He turned to me then, his eyes searching mine. "I believed it was a feeling forced on you. Something you had no choice but to accept, a destiny laid out by the ancestors. And in a way," he paused, "the mate bond is something you can't control, something you don't choose. But it's more than that, isn't it?"
My chest tightened.
"I have an obsession with control," he admitted, his voice laced with a raw honesty that stung. "Probably because I never chose to be who I am. From the moment I could walk, I knew I would be the Alpha of this pack. So, I thought I should at least have the right to choose who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Who I wanted to love. But then… you came along."
He let out a short, hollow laugh, devoid of humor. "I think I resented you the moment I met you. Y
