“Is there a reason you’re against wearing my mark?” Griffin asked. He still looked relaxed and amused but there was an edge to his voice now.
I tried to pick my next words carefully – I didn’t want to risk offending him or his animal instincts. “Look, it’s not you,” I said, “It has nothing to do with you specifically…it’s the bite itself. Maybe I’d feel differently if I was a wolf, but I’m not. I don’t understand why I need to have a physical indent of your teeth on my n*eck.”
It’s not as if I’m going to fly under the radar anyway. I suspect everyone in this castle knows whose mate I am by this point.
Griffin seemed to take my hesitancy in stride, which was a surprise. If anything, it seemed to amuse him. “‘A physical indent of my teeth’” he echoed, shaking his head lightly, “Is that all you think claiming bites are, little fox?”
“aren’t they?” I shot back. “I’ve seen plenty of them when I lived at my dad’s pack, I don’t need one. I already live in your castle, spend plenty of time with you. Everyone here knows I’m your mate ~ I don’t need a bite too.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, little fox,” Griffin said, and something primal flashed behind his eyes, “A claiming bite is more than just a mark or a scar. It’s protection. It’s a warning system for any wolf who tries to go near you. They’ll smell my scent on you, they’ll know you’re mine. No other wolf will ever be able to mark you, they won’t even want to try. Argue all you want, but there’s no way I’m letting you roam around these halls ~ or anywhere else ~ without my mark.”
I knew Griffin well enough to know that he wasn’t bluffing. Still, I continued to push. All I could think about was the elated girls at school, who gushed over their claiming bites like they were new jewelry or clothes. And while they got stuck literal fang marks in their n*ecks, what about male wolves? What did they have to show for their mating? There was no mark, no bite they were expected to display.
No matter how hard I tried, the implication didn’t sit well. I would not tum into another dumbstruck submissive mate, just happy to be shown off and follow orders mindlessly. Regardless of what my destiny might’ve had in store for me, I knew that wasn’t it.
“Look,” I ground out, trying to keep my voice even, “I think there’s something we need to get straight here. About us.
About claiming bites, about this mate bond.”
“Oh, and what’s that?”
“1 know you have traditions and expectations, but I spent part of my life in the human world,” I told him, “I have expectations too. I’m not going to be your mindless little housewife that you can store on the shelf like your other possessions. If that’s what you think you’re getting here or what you’re going to turn me into, then you’ve got another thing coming. I know that’s how a lot of mate bonds work, but this one can’t. I won’t let it.”
The words spilled out of me before I’d even thought about saying them, but they were true. I readied myself to be met with some form of protest from Griffin, but to my surprise, he just stared at me in awe. It was as if I’d just told him I’d hung the moon and the stars.
Well…hopefully, that means he isn’t offended.
That awed, dumbfounded look remained on his face for several moments before he finally pulled himself together. Griffin reached over to cup my jaw, his face still full of admiration. “You never cease to surprise me, little fox,” he said, “Every moment I spend with you feels like I’m discovering new ways that you’re my perfect match.”
I certainly hadn’t expected him to say that, and I had to fight not to avert my eyes. His gaze was so intense, like I was swimming in his eyes. “I have never wanted some mindless little housewife,” he continued, “I have no need for one. What
I need is a Queen. Someone who can rule beside me, who won’t crumble under the weight of this world. I’m not sure how you ever doubted we weren’t right for each other ~ can’t you see how perfect you are for me? For this castle? For this world? You so clearly belong to me.”
It wasn’t the first time that Griffin had called me his, but this time felt different. There was a lump in my throat – I wasn’t sure if it was from his sweet words or the way he’d alluded to me belonging to the werewolf world. I had always been an outcast to the werewolf world, never someone who belonged. That was before Griffin, my mind countered.
That was it, wasn’t it? Maybe my place in the werewolf world hadn’t been with my father’s pack but here. With Griffin. I didn’t need to be anyone else, to measure up to some impossible standard that I’d never meet as a human, Me – in all my humanness – was already good enough. I was already an equal. I
And if I’m Griffin’s equal, then I want others to know it too.
“If belong to you,” I finally managed to say, “And you belong to me, then I’ll wear your claiming bite.” Griffin’s eyes lit up and I could see a smile tugging at his l*ps.
“On one condition,” I continued, and I could see his eyes narrow, “I want to claim you too.” I
“You are the fire burning inside me.” Kelvin O’Ralph
If ‘d had a camera or a phone nearby, I would’ve snapped a photo of the look on Griffin’s face when I told him I wanted to claim him. He looked like I’d just told him I was secretly an alien or lived on the moon ~ or some other impossible thing.
With his jaw hanging open, Griffin finally managed to speak. “Claim me?” he said. “Like with a bite?”
I knew the idea sounded ridiculous. I wasn’t a wolf. I didn’t have fangs that could magically leave scars. But I did have teeth and canines. Maybe they weren’t as sharp, but they could still sink into someb*dy’s n*eck. They could leave scars too.
That thought – of me sinking my teeth into the pulse of Griffin’s n*eck ~ sent the blood rushing through my veins.
Has the mate bond messed me up so much that biting into someb*dy’s n*eck like a vampire turns me on?
Well, not just anyb*dy – Griffin. My mate.
“I hate to state the obvious here,” Griffin said, “But as much as I may call you my little fox, you’re still human. You won’t be able to leave a claiming bite.”
“Why not?” I snapped back, and I tried not to sound like I was pouting. “I have teeth too. Some of them are sharper than they look.”
“Pm sure they are,” Griffin said, sounding amused. “But I have supernatural healing abilities. Unless your teeth are made of silver, the mark will just fade. Probably within seconds.”
Logically, I knew he was right. Werewolves healed much more quickly than humans. They weren’t even capable of getting scars, not unless they were made through silver blades or weapons.
Still, that didn’t stop the possessive thought from running through my mind. If Griffin was going to leave his mark on me, was it so crazy that I wanted to leave mine on him?
“You know what I’ve come to realize about you, little fox?” Griffin said, breaking me from my train of thought. I looked up at him and his eyes were shining with admiration. “You’re more wolf-like than you realize.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you may be human,” Griffin continued, and I felt one of his hands stroking through my hair, “But there’s no mistaking the Alpha blood in you. You might not be able to shift or turn into a wolf, but that Alpha blood finds other ways of expressing itself.”
“My Alpha blood?” I asked, eyebrows raised. “Are you just saying that because I wanted to mark you? Who says that has anything to do with my Alpha blood? Maybe I’m just weird.”
Griffin rolled his eyes but a teasing smirk played on his l*ps. “It’s not just that,” he said, “It’s everything about you. Had I been mated to any other wolf, things would’ve gone completely differently. Any female wolf would’ve accepted the bond immediately and let me claim them.”
Irritation sparked in me. I could tell that Griffin was trying to make a bigger point, but it almost sounded like he was unhappy with how things turned out. Like he would’ve preferred some completely submissive girl, ready to do all of his bidding.
“Well, I’m sorry I didn’t immediately fall at your feet,” I rolled my eyes. I turned my face away from him, but Griffin immediately grabbed my chin with his hand and pulled me back.
“Don’t look away and roll your eyes at me, little fox,” he said, and his tone had an edge to it now, “Do that again and Ill take you over my knee. I wasn’t trying to say I was unhappy with you or that I wanted something else. All I meant is that you weren’t what I expected.”
Knowing that Griffin would probably make good on his threat, I tried to shove down some of my attitude and let him properly explain. “I expected the mate bond to be easy. But then I found you – and we both know that you were far from easy. You were challenging me from the moment we made eye-contact. You ran from me the first chance you got.
You fought back, you stood your ground.” (*
He paused and that same awed look came over his face again. “You were nothing like I thought. You were so much stronger than I ever expected a human to be ~ than I ever expected my mate to be. I’ve spent most of my life around people who would’ve done anything to be mated to someb*dy in my position. I’ve gotten a lot things in my life through my birthright, I know that. But you, little fox? You’re the first thing that has ever truly challenged me. You forced me to prove myself to you as a mate, you made me feel like I had to earn it.”
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