Page 19 of The Alpha Wolf’s Secret Baby Boy

But then he chuckles softly as if he’s climbing back onto the crazy train. “Well, then you are going to find out exactly who I am. I’m not changing my mind, Poppy. You and I will be mated tonight.”

Damian turns and grabs the doorknob, and my blood runs colder than ice.

“Are you just going to leave me here, locked in this room?” I ask, and he glances over his shoulder without opening the door.

“Yes. That’s exactly what’s going to happen. If you can’t comply with my orders—”

“You can’t give me orders! You are not my alpha!”

Damian suddenly slams a fist on the door, leaving a dent in the wood, startling me. I freeze on the spot as he comes closer and points at my face again.

“You were born a Valley Walker wolf, and I am your alpha. Don’t you forget that.”

Gulping, I say, “And if I don’t comply, you’re gonna keep me as your prisoner?”

“It didn’t have to be this way,” he says, nostrils flaring as he hangs his head and shakes it slowly. “But I won’t let you leave this room until I’ve claimed you.”

“Who are you…?” I ask with bitter resentment on my tongue.

“I told you; you will find out.” He looms over me, and there’s a flash of remorse in his eyes.

That’s when I decide to use it to my advantage. Try to make him see reason, even if I can’t give all of the truth.

“I have to go back to Fort Smit,” I whisper, this time fighting the tears threatening to cloud my vision.

Damian must notice, because he pulls back with a frown. “Why? What is in Fort Smit that you need so badly? Is there someone who has claimed you?”

Damian reaches for my shoulder, but I quickly dodge his hand, glaring at him accusingly.

“No! No one has claimed me!” I snap, and he looks like a wounded puppy for a moment. “Nightclaw has been my home for a year. There are things I need from there. Things that are precious to me.”

“Who?” he asks, and I shake my head defensively.

“No one, Damian. This isn’t about anyone else,” I lie.

Damian draws back, his top lip peeling from his teeth to show off his sharp, pearly-white fangs as he nods slowly, thoughtfully.

“If whatever is there is so precious to you, Poppy Barnes, then the only way you can even think of leaving this room is if you go through with the mating ritual tonight. If you do, I will allow you to visit Nightclaw again. When you’re wearing my mark with the veneration it deserves.”

He reaches out toward my neck, but I flinch away, not wanting his touch, and definitely not wanting any part of this.

“You’re evil…” I whisper with disgust, and Damian only chuckles. The sound is haunting, filling the room with his insanity. I’ve never heard that sound from his lips, and it gives me chills.

He’s insane.

He’s lost his mind.

Whoever is standing in front of me is not Damian Walker.

But the fierce gravity in his darkened eyes tells me that he means every word he says.

He’s not letting me out of here without this ridiculous mating ritual fulfilled because he suddenly believes we’re fated mates.

And that means I can’t get to my son without going through with it.

Damian’s eyes flit to the window. “You have a few hours left before nightfall. You decide. Do you want to be my prisoner for the rest of your life, or do you want to be my luna?”

My breath catches in my throat, and I’m frozen in place when Damian turns to leave without an immediate response. He doesn’t need it. He wants me to suffer in the confines of the four walls of this room until I’m forced to make a choice.