippled through Kitsuki. He released Nasume’s wrist and stepped back. “This conversation is pointless. You hear only what you wish to.”
“Then help me understand,” Nasume implored, his voice dropping to a seductive purr. “Tell me what I must do to win your heart. I have tried everything else. Force. Gifts. War. What must I do to make you mine?”
“Nothing, because I do not want you. I have never wanted you. I willneverwant you.”
Nasume’s handsome features contorted with genuine pain before he mastered himself once more. “You cannot mean that after everything I have done for you.”
“Everything you have done has been for yourself.”
Nasume paced, his movements agitated. “I have loved you for a millennium and endured countless rejections.”
“And yet you never once considered that my lack of interest was not a game but my true feelings.”
Nasume’s composure cracked. “Because it makes no sense. We are perfect for each other as powerful, immortal kings. No one else could ever understand you as I do.”
“Understanding requires listening, and you have never listened to me, Nasume. Not once in all these centuries.”
The wolf king stopped pacing, turning to face Kitsuki with frustrated confusion. “What have I not heard? Tell me, and I will listen now.”
“No,” Kitsuki said, shaking his head. “I am done trying to make you understand boundaries you have no interest in respecting.”
Nasume’s expression darkened. “Is this about your human? That pale imitation of what we could be together?”
The mention of Auslin sent a spike of protective rage through Kitsuki. “Do not speak of him. You lost that right when you attacked him in my castle.”
“He attacked me first,” Nasume protested, though they both knew it was a lie. “Besides, he is a fleeting distraction. Humans die, Kitsuki. They wither, age, and perish, while we endure. Why invest your heart in something so ephemeral?”
Kitsuki chose not to correct Nasume about Auslin’s lifespan being tied to his own immortality. “Because Auslin respects my boundaries, values my choices, and loves me as a partner rather than a possession.”
Nasume scoffed. “Pretty words for a pretty face. But when he is dust in the ground, I will still be here, waiting. I have time, Kitsuki. All the time in the world.”
The casual dismissal of Auslin’s life and their bond stoked the fire of Kitsuki’s anger. He had always maintained his composure with Nasume, never allowing himself to confront the wolf king about his behavior.
But now, with the sounds of battle echoing beyond the castle walls and the memory of Maseo’s near-death experience at Ishibiya’s hands fresh in his mind, Kitsuki’s patience had reached its limit.
“No,” Kitsuki said, his voice hard as steel. “Your time has run out.”
The wolf king raised an eyebrow, intrigued rather than intimidated by Kitsuki’s shift in tone. “Oh? And what does that mean?”
“I will no longer accept your blatant disregard for my boundaries as an unfortunate character flaw. I refuse to pretend that your obsession is anything but the twisted, selfish fixation that it is.”
Nasume’s eyes widened at the uncharacteristic display of emotion from the normally controlled dragon king. “Such passion,” he murmured, misinterpreting Kitsuki’s ire. “I knew it existed beneath that cold exterior.”
“This is righteous anger,” Kitsuki corrected him. “You have pursued me relentlessly despite my obvious rejections. Worse, you have touched me without permission and threatened those I care about.”
“Only because you refused to see reason,” Nasume argued. “If you did not deny what exists between us?—”
