Page 28

"I have to try," River blurted. "For my child's sake."

Kane froze, his eyes widening as they dropped to her abdomen. "You're pregnant."

River's hand moved to her belly. "Yes."

"That must be why your scent is stronger. I couldn't smell you before, but now…" His eyes widened, and he scanned the room. "Have you stopped eating the food?"

Well, in for a penny… "Yes."

"Shit. Then you know that's where the suppressors are."

"I'm not a total idiot. Not that I'm keeping much of anything down. I'm lucky if my body will accept soda and mints."

He sniffed. "I take it Titan doesn't know?"

"Do you think I'd still be pregnant if he did?"

"You'd be surprised. With how twisted he is now, he'd likely claim the child was his."

The thought made River gasp. There was no way she would ever let Titan claim Apollo and Ares' child.

Kane ran a hand over his face. "This changes everything.

It's only weeks, possibly days, before Titan realizes you aren't on the suppressors and blockers.

He's said he's always been able to smell you even when you were on them before, but the others will notice soon, too.

If you go upstairs, there will be no hiding it from them. "

"Why doesn't Titan have cameras in here or in the art studio?"

"Because he doesn't want anyone else watching you. Believe me, if he weren't so paranoid about another male getting at you, he'd have every angle of the room covered by cameras."

The thought angered River. She wouldn't have put it past Titan to put cameras in the bathroom as well, so he could get his rocks off watching her.

"Help me," River begged. "Help my child. Please. I don't want him brought up in this world. Imagine what Titan would do to a baby. How much worse his obsession would become. If you do, I'll make sure Apollo and Ares give you whatever you want. I'm the High Luna, I can-"

"I don't want anything from you or them for myself. That's not why I'm here. I'm here for all the other wolves upstairs who didn't ask for this. All I want is for them to have an opportunity to live a normal life. It's all I've ever wanted."

"Then call Ares. Tell him what you want. He'll make sure it happens. I'll give you my word."

Before Kane could answer, the door burst inward. Titan stood in the doorway, his broad frame blocking the exit, his eyes blazing.

"What. Is. This?" he growled to Kane.

Kane straightened. "Talking."

"Talking," Titan repeated, his voice dangerously soft. "Behind my back. In her room. My mate's room."

River's heart pounded as Titan guided the door behind him with deliberate slowness. The air crackled with tension, and her wolf stirred anxiously.

Escape. Run.

"It's not what you think," Kane said evenly.

"No?" Titan's eyes narrowed. "Then tell me, brother, what is it? Because from where I'm standing, it looks an awful lot like betrayal."

Kane held his ground. "I'm trying to prevent you from making a mistake you can't take back."

"A mistake?" Titan's laugh barked out harsh and brittle. "The only mistake was thinking I could trust you."

"Titan-" River began.

"Don't," he snarled. "Don't you dare speak right now."

River's wolf growled at the disrespect.

Easy, girl.

The situation teetered on the edge of violence. She had to defuse it to prevent Titan from killing Kane.

"You think I don't know what's happening?" Titan stalked forward. "You think I can't smell your deception? Your guilt?"

Kane didn't move. Didn't speak.

"You're plotting against me." Titan's voice dropped. "My oldest friend. The only person I thought I could trust."

"I'm not plotting against you. I'm trying to save you."

Titan snorted. "Save me? Is that what this is?" He gestured between Kane and River. "Conspiring with my mate behind my back?"

"She's not your mate," Kane said quietly. "Not truly. And deep down, you know it."

The words hung in the air between them, explosive and dangerous. River held her breath, her heart pounding so loudly she was sure both men heard it.

Titan's face contorted with rage. "You dare-"

"Yes, I dare," Kane interrupted, taking a step forward. "Because someone has to tell you the truth. This obsession is destroying you, Titan. It's corrupting everything."

For a moment, something flickered in Titan's eyes, a flash of uncertainty, quickly masked by fury. "Get out," he growled.

"Titan-"

"GET OUT!" Titan roared, his voice reverberating through the room with such force the television rattled.

Kane held his ground for a moment longer, his eyes locking with Titan's in a silent battle of wills. Then, with a nod, he turned to leave. As he passed River, he gave her a look that spoke volumes, half apology, half warning.

Kane slowly exited the room, leaving River alone with Titan. The silence stretched between them, taut as piano wire.

"What did he tell you?" Titan asked, his voice calm.

River swallowed hard, weighing her options. Titan would detect a lie immediately. But the truth might provoke him further.

"He told me about your past," she answered carefully. "About your vision for changing things."

"And?"

"And about your mother."

Something dark and pained flashed across Titan's face. "He had no right to speak of her."

"Maybe not," River conceded. "But it helped me understand you better."

Titan scoffed. "You don't want to understand me, River. You want to escape me."

"Can you blame me?" River asked, a flash of defiance breaking through her caution. "You bit me without consent and then kidnapped me."

Titan's eyes darkened. "I claimed what should have been mine from the beginning. If my father hadn't thrown me away, you would have been mine."

River stood her ground, refusing to be intimidated. "That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works."

Titan stalked toward her, looming over her like a towering skyscraper. "The old laws and traditions you cling to are just tools of control. Ways for the powerful to maintain their grip on us."

"And what you're doing is different?" River challenged. "Forcing a bond I don't want? How does that make you any better?"

Titan's nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply, his golden eyes studying her face with unsettling intensity. "You're different today." His voice dropped to a dangerous murmur. "Something's changed."

River's heart skipped, and her hand moved to protect her stomach before she stopped herself. Titan followed the movement, his eyes narrowing.

"What are you hiding?" he demanded.

"Nothing," River replied too quickly.

Titan moved closer, invading her personal space. "Lie to me again," he growled, "and see what happens."

River's wolf growled, and for the first time in a week, jumped to her feet.

River approached him, her chest almost touching his.

"Threaten me again, and see what happens."

He growled, and his eyes went black.

In a flash, he pinned her to the wall, teeth bared.

River's wolf struggled to stay upright.

Before River could think, Titan's hot lips slammed down on hers.

Her wolf roared, and River thrashed against Titan's giant form as he crushed her against the wall, his lips trying to part hers, his tongue fighting to invade her.

River twisted her head away, breaking the brutal kiss. "Stop!" she gasped, pushing against him.

Titan growled, his hands tightening around her wrists. "You're mine." His hot breath hit her neck. "Mine to claim, mine to take."

His lips slammed down on hers again, making her teeth ache.

River's wolf surged, lending her strength. She bit down hard on Titan's invading tongue, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth as he jerked back with a roar.

"I will never be yours," River spat. Her wolf lunged forward. With a sudden movement, she brought her knee up hard between his legs.

Titan grunted in pain, his grip loosening enough for River to wrench herself free. She stumbled away from him, putting the bed between them as she struggled to catch her breath.

"You little-" Titan's face contorted and shifted, his snout elongating and then shortening again.

"I told you not to touch me," River cut him off. "I warned you."

Titan straightened, probing her with his unnerving black eyes. "And I told you, the game had begun."

"This isn't a game," River shot back. "This is my life. My body. My choice."

Something shifted in Titan's eyes, a flicker of... what? Uncertainty? It vanished as soon as it appeared, replaced by cold calculation.

"You think you're so different from me," he said. "So righteous. But we're the same, River. Both of us trapped by circumstances beyond our control, both fighting for something we believe in."

"We are nothing alike," River insisted. "I don't hurt people to get what I want."

Titan snorted. "What about your precious twins? Do you think their hands are clean? That their royal bloodline wasn't built on violence and conquest?"

River faltered, unsure how to respond. Titan seized on her hesitation, taking a step forward.

"They've filled your head with lies. Made you believe they're the heroes of this tale. But they aren't. You've seen the rogues. You've heard their stories. Your precious twins let that happen."

"And that needs to be changed. But not by kidnapping, rape, and murder."

Titan looked at her, confused, and shook his head. "Rape? Who's been raped?"

"That's what you want to do to me, isn't it?"

"You can't rape what is meant to be yours."

River couldn't stop her mouth from falling open. "You don't believe that. You can't."

He didn't answer.

She glanced at the freezer and the only possible weapon at her disposal, the paintbrush. No. She would never reach it in time.

All right, girl. If you have any strength left right now, I need it if we want to make it out of this unmolested.

River focused all of her strength into her eyes. Her wolf lifted her head, lending what little she could manage.

Finally, River's gaze grew heavy, and she leveled it at him. At first, he looked at her in confusion and then with defiance.

"Do you feel that?" she asked softly. "That weight? Your wolf telling you to bow to me and look away? That feeling means I'm not yours."

"No, it-"

"Don't speak," she commanded.

His mouth snapped shut, and he swallowed hard. He growled and opened his mouth, but when nothing came out, he snapped it shut again.

"That command I have over you, I don't have it over my mates. Ares and Apollo do what they do because they are my fated mates. But when it comes to me telling them what to do, they don't do it because they feel compelled to or because I command them to, they do it because they choose to."

Titan's body began to shake, and he bared his teeth.

"Stop," she commanded. "I am not your mate.

I will never be your mate. When my wolf saw you for the first time, she said two words: not him.

When I met Ares for the first time, she all but clawed her way out of me to go to him and submit.

But she will never do that with you. She will never choose you.

She will never submit to you. We. Reject. You."

Titan roared and stormed to the bed. River backed toward the kitchenette as he flipped the bed without any effort.

He swiped at the table and chair, and they shattered against the wall.

He ripped the curtains from the fake window and punched his fist through the screen, making it crack and go black.

River took another step away from him and glanced at the freezer. No matter what happened, she would not let him harm her or her baby.

He ripped the television from the dresser and broke it over his knee. Then he tipped the dresser sideways, spilling her clothes everywhere. He roared and then broke the footboard of her bed in two pieces before ripping into the mattress and shredding it with his claws.

When there was nothing left to break, he stopped, chest heaving with each ragged breath.

The room lay in ruins. The bed overturned, furniture splintered, the fake window's screen now a spider-web of cracks with a gaping hole at its center, and barely still planted in the wall.

His knuckles dripped blood on the cement floor, but he seemed not to notice.

River's wolf prowled anxiously, ready to fight if, though they both knew it would be futile against Titan's superior strength.

When he turned to face her, his expression had transformed. The anger still simmered, but his face wore a mask of cold calculation.

"You think you've won something here," he said. "You think your rejection means anything?"

River said nothing.

"I've been patient. I've tried to make this pleasant for you. To give you time to adjust." His lips curled into a bitter smile. "That ends now."

"Meaning?"

Titan's eyes morphed back to normal in the dim light. "It means no more luxuries. No more privileges. No more kindness." He gestured to the destruction around them. "You'll stay in here until you learn your place."

"My place is with my mates," River shot back.

"Your mates," Titan sneered. "They haven't found you yet, have they? And they won't." He slid closer. "You're mine, River. The sooner you accept that, the better this will go for all of us."

River lifted her chin and met his eye. "I will never accept it."

"We'll see. I won't force myself on you again. You will either see things my way or die in this room."

He strode toward the door, reached for the handle, and paused.

"One week of isolation. No visitors, minimal food.

Think about your situation carefully, River.

It can be comfortable or challenging. It's up to you.

But whichever way you choose to go, you are never leaving this property.

Oh, and if you try to use your Omega gaze on me again to force me to do something you want, I'll rip your tongue out before the words leave your pretty lips. "

With that, he left, the door slamming behind him with finality. The locks clicked into place, followed by the sound of something metal being slid across it.

River waited until his footsteps faded completely before she allowed herself to exhale. Her legs trembled with the aftermath of adrenaline, and she sank to the floor and dry heaved. Tears flowed from her eyes and splashed on the cement.

"Apollo. Ares. We need you."