Aidan.
I was furious the moment she pushed me away.
The anger hit first, sharp, blinding, immediate. She was my mate. My fucking mate. The bond burned in my blood, screamed in my bones, and yet she stood there defying me like I was nothing. Like what existed between us wasn't written by fate itself. She belonged to me. I knew it. My wolf knew it. So why, why would she resist me like that?
I stood there, chest heaving, trying to steady the storm raging inside me. I had told her the truth. I had claimed her with words sharp enough to carve into stone. She was mine. She always had been. Repeating it in my head was the only thing keeping me from losing control completely.
Then she laughed.
It wasn't loud. It wasn't mocking. It was small and broken, and it terrified me.
