MARKED

STUCK

Hours pass with me pacing the floor. Waiting to see if he'll come back in one piece. When he finally does, I breathe a little easier at the sight of him. But he's noticeably upset.

"What do you want us to do with the fingers?" Bo asks.

"Put them on ice for now." Rasan replies.

Bo leaves to do as he says, and Rasan meets my gaze. An unknown emotion skittering across his face before he looks away.

Wanting to talk to him about Tarik, I make my way over to him. Only, he's doing his best to ignore me. Barking orders at his men and not even daring to look at me. But I need to get this off my chest.

"Can we talk?" I ask him.

"Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?"

Narrowing my eyes at him, I purposely breech his personal space. "I'll be in your office. If you're not there in five minutes, I'm going to start burning things." I tell him. Padding over to his office before he has the chance to reply.

Rasan comes walking into his office a couple minutes later and closes the door behind him. He takes the seat across from me on the opposite side of the large espresso wood desk and gives me his undivided attention.

"No one is to touch Tarik. Make sure your people know it." I tell him.

"He stepped out of line." Rasan shrugs.

"That may be, but you're not his alpha, Rasan. He has an alpha. More importantly, he is the son of an alpha, which makes him-"

"An alpha." He cuts me off. Finishing my sentence for me. "I know what he is."

"Then you know hurting him in any way can be seen as an act of war."

Amused, he tilts his head to the side and looks at me with renewed interest.

"Someone's been studying pack politics."

Ignoring him, I continue. "As your Luna, I am asking you to take into consideration Tarik's standing in my family. He's in alpha in his own right and should be treated as such."

Rasan sits back in his chair. Contemplating my request. Then he tells me, "Tarik tried to kill you. He may be an alpha, but he is too dangerous for me to simply ignore. Nor can his offense against you, i.e. my pack go unpunished. I'm sure he understands this."

"Rasan please." I plead with him.

"I know how much your brother means to you and I will take your request into consideration." He replies coldly. "Is that all?"

I'm taken aback by the dismissive nature of his words. And the fact that he literally goes back to business as if I'm not still standing here.

"Are you angry with me?" I ask.

"What do you think?" He sighs. "Why didn't you tell me what the pack prophet told you?"

"I never expected to..." my voice trails off as the reality of what I was about to say dawns on me.

"To what?"

Like you...

Fall for you...

So many things come to mind. And yet, I can't bring myself to say any of them.

"I never expected for us to become so... intertwined." I erred on the side of caution with my words. "Until recently, you wanted nothing to do with me and I wanted nothing to do with you. We were just two ships passing in the night. And I definitely never expected you to mark me."