The man’s expression twisted from amusement to something far darker, his grip tightening around my wrist.

  "You think you can reject me so easily?.”

  He asked, his voice smooth and chilling, as though every word was measured to send a ripple through my spine.

  I pulled against his grip, but it was no use. He was too strong, and the sensation at the back of my neck... it was like a pull, a tethering force that drew me closer to him, not physically, but emotionally. My head swam with confusion, and Amor, my wolf, howled in my mind.

  'Elara, something’s wrong. This isn’t right. You shouldn’t be feeling this.'

  Amor’s voice was urgent, her instincts screaming.

  I tried to gather my thoughts, focusing on the feeling spreading from the back of my neck. My fingers grazed the spot where his claw had touched me, and a shock of electricity ran through my body, leaving me weak-kneed and breathless.

  "What have you done?.”

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  I repeated, this time my voice shaking.

  He leaned in closer, his breath warm against my ear, his words a low whisper.

  "I didn’t just mark you, Prudence. I claimed you."

  The world around me spun, and for a moment, I wondered if I had been walking into a nightmare I couldn’t escape.

  "You can’t claim me,"

  I hissed, the defiance still burning in my chest, though my body trembled under the weight of his proximity.

  He chuckled darkly.

  "Oh, but I already have. You were never meant to walk away from this. You just didn’t know it yet."

  I jerked my wrist, trying again to pull free, but the connection between us whether it was the bond of the mark or something deeper, something more primal made it feel impossible.

  His smile widened as he watched my struggle.

  "Do you feel that, Elara?.”

  He asked, his tone almost playful, as though he was savoring every moment of my confusion and helplessness.

  "That pull? That’s the mate bond. You’re mine now.”

  I staggered back, my breath coming in short gasps.

  "No."

  I whispered fiercely.

  "No, I refuse this."

  But the weight of his words, the undeniable intensity in my body, made my resolve waver.

  "Refuse all you want."

  He said, his voice calm, but his eyes burning with an intensity that was hard to ignore.

  "It won’t change the truth.”

  His grip on my wrist loosened slightly, but I didn’t dare try to escape again. A thousand thoughts swirled through my mind, but one question stood out above the rest.

  “Why me?.”

  The man tilted his head, studying me with a strange mixture of affection and arrogance.

  "Because you’re the one I’ve been waiting for. And now that I have you, I’m not letting you go.”

  I took a deep breath, forcing my heart to stop pounding in my ears. I couldn’t give in,not now, not like this. But everything inside me screamed that walking away was impossible.

  ‘Amor, I thought, what do we do?.’

  But before my wolf could respond, the man’s eyes darkened, and a smirk played at the corner of his lips.

  "We’re just getting started, Elara. The ga

  me has only begun."

  And as his words echoed in the room, I realized that nothing would ever be the same again.