Chapter 13 #2
I couldn’t give in to the beast. Instead, I focused all our attention on the need to turn her to face me, to pin her against the nearest wall and kiss the truth from her lips.
But I was learning. Learning that my mate was not prey to be cornered or commanded.
She was strong. Proud. A female who had fought her way through life long before I had ever scented her across that crowded church.
If I pushed too hard, she would push back harder.
Patience.
The word felt like sand grinding metal gears inside my mind.
I gave her the time she asked for. Fucked her mindless. Held her as she slept. And now, standing with her in the harsh brightness of morning, I realized my patience had run out.
“You will tell me what Derek said to you.” The words left my mouth low and controlled, but the beast prowled just beneath the surface.
She startled slightly, her head snapping toward me.
“The truth. All of it.” I stepped closer, forced her back against the wall of the narrow hallway outside our suite. My hands came up automatically, bracing on either side of her shoulders. Not touching her. Not yet.
But close enough that she could feel my presence. My body heat. My breath.
“You have not slept,” I continued quietly. “You barely eat. And when I touch you, you flinch.”
Her eyes widened. A small betrayal of guilt.
“What happened yesterday, Tori?” My voice softened despite the tension building in my chest. “What are you hiding from me?”
For a moment she said nothing. Her throat worked as she swallowed, and I saw the shine of tears gathering in her eyes—tears she stubbornly refused to let fall.
Her chin lifted. Defiant. That small, fierce gesture twisted something deep inside my chest.
“I don’t know what to do.” The admission landed between us like a fragile thing.
“Tell me.” I leaned closer, unable to stop myself now. “Now.” The beast edged into my voice despite my efforts to keep it controlled. “You are my mate. Your pain is my pain. Your fear is my fear.” My nostrils flared as I drew in another breath. “And I can smell both on you.”
She closed her eyes. Her breath hitched. For a moment I thought she might refuse.
“Tori.” I finally moved, cupping her face gently. I brushed my thumbs across her cheekbones, catching the warmth of her skin. The softness of her. “You are mine to protect. To care for. To love. Allow me to do so. Please.”
The last word felt unfamiliar on my tongue, and I had to fight the beast to get it past our lips. He wanted to press her to the wall and fuck her until she submitted completely. Surrendered her heart. Her soul. Her secrets.
Fuck off. She would fight you. You would lose her trust.
The beast snorted in disgust. You are weak. Protect our mate. Demand she speak.
If Tori hadn’t been looking at me like the slightest touch would make her shatter like broken glass, I would have laughed at the asshole. Instead, I ignored him and focused on my female. My mate. The only fucking thing on this planet that mattered to me. “Tori. Talk to me. Let me help you.”
The dam broke. “Derek.” The name fell from her lips like poison.
Every muscle in my body went still as I waited.
“He cornered me,” she continued quietly. “In the hallway.”
The world narrowed. My hearing sharpened. My pulse slowed to a deadly, deliberate rhythm. I was going to kill that fucking male. I knew this, had scented his presence. It wasn’t his presence that would get him killed. It was the pain in her eyes.
No male was allowed to make my mate feel weak. Fearful. Vulnerable.
The beast snarled. Should have killed him in the church. A flash of memory, of the large candle holder the idiot male had swung at my head, appeared with the beast’s impatience behind it. He attacked us. In front of our mate. Crush his skull.
Quiet. The command had no mercy. We must know what the foolish male has done.
“He was waiting for me.”
My hands tightened slightly against her jaw before I forced them to relax. Every word she spoke put me more firmly on the beast’s side of this argument. How the fuck did that little asshole know where she was?
“What did he do?” The question came out rough, dragged from somewhere deeper than my throat. “If he hurt you—”
“He threatened you.” Her eyes snapped open, fierce and blazing. “Not me. You.”
For a moment I didn’t understand the words.
Then they sank in. I burst out laughing. The ridiculous little human thought he could hurt me? Me?
Fuck. Him. Pitiful. Small. Weak.
Kill him. The beast had no sense of humor. Hunt. Kill him. Now.
Patience. Our mate needs us now. We will eliminate him. Later.
The beast snarled but acquiesced, content so long as our hands were on our mate’s skin. Her scent in our lungs. No immediate threat in the area.
“He said I belong to him,” she continued, her voice trembling but determined. “That I have to go back to him because I’m his wife. And if I don’t…” Her voice broke. “…he’ll have you killed.”
Something inside me shattered.
Rage surged through my body so fast it was almost blinding. My vision tinged red. My muscles expanded as the beast clawed its way forward, demanding release.
The hallway suddenly felt too small to contain me as the beast surged to the surface. My bones shifted beneath my skin. My chest expanded. A roar built in my throat.
“Egon.” Her hands flew to my face, gripping hard enough to force my focus back to her. “Egon, stop.”
Her fingers pressed against my jaw, holding me in place. “Look at me.”
I looked. Or perhaps the beast did.
Her brown eyes burned with determination—steady, fierce, completely unafraid. “I need you here,” she said softly. “Don’t lose control. I need you.” Her voice cut through the chaos inside my head. “I need you with me. Not hunting Derek. Not doing exactly what he wants you to do.”
The beast snarled in protest.
“He wants you to lose control,” she continued. “He wants an excuse to call you dangerous. Violent. A threat.” Her grip tightened. “He wants an excuse to get away with murder. Don’t give him one.”
“Destroy him.” The words tore from my throat before I could stop them. “Mine. My mate. Protect.”
“No. We need a plan.” The refusal was immediate. Firm. “Promise me, Egon.” Her gaze held mine, unwavering.
My jaw clenched.
“I will call my lawyer again,” she continued. “We signed the marriage paperwork two days before the wedding, but he never touched me.”
The words landed like a blade sliding free of its sheath. Marriage paperwork? What the fuck was she talking about?
“I have proof,” she continued quickly. “Proof it was a business arrangement. Copies of everything. I can take him to court and annul the marriage.”
The marriage? What marriage?
Her voice softened. “If you kill him… they’ll put you in prison.” Her thumb brushed along my cheek. “They’ll take you away from me.”
The beast howled in fury.
Every instinct I possessed screamed the same command.
Hunt him.
Kill him.
Protect your mate.
Now.
But Tori stood before me—shaking, frightened, and still trying to solve this the human way.
With rules. With courts. With mercy.
She was soft where I was brutal. Gentle where I was ruthless. Of course she would search for a peaceful solution.
Derek Sterling would receive no such mercy from me. He had issued his challenge. I accepted it the moment he threatened my mate.
The beast’s voice slid calmly through my mind. We will tear him apart.
For once, the beast and I were in perfect agreement.
But my mate did not need to see that. Not yet.
I lifted her into my arms before she could protest.
Her soft gasp brushed warm across my throat as I carried her into our suite. The large sofa waited near the window, sunlight spilling across the cushions in a golden pool.
I sat, settling her easily on my lap. Her body curved instinctively against mine.
My arms wrapped around her waist, holding her close, breathing in the scent of her hair.
For now, I would comfort her. Soothe her fears. Let her believe patience and law would solve this.
But even as I held her, the beast and I were already planning.
Watching.
Waiting.
And deciding the most efficient way to lure Derek Sterling into our grasp.
Another day with Chet. Another ridiculous costume. Another contest. Another date that—of course—Tori won.
I could not tolerate spending hours away from her. After the threats from Derek, my beast was completely out of patience and Chet was, apparently, smart enough not to push me.
This time, we were being taken to a resort in another country. Canada. A place called Churchill, Manitoba. Glamour dating, Chet called it.
I would have told him to fuck off, but when Tori heard the description of the exclusive, heated, outdoor domes under the Northern Lights, her gasp of pleasure sealed my fate.
I could deny her nothing.
Seven hours on a private jet was an exercise in restraint.
Tori sat across from me, close enough that I could see the faint pulse at the base of her throat, separated by nothing more than a narrow aisle. The distance was insignificant to human eyes.
To me, it was like a chasm.
Cameras occupied nearly every seat around us.
Lenses glinted beneath the cabin lights, quiet and patient, capturing every shift in expression, every glance that lingered too long.
The crew pretended disinterest, but the hum of the equipment and the subtle tilt of microphones made it clear—they were watching everything. Recording everything.
My body remained still, but every instinct strained toward her. I wanted to touch her. Needed to.
The beast still prowled beneath my skin, restless from Derek's threat, from the promise I had made to Tori not to hunt him down immediately. The knowledge that another male had dared use me as a weapon to threaten my mate burned like acid in my blood.
The urge to keep her close—where I could see her, scent her, guard her—pressed against the fragile barrier of control. But the cameras watched. And so I sat with my hands braced against my knees, my jaw tight, forcing patience.