Page 33 of The Reaper's Vow
“It means we're fucked unless I claim you…properly.” The words taste like ash on my tongue, but they’re the truth. “Aslong as you're unmated, any alpha can challenge my right to you. Anselm made that clear.”
“Challenge your right?” She stands abruptly, fury flashing in her eyes. “I'm not property.”
“In our world, you are.” The admission hits like a gut punch, even to me. My wolf paces inside me, ears flat, tail low. He hates it. I hate it. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s true. “I hate it as much as you do, but that's reality. You’re free game, and he has three available sons.”
“That's barbaric.” She backs away, her scent spiking with distress, sour and sharp, like panic and rage tangled into one.
“Yeah,” I grit out. “It is.”
She’s quiet for a beat. Then she shakes her head and spits words like a weapon, “Then I’ll leave.”
Something snaps inside me.
I move before I think, closing the space between us in two long strides. I don’t touch her. Not yet. But I make sure she feels every inch of my presence pressing down.
“The only way you’re leaving,” I say low, my words razor-sharp, “is if I’m walking beside you—or I’m dead.”
She blinks, startled. I can see her wolf stir just beneath the surface, confused, hesitant.
“You don’t get it,” I continue, softer now, but no less intense. “You’re thinking like a human. This isn’t their world. You walk out of this room unclaimed, unprotected, and you won't make it past the fucking gates.”
Her mouth opens, but I keep going.
“You're a wolf, Karina. Whether you want to be or not. You don’t get to ignore that anymore.”
Her hands are balled into fists at her sides. She’s shaking. With rage. With fear. Maybe both.
I want to touch her. Pull her close. Let her feel that she’s not alone in this. That I’m not the enemy. But I can’t do that right now, not when she’s one wrong word away from bolting.
“I’m not trying to control you,” I say, quieter now. “I’m trying tokeep you alive.”
She stays silent, jaw tight, fists curled as if holding herself together by sheer will. The struggle is clear—the human in her pushing back against the pull of the wolf. But I can alsofeelher wolf. Stirring. Restless. Curious.
I take a breath, trying to keep the edge out of my voice.
“Your wolf wants me,” I continue. “I can smell it on you. I can feel it calling out to mine.”
“My wolf is an idiot,” she snaps, but her body betrays her. Her nipples are hard beneath her shirt, her breathing shallow and rapid.
“Is she?” I reach out slowly, telegraphing my movement so she can pull away if she wants. When she doesn't, I brush a strand of hair from her face, my knuckles grazing her heated cheek. “Or does she understand something your human half refuses to accept?”
The contact sends electricity racing through my veins. Her scent spikes with arousal, so sharp and sweet I nearly groan aloud. My wolf howls with triumph at the response.
“I won’t be treated like some prize,” she snaps, voice shaking with anger that only makes her scent burn hotter in the air.
“Then tell me what you do want,” I rasp, the words rough against my throat. “Because everything about you is saying you wantsomething, kitten.”
Her eyes flutter close at the endearment, a soft sound escaping her lips that makes my cock throb painfully against my jeans. When she opens them again, the brown has darkened. I want to close the distance between us, to press her against the wall and show her exactly what she's doing to me. But somethingin her expression stops me—vulnerability beneath the defiance, confusion warring with desire.
“I want...” She swallows hard, her throat working in a way that makes me want to press my mouth there. “I want to understand what's happening to me. Why does my body betray me every time you're near?”
My wolf preens at her words, at the recognition that she feels the pull between us even if she doesn't understand it.
“It’s the bond,” I say, trying to hold my voice steady while every nerve in my body pulls me toward her. “Your wolf knows me. It’s instinct, yes, but it’s older than that. Something sacred. Something that’s always been.”
“Just because our wolves think we're compatible doesn't mean we are.”
I let my hand drift from her cheek to her throat, feeling her pulse race beneath my palm. “Then explain this. Explain why your heart pounds when I touch you. Why your scent changes when I touch you. This is deeper than that, kitten. This is recognition. Soul calling to soul.”
