10

"Tara!" I heard Caspian yell behind me. He should. Was he even aware of what he was doing to me?

I paced down the aisles faster than I normally did, knowing I couldn't outrun him. There was only this building and the freezing cold outside, but I still didn't want to see him and certainly didn't want to talk to him.

Caspian caught up with me faster than I would have liked. His steps were slow, yet faster than mine. They were quiet and assertive when I listened carefully. I focused on him so much that I even felt the rush of air as he grabbed my arm and forced me to stand.

"We need to talk." Everyone around us stopped, as did I. It doesn't matter if the people around me were nearby or several meters away. It was as if the whole aisle full of students stayed where they were.

Behind Caspian I saw the three Alaisters. They just didn't get any closer to us. I've cursed them so many times over the past few hours, and today I wish once again that they would be by my side now.

"Come on, Tara!" Caspian's tone guided my mind however he did it. I had never had to bow to my father or brother and both were alphas. His words, on the other hand, tormented me as I tried to defy him .

"Do not do that to me. I don't want to." I felt almost helpless at the words I spoke. I made one last, pathetic attempt to run away, but my legs wouldn't do it.

"I know, Tara." Caspian pulled me to him, his warm breath caressing my hair. "We can't talk here." He spoke so softly that I barely heard him myself. He took my elbows and my feet went in the same direction as him. They were like remote controlled. I had no control over my own body. It was beyond scary.

I heard a door close and I was standing in the same room as this morning. I pulled away from him, which wasn't difficult because he dropped his hand on my arm just as I was about to pull him away.

I quickly took a few steps away from him. Caspian looked at me with a mixture of guilt and sympathy, which was so unfair. I wanted to hate him, yell at him, ask him how he did it.

My feelings overpowered my mind and drew me to him. I couldn't say anything mean or raise my voice against him. I didn't want any of that. Feelings like this had once been felt and left behind. Every morning I woke up thinking about it, feeling the fur between my fingers and seeing the limp head lifting after me.

It was my personal curse. Whether I wanted it or not. My feelings died that day and I have no regrets. I had been cruel and didn't deserve to feel anything for anyone. I was ashamed to have those feelings for him.

"We need to talk," he urged once more. My head snapped to his and I saw him leaning against a table and crossing his arms across his chest.

"You already said that. Well, here we are. What is it?" Caspian gave me an understanding look, at least for a moment, then his face went blank and his blue eyes filled with cold.

"We should set rules for how we treat each other."

"Rules? You told me to stay away from you yesterday. I do. Now do the same." I looked straight into his blue eyes, which seemed to see right through me. I was prepared to hear some meanness from him, but he remained calm.

"Caspian?"

"I was just trying to accommodate your wish. You rejected me, Tara, in case you forgot."

"Then why are you here?"

"Not because of you. I didn't know you were here. I wish it were different, Tara. I wish we had time." He was now leaning on the table with both hands and I could hear the wood cracking under the strength of his hands.

"Well, then why do we need rules? You showed up in my class, why? And why did you fox me?" A smile played around the corners of his mouth and his blue eyes flashed briefly.

"That was rash. I guess my lycan wants his mate close by."

"This game is dangerous and if you were sane you would have protected me from it," I snorted, far too nicely for my liking, but I didn't manage to raise my voice against him.

"I'll be there and take care of you."

"Here's a rule for you. Stay away from me. Don't break what you ask of me!" I was surprised myself at how easily these words came off my lips.

"I'm a king, Tara. I have responsibilities and they go way beyond yours." His words were dry and detached, and that's how my answer formed.

"I only have to pay for my choices and you for yours." I still didn't know what interested him in me or why he called me his mate.

"You don't understand, Tara. I have all the clan's future to look after. It's my job to protect them. I don't have time to woo you. I need a queen now and not in a few years, or else I have I've been king for the longest time." His voice seemed tormented yet, it didn't stop the pain I had inside me. He didn't know what it meant to lose something.

"I don't care about your future."

"I don't expect that either. You are much too young to understand all this." I snorted at his words.

"I mean, you're too young to know everything. Ask your brother, he'll be able to explain it to you," he said in a more forgiving voice now. Still, he surprised me. How did he know my brother? But I didn't ask. The sooner this conversation ends, the better.

"You will always be my mate, Tara. Even if I choose another woman and make my queen." I felt disgust at how blatantly he spoke the words.

"I can't be your mate. I have a mate."

"Is that so? Then why aren't you with him?" he grinned at me.

"You're not interested in that," I spat back, watching him walk toward me. There was something dangerous about his eyes and my pulse quickened with every step he took. To say I felt uncomfortable would be an understatement. I was scared and I could smell it myself.

"Well, that doesn't change anything. An Erasthai always has a second soulmate. It's always the Lycan who wins her heart in the end," he said warningly, leaning down to me.

"II've already decided against you," I stuttered out.

"It wasn't a final decision," his hand reached up lovingly to my cheek, but I immediately slapped it away.

"She was."

"Tara?!"

"I haven't forgotten what you said to me yesterday. If you were still genuinely interested in me as a mate, you would have said something else. You just didn't have to say anything."

"Perhaps that was a little rash," he answered far too quickly.

"Well, I've had plenty of time and my answer remains, no."

"A no doesn't turn down a king, Tara," he said, taking a step towards the door.

"Learn that a king cannot always have what he wants, Caspian." I shouldn't have said that, he was back with me in a flash. He hung over me like a dangerous predator, the predator that he was.

"You want to play, Tara? Alright, let's play." A chill ran down my spine and my hands started to tremble. When did our conversation take such a turn? I should have just silently listened to his rules.

"You're completely misunderstanding something," I collected myself, but my voice was thin and trembling. "You want me to be the fox? All right. I will be, let me tell you I won't let you catch me."

"Tara—" A deep growl left his throat, and by now my mind was telling me to run away.

"Nothing, Tara," I interrupted him. "Learn that you can't always have what you want. I won't let myself be caught, especially by you. Not as a fox, and not as your mate." I startled myself as I realized what I had just said.

On Caspian, on the other hand, it had the opposite effect. He relaxed and smiled contentedly. His hand reached to my cheek and gently stroked it. I twitched at first, but the next time I couldn't escape the effect of his touch.

His fingers left a gentle, intense tingle where they touched me and something like calm and contentment seemed to spread through my body. His eyes suddenly contained something loving, desire and tenderness?

I was definitely insane because I felt my fear of him melt away in a split second.

"We shall see, little companion. I love to hunt, little erasthai, and what's mine no one will ever get their hands on."