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CHAPTER NINE

ZURI

Stone dragged his teeth across my neck, his warm breath giving me chills. I wasn’t supposed to like any part of this, but my wolf wanted him to touch me everywhere, like he had last night, except this time with his canines.

Heat coursed through my body, and I pressed my thighs together, biting back a moan.

Stop it, Zuri. He’s a villain. A monster. My mate.

My entire body froze, and I stared down at the bath of ashes. My mate was a pure monster who wanted nothing more than to have me bathe in the ashes of the wolves I had once thought of as family, friends, packmates.

Even if they hadn’t liked me, even if they had constantly put me down, this was wrong.

So wrong.

“No,” I growled, shoving him back. “Get away from me. You can’t mark me. Not now.”

I couldn’t be mated to this beast. The Moon Goddess must’ve made a mistake, a wrong choice. No way would I ever be able to tame him. He had brought me ashes of my ex-pack, for fuck’s sake! And I tried not to sob when someone said something mean to me.

In no world were we fated to be together!

Eyes glossy with lust, he stumbled back slightly and painted a smirk on his lips. “No?”

From the mere huskiness in his voice, I clenched and sucked in a breath. My body—my wolf—was doing everything in her power to get me to submit to him, to allow him to mark me. But, Goddess, did I fear him and everything he was capable of doing to me .

“Wipe that smirk off your face,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and attempting to act confident for once in my pathetic life. Except he could see right through me with those predator eyes. “You will not mark me because we can’t be mates.”

He chuckled darkly. “Is that so? I love a good challenge.”

“I-it’s not a challenge. You’ll never be able to be the mate I want.” And need.

A low growl escaped his lips, and he suddenly had me pressed against the nearest door. His large, muscular body against my chest, his dark eyes staring down at me. I stepped back in an attempt to disappear through the door.

“Try me, mate,” he growled, a sudden roughness to his voice. “Come meet my pack.”

My eyes widened even more. “Meet your pack?”

“Meet my pack,” he repeated.

“No, I can’t,” I whispered, reaching behind myself to twist the doorknob.

When the door clicked open, I twirled around as quickly as my uncoordinated ass could and accidentally tumbled to the ground. After giving him a clear view of my vagina, I scrambled to my feet and hurried down the hallway.

The afternoon sun flooded through Stone’s windows, creating patterns on the hardwood floor. I raced to the steps and then headed straight for his bedroom because it had a lock. I didn’t trust myself with him anymore today.

We needed to be as far as?—

Before I could slam the door in his face, he grabbed it with one hand and yanked it open with his brute force. I stared up at him, my heart pounding inside my chest, and stepped back. His eyes weren’t as dark, but that same smirk was painted upon his face.

“Come with me,” Stone demanded, holding out a large, tattooed hand toward me. “I’m going to introduce you to the pack. They deserve to meet and spend time with their luna as much as possible because in a couple of weeks, you’ll be too worried about our pups growing in your belly to do much else.”

My eyes widened. “What?! No!”

But he left me no room to disagree. What Alpha Stone said would happen—he’d proven that, even before I met him. This man could tell other packs what to do, and they’d do it because they were fucking terrified of him.

Me? Well, I wasn’t that scared of him anymore. I had known him for a whopping one day, and he had done nothing but fuck me. No killing. No smacking. No choking—unless it was the good kind.

Still, no matter which bullies Stone killed for me, my insecurities weren’t just … over in a matter of twenty-four hours. Those bullies had beaten into my head that I wasn’t good enough, wasn’t pretty enough, wasn’t enough to be mated with anyone .

What would everyone think about Stone when they found out he was mated to someone like me ? Would they all laugh in my face? Maybe that was what James, his beta, was doing right about now with his wife.

“Can’t we wait for a couple more days … or months? You know …” I started.

I didn’t know where I was going with it.

I wasn’t going to be ready to meet the pack within a couple of months.

It would take years for me to be ready to face them without feeling bad about it.

I was stuck between all those insecurities and self-love, and I hated it.

I wished things would get easier every now and then.

Instead of taking my hand and dragging me out of the room, like I expected him to do, he pulled me closer to him, snatched my chin between his fingers, and stared down with those dangerous eyes. “Why don’t you want to meet them?”

“Because …”

I didn’t know what to say. I hated talking about my insecurities.

“I know why, but I want to hear you say it,” he continued.

Not wanting to speak the words out loud because that would make them real, I shook my head and stared down at the ground, wiggling around my toes. “I just don’t think I’m ready to meet them, Stone.”

It was a lie, and he saw right through it.

And this man—Goddess, this man—was going to make me pay for lying to him.