R A I D E N
Her lips curved faintly. Not a smile. Not quite. “Good,” she said. “Because I don’t need saving. And I don’t regret it.”
That… unsettled me more than blood ever could.
“This isn’t something you get to take lightly,” I said, voice lower now. “Not here. Not as my mate.”
She tilted her head. Studied me.
“And this isn’t something you get to own just because you’re Alpha,” she replied just as softly.
I released her arm.
Not because she asked.
Because the moment demanded it.
A low chuckle escaped me before I could stop it, rough and edged with disbelief. She watched me like she’d already won something, like she thought she’d cracked the code to me.
She still didn’t understand.
No matter how sharp her tongue was, no matter how strange her presence felt in my blood, there wa
