Chapter 22
Everly POV
The following day, I thought I had made it. I was on top of the world with the celebration. I thought I could go the entire day. without dealing with mate dramas. Once he realized I was his mate, and after his persistence yesterday, I knew it wouldn’t be the last time I would be hearing from him. Valen didn’t seem like the type that was used to being knocked back by a woman. But he had to get used to it. There was no way I would allow my son to be taken from me.
Stepping out of my office, I groan when I see him again. My heart stops in my chest. He is walking down the corridor toward me and was going to turn in the opposite direction to escape out the side door and back to the safety of my apartment before having to retrieve my son from preschool.
“Everly.”
“What? Alpha Valen, I am busy,” I call over my shoulder. He jogs after me.
“Too busy to speak with your mate?” he asks.
“Yep, definitely too busy for you,” I tell him, continuing toward the door that led outside and refusing to make eye contact
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with him.
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“Hmm, so you hire liars here because that cleaner just told me you should be going on your lunch break right now and that you aren’t busy,” Valen says before gripping my arm. Sparks rush up my arm, and I jerk away from his touch as I turn to face him. Valen growls at me, and I glare at him.
“Geez, what is your problem? No need to act repulsed by me,” he snaps at my reaction.
“I never said you repulsed me, but thanks, I will add repulsion to my list of reasons for hating you,” I tell him, though that was a lie. I didn’t hate him, his arrogance and the fact he couldn’t remember me irritated me, but hate was too strong of a word for my mate.
Everything in me was calling me to press against him, to touch him and mark myself with his scent, some primal urge to claim him. But I shove it down, ignoring it. He had my hormones and brain all muddled when he was near, and I wanted to run from him, disliking the feelings he brought out of me. How could I detest and long for someone
simultaneously irritated me?
“Why, why do you hate me? Because of Ashley?” he asks, and I scoff before turning away.
“She means nothing to me,” Valen says when I start to walk away from him. He grips my arm, turning me back to face him again. I growl at him and try to shake his hand off, but his grip
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only tightens.
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“Keep your hands off me. You have no right to touch me,” I snap at him. His eyes change and turn black. His wolf side. presses forward at the warning in my voice, he clearly didn’t like being challenged by his mate, or was it just my refusal to bow down to him. Or maybe he was butt hurt that I wasn’t tossing myself at him like the rest of the bimbos he usually had hanging off his arm. I bet that was it; he wasn’t used to being rejected, and to be dismissed by a rogue must really grind his gears.
His following words proved the latter. “I have every right to touch what is mine, and you are mine Everly, every inch of you is mine, mine to touch, mine to mark, you are mine to claim, and I will claim you,” I swallow and try to take a step back when my back hits the wall.
Valen’s canines slip from his gums, and he steps closer, pressing me against the wall. I swallow, finding myself caged in against the wall by him; his nose moves along my jaw to my neck. The sharp points of his teeth grazed my skin, and my eyes shut, my breathing becoming unsteady. I hated my own body’s reaction at his closeness.
“You don’t seem so sure now Everly, you know who you belong to, and you do belong to me,” he says, his breath fanning across my neck, and I inhale his addictive scent. My own gums tingle with the urge to mark him, claim him as mine, and I try to fight off the instinct that is infused in us.
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I felt out of control, my heart rate increases, and my breathing becomes heavy as his scent wraps around me. Valen moves closer, his entire body against mine, and a deep thrum from his chest vibrates against mine as he purrs into me. Yet my body gives into his calling, the urge to let him take me, overriding common sense. He’s using my own instincts against me. Usually, she–wolves are unable to resist the call of their mates. The sound calls me to give in to my mate on some instinctual level, like a sedative that made my brain suddenly stop working. He nips at my neck, and much as I hate what he’s doing, the thought of him marking me also excites me on some level. The experience was bringing forth feelings for him I thought died long ago, reminding me of the urge to nest when pregnant. The hatred was replaced with a longing or compulsion to do what came naturally but also felt uncontrollable at the same time because it took free will from us; it was all instinct and urges.
“Do I still repulse you, Everly, because your body says otherwise?” he whispers against my skin before grazing my neck where his mark should be with his teeth again. I shiver when I feel his lips press against my skin before he runs his tongue across my neck.
Valen groans obscenely, his hand skims under the side of my blouse. I gasp at his touch, and my hands feebly clutch the front of his shirt. I didn’t know if I wanted to pull him closer or shove him away, my brain and body fighting with each other. But damn, did his body feel good pressed against mine, so warm and my skin tingled.
I feel the outline of his abs hidden beneath his shirt, his belt
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buckle digging into my stomach as he presses closer until every line of him presses against me. A sigh escapes me, and my eyes jolt open at the noise I make. Valen’s hand moves higher before he squeezes my breast through my bra and growls softly before nipping at my jaw. I want to shove him off, but at the same time, I didn’t want him to stop, I wanted to feel his hands all over me without the clothes in the way.
The sound of someone clearing their throat makes me jolt back into reality, and I jump while Valen growls menacingly. I push him away from me instantly, the fog lifting. As soon as his touch is gone, I miss it. Looking down the corridor, I see Macey and my cheeks heat, and she raises an eyebrow at me before tapping her fingers on her wrist. My brows furrow, and I quickly glance at my watch. Shit, I had to get Valarian from the rogue preschool; it would close soon. I knew I shouldn’t have taken such a late lunch. I would typically be waiting ať the gate by now. It’s nearly 4:30 pm.
“Zoe?” I ask, and she nods.
“Already gone to get,” she looks at Valen.
“She should be back soon,” Macey says carefully, letting me know Zoe was grabbing Valarian with Casey. I let out a breath of relief.
“Thank you, Macey; I will be down soon. I just need to deal with something first.”
“Sure, go back to whatever you were both doing, but keep it PG, this is a hotel,” she chuckles, and I glare at her before my
Chapter 22
cheeks flush.
Valen smirks at me, and I glare at him while Macey walks off toward the stairs.
“So, do you still believe you are unaffected by the mate bond?” he asks. I say nothing. How could I when he was practically dry humping me against the wall, and I was letting him? I shake my head, turning to follow after Macey.
“Deny me all you want, Everly; you will give in. You can’t resist a mate bond,” Valen calls quite confidently. Little did he know I had been denying my mate bond for years and would continue to.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, I can be stubborn, and I can guarantee I won’t be pining over you,” I retort, trying to escape him as he followed me.
“I have other ways to make you give in, resist the mate bond, but I bet you would come crawling back if I had this place shut down,” he says, and I stop.
“Excuse me?” I snap, spinning around to glare at him. He smiles, and I clench my hands into fists.
“Don’t forget who this city belongs to, fight me all you want Everly, nothing I like more than a good challenge. But don’t say I didn’t warn you, because I always win, you will accept the mate bond and me or,” he looks around motioning with his
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hand at my hotel. “I have a lot of influence around here,” he says, stepping closer.
“You can’t breach me on anything, Valen. Your threats are empty. I know everything is legal; no one can fault this place for anything,” I tell him. He shrugs, stepping closer.
“So you won’t mind me sending the health and safety inspector around, nothing to fine you for?” he asks, and I fold my arms across my chest.
“My hotel won’t fail anything. Everything is to the book, you won’t win, and nothing you do will make me accept this mate bond, nothing, so go home, Alpha Valen,” I tell him before storming away. The nerve of him to threaten me.
“I will see you tomorrow, Everly,” Valen calls out, and I growl at him. Taking the steps two at a time and heading to my apartment, knowing Zoe would be back soon with the kids, and I really needed to go for a run to burn off some of the anger raging through me.
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