The moon was high when I slammed the door to my chambers shut. My pulse was still racing from the council hall, Ronan's words threading through me like poison and honey all at once.
Not yet.
Two words. Two chains binding me to him.
I ripped at the laces of my dress, dragging the fabric from my skin as though shedding him with it. But no matter how bare I stood, I couldn't shake the way his presence lingered inside me. The bond burned, restless, aching, hungry.
"Damn him," I hissed, pacing the floor. My wolf prowled beneath my skin, claws itching, caught between hatred and need.
The door creaked.
I spun, lips curling back in a growl. "Get out."
He didn't.
Ronan stepped into the room as if he owned it, the firelight catching the ink carved into his muscles, shadows dancing across his tattoos like they were alive. His silver eyes pinned me in place, unreadable and merciless.
"You shouldn't be here," I spat.
"I told the guards you weren't to be disturbed." His voice was quiet, but the command in it rippled through the air. "And I meant by anyone—including me."
My breath hitched, fury sparking in my veins.
"Then leave."
He didn't. Instead, he closed the door behind him with deliberate calm, the click echoing like a sentence.
"You listened tonight," he said. "You heard enough to know this pack is tearing itself apart. You heard enough to understand why I can't let you run wild."
"You mean why you can't let me be free." My voice shook with rage. "You killed my father and chained me to you. That isn't protection.
That's possession."
His eyes flared at the word. Possession.
In two strides he was in front of me, towering, the heat of him suffocating. His hand shot out, gripping my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze.
"You're mine," he growled, low and dangerous. "Whether you want me or not, whether you hate me or not. The bond doesn't care for your rage, Raven. It only cares that you are mine."
I trembled, but not from fear. The heat of his skin seared into me, igniting something deep in my belly that I despised. My wolf pressed against me, whining, desperate to lean into him.
I shoved him back with all my strength. "I am not yours. I will never be yours."
Ronan staggered only a step, his jaw tightening. Then, to my shock, a dark smile ghosted across his lips—not amusement, but challenge.
"You think you can fight fate?" he asked softly. "You think you can deny what's already written in your blood?"
I shook my head violently. "I don't care about fate. I don't care about bonds. All I care about is the truth. Tell me why my father died. Tell me what you're hiding, and maybe—maybe—I won't claw your eyes out."
His expression darkened instantly, the predator snapping back into place. He moved faster than I could react, pinning me against the wall. His body caged mine, his heat consuming me.
My pulse thundered. My breath tangled. My body betrayed me.
"Careful, little wolf," he whispered against my ear, his breath hot, his words a brand.
"You push too hard, and I'll show you what it really means to be possessed."
The mark of his words seared through me, making my wolf howl inside my chest. I hated the shiver that ran down my spine. I hated that my thighs clenched at the sound of his voice.
His nose brushed the line of my jaw, slow, deliberate. He didn't kiss me, but the threat—or promise—of it made my skin burn.
"Say you don't feel it," he demanded. "Say the bond doesn't pull you toward me the same way it drags me to you."
I swallowed hard, refusing.
His hand slid to the wall beside my head, claws scraping the stone. The sound was sharp, dangerous, but his touch on me remained controlled, held back, restrained by something thin as glass.
"You want the truth?" His voice was ragged, frayed by something he rarely let show. "The truth is your father stood in the way of what needed to be done. He wasn't innocent. And I—" He broke off, chest heaving. "I will not let his mistakes destroy this pack. Or you."
Tears pricked my eyes, burning hotter than his grip. "You expect me to believe that? You expect me to trust you?"
"No." His forehead touched mine, a shocking intimacy that stole my breath. "I expect you to survive me."
The bond surged like fire, dragging me toward him, making my lips ache to close the space between us. I hated it. I hated him.
And yet… my wolf whimpered, betraying me completely.
I turned my head sharply, breaking the contact. "You won't break me."
His chest rose and fell against mine. For a moment, silence stretched, thick and heavy.
Then he stepped back, letting me go.
But his eyes—those piercing, possessive eyes—didn't soften. They burned with a promise.
"You already bear the mark of Possession. "
Ronan said quietly. "You just haven't realized it yet."
And then he left, the door shutting behind him like the closing of a trap.
I slid down the wall, my body trembling, my soul torn in half.
Hatred clawed at me. Desire burned through me. And between them both, one truth echoed louder than anything else:
Fate had bound me to the one man I could never forgive.