Forty four

DEARIL POV

I wanted to devour her. Her pulse seemed to drum loudly in my ears and as my eyes raked over her form, then settled on her face, the scent of her pheromones assaulting my very being and driving me crazy, I fisted my hands by my side, and mentally wared with myself from closing the space that stood between us.

I had thought she wouldn't be able to survive without me, without her mate for such a long period but it turned out I was wrong and from the looks of things, I was the only one who was suffering.

The scent of blood permeating the air drew my gaze to those of the man she had just killed. I looked back at her, at the cold dark gaze in her emotionless eyes.

She looked ethereal. The sight of blood streaking over her dainty fingers, mesmerizing. I stared at her Hands which looked like they couldn't do harm and yet held so much wreckage in them. I could sense a danger akin to mine flowing through her vein and it drew me like a moth to the flame. The vivid memory of our last night blazed to life in my mind, even though I had played it over in my head countless times. Why had she chosen to reject and leave me? Why.

A fire raged in my chest, burning the longer I gazed at her. She'd been the first person to choose me and yet, once I marked her as mine, she rejected and left me the first chance she got. I'd tried to shut my wolf out and force myself to stop thinking about her or missing her, but it was all for nothing. My wolf was in so much pain and torture that I couldn't get anything done, and the howling in my head kept me awake most of the nights until the council members started to take notice, and yet here she stood, my Mate. Unbothered and unaffected. She was like me, but not totally. Maybe that was why she didn't feel the same amount of pain I was going through.

Jade gazed at me, the surprise of seeing me shining in her eyes, but aside from that she made no move to come to me, but on the other hand, my whole being was a freaking mess.

Everything in me roared to claim what was mine. The sight of the men surrounding my mate almost drove me to a point of insanity even tho I had been indirectly working with their boss. All because I wanted to see Jade Alvarez, the woman I had become obsessed with to the point of idiocy.

The men had no right to be in the same room as she was or to even be pointing their weapons at her. The wolf in me wanted to kill them all but they were human so I held back.

"Drop your weapons" I commanded. "I am in charge now since Edward is dead" I announced loudly, my gaze cutting across each of the men in the room.

They all exchanged glances, then looked towards Edward's right hand to give them the green light. He nodded once and they tentatively lowered their weapons. It was a show of blatant disrespect which I was going to punish later. Human or not, they knew better than to disobey or belittle the words of an Alpha, even tho they weren't aware of my status.

Jade let the knife drop, her head cocking to the side as she regarded me slowly, a fire blazing in her eyes. Eyes that seem to call out for me to claim, to take what was mine without minding the consequences.

"I never knew you were part of the Mafia organization, Dearil. You sure are versatile" she spoke softly, her voice all hypnotic and sultry, but behind them was something akin to longing but it was veiled so craftily that I couldn't decipher if they were really there.

My scent had not faded off her skin and the mark on her neck made my wolf howl. Ours. She bore my mark and as long as I breathe I was never going to let her out of my sight again. She was my Luna. Just mine.

I stepped towards her and she jerked back, having not quite expected that I would make any move to close up the distance between us.

"Do not take a step closer".

"You do not tell an Alpha what he should or should not do" I growled, my wolf taking over as her scent invaded my nose. It had been so fucking long, it felt as if I had been stuck wandering the deserts for years and I had finally managed to find a body of water that wasn't a mirage.

"Well you are not my Alpha, so I do not think that rule applies here Dearil Vaughn," she said spitefully, a smirk on her face and I knew she had done it to hurt me on purpose.

I crossed my arms. "You still haven't tamed your filthy mouth I see".

Jade shrugged. "My mouth has been fine just the way it is, but your arrogant nature is still pretty much the same. Enough of all these petty talks" she said, pulling out her gun and pointing it at the juncture where my brows met."Didn't Ariel give you my message, because I was pretty clear about what I said".

I stared at her. I could feel the power coursing through her veins. The power of my bite. She probably had half my strength now or more, since she was never weak, to begin with.

The thought of her defiance set my blood afire. And seeing the cocky look on her face and in her attitude as she applied pressure on the trigger to show me that she wasn't joking, I knew exactly what I wanted to do to my little bratty mate, and my wolf egged me on too, the idea of a good time making the pain it felt lessen.

It would be fun to let her think she was all-powerful before I flipped the tables on her.

She was mine, and I would never accept her rejection. She already bore my Mark, and as I watched every little move she made, all I wanted was to see her eyes widen in surprise when she figured out that I would always be her Alpha whether she liked it or not, I wanted to hear her gasp against my throat for breath as I showed her just how much I wanted her, wanted to feel her pulse drumming frantically against my palm as I choked her in the throes of her orgasms. I wanted to hear my name on her cherry red lips and mark her flawless pale skin until it glowed red with the passion of my loving, or my anger.

She won't submit easily, but I was a good teacher and until she learned, I was up for the challenge.

"Is this your idea of foreplay?" I asked with a smirk and she blinked, and in that split moment I closed the space between us, my hands grabbing the gun out of her hand and twisting it until it was pointed under her chin, my other hand grabbing both of her hands and forcing it behind her back until she was wedged against me, the gun digging under her chin forcing her to raise her neck higher.

All the smooth pale flesh within my reach made my teeth ache and as I felt her flesh against mine, every curve fitting perfectly, and her heated flesh burning through my shirt, I almost lost control, my wolf wanting to take over and claim his mate right there and then. Her scent washed over me, intensifying as she gazed at me.

"That was fast," she got out breathlessly, her hands trying to twist out of my hold and not succeeding.

"Yes, it was. And as for your last message to me before running off like a coward..." I paused as her eyes blazed.

"I am not a coward" she gritted out and I pulled her impossibly closer, the gun pressing deeper under her chin. She hissed in pain as I leaned toward her, my mouth at the shell of her ear "Play nice little tiger after all image is everything in the Mafia circle, isn't it? You wouldn't want to be forced to go on your knees in front of so many witnesses would you?" I whispered then unable to restrain the lust pumping through my blood, I bit at her ear.

The little action made her jerk in my arms violently before she shoved me off her. The way she'd gotten my hold on her hand off was a mystery, and her shove packed enough punch to almost knock me off my ass.

"Do not touch me," she got out in a leveled voice, even tho the blush rushing up her neck, then to her face and the aroused pheromones thickening in the air said otherwise.

"Master" I reminded her and saw her eyes widen. My breath caught in my throat as she warred an internal battle with herself. She was fucking rebellious and it rubbed me in all the right ways.

"You are not my Master", she said spitefully. "And you do not belong here. This is not your territory".

"It is now, and since you killed Edward Jones in cold blood, which was a beautiful execution by the way, I am the new head of the Graco Mafia, hence Ares, the man you were willing to kill for, is now my property and if you want him back..." I said stepping closer to her and daring her to try to push me away like before. "You will have to do everything I want".

Ares Putakali. I'd seen the man and I hated the fact that Jade was willing to go through so much trouble just to find him. What did he represent? Was he her lover? I was going to kill him if he was. I was not going to share Jade Alvarez with anyone. No one.

Jade squared her shoulder, her eyes hardening to slits. "The option still remains the same Dearil Vaughn. It's either you accept payment..." She paused, then grinned. "Or death!"

"Then you will not be getting that which you seek. The rules have changed Jade Alvarez. You have ruled unrivaled all this while, but I'm here now, and you are my only target, but we both know that you are already mine".

Jade's nose flared. "You are only going to find death if you choose to come after me Dearil Vaughn. I do not go easy on rivals, and just so we are clear once and for all. I AM NOT YOURS".

I smiled, then closed the space between us, my hand reached for the bite mark and I rubbed at it once.

Jade moaned, her knees turning to jelly as her fingers jerked to grab unto my jacket. The mortifying look on her face when she realized what had happened made me harden in my pants, the euphoric feeling of being alive making my blood pump erratically through my veins. She stepped back from me as if I had burned her with my touch.

I held her gaze, a smile on my lips. "You already belong to me".