24. Chapter Twenty-Four

Mating instincts flooded his mind, his every move choreographed by his wolf. The man had taken a back seat to the predator beneath, and now, duplicitous intentions warred in his mind. If Cortana knew how far gone he was, she would've been leery of him—with good reason.

The animal was possessive, and Riaz had to willfully wrestle the other half of his soul to remove his teeth from the vampire's flesh. Seeing her so ecstatically happy, and the intimate result that followed, had riled his claiming urges.

His creature desired one thing: Cortana as his mate.

The urgency of the situation just increased tenfold. Limbs shaking with the difficulty of containing the wild inside, Riaz pulled away from her. Hooded eyes, swollen lips, and a delirious smile greeted him as he retreated, framed perfectly by the light of the moon.

"Beautiful."

"You're not too bad yourself."

A satisfied chuckle, infused with passion, rumbled in his chest. He shook himself, grasping at the sanity it'd taken to get him to retreat. Riaz knew that it was time to come clean and to admit why their connection had burned so brightly in so little time.

"Cortana." The words tumbled from his lips. "We're mates."

Riaz observed her closely as the meaning sank in. Her beautiful, delirious smile vanished along with the playfulness in her eyes, her relaxed expression tightening into one of confusion and chaos.

"I can't be your mate." Cortana's tone was a whip of spite and disbelief, cutting barbs into his flesh. "You're a wolf!"

For a moment, all Riaz could do was gape. In the next instant, offense boiled beneath his skin, both the man and wolf taking exception.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

The vampire backtracked at the consternation in his eyes. "I—I don't want to mate anyone. I didn't come here to find a man, Riaz."

Cortana shoved at him, hard enough to earn a grunt before he settled back on his haunches. She scrambled to her feet. Pivoting on one heel, she made to go back toward the motorcycle, but there was no way she was getting out of this conversation.

Riaz cuffed a hand around her bicep. "Mating instincts aren't there for kicks and giggles, Cortana. We're fated. Made for each other."

"Back off, Fido. I'm no one's mate, least of all yours." Cortana's eyes flashed, displeasure and rejection wafted off her like a cornered skunk.

Something in him snapped.

"You think I was expecting to find a mate in you? A vampire from the big city who is literally my opposite in every way?"

This time, his deep growl was pure threat, and he had no intention of listening to whatever she had to say next. The rejection had been clear.

The sun was rising, and soon the frustrating vampire would be in danger. Though he was seething, he'd never allow harm to come to her if he could prevent it. Riaz didn't look at her when he brushed past to return to his bike. He tromped through the sparsely wooded area, knowing the blood-sucker had no choice but to follow whether she liked it or not.

On the ride back to the den, she sat as far away from him as possible, only lightly gripping his waist and perching so far behind that he'd have thought her in danger of falling off. His wolf was howling beneath his skin, and each time he thought back to her rejection, his already aggressive animal perceived it as a slight.

As soon as the bike was parked beneath the den, she disappeared in a flash of speed. Good riddance.

Gruff and growly, he marched up the stairs to find four betas awaiting his return. When he approached without the vampire, Ava raised a single golden eyebrow. "Did you leave Lady Nosferatu in Vegas?"

Riaz simply bared his teeth, shoving his phone at her. "Cortana got what she needed. Where are we with the wildfires?"

"We're still in the safe zone. Estes Park isn't being asked to evacuate yet."

"Good."

Without another word, his wolf bounded out of his skin, shaking his coat to settle it. Riaz caught perplexed expressions rolling over his beta's faces before he trotted off towards the great hall. He turned heads as he passed sleepy packmates in the halls, stunned silence following in his wake.

Riaz didn't care.

The vein-drainer was undeniably in her own chambers for the sun, and there was no way he'd return to his quarters alone. Instead, he chose the path of least resistance.

If he slept in the great hall, pack members would join him, gravitating to him as they sought the comfort and security of their alpha.

Circling over the plush carpeting near the fireless hearth, he curled into a wolfy ball, tail over his nose. It took less than ten seconds for another to join him, then another, and another. Soon, the entire carpeted area turned into a puppy pile, snuggled tightly together in their fur.

Riaz went to sleep.