Annika gasps when I have her pinned right where I want her, the window just above her head, her back ramrod-straight against the wall. She groans, the defeated sound filling my eardrums with triumph.
“Don't call me that…” she mumbles, and the annoyance is evident in the fire in her eyes.
Of course, I did my research and found that one meaning of her name is “fearless.” She embodies the Indian Goddess her name is derived from, like a fearless soldier who won't give up.
But I am an alpha, and won't let her slip through my fingers so easily. Without wasting another second, I fling her arm over my shoulder and lift her off her feet.
“Put me down, you crazy man!” she wails, fists beating against my back as she tries wiggling free of my grip, my hand secured on the small of her back.
I chuckle as I get to my toolshed, grab a toolbox, and then carry her back inside the cabin. When we're in her room again, and the door is locked behind us, I set her on her feet, only to meet her terrifying death-glare.
“If you want me to stop treating you like a prisoner, you'll have to stop trying to escape,” I warn her in a condescending tone that only infuriates her even more, and she crosses her arms and lifts her chin with a defiant huff.
This feels like a game of cat and mouse, and it's rather thrilling. But Annika is no mouse—she's a fierce fighter.
The council was right. Sophie's vision was right.
The fated mates of the alphas of the valley packs are all meant to be witches, descendants of the Ashclaw Pack. The alpha of Ashclaw mated with a witch, and saved the child he had with her before the demons got to him, and Annika shares the bloodline, even if she isn't a shapeshifter. Like Ashclaw, she has fire power in her bones, magic that lies dormant until awakened by the fated mate bond.
I can see it in her eyes now, the way the chocolate-brown orbs glow as if they're hiding the fire buried deep within. I fight the urge to grab her and feel her body against mine again, to feel those tingles beneath my skin. To distract myself from the sinful thoughts in my head, I focus on the task of bolting up the window while I can feel her anger pulsing off her in waves from where she stands behind me.
“You won't take no for an answer, will you?” she finally speaks, her voice gravelly.
“No,” I shake my head as I turn from the window slowly, throwing the hammer into the toolbox and arching a brow at her. “You know me well enough to know that Idon'ttake no for an answer, ever.”
Annika scoffs. “I don't think I know you at all, Mr. Ralph.”
“Henry. Just Henry,” I remind her, but Annika doesn't bite. Instead, she clicks her tongue and rolls her eyes in a way that should be irritating, but instead, I find it endearing.
I'm used to women falling to their knees vying for my attention, but Annika is different. She never cared, not even when she first walked into my office for her interview.
She's always been different, and that's probably why she's so intriguing, even apart from her being my fated mate and appealing to my inner wolf.
She's so much more, and she has no idea what she is. Not yet. But I'll be right here when she finds out, and I'll be the one unraveling her in other ways…
“Suit yourself,” I say coolly, chuckling lightly as I pick up my toolbox again. “The offer still stands. About breakfast, of course.”
Annika doesn't look my way and just scoffs. “I'm not hungry,” she mutters under her breath, but I know she's lying, because she hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday.
Lugging my toolbox with me, I pass her and sneak a nose full of her scent before leaving the room, since it's the only thing that seems to soothe my wolf. This morning has already been eventful enough, and tonight will be different after we're married.
While I stack a plate with breakfast for Annika, I make a mental note to remind my father to keep tonight's ceremony strictly matrimonial, leaving out the traditional part of the ceremony that makes it a mate bond for wolves.
Annika hasn't agreed to the marriage, let alone one to a werewolf, and I can't dump this on her yet.
I sigh regretfully as I stare at the plate, my heart turning heavy with sadness. I wish I didn't have to force her into this, because the truth is, Annika Singh deserves so much more than a forced marriage and a certificate signed under the guise of me protecting my freedom for the sake of the company.
Our mate bond is sacred, more profound than anything I could have asked for, and even though it comes in the midst of a war against demons, the fated mate bond itself is special.
I can only hope that with time, Annika realizes this, and that she doesn't hate me too much for kidnapping her and forcing her into marrying me. But from what I witnessed today, seeing her fiery, fighting spirit, I know I have my work cut out for me.
I take my plate to the sink, then head to my study to finish up some work that’s been left incomplete. But as I take a seat behind my desk, my eyes land on the mirror in the corner, and I’m reminded of another night when I’d been restless because of Annika.
The night of the gala.
She was so beautiful, and I couldn’t take my mind off her, even when I returned to the valley. I knew she was my fated mate, but I couldn’t even touch her.
I imagined her in that mirror, my mind projecting the way she looked that night into a fantasy.
