His Lover, My Mate

Seven: Don't Look Back

*Rush*

Her voice hung in the air.

I reject you.

It stung. Hearing that from your mate, it fucking hurt. And watching her say it with no remorse made it even worse. Especially when she was trying to gauge his reaction and revel in his humiliation. But he wasn't really humiliated. He was baffled. He was angry. And he was indignant.

No one got away with defying him. In the Darklands, disrespecting an Alpha came with a grave cost--one's life. Not that Rush would kill her, but she had no regard for her life.

She'd told him many hurtful things. Many things that that tore at the mate bond. Like having Lucien between her legs, like wanting Lucien to make love to her, like how much she despised Rush because he was meant to be with her. He knew it then. All hopes of having her, of wanting to have a life with her, they were gone. Something crushed inside of him as he let go of something that he'd always wanted. It was a dream, not his usual nightmare. He let go of one of his dreams.

Aletha was staring up at him, not backing down. Under the moonlight, her drenched hair burned blood-red, and she looked like she wanted his blood. She wanted to rip his throat off, because she hated him that much. She hated him from the start. Everything she just said, it was because of this misguided hatred she had for him, her one true mate.

He had to give it to her, the female had a backbone. A very unyielding one. And she wasn't afraid to use it, even though she was terrified of him.

"You don't mean that," he told her very calmly, tightening his fingers into fists so he didn't snap in front of her. He wanted to shake her, to make her see that everything wasn't pretty. They didn't choose mates. Mates were already predetermined, and there was no going against nature. And trying to back out of being an Alpha's mate? That just wasn't possible. An Alpha needed his Luna. An Alpha needed heirs. An Alpha had all the influence to make sure he had a wife. There was no such thing as rejecting an Alpha, unless he didn't want her. But for Rush, he did want her.

Cold water dripped down from her face as she watched him coldly. "I do mean it. I don't want you. What the hell is a mate anyway when Lucien's already my mate?"

"He is not your mate," he growled, exasperated that he was hearing this again. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm your fucking mate? You don't wear his mark—you wear mine, and guess what? My mark's permanent. It's not temporary where Lucien has to mark you every few nights for it to stay on your pretty little neck."

"Well guess what, Alpha?" she retorted, eyes flaring angrily. "I don't care if you marked me or not. I don't care if I wear your pathetic mark on my neck. It just shows how you maimed me, not how proudly I wear it. Besides, Lucien claimed me first so I belong to him!"

His blood ran cold. "Do you know what you're saying?" he asked her, his voice lacking any inflection. Some part of him shut down, the part where he was emotive. He didn't need empathy anymore. He took a step closer to her. "Take it back, Aletha."

"No," she said, hugging herself tightly as she shivered. She was cold, and now that she was drenched in water, it was worse for her.

He took another step closer to her, and she took another back. "Take. It. Back. Aletha," he told her again, clenching and unclenching his fists. Great, now they were claws. He felt his teeth sharpen, and that wasn't good.

"No!" she shouted. "No, I won't take it back! You can't make me either!"

"No?" he repeated. "Wrong answer, love." He slammed her against the wall. "Didn't I warn you never to cross me? Didn't I tell you never to mention him in front of my face again? It's a pity I don't love you, because maybe I would've let you go just to make you happy for however many years that traitor could keep you happy before you came crawling back to me for children. Since I don't love you, I don't have a reason to let you go. Do you know how many lives you will affect if you go to Lucien? Thousands. My pack needs a Luna. They've waited centuries for you. They need a stronger mating cycle and a stronger pack link. That's why I will not let you go."

"Don't you dare make this about the pack," she snarled. "This is all about you. You think you're serving justice by listening to what nature wants, but nature isn't always right."

"Even if nature isn't always right, I don't fuck with it. Because the minute you tip its balance, it will come back to haunt you. I am an imbalance of nature. I haunt people. And nature haunts me. I don't want to be haunted anymore." She froze as his thumb brushed over her neck. "You can't deny me, Aletha. You must accept me, or I won't have to hurt you. Nature will."

"The Moon Goddess will never let that happen!"

He chuckled. "The Moon Goddess paired you with me. She will make you suffer if you don't accept me. I know her more than you do. She's not as you think she is." He saw fear in her eyes now, and he leaned down and softly pressed his lips against the tender skin of her neck. It was soaking wet, and it made it easier to kiss her there.

She drew in a jagged breath. "Don't touch me."

"But you love it when I touch you here," he spoke against her skin. "Aletha, you're mine." His hand found her breasts and his palms brushed over them firmly. She gasped out, her chest moving up and down from her labored breathing. "You belong to me."

"No," she moaned. Lust was thick in the air, and it didn't take long for him to crush his body against her own, his mouth slamming into hers.

Damn, he wanted to do this ever since he laid eyes on her. He wanted to kiss those sinful red lips and make her cry out with sounds that made him want to do more sinful things to her. Her mouth was soft, plump, and wet. Their skins buzzed strongly, and for a moment, his wild urges slammed into her like an ocean.

And then he heard her crying. She went limp against him, her hands clutching his shirt as she took deep breaths to calm herself down, but she couldn't. When he pulled away and looked into her dark eyes, he thought they were so beautiful, so heartbroken.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"I can't..." she sobbed. "I can't do this with you. I can't...my body wants you but my heart doesn't. I can't do this!"

"Hey, shhh." He pulled her close and kissed her head. "You don't have to force yourself. I won't touch you if you don't want me to. We'll do it at your pace."

"What if I don't ever want to do this with you?"

His embrace tightened. "You will. One day you will accept me. There's no going back, Aletha. Our path is dark, and every step you take, that's the only way you can go. You don't look back because there are nightmares behind you, trying to chase you down. You can't let your past haunt you, love. You look forward...and in that path, it's just me and you."