Page 45 of Chained By the Alpha (Claimed Duet #1)
His confession pierces through the fog of my doubts. My mind races, trying to reconcile the man before me with the chaos of betrayal that clouds my judgment, making me question everything and everyone.
His grip tightens slightly, his voice lower, darker.
“So be prepared for a life of being stalked because I will shadow you to the darkest corners of this world and beyond.” His vow slices through the tension.
“Should you fall, I will be there to catch you. Should pain find you, I will obliterate its source.” His jaw clenches, his eyes burning with some emotion that scares and thrills me simultaneously.
“This isn’t about titles, power, or territories,” he continues, his voice a growling whisper as he leans in closer.
Our breaths mingle, almost like a shared breath that stokes the flames of desire within me.
“If it’s my title that makes you think I’d betray you like that, then I’ll cast it aside without a second thought.
If going rogue is what it takes to be with you. ”
My chest tightens, my pulse thrumming in my ears.
I can almost taste the urgency of his need, the fervor of his words.
The air between us crackles with electricity, charged.
“Because I love you, Cleo, more deeply and fiercely than I ever thought possible.” His lips are inches from mine, his heat enveloping me.
“Tell me what you need, what you want. I’ll lay it all at your fucking feet.
Just say the word, Cleo, because there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you, no line I wouldn’t cross, no sacrifice I wouldn’t make.
” I swallow thickly around the lump that is forming in my throat.
“Is that what you want to hear?” he demands.
“Zayn,” I gasp, overwhelmed by the torrent of emotions he unleashes within me. The barriers I’ve erected crumble beneath the force of his words, his presence an intoxicating drug that leaves me craving more yet I know that is the sire bond.
“Show me,” I challenge, my voice a whisper that belies the angry doubt that still refuses to let go that this mess is because of him. He tilts his head to the side watching me for a second.
“Prove it,” I challenge, my voice steady despite the storm of emotions raging inside me. My heart hammers against my ribs, a frantic drumbeat that echoes the turmoil in Zayn’s eyes.
“Mark me,” I say, locking gazes with him, my resolve as unwavering as the steeliness in his gaze.
“Do it knowing I’ll soon have the power to cast you aside, but you— you’d be irreversibly bound to me.
” His fingers brush against my skin, tracing the line of my jaw with a touch that sparks fire amidst the ice in my veins.
It’s a paradoxical sensation, comforting yet disarming and I’m lost in the dilemma of it all.
His hands find my waist, grip firm, pulling me against the hard planes of his body. I can feel the heat radiating from him, despite the chill in the air that’s trying to slip between us. It’s not enough to cool the fire he stirs within me since the day I met him.
“Mark you?” he breathes out, stunned. Then a slow, predatory smile spreads across his face. “Do you think that will scare me off?” his breath hot against my ear, sending shivers down my spine as he pulls back. His smirk is gone, replaced by an intensity that holds me captive.
Zayn’s gaze darkens, a shadow of something intense and indescribable flickering in his eyes.
“You want my soul forever tied to yours, my heart in your hands?” His voice is low, a murmur that vibrates with power and menace.
He chuckles, a sound that holds more weight than laughter should.
“You break it, you break me… Can you live with that?”
The reality of what I’m asking dawns on me in its full, daunting spectrum. I haven’t got my wolf yet, and until I mark him, I hold the ultimate power to reject him, just like my father did to my mother. Alphas never relinquished such control, and here I was, demanding Zayn surrender his.
Before I can retract my demand or reconsider the gravity of my request, he continues, not giving me a chance to take it back. Suddenly, I’m desperate to do just that, understanding the enormity of what he’s considering sacrificing for me, a sacrifice I now realize wasn’t fair of me to demand.
“I’d give you the world, and you ask for my heart like you think it will scare me, make me buckle,” he laughs again, but there’s no humor in it, only a deep, resounding truth. “What you don’t realize is you had it all along. From the moment I laid eyes on you.”
His fingers trace the line of my neck, while his other hand tilts my face up to meet his. His eyes search mine, seeking answers to questions unspoken, fears unvoiced. And then, with a gentleness that belies the ferocity of his nature, he brushes his lips against mine.
“It’s always been yours. I don’t fear being chained to you, you can have it, it belongs to no one else.”
Without another word, he sinks his teeth into my neck, pulling me impossibly closer.
A squeak escapes my lips, not from pain but from the overwhelming sensation of our hearts syncing, his soul binding to mine while mine remains free to wander.
I can feel him entirely, and the moment he jolts as if pained, I realize the weight of what’s happening—his soul attaching to mine in a bond that’s irreversible for him.
Even if I reject him, he will always have the lingering aftereffects of my soul once owning his.
He staggers slightly, pressing us both against the brick wall, making it unclear who’s supporting whom. When he finally withdraws, his lips are stained with my blood, marking me in the most primal way known to our kind.
Even now, marked, I hold the power to reject him, a power he’s willingly given me. He will always be sired to me, in some way, echoing the tragedy of my mother and father. If only Alpha Greyson had marked her, perhaps she would still be here.
The power I hold over Zayn feels too immense, too dangerous.“Zayn…” I falter, words sticking in my throat. “I’m sorry… I didn’t understand—”
He silences me with a finger to my lips.
“No more ‘what ifs,’ no more doubts, and no more apologies. We are what we are, and right now I’m yours.
” Guilt floods me as I stare up at him knowing what he gave me.
Some part of me screams what he did was reckless, yet another part of me screams how right it feels.
Then there is the nagging thought of how selfish I was to demand he give me it.
“Why are you sad?” he asks. “You can’t feel me, but I can feel you. Don’t feel guilty, Cleo. As you said, I am an Alpha, I have my aura, you haven’t forced me to do anything. You gave me a choice, so I chose you.”
“Then why do I feel like you’ll hate me later for it?”
“Hate you?” he laughs like it is the most idiotic thing I’ve said. “That’s the last thing you could ever make me do. How could I hate you for being the one thing that’s ever made me feel complete?”
His hand shifts to cradle my cheek gently, his thumb caressing my skin with a tenderness that belies the strength in his arms. “This mark,” he continues, his voice softening, “I didn’t give it lightly, and I don’t give my heart lightly, either.”
He leans in, his forehead resting against mine, our breaths mingling. “I chose you, Cleo, with every fiber of my being. This mark, it ties me to you, yes. But more than that, I knew what I was giving you by marking you.”
The warmth in his gaze thaws the last of my doubts, filling the spaces between my heartbeats with something new, something exhilarating.
“I could never hate you for making me feel alive, for making me love so deeply. You’ve awakened a part of me I didn’t know existed. And for that, I could never hate you.”
He smiles then, a genuine, heart-stopping smile that lights up his entire face. “I love you, Cleo. And I’ll spend every day making sure you never doubt that. This mark, it’s not a chain. It’s the start of a bond, and one day, hopefully soon, I will wear it proudly when you return it.”
In that moment, any lingering guilt or fear dissolves under the weight of his words, his love. Zayn’s mark isn’t just a claim—it’s a gift, one he is trusting I will return one day.
“Come on, let’s get you home.” Zayn presses his lips against my forehead and wraps his arm around my shoulders, tugging me toward his car.