~RAGNAR~
I watched her slip the collar around her neck, noting how her fingers trembled against the silver metal. The sight stirred something in me – satisfaction, yes, but also something darker, more primal. The wolf in me growled with approval at seeing her marked, controlled.
But there was something else too, something that made my jaw clench as I watched her struggle to maintain her composure. The proud tilt of her chin even as her eyes glistened with unshed tears, the slight quiver of her full lips as she fought to keep them from trembling – it all spoke of a strength I hadn't expected to find in Kane's mate.
I couldn't imagine her as anything else, rejected or not.
My anger ran deeper than she could possibly understand, its roots stretching back years before she'd even entered t
