26

I glared at my reflection in the mirror and gritted my teeth in frustration as I caught a glimpse of a pair of scissors by the sink, lying innocently on the small white dresser.

"So you think you can get away with anything, big alpha?" I asked to myself, flashing a triumphant smile as I grabbed the scissors and began cutting my jeans together into a pair of hot pants.

The cold metal of the scissors carefully slid down my thighs and I snipped the jeans down my legs so short that my buttocks even poked out slightly. I was already enjoying driving him insane with it, even though deep down all I felt was chaos. After all, the sex wasn't just about letting go. No! He had taken something he had no right to. That mark was so much more than just a painful bite. That bite made me dependent on him. Dependent on his thinking, his feelings, his merciless wolf and precisely this dependence made me so incredibly angry with him.

If he really thought he could make me his without permission and train me like a hamster and cage me, he was badly mistaken about me and my natural sense of freedom. Now he could see how he would get along with me if he realized that not everything was his property the way he would like it to be.

I tossed my damp black hair excitedly. Then opened the faucet and ran the cool, soothing water through my face several times before I applied some perfume afterwards. Even if it was kenos, it smelled wonderfully fresh and right at the end, I admired my cropped trousers, my slightly curled hair and the low neckline of my shirt, before turning resolutely to the door.

"So friend. Let's see how you will like that you bastard!"

I walked towards the door, opened it very slowly and entered the bedroom, where Keno sat nervously on the bed and immediately looked up at me apologetically. But when he let his dark eyes wander over my bare legs and then admired my cleavage in horror, the remorse disappeared from the darkness of his eyes. What was left was anger...

"Aria!" he admonished in a deep voice and hurriedly got up to come straight to me, but I raised my hand and smiled sweetly at him.

"Keno?" I replied to him saying my name so maliciously and watched him with relish as he probably just thought about actually locking me in a cage.

"You don't go one step outside the door like that!", he growled, but I just laughed and showed him the bird again.

"Do you seriously think you could lock me up and tag me without permission without me resisting?" I asked the question, to which he didn't seem to have an immediate answer.

He opened his mouth, but just looked at me expectantly while I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow provocatively.

"You don't understand anything, do you?" It came out trembling from his lips. "By the law, I wouldn't even have to do you the favor of driving you to your aunt! By the law, I wouldn't have to be friendly, nor considerate, nor responsive to you!", he slammed his way of thinking at me, but he did it only made me angrier that he thought like that.

"By the law?! I'm still a human and not an animal! I don't give a damn about your alpha, pack or whatever law! I don't belong to you and so -"

"Yes you do!" he interrupted me angrily and turned to his closet, only to come towards me with a thick, black sweatshirt jacket. "You are my mate! Whether you like it or not! The sooner you accept that, the easier it is!"

He was just about to put my jacket on with his angry look, but I pulled out and punched him, which immediately made my heart race, because I had no idea what was going to happen next.

Breathing heavily and tense, I watched as all the goodness drained from his eyes, leaving only the deep black of his wolf.

"Get out!" he yelled at me loudly and I watched in panic as his entire body began to tremble, which now made me more than just afraid of his strength.

"Keno?" I tried to calm him down and wanted to gently reach out my hand for him, but he slapped it aside with such force that I whimpered softly and held it protectively to my body.

"I told you to get out!" he growled at me again and although my legs wouldn't move from the shock, I broke my terrified gaze from him and quickly ran to the door to just run down the stairs and yanking open the front door at the end of the great room.

"What's going on?" Jamal wanted to know immediately, leaning against the Mercedes in front of the door and watching my shattered expression while my entire body trembled.

"I..." I started with a trembling voice and looked at him for help. "Er...", I started again and briefly pointed to the hut behind me, but suddenly I couldn't find any more words.

The bad part wasn't that he tagged me. Neither did his words, because I understood why he thought that way. In contrast to me, he grew up in a pack and for wolves it was the case that companions belonged together without ifs and buts... Especially when the partner was an alpha...

But the worst part was that I could feel everything he was feeling at that moment. It just swept me away, like a wild tsunami that nothing dared to stop. We were now connecting... One with each other... That made his pain mine and it was almost unbearable.

There was this hate digging deep into my fast beating heart and I was so panicked that this hate was directed at me alone that I cursed myself for my stupid act of trying to provoke him.

Then there was his desperation... this crushing desperation that caused me such pain that my wolf only howled in agony.

"Calm down," I heard Jamal and was glad that he pulled me away from this whirlpool that was trying to push me down. "Keno isn't easy to handle," the beta said in front of me, but I immediately shook my head in the negative and looked at him wistfully.

"I'm not easy to hand," I admitted, rolling my eyes in annoyance at myself and then doubting myself.

"Well, you're a good match then. Nice marker by the way," Jamal grinned, ruffling his short, curly hair briefly before holding the back door of the car open for me. "Get in. I'll talk to him."

Slowly and with a guilty conscience, I walked up to Jamal and then sat in the back of the car, but he didn't close the door. I watched him confused as he ran behind the car and got something out of the trunk.

"Here," he said, handing me a brown blanket. "Perhaps the first thing you should do is stop provoking him. That would be a good start."

Jamal gave me a warning look and after I hesitantly took the blanket and wrapped it around me, he nodded in satisfaction and slammed the door slightly to make his way inside.