The Fury Pack Alpha's Secret Mate

Chapter nine-The Choice I can't make

There’s a stare off for at least a full minute before Jace turns to me and grins, his eyes gleaming the same calm blue they always do. The gold is gone, and though I don’t know a lot about…any of this, I instinctively know that means he’s calmer because he knows something I don’t.

“You don’t have to mate him. The bond isn’t sealed. I know you’re probably confused as hell and pissed right now, honey, but I want you to know I’m here for you. Always. I meant it when I said I had your back, and I still do. Don’t let this bastard force you to do anything you don’t want to. An incomplete bond means you still have choices. When you’re ready to talk, I’ll be waiting.” Jace says softly before giving Adam one last look filled with meaning, before he turns and walks out.

“You don’t get to decide for me,” I snap, rounding on Adam the moment Jace steps outside.

“Actually,” Adam says darkly, “That’s not entirely true.”

I blink, shaking my head and snap back to reality with a glower meant to fry Adam in his tracks..

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means, since you’re unclaimed—and you're carrying my mark—any shifter who wants to contest the mating bond has to challenge me in the Rite.” He says, smirking when I stare at him blankly before I curse.

“The what?”

The what! What the hell does that even mean and why the hell does this man think I want any part of this s**t? I don’t. And I don’t have to do anything because the hard truth is, this is my Goddamned life and no one but me has a say.

“The Rite of Claim,” Adam says flatly. “It’s an ancient law. When a fated mate is unsealed because of an incomplete bond, another may challenge the Alpha to prove their right.”

“That’s... barbaric.” I hiss, confused, annoyed, and still fighting an arousal I have no business feeling.

“It’s survival,” Adam murmurs with a shrug that’s starting to more than annoy me.

“Oh, great. So I’m the prize in some furry version of The Bachelor.” I mutter, my eyes narrowing when he shrugs. Again.

Motherfucker!

Now, now, Rogue. Language.

“Only one winner. And I don’t share.” He purrs, his eyes raking over me with a heated gleam that makes my core clench before I shake myself.

Stop. Whoever, whatever you are, just stop. I don’t need this right now.

What you need is to be claimed and fully mated. Come on. Don’t you remember the heat, the pleasure? The way his c**k felt—

I shake my head, pacing behind the counter, hands in my hair because I feel like I’m losing my mind, and I can’t. My eyes fly to Jackson, and I’m able to still the raging need, the insanity, the emotional overload, enough to think.

“This is insane. This can’t be happening. I didn’t sign up for this! I didn’t even know I was part... wolf... thing! How is any of this real?” I whisper, wondering if there’s a pill I can take to cure myself.

Fix it. Get rid of the need that rages in me for a man I don’t want because…he broke me.

Dammit. He broke us, I whisper to whatever lurks inside me, my mind grappling to accept that I’m supposed to be some sort of animal.

“You feel it,” Adam says quietly, as if he senses my struggle and doesn’t mind pushing his advantage. “You know it is. You can sense the difference now, and you know it isn’t just your mind messing with you. You want me. She wants me—”

“She! She…there’s nothing inside me, you moron. I’m me. Me. Nothing more.”

But deep down, I know he’s right. I do know the truth, as insane as it is. That’s the problem.

The aching heat. The bond. The hunger that I’ve carried within for years, made worse now that he’s near…I’m trying to fight it, but my body’s betraying me at every turn and with every look, every deep inhale that brings his scent into me, I feel the need grow until I’m ready to scream.

“You don’t have to accept the challenge. You can deny your little boyfriend the chance to challenge me. It’d be best, jeera. For you. For my son. Mostly for him because I can promise you this, Rogue, I won’t lose. Not if it means losing you. And a challenge, is a fight to the death,” he adds.

“To the—are you people insane!” I scream, my heart twisting with terror when I think of Jace being hurt.

“We’re not insane. We’re shifters. Wild. Strong. Dominant. This is the way we live, and The Rite to Claim is clear. Any male foolish enough to challenge me for you will die. I’ll make sure of it.” Adam murmurs, his eyes flickering silver-blue when I swallow and shake my head.

“What if I say no? I don’t want any of this. This isn’t fair.” I whisper, my throat so thick with emotion it’s hard to speak.

I can barely think straight, and my mind is struggling to accept this. What I do know is that I don’t want Jace to get hurt, and that means I need to stop this.

“This is our way.” He says simply, his eyes flaring when I shudder and my thighs clench, the burn between my legs a slow simmer that’s killing me and stealing my logic. “You can deny it, you can stop this right now, and save your friend. But if you do... you choose.”

I look up, heart pounding.

“And if I don’t? If I say I don’t accept this?”

“Then you’re rejecting his claim and accepting that you’re mine,” he says. “Fully. Forever.”

I want to scream. I want to fall to my knees and cry because I’m furious at this man. He has no right to waltz in here after years of abandonment and lay claim to me just because we have a son together. He has no right to stand here and tell me his wolf chose me, whatever the f**k that means, and he sure as s**t doesn’t have the right to expect me to fall at his feet because some quirk of biology chose me for him.

I don’t know what’s worse. Thinking he wants me only for Jackson, or knowing that if it was up to Adam, and not some animal I can hardly believe exists in him…fuck, what was I thinking! It doesn’t even matter. I won’t be taken because I had his child, and I won’t be held ransom for the rest of my life just because some animal inside him has decided I’m his.

I want to be wanted, loved, needed for myself, not because some animal thinks I’m its mate. But Adam isn’t leaving. He’s here for me, and unless I’m willing to risk Jace, I may not have a choice.

Mine. Forever.

The words ricochet through me, causing my already wrecked heart to race as I stare at the man I hate as much as I once loved him and realize…

I have to choose.