Page 22 of The Alpha Wolf’s Secret Baby Boy

“I, Poppy Barnes, accept your claim, Alpha Damian Walker,” she whispers, voice tight and strained as she holds my gaze with fiery intensity.

Priest Jaimie clears his throat and nods when I glance at him.

“You may mark your mate, Alpha Damian.”

I nod in return, closing the distance between Poppy and me with one step, my hand reaching out to touch her neck. Her skin prickles with goosebumps beneath my touch, her body becoming rigid as she turns her face away. So she can’t look at me. So I have access to her neck.

It all comes crashing into me then—how much time has passed between us. Standing before her now, about to claim her, feels bittersweet, because this is long overdue.

If she hadn’t run away, if she hadn’t abandoned me, we would have been right here years ago.

I tell myself that it doesn’t matter, that we’re doing the right thing, even if it took us way too long to get here. Fate has given us another chance, and I’ll be damned if I let her slip away again.

Leaning in despite her obvious resistance, my canines extend from my mouth, extending past my lips, and I sink the sharp teeth into her skin.

Poppy holds her breath as I mark her, as if she can’t feel the ripples of electric awareness coursing through her veins. I can feel them in mine, and like a newborn taking their first breath of air, my wolf becomes soothed. Her blood is unexpectedly sweet, carrying the same floral notes as her scent.

My inner wolf’s calmness soon turns into madness again, excited, thrilled to be claiming its mate. I don’t stop until I’m certain she’s marked by my teeth, and only draw back when my wolf is satisfied. Panting as if I ran the distance between Cedar Valley and Fort Smit in record time, I brace a hand on the sacred skull, my claws stirring beneath my nail beds when my inner wolf wants to burst free.

I look up as my face pales with the striking realization that my inner wolf isn’t completely satisfied. There’s still one more step before our mate bond is sealed, even if the mark she wears on her neck solidifies her position as my mate and luna.

But the anger burning like embers refusing to die remains in her eyes as a warning that I shouldn’t even be thinking that far ahead.

Her hatred for me bleeds outward in the air surrounding her, like a shield to protect her from me. I clear my throat and step back, swiping the back of my hand across my mouth and swallowing down the traces of her blood from my teeth.

The mark should have settled my wolf. Instead, it only sharpened the hunger.

My wolf has accepted the first step.

It demands the rest.

I need to blow off some steam, and when I turn to Jaimie, it’s evident that he’s noticed I’m not doing well.

He averts his eyes and lifts the relic from the podium, tucking it carefully under his robe between the layers.

“Alpha,” he bows curtly.

“You are dismissed, Jaimie,” I say, then watch as he scurries off toward his office in the corner of the chapel.

I extend a hand toward Poppy. “Ready to go home?”

She deliberately crosses her arms and tilts her head defiantly as she turns to the door. “I can walk perfectly fine.”

I nod slowly, catching the way her creamy white skin glows like molten gold beneath the light of flickering flames, the mark from my bite adorning her skin like a precious but unwanted jewel. She walks ahead of me, lips pressed tight, and I decide not to probe or try to make conversation that will become a fight.

Every gust of wind carries her scent back to me, taunting me with how close she is while she deliberately keeps those few feet between us. My wolf wants to close the distance. To erase it completely.

I force myself to stay where I am. A safe distance.

I want to taste every inch of her, reacquaint my tongue with the sweeter tastes she has to offer. But I can’t. I know that. If there’s one thing I can control, it’s this. It’s the only way I can stop myself from turning into a monster. An unforgivable monster whom I will hate even more than she will.

Once she reaches the porch of the mansion, she stops outside the door, moving to the side to allow me to unlock it.

“We made a deal,” she reminds me, and I pause, staring at the cast-iron handle in my hand.

At least she’s talking now…

“I didn’t forget,” I reply, turning slowly as I take a deep breath. She’s glaring at me now, her fury burning in her eyes.