Chapter 111
[ 904 words ]
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & ELEVEN
+25 Bonus
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & ELEVEN
Nolan’s POV
I did not mean to keep kissing her, but I couldn’t resist her. The moment she leaned in again, I responded without thinking. The taste of wine was faint on her lips. Her hands stayed tight in my shirt, and she pulled me closer a second time. Part of me wanted to stop it there. Another part pushed for more. My wolf was loud in my head, pressing me to tell Talia the truth.
‘Tell her,’ he urged. ‘Tell her what she is to us.’
I forced a breath through my nose and tried to slow everything down. I would not blame her for the Alpha King’s choices, but I had not changed my position. I had not forgotten why I came to Silverfang or what I owed to my father. I would not pretend that any bond erased what stood between me and her family.
She drew back just enough to look at me.
“Will you mark me?” she asked, her voice soft.
I felt my wolf surge forward again, ready to answer for me. I stepped back instead.
“I have things to handle,” I said. The words sounded rough even to me. “I need to go.”
“Notan?”
I did not give her the chance to continue. I turned and left the garden as quickly as I could. I didn’t want to do anything I would regret because I submitted to the pull of the mate bond.
My wolf did not let it go.
‘Coward,’ he said. ‘She accepted us and you chose to run.
‘It is just the mate bond. She would’ve been like this with anyone,’ I answered. ‘You know it. I know it. I will not let it make my choices for me.’
‘And what is wrong with that?’ he shot back, “There is nothing wrong with having a mate.’
‘Enough,’ I growled.
He kept pressing, throwing every memory at me: the night of her heat, the way she had said my name in the hospital bed, the way she had pulled me down in the garden. He would not stop until I shut him out. I put up the wall I used in battle and forced his voice back into silence. The quiet that followed was necessary. I needed a clear head.
I reached my room to find Marco inside, flipping through a stack of patrol reports he had collected while I was gone. He looked up the moment I came through the door. His eyes focused on my neck.
“What happened to your pendant?” he asked.
“Talia threw it into the pond.”
Marco stared at me in shock. “She what?”
“She pulled it off and threw it.”
His eyes widened and he said, “Then she knows. She knows you’re her mate.”
I said nothing.
He set the reports down and stepped closer. “Nolan, listen to me. If she knows, you do not have much time. You must either claim her or reject her. If Prince Solon or the Alpha King find out before you decide, the decision will be made for you. You know how they see you. They will call you a threat and kick you out of Silverfang before you can get close to the truth about your father.”
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CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & ELEVEN
+25 Bonus
“I am aware,” I said.
Marco paced once, then faced me again. “Do you plan to claim her?”
“No. If I did, they would say I did it to gain power here,” I answered. “The King would never accept it at face value.”
“Then reject her,” Marco said, spreading his hands. “It will hurt you both, but it solves the immediate danger. You will stay in Silverfang and keep working on what you came here to do.”
I stood at the table and braced my hands on the edge. “A public rejection will not solve the situation.”
“What do you mean?” Marco asked.
“They will see it as an insult and probably quick me out of the Silverfang. So, rejecting her isn’t the answer either.”
Marco sighed and rubbed his face. “Then what other choice do you have? You cannot keep pretending nothing happened. The pendant is gone. Talia will feel the bond more strongly now, and so will you. Solon is already suspicious of you. The King tolerates you because of what you did for Talia. One rumor is all it will take to turn that tolerance into a demand that you leave.”
“I know,” I said again.
He dropped his hand and lowered his voice. “I am not asking what you want in your heart. I am asking what keeps us here long enough to find the truth. Your father’s name will not clear itself. We need time, and time requires that we do not become the center of a scandal.”
“There is a third way,” I said.
Marco frowned. “What is the third way?”
“We can still mute the bond until I finish what I came here to do,” I said.
“How?” he asked. “The pendant is lost in a pond. You cannot just find another one in a drawer. Those charms are rare.’
“I know,” I said. “Which is why I am not going to request a pendant.”
He stared at me a second longer. “Wait,” he said. “You cannot mean-”
I cut him off with a single word.
“Leslie.”
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