Mated to the Enemy

Chapter 18

— Jet —

What was Ralph thinking? Revealing who I was to the Lycan King would put Danny in a completely different kind of danger. My pack wouldn’t want me as their alpha, since I’d be discovered for choosing to be a rogue rather than lead what remained of them, and I had planned to save her while still keeping my identity secret. We could have started a new pack together, new identities, and I wouldn’t be forced to resume my “place.”

She couldn’t know who I actually was… none of them could.

But, what was I supposed to do?

Fuck it, I took a step forward and told her I’d do it for her. I’d go to the Lycan King for her, but there had to be a way to get out of actually revealing who I was. Could I pretend to just be another lycan? I didn’t have to admit exactly who I was, just part of my lineage. Establish a new pack just as Ralph suggested before.

“What are you doing?” Ralph mind-linked me, I forgot to close off the connection to prevent his interference. “I set everything up for you to claim your mate, and you’re deciding to make her what, an honorary pack member instead of your luna? What the fu—” I cut the link before he could go on one of his lectures about pushing people away.

I wouldn’t have her forced into being my mate.

She’d resent me.

Our bond had to be chosen by her, not chosen for her.

But, as a member of my pack… I’d be connected to her, and her with me. She’d have my essence inside of her, and it would only strengthen our mating. It wasn’t fully selfless on my part. A little nudge never hurt anything.

“Do you agree?” I asked once more as I stalked closer.

“But, I’m not a wolf…”

That’s the thing about lycan blood… it doesn’t matter what race someone is. Fealty is fealty, I just would have preferred that fealty be her heart, not her loyalty to follow pack law. Not that people still don’t betray the pack, fealty can be renounced, and the bond is only as strong as the alpha. Really, it’s a magically bound agreement that as long as the bond is kept so too are the laws that protect them.

“I’m not concerned about that,” I said while watching her emerald eyes glow in the light of the blood moon above roaming over my bare chest. “Do you swear yourself to me?”

She nodded slowly.

“Danny, we’re one of the strongest packs in the western territory and all of the alphas in the area are accounted for at the ceremony. You can’t trust him,” the future beta of Blood Crest sneered at me, and I didn’t waiver from Danny’s eyes waiting for the sign of certainty about her decision. I didn’t have to see the coward behind me to know he was pissed that she would rather choose a stranger than to mate with him. My mouth quirked up in a satisfied grin. If she wouldn’t be my mate, at least she wouldn’t be his either. By being part of my pack I have final say in who can claim her, I thought ruefully.

He wouldn’t be on my very short list of one person.

“I’ll do it,” she said while holding out her hand for a shake, like that was what it took to join a pack that you weren’t born into.

My smile broadened. I grabbed her hand and pulled her against my chest before wrapping my arm behind her back. I hesitated only a moment allowing her the chance to change her mind. Her breath caught and she blinked up at me uncertain, but not retreating. Leaning down so my breath was mingling with hers, I closed my eyes to savor this moment before I crashed my mouth onto hers. Ignoring the protests of her previous pack member behind me, I devoured her pressing her closer to me.

What mattered was the way her body melted into mine as I held her, and the way her lips parted. Sure, the normal way to initiate a pack member could be done with a simple cut of my claw, becoming blood of my blood. She wasn’t a normal member, and I didn’t want to frighten her so I gently coaxed her lips against mine, and let my tongue graze her protruded fangs one at a time, and on that last swipe I made sure to nick my flesh allowing my blood to run into her. The metallic taste of my blood was only momentary before it healed just as fast as it had been cut. It didn’t take long for my essence to root inside of her, and the connection tugged at my heart.

I growled into our kiss, and felt her back arc as I laced my fingers into her hair.

My mate, I thought as my body hummed against hers.

Hands traveled down her hips, and gripped her tighter. Our surroundings disappeared, and all there was was Danny, in my arms, and her soft moans filling my ears. Disgruntled howls and scuffling behind my back only a minor nuisance as I heard Ralph grit out, “It’s not your choice who she chooses, so back off.”

The hard length of my c**k rubbed against her, seeking to finish my claim, but she nipped at my lip to get my attention and breathlessly she weakly pushed at my chest bringing back to reality. She cleared her throat.

“What do you call your pack?” she asked.

“Our pack,” I corrected and I sought to mind-link her through that delicious feeling tugging at my heart but something solid prevented me from entering her mind. She wasn’t fully mine yet, I reasoned with myself… this wasn’t rejection. But I couldn’t stop the hurt that ached in my chest at not being able to share everything with her.

My thumb circled the rip at her thigh that I had slipped into earlier that day, and I elicited a shiver that made me smile. This distance was only temporary, it had to be.

I didn’t care what we called our pack, but I still wasn’t convinced I needed to reveal which pack I came from to save her. Ralph had a decent name picked out already for a new pack, but it wouldn’t be recognized under law until I registered it with the Lycan King. It would have to be enough proof for now that I was a lycan myself.

Ralph’s old pack the Night Cloud doesn’t know what pack I came from, mentioning them wouldn’t put her in danger since they didn’t even know that I was lycan, I left too young for them to see my first shift. I can choose whether I shift lycan, werewolf, or partial. That control is the reason why no one has found out who I am.

But my mother’s pack… the Black Pine. I can not claim my right to that pack name. Not yet…

“Emerald Night Claws,” I blurted more confidently than I felt. Emerald for her eyes, night for the way she glows in the moon’s rays, and claws for how feisty and stubborn she is.

You can’t have a pack name without having it sound both mysterious and powerful. And she was all of that and more.

“Hey, I thought we were thinking Silver Fang…” Ralph whined playfully, and I shook my head. Danny narrowed her eyes at us both.

“This name isn’t established yet, is it,” she accused, it wasn’t a question.

“Right, well he’s legit, but he still has to submit the name change is all, he didn’t want to keep the same name that his mom used,” Ralph explained way too much. This wasn’t the time to bring up my mother. I let my alpha aura hold heavy over him so he felt my disapproval, he merely grinned sheepishly.