28

After I finished my pretzels and tossed the empty packet into the bin next to me, I stood up determinedly with the blanket wrapped around me and walked straight towards Keno and that woman, all the while just staring at Jamal who was leaning against the car and a goofy grin hung up.

"Can we talk please?" I asked Keno, ignoring the redhead next to us, although I could feel her disdainful eyes on me.

Keno looked at me briefly, but there was no expression in his eyes.

"Excuse us," he said to her and walked past me in the direction I was coming from, but I didn't follow him straight away, instead turning with a mock smile to the snipe next to me, who was staring after Keno with wide eyes .

"If you don't want me to dig your eyes out right away, you should fuck off real quick!" I hissed quietly, but Jamal must have heard me anyway.

"Aria!" he admonished me and put his hand on my back while this bitch just looked at me in amusement and played with her red strands.

"I'll wait as long as he doesn't send me away himself, you gnome," she smiled and even Jamal now gave her a scathing look.

"Did you just call me a gnome!" I raised my voice and was about to pull the blanket off my shoulder to lunge at her when I was grabbed by the neck and pulled away like a rabid rabbit.

"Let me go!" I yelled at Keno, but he pulled me along until we got to the exact bank where I'd been sitting before.

"Can you act normal for once in your life?!" he snapped at me, shoving me lightly so that I sat down on the bench and glared up at him.

"She called me gnome!" I explained, still stunned, and about to get up again to rip her ass off when Keno pinned me down on the bench again by my shoulders, giving me no chance to get up and my arms in frustration entangled.

"Besides," I began to make room for my emotions and the chaos in my head. "Are you not quite close!"

"I'm having trouble?" he repeated, crouching down in front of me so we were both eye-to-eye. "You're the one who teases me, but then comes back with reproaches. I wanted to apologize to you for losing control, but as soon as I want to make up for something, you provoke the next argument!"

"It's also my right!" I replied and looked deep into his dark eyes. "This isn't my world, Keno! I didn't grow up with wolves. Humans don't have scenarios like just getting kidnapped. Do you think you could just snatch my life and I'd just let it go?"

He seemed to consider my words, running his hands through his black hair as if this discussion was just too much for him.

"I'll give you the opportunity to say goodbye. The one with the mark, that was in the heat of the moment. Believe me when I tell you that I'm sorry, but I'm just a prisoner of my wolf and I comply His will in such situations. You know how it is yourself."

Taking a deep breath, I glanced at the sky and thought about how my wolf had sometimes pushed me into the most unnecessary situations and yes, I understood him, but I still found it unfair. You might be able to win the heart of a wolf, but for a woman's heart, no bite was enough... More had to happen. Much more!

"Aria," he then drew my attention back to himself, but now he didn't look expressionless at all, rather deeply sad and exactly this feeling then spread through my whole body. I already hated this connection because I wanted to be angry, but his wolf forced me to show sympathy for him, when I really didn't want to have any! "I don't want to force you to do anything. You are right in everything you say. You are different from us, not a real wolf and I only ask that you give me some time to convince you that I even I'm not as bad as you still make me out to be."

"It's not about that," I retorted immediately, gently cupping my hands against his cheeks, immediately feeling his heartbeat quicken at the touch. "I don't think you're bad. On the contrary. You take care of me, make me laugh and even dance with me through the house, but I also ask something, and that's that you also respond to my wishes and my demands. If I don't want something then you have that without ifs and buts accepting you may be an Alpha to your pack but to me you are someone I'm just getting to know and if you want a relationship with me then only if you treated me at eye level and without all these constraints! I'm not an animal that you can capture and train! I am a strong and stubborn character and I can already tell you that I will never submit to you! I will not comply Keno! Neither you, nor your wolf and even the moon goddess personally! If you want to win me over, then give me my freedom. Show me who you really are and make me fall in love with you. Not in your rank and not by a mark."

"Does that mean you're going to stop trying to escape and give me a chance to make it up to you?" he smirked stupidly and after I rolled my eyes and smiled, I nodded and took a hand off his cheek to point to my mark.

"Where should I go now? After all, you've tied me to you. But believe me, if you keep going on and treating me like I'm your sub, I'll go and then I don't care if I'm on perish miserably on this mark!"

"I'll believe you right away," he said, slowly getting up to help me up by my hands so that we stood close to each other and eyed each other intensely.

"But by freedom you don't mean that I have to let you run around half-naked outside, do you? That would be too much for my nerves."

He raised an eyebrow in anticipation and I smiled and shook my head.

"That was just to smack you. I don't like dressing like that myself."

"Thank God," he grinned, theadrally touching his heart while grabbing mine with his other hand to walk me back to the car.

"And one more thing," I addressed him, looking at the redhead who was still standing next to Mal and glaring at me. "I can get jealous, too. Another brazen situation from you and I'll kill her first and then you!"

"Looks like my pack has a new alpha," he laughed, pulling me closer to his side to give me a gentle kiss on my forehead. "I just wanted to choke you."

"I know," I replied, standing in front of the car while Keno obligingly held the door open for me.

"And little ones," he began again while I made myself comfortable in the back seat and looked up at him. "I'll do my best. I promise."

I just nodded, really hoping he meant it because the mark made me attached and dependent on him now. But I still meant it. If he kept treating me like I was an animal, I would leave him. It doesn't matter if death overtakes me. It's better to die than to live unhappily... Or is it?