Page 18 of The Alpha Wolf’s Secret Baby Boy

I’m merely waiting for the ball to drop. Waiting for him to mention Daniel.

But it doesn’t come. Not the way a man would snap if he found out I was hiding his child from him.

He doesn’t know.

“You and I will be bound by the mating ritual tonight.”

My heart stops.

Oh no…

This is much worse than him simply knowing about Daniel.

“Wh-what…?” My jaw drops, and my eyes widen with shock.

“You heard me. You and I will be mated tonight,” he says calmly while I’m losing my mind.

“No.” I shake my head firmly. There was a time when I desperately wanted him to take this step, to be so sure of us that he wouldn’t want to wait another second to claim me.

But a decade has passed, and pain has festered for far too long. He didn’t outright reject me, but his hesitation spoke volumes that kept us apart all this time.

What’s changed since then? Has he not taken a mate yet? Or am I some kind of consolation for something he lost? A replacement? A second option?

“Why?” is the question thumping in my head with so many others. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because we’re fated mates, Poppy.”

I shake my head slowly in disbelief, brows furrowing as I stare at the man I once loved. A man who has changed so much in ten years.

He’s not the man I used to love. He’s a cruel alpha who’s capable of kidnapping someone against their will. The Damian I knew back then would never have stooped so low.

“I don’t believe you.”

Damian steps forward, towering over me, his scent everywhere, like a curse, eyes cruel, malevolent pits of ice-cold blue.

“You don’t feel it, do you?”

“You’re insane. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His face curls into a sadistic smirk. “Denial…” He licks his lips as if he’s tasting the word. “That’s all it is. But after tonight, there will be no room for doubt.”

“I’m not doing it. I’m not agreeing to it,” I say firmly, lifting my chin with an air of defiance. “I want to go h-home…” My voice cracks when my thoughts go to Daniel and what he must be thinking right now. He must be worried about me. I need to get home to my son.

“I need to go home to Fort Smit, Damian. Whatever’s making you believe this ridiculous idea…it will wear off. I just need to go home.”

Damian shakes his head. “You don’t understand, Poppy. You and I are fated mates. You’re in denial; that’s why you don’t feel it.”

“I don’t care!” I snap, throwing my hands up. “It doesn’t matter what you think we are, Damian. You didn’t seem to think this way a decade ago when you hesitated. We are nothing, and I want to go home.”

Damian draws back and flinches as if what I said was a physical blow.

“Why are you so adamant about returning? Is your loyalty to my brother more important than faith?”

My nostrils flare with irritation, and I bite my tongue before saying something I’ll regret. Like something about Daniel. How do I tell him that it’s my loyalty to my son that means more than anything in the world?

“I don’t know you anymore,” I say quietly, glaring at him now. “I don’t know what you’re like as an alpha, but I do know that Alpha Dorian would never do something like this.”

He flinches again. It’s another blow. Perhaps it’s strong enough to make him realize that he’s barking up the wrong tree.