SOLD TO THE RUTHLESS ALPHA:The White Wolf's Price

Chapter 9: The Mark

After I said "yours," Kade didn't move.

He just stayed kneeling on the floor, holding my wrist with his mother's bracelet glowing over my birthmark. His golden eyes were fixed on it, like he couldn't believe it was real.

The howling downstairs was getting louder. Wolves chanting. "Luna, Luna, Luna."

Fred burst back in without knocking. "Oh my god, they heard! The whole pack heard you accepted! Elena says they're going crazy downstairs, they want to see the bracelet!"

Kade's head snapped up. One look from him and Fred shut up.

"Out," Kade said, but not mean. "Please."

Fred backed out. "I'm right outside with snacks if you need me!"

The door closed again.

Silence, except for the distant howling and my own breathing.

Kade finally let go of my wrist, but only to slide his hand down, lacing his fingers through mine. His hands were so much bigger.

"Does it feel heavy?" he asked quietly, touching the bracelet again.

"No. It feels... warm. Like the necklace."

"Good." He rubbed the little wolf charm with his thumb. "My mother said white wolves feel moonstones different. She said it sings to you."

It did. It was humming, soft, like a lullaby only I could hear.

I looked at him, really looked at him. Up close like this, I could see the tiny scar on his eyebrow, the tired lines under his eyes. He was only twenty-eight, but he carried a whole mountain on his back.

"You didn't eat downstairs, did you?" I whispered.

He shook his head. "I wasn't hungry."

"You ate my chicken."

"That was the first thing I've eaten since you shifted." He said it simply, like it was normal to starve while waiting for your mate to decide if she wants you.

My chest hurt.

"Kade... what happens now? Now that I accepted?"

He took a slow breath. "Now nothing has to happen that you don't want. Pack law says you are my Luna, but human law... my heart says you are still eighteen. You are still scared. I will not touch you unless you ask me to."

I stared at his mouth, then quickly looked away, blushing furious red.

He noticed. Of course he noticed. His eyes got darker gold.

"Ashira," he said, his voice lower. "What do you want to ask? Ask me. You can ask me anything."

My fingers tightened around his. "When you said you never touched another woman since you were eighteen... is that true? For wolves?"

"For me it is. My wolf would have killed me if I tried."

"Why?"

"Because he knew you were alive somewhere. White wolves are... rare. Their mates feel them even before they meet. I had dreams. Rain and wildflowers. And a little girl hiding in a pantry. I didn't understand until I saw you in your school uniform that day, with a mop."

He lifted my hand and pressed his forehead against my knuckles. His hair was soft against my skin.

"I went home that day and told my father I found her. He laughed. He said you were human. I told him no, she smells like snow. He didn't believe me until I started going to your school every day just to stand outside the gate."

I remembered now. A black car. Every day for a week in 8th grade. I thought it was Kiara's rich boyfriend waiting for her. It was him.

"You watched me?" I whispered.

"I protected you. From far. I couldn't get close. You were thirteen. I was eighteen. If I came close, my wolf would have marked you as a pup and the council would have found you."

I didn't understand all the wolf politics, but I understood the feeling. Someone had been watching me when I thought no one cared at all.

"Kade," I said, voice shaking a little. "Can... can you stay? Just here? On the floor? I don't want to be alone yet. But I don't want to go downstairs either."

He looked at me, surprised, then his whole face softened.

He stood up in one smooth move and took off his suit jacket. Then he sat down with his back against the bed, legs stretched out long, and opened his arms.

"Come here."

I hesitated for half a second, then crawled out of the blanket fort — white dress wrinkled, hair messy — and sat next to him, leaning against his side.

He was warm. Like a fireplace. He smelled like pine and moonstone and expensive soap.

He didn't pull me into his lap. He didn't try anything. He just let me lean on his shoulder and put his jacket over both of us like a blanket.

We sat on the floor of the most expensive bedroom on the mountain, listening to the pack howl for their Luna, sharing one suit jacket.

After a while, my eyes got heavy. The first shift had made me so tired.

"Sleep, little wolf," he whispered into my hair. His lips barely brushed the top of my head. The lightest kiss in the world. "I will be here when you wake up."

"Promise?" I mumbled, already half asleep.

"I have waited ten years. I can wait one more night on the floor."

His hand found mine again under the jacket, holding it over the glowing bracelet.

And I fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat, strong and slow, and the moonstones humming against my skin, feeling safe for the first time in ten years.

Downstairs, the pack was still howling.

But up here, on the floor, it was just us.