Chapter 6

Zander

The look of shock on Piper"s face fed the asshole inside of me. I"d been tempted by the look of pleasure she had from the library.

Jealous almost. Of a library. What was becoming of me? The alpha inside didn"t do feelings. Not those feelings, at least.

I slammed my room door behind me, listening as the artwork on the walls shuttered from the pressure. The pull I had toward her grew with every passing minute. Every sigh she made, aggravated eye roll, or even the way she slid her tongue across her teeth. It all crawled underneath my skin like pins underneath my fingernails.

She looked like I"d punched a baby before I walked out of the office, and stalked toward my room. Ultimately, it didn"t matter her insecurities or problems, my wolf would want her regardless. It"d all been a lie. She was more than great, she was everything I needed, everything I desired in my life.

But getting an emotion out of her, revving her engine to gain a single ounce of anything, was better than nothing.

Even if it was hate.

I kicked the storage bench at the end of my bed, and overturned my nightstand. The alpha blood running through me was dominate, high-strung and eager to win her. This push-and-pull, this cat-and-mouse would kill him.

Kill me.

Cracking my neck from side to side, I sat down and palmed my face. The years I"d waited to find my mate, the dreams as a child, wrecked my mind. I"d pictured finding her, dragging her to my bedroom and not leaving for days. Months.

I"d show her just how much I loved her.

How much I would cherish her.

I wasn"t an asshole alpha. I didn"t want to be, but he"d turned into a beast, and things were different than I expected. I"d been raised to respect my Luna, but this Luna had no respect for me, and I couldn"t blame her.

Flames of anger licked my skin, so I snatched the bottom of my t-shirt over my head, and wiped my face with the fabric.

I caught sight of my body in the full-length mirror behind my door, and I stared. I"d kept in good shape over the years, the coiled lines of my body twined down my forearms and abs.

The sight of the rose tattoo on my side made my lip rise up into a snarl. I"d received it the day the voodoo queen cursed me. She"d blabbed on about once the petals were gone than so were my chances of ridding myself of the beast.

The vines traveled down my body, clear to my knee in an ugly route that I hated. Every so often I would gather the courage to look at it, and see how many petals were left.

None had fallen since Piper arrived.

I prayed to God that no more would.

The door to my room opened, and I stepped back, picking up the storage bench at the end of my bed. William shut the door and stared at me. "Well, you"ve done it now, Brother. I"m sure she"s going wild for you after that comment."

I scoffed, and picked up my nightstand, along with the array of junk that filled it throughout the years. "Well, you know, I try," I said.

He chuckled humorlessly. "Have you forgotten your predicament? Or do you not care?" he asked, walking over to the curtain he peered out the window.

I pretended not to see. Not to care.

I"d do anything to go outside and let the sun kiss my skin. I"d become pale after all these years. I"d forgotten what the warmth felt like. What it felt like to feel like an actual being.

William walked over toward me, and handed me a cell phone.

I looked down at the pink cover, and the screen as it came to life. "It"s hers. When I moved her car, I grabbed her things. Her purse, suitcase and phone. They"re hidden in one of the rooms. I"m going to give her the clothes—,"

"Don't," I said, sliding my fingertips along the screen. "I love the dresses. The woman is beautiful."

William eyed me. "Yeah, if you were nice, perhaps she"d like you eventually."

I sat down with her phone and looked at the missed texts and calls. "She has a lot of people looking for her."

William propped up against my dresser and nodded. "Exactly. They are going to come look for her. They can trace her phone here."

"Break it," I said, tossing it to him.

"Do you really want to break her phone?"

I laid back and stared at the high vaulted ceiling. "Does it look like we have a choice?"

"I guess not," he said. "I"ll toss it into the bayou. But that won"t stop them from searching the last spot her signal hit, which is about a mile away. They will eventually make it here. Do you really plan to keep your mate locked in here with you?"

"Again ... do I have a choice? I"m going to be here forever if she doesn"t come around."

"Well, your attitude isn"t going to make her want you, Brother."

I chuckled. "Her body wants me, William. I sense it. She doesn"t ... not yet. But she will."

"I don"t know," he said, picking his fingernail. "She seems to really hate you."

"Have you ever read a book before? There is a very thin line between love and hate. She"s walking it already."

"You need to stop being an ass and woo her, Zander. She is your only chance at getting out of this nightmare—our only chance."

A piercing of regret and guilt seared my stomach. William stood by my side throughout all of this. He"d never left. He deserved a life. He deserved a chance to run out and find his mate. To have pups, and be ... normal.

"I don"t know how to woo a woman. I know what I"m doing, and it"s going to work."

He shook his head. "You"re wrong. It"s not going to work. Being an ass to her isn"t going to work—,"

I stood up. "Her ex-fiancée was a pussy, William. I can see it on her face. She longs for a man to handle her. That"s what she wants," I said. "I can"t tell you how I know, but I do. Call it the mate bond, or intuition, but I feel it. She needs me to be this way."

"That may be so, but she needs to see you"re a human being, and not just some beast, Zander. You have to show her your true self."

I laughed. "You"re serious? This is my true—,"

"No," he snapped, giving me a look I hadn"t seen from him since we were children, before I became alpha. "It"s not the real you. I"ve known you my entire life. This isn"t you. This is what that woman made you. I pray Piper can bring you back to reality. Bring back the man you used to be."

"This is me," I said, snatching my t-shirt from the floor. "Believe it or not."

"Not," he said, walking toward the door. "I don"t believe that, and neither do you. Vivian has lunch ready. She requested the day off tomorrow," he said. "I"ll have someone deliver us something to eat. Maybe you could find out what she likes to eat, and have it delivered."

"Aren"t you Casanova," I said sarcastically.

He tossed me a deadpanned look over his shoulder. "It beats the alternative ... you."

I walked down the hallway toward the staircase, stopping at the sound of her speaking. It was hushed, but loud enough that I could hear it.

Walking over, I stopped at the door and listened.

"...this is insane," she whispered. "I have to get out of here. I have to get out of here."

Her footsteps wore a steady rhythm against the floor, and I imagined her walking back and forth in front of her bed. "I have to get Vivian to help," she said.

I lifted a brow. Vivian was a devoted pack member, volunteered to stay with me when I lost the pack. Volunteered to help her alpha even though I"d changed into the beast for almost a month straight after I was cursed

It took so much talking, convincing and control to get him back down into his place.

"Get it together," she whispered. "You can make it. You"ve got this. Daddy will come for you. So will Amanda."

They would, but I prayed that she wouldn"t want to leave by that time.

I knocked loudly on the door, and I heard her gasp. "Lunch is ready, Little One," I said.

"Piss off!" she shouted.

I smiled. The fire in her started one within me. I chuckled. "Come on outside, or I will come in and make you."

The door swung opened again, her scent swarming me. Her cheeks were pink, her chest rising and falling. "I"ll walk you."

She gave me a sarcastic smile. "Yes, I wouldn"t dare want to be alone."

"Of course not. Seems your ex left you alone already. Wouldn't want to leave you lonely."

She glared at me. "You seem awfully interested in him. Maybe we should give him a call. Ask him to come over for dinner? You could ask him anything you want."

I chuckled, and reached for her elbow to help her down the last stair. Electricity worked down my skin, and I saw that she felt it, too.

"Now, Piper," I said softly, dragging her an inch closer to me. "I don"t need a man that couldn't make you happy telling me anything about you. I"d like to come to my own conclusions. I want to learn everything from scratch," I said. "I want to know what turns you on, and what turns you off. If he"s ever brought you to climax—which I doubt he has—I want to do it in completely different ways. Because when I finally wear you down, you won"t have one shred of memory of that man in your mind. You"ll long for me. Breathe me. Only want me from then on out."

Piper"s mouth parted, her breath hitched in shock—desperation—I didn"t know or care. It was the way her body reacted to mine, even for a short amount of time, that flipped my wolf"s life around.

But as quickly as that look arrived ... it disappeared.

"You"re crazy if you think I"d touch you with a ten foot pole."

I glanced down at the mere inches separating our bodies. "Tell your lies to someone else, Ms. Sloane. What you don"t know about wolves is that they can sense fear. I can smell your arousal. Smell your nerves. And even if you do escape these walls ... wolves are excellent trackers. I"ll hunt you down and bring you back. Because like my brother said, you"re my mate. The only one meant for me. I protect what"s mine. And I"ve already told you, Little One. You"re mine."