My hand tightens on her neck, pulling her closer instead. “If you let him touch you,” I say quietly, deliberately, “if you let Zane lay even one finger on you—a hand on your arm, a brush against your hair, anything”—I lean down and whisper in her ear—“I will spend that whole night making sure you remember exactly who you belong to.”
Her breath hitches. I can feel her pulse racing under my palm, can smell the spike of arousal that floods through her at my words. Her body betrays her completely, even as her mind fights me.
“You wouldn’t—” she starts, but she is too breathless to finish.
“Try me.” I nip at her earlobe, satisfaction coursing through me when she shivers. “Test me, little wolf. See what happens if you come home smelling like another man.”
She shoves hard at my chest, and this time, I let her go. She stumbles back a step, her face flushed, her breathing unsteady. Without another word, she turns and stalks off, her spine rigid with fury.
I lean against the wall, watching her retreat, my body still buzzing with frustrated desire. My wolf paces restlessly, unsatisfied, wanting to chase after her and finish what we started.
But I force myself to stay put.
She’s not unaffected by me—that much is clear. Her body responds to mine; the mate bond pulls at her just as strongly as it pulls at me. But winning her body isn’t the problem. It’s never been the problem.
It’s her heart that I need to reach. Her trust that Ineed to gain.
And I have no idea how to do that.
“Commander?”
I look up from the stack of reports on my desk to find Theodore, one of my junior officers, hovering in the doorway with a wary expression.
“What is it?”
“Your sister stopped by again, sir. Lady Marina. She said to tell you that if you don’t show up for dinner tonight, she’ll come find you herself.” He shifts uncomfortably. “She seemed quite serious about it.”
I suppress a groan. That’s the third time this week Marina has tried to corner me, and I know exactly why. I bailed on that blind date she had arranged with Lady Catherine from House Meridian—didn’t even show up, just sent a message claiming urgent military business. Marina has been hunting me down ever since, no doubt ready to rip me apart for embarrassing the family.
“Tell her I’m busy.”
“I did, sir. She said she doesn’t care.”
Of course she did. I run a hand through my hair, exhaustion weighing on me like armor that’s too heavy. I’ve been avoiding all my sisters for two weeks now, dodging their summonses and taking alternative routes through the palace to avoid running into them. I should just tell them about Selene. Get it over with. Let them know I’m already mated and be done with their matchmaking schemes.
But every time I try to come up with what to say, my brain shuts down. How do I explain that I’m bound to a woman who can barely stand to be in the same room as me? That my mate avoids me like I’m carrying the plague? That I drove her away because of my stupidity and now have no idea how to win her back?
“Fine. Tell her I’ll be there.” The lie comes easily. I won’t go, but it’ll buy me time.
Theodore nods and retreats quickly, probably relieved to escape before I find something to criticize.
Two weeks. It has been two weeks since Selene agreed to help catch Zane, and I’ve spent every second of her meetings with him watching from the shadows. Guarding her. Making sure nothing happens while she plays this dangerous game. But the moment those encounters end, she disappears. Slips away before I can intercept her, taking different routes back to avoid crossing my path.
She won’t even look at me when she arrives. Just walks past wherever I’m stationed—in the gardens one day, the library courtyard the next, the eastern terrace after that—her spine straight and her eyes forward, pretending I don’t exist.
I’ve tried going to her quarters. Knocked on her door late at night when I know she should be there. But she never answers. Just silence on the other side, though I can hear her heartbeat, smell her scent. She’s there. She just won’t open the door for me.
And then I found out she has started taking later shifts at the infirmary. When I asked one of the other healers about her schedule, thinking I could catch her during a quiet moment, I learned she’d requested the late-night shifts. The ones that run until dawn. The ones that ensure she’ll never cross paths with me during normal, daylight hours.
The knowledge sits like acid in my gut. I know it’s deliberate. Every avoided glance, every locked door, every schedule change—it’s all calculated to keep me at a distance. It doesn’t feel good, this taste of my own medicine. For months, I was the one avoiding her, crossing to the other side of rooms, making sure our paths never intersected. Now, she’s doing the same to me, and the irony burns worse than any physical wound.
The only time I can be near her is when she has no choice—when she’s with Zane and I’m her hidden guard. But knowing what she’s doing is fake doesn’t make it easier to see her with another man. Doesn’t stop my wolf from pacing restlessly, whining for our mate. Doesn’t ease the frustration building in my chest until I feel like I might explode.
I want her. Want to touch her, feel her body against mine, hear her voice—even if she’s yelling at me. Anything would bebetter than watching her from a distance, close enough to protect but too far to reach.
My soldiers have started giving me wide berth during training. I’ve become a terror on the grounds, pushing them harder than ever, my temper fraying at the smallest mistakes. Yesterday, I made an entire squadron run drills until they were practically crawling. The day before, I shouted at a new recruit so harshly, he nearly cried.
I know I’m being unfair. My anger isn’t really about them. But I can’t seem to stop.
