Leon’s POV
The liquid in my glass was the only thing keeping my wolf from clawing its way out of my chest.
Tomorrow was the anniversary of my mother’s death, and the air in the packhouse already felt like a funeral.
But it wasn’t just the morial that was making my skin crawl.
It was the girl standing in front of .
I could sll the fever coming off her in waves. It was sweet, like lilies and honey, but laced with a sharp, tallic tang that made my teeth ache.
Her shift was coming.
And In less than three hours, she would discover we were mates.
Then I would have to reject her.
This was the day I had dreaded and anticipated the most. I wondered what her face would look like when she realized the truth. The shock in her eyes. The pain.
For a mont, I wished she wouldn’t get her wolf.
Yes, it was selfish.
If she never shifted, she would never know we were fated mates.
But that wish was already impossible. Her body was burning with the early signs of transformation.
She was shifting tonight.
"Undress," I said, my voice sounding like it ca from the bottom of a grave.
I didn’t look at her. I couldn’t. If I looked at those tear-filled eyes, I might break. I might pull her into my arms and confess everything—my love, my obsession with her, the feelings I had buried for years while pretending to hate her.
Tonight, I had to be the monster.
I had to touch her one last ti before she discovered the truth.
"Leon, please," she whispered, her lips trembling. "I told you... I don’t feel well. The fever—"
"I didn’t ask how you felt," I snapped. I gripped my glass so hard the silver ring on my finger bit into my skin. "I gave you an order, Scarlett. Do as you’re told."
Slowly, she bowed her head and began to undress while I forced myself to look away.
But the scent of her bare skin still reached .
Warm. Floral. Alive.
And pulsing with the heat of her wolf.
My nostrils flared.
I turned my head.
She stood there naked, her shoulders trembling.
Then I saw it.
A dark purple mark blooming against the pale skin of her neck.
My stomach dropped.
A hickey.
Rage exploded inside my chest.
I slamd my glass onto the table with a heavy thud and stood.
My wolf surged forward, pacing inside my skull and howling with possessive fury.
I walked toward her, stopping so close I could feel the heat radiating from her small body. I reached out, my hand hovering over her shoulder.
"What is this, Scarlett?" My voice wasn’t even a whisper anymore. It was a low, vibrating growl that ca from deep in my chest. She flinched, her small hands flying up to cover her collarbone, her eyes wide and wet with terror. "Leon, please—"
"Who gave you this?" I stepped into her space, my shadow swallowing her whole. She tried to turn away, to hide the hickey by covering it with her hand, but I was faster. I shoved her hands away from her neck. My wolf was screaming, pacing behind my ribs, demanding to know who had touched what belonged to .
"Tell !" I yelled. The sound bounced off the stone walls, loud enough to shake the glass of bourbon on the table.
Her lips trembled, but no words ca out. She stared at , her chest heaving, her skin burning with the heat of her coming shift. She looked like she was breaking apart, caught between the pain of her first shift and the fury in my eyes.
I beca so possessive that I didn’t even feel like a man anymore. I was a predator, and my territory had been invaded.
I grabbed her waist, dragging her body flush against mine until there wasn’t a single inch of air between us. I wanted to scrub the scent of whoever did this off her. I wanted to bite over that mark until only my scent remained.
"Was it Liam?" I hissed, my nose buried in the crook of her neck, right next to the hickey. "Or was it Leo? Tell which one of my brothers thought they could put their mouth on you."
I felt her heart thundering against my ribs, a fast, frantic rhythm. She was mine. She was my fated mate, even if she didn’t know it yet. Even if I had to reject her in two hours, right now, she was the only thing in this world that mattered. And I would kill anyone who tried to take her from before I was done with her.
"It wasn’t your brothers," she suddenly said, her voice trembling as she struggled against my grip. Her skin was burning my palms, her fever rising with every passing second. "It was my lover."
The word felt like a physical blow to my chest. Lover. My eyes widened, and my heart skipped a beat. A red haze of fury started to cloud my vision. "You’re lying," I hissed, my fingers digging into her waist. "You spend every second of your life as a servant. You don’t have ti for a lover."
"I’m not lying!" she shouted back, a sudden spark of defiance in her tear-filled eyes. "I have a boyfriend. Soone who actually cares for . Soone who doesn’t treat like trash."
The roar of my wolf in my head was so loud I could barely hear my own thoughts.
A lover. Soone else had touched her. Soone else had seen her like this. Soone else had dared to put their mark on the girl who was mine.
"Who is he?" I growled, my face inches from hers. My wolf was clawing at my throat, ready to shift and hunt this man down. "Tell his na, Scarlett. Right now."
She lifted her chin, despite the fear shaking her body. "Over my dead body," she whispered. "I will never tell you."
The anger that shot through was sothing I hadn’t felt before. It wasn’t just anger anymore; it was pure, agonizing jealousy. She was protecting him. She was hiding another man from , even while she was standing naked in my arms.
I couldn’t take it. The thought of another man’s hands on her, another man’s lips on her neck, drove insane.
Before I could stop myself—I slamd my lips against hers, silencing her with a kiss that was filled with all my rage, my jealousy, and my broken heart. It wasn’t a soft kiss. It was a claim. I kissed her like I wanted to steal the very breath from her lungs, like I could erase the mory of anyone else who had ever touched her.
She was mine.
Fated or not.
Lover or not.
I wasn’t letting anyone else have her.
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