Chapter 4: CONTROL
1222 Words
DAMIEN
She was gone.
The SUV's taillights disappeared down the dark road, carrying her away from the warehouse, away from me, and I was still standing in the same f****g spot like a fool.
Move, I commanded myself.
My body refused.
Every instinct, every primal urge inside me was screaming to follow. To chase. To take what was mine.
OURS. GO AFTER HER. NOW.
My wolf's voice roared through my mind like thunder, so loud I barely heard the voices around me.
"Damien?"
I didn't answer. Couldn't. My jaw was locked so tight I thought my teeth might crack.
SHE'S LEAVING. STOP HER. BRING HER BACK.
She's going to the estate, I told my wolf, fighting for control. We'll see her there.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
My hands clenched into fists, claws threatening to break through my fingertips. I felt my eyes shift....silver to black to silver again, the battle raging inside me reflected in every rapid change.
CLAIM HER. MARK HER. MAKE SURE EVERY WOLF KNOWS SHE'S OURS.
She's terrified, I snarled back internally. She doesn't even know what we are to her.
THEN TELL HER.
And scare her more? She looked at me like I was death itself.
WE ARE DEATH. HER DEATH TO PROTECT. OURS TO KEEP SAFE. OURS TO....
"Damien." Raphael's voice cut through the chaos in my head. Closer now. Careful. "You're shifting."
I snapped my head toward him, and he took an instinctive step back.
Smart wolf.
The other seven kings had formed a loose semicircle around me....far enough to be safe, close enough to intervene if necessary. Their expressions ranged from curious to concerned to wary.
They could feel it. The heat pouring off my skin in waves. The tension vibrating through the air. The barely-leashed violence threatening to explode outward.
King Thorne of the North....a massive brute with a scarred face and grey in his beard—crossed his arms. "What the hell was that about, Blackthorn?"
"He paid one hundred thousand for a defective omega," King Caelan of the East drawled, his dark eyes glinting with amusement.
"I'm curious too. What's so special about..."
I had him by the throat before he could finish the sentence.
One moment I was standing ten feet away. The next, I'd crossed the distance faster than even an alpha could track, slamming Caelan against the concrete wall hard enough to crack it.
His eyes went wide with shock. Fear.
Good.
"Call her defective again," I growled, my voice barely human, "and I'll rip your tongue out through your throat and feed it to you."
YES. KILL HIM. ANYONE WHO INSULTS HER DIES.
Caelan raised his hands slowly, carefully. His pulse hammered against my palm. "Apologies. I meant no disrespect to your... purchase."
I held him there for three more seconds....long enough to make my point, long enough for every king present to understand....then released him and stepped back.
He rubbed his throat, eyeing me like I'd lost my mind.
Maybe I had.
A hundred years of searching. A century of emptiness, of wondering if she even existed. And then tonight—standing on that auction block in chains, broken and beautiful and mine..there she was.
My mate.
OURS, my wolf snarled. GO TO HER.
No.
WHY NOT?
Because I'll terrify her. Because she needs time. Because I won't be the monster she already thinks I am.
SHE'S OURS. WE DON'T NEED PERMISSION.
Yes, we do.
My wolf howled in frustration, clawing at my control.
Raphael moved into my line of sight, blocking the other kings who were watching me like I was a bomb about to detonate. "Walk with me. Now."
It wasn't a request.
I followed him toward the far corner of the warehouse parking lot, away from the others, away from curious eyes.
GO BACK. FOLLOW HER SCENT. FIND HER.
Stop.
NO.
My eyes shifted again. Black. Silver. Black.
The control was slipping.
"Breathe," Raphael said quietly when we were out of earshot. "Before you lose it completely and kill someone."
"I'm fine."
"You're thirty seconds from a full shift and you just tried to murder Caelan." He studied my face, his blue eyes sharp, assessing.
"When you said 'mine'... you meant it."
It wasn't a question.
I said nothing. Couldn't trust my voice.
"She's your mate." Raphael's voice was soft, almost awed. "After all these years, after a hundred years of searching... she just appeared. On an auction block. In chains."
My silence was answer enough.
He let out a low whistle. "No wonder your wolf is going insane."
INSANE IS ACCURATE. GO. NOW.
"She doesn't know," I ground out, my voice rough. "She has no idea what she is to me."
"Are you going to tell her?"
"Eventually," I dragged a hand through my hair, trying to center myself. "When she's not terrified of me."
"She's an omega who's never shifted, just sold at auction to pay off her pack's debts, and now she belongs to the most powerful—and most feared....alpha in existence." Raphael raised an eyebrow. "That might take a while."
I knew that. God, I knew that.
The look in her violet eyes when Raphael said my name....pure, primal terror. She'd looked at me like I was death incarnate.
And maybe I was.
I'd killed my own father. Destroyed packs that opposed me. Ruled with an iron fist for a century. I was exactly the monster the stories
claimed.
But she was mine. My mate. My salvation. The other half of my soul that I'd been searching for across endless, lonely years.
OURS, my wolf snarled. STOP TALKING. GO TO HER.
My eyes shifted again....faster now, the control fracturing.
Raphael noticed. "You need to shift. Run it off before you see her again, or you'll do something you'll regret."
He was right. I could feel it....the violence, the possessiveness, the desperate need clawing at my insides like a living thing.
If I went to her now, in this state, I'd terrify her. Or worse, I'd claim her before she was ready, before she understood, before she had a choice.
And I refused to be that kind of alpha. Not for anyone. But especially not for her.
SHE'S OURS. WE DON'T NEED PERMISSION.
Yes, we do, I told my wolf firmly. I won't force this on her. I won't be another wolf who takes her choice away.
SHE ALREADY FEELS IT. THE PULL. THE BOND.
She doesn't understand it.
THEN MAKE HER UNDERSTAND.
"Damien." Raphael's voice sharpened. "Your eyes."
I turned away from him, struggling to breathe through the burning in my chest. Black. Silver. Black. Silver. The shifts were coming faster, my wolf pushing harder, demanding control.
LET ME OUT. I'LL BRING HER BACK. I'LL MAKE HER SEE.
No.
WEAK. YOU'RE WEAK WITHOUT ME.
I'm protecting her. From us.
SHE DOESN'T NEED PROTECTION FROM US. SHE NEEDS US.
A sound escaped my throat....half growl, half snarl. Behind me, I heard the other kings shift nervously.
Even they were afraid.
Good. They should be.
"Damien," Raphael said urgently. "You're losing it. Shift. Now. Before...."
"I'm fine," I bit out.
I wasn't fine.
My wolf was a hurricane inside me, tearing at my control, demanding I go to her, claim her, mark her so thoroughly that every wolf on the planet would know she belonged to me.
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