Mated To The Cold Hearted Alpha
Chapter 32

HYCINTH’S POV

The words left my mouth, and the atmosphere changed. It darkened. The temperature dropped. The air thinned and crackled with electricity, churning and chaotic, silently screaming a warning for anyone wise enough to listen-it was coming.

No, it was already there.

The thing of nightmares and dark fairytales had been unknowingly unleashed. It was free.

I waited for the flash of lightning and boom of thunder. It was inevitable. I was going to be struck down by it. There was no way for me to avoid it. No way for me to come out unscathed because I was the heart of the storm.

Leander stood unblinking, his face wiped clean. No trace of emotion as if struggling with the impossibility of the words that had just come out of my mouth.

And then he blinked.

His expression darkened, the eyes of his Wolf front and center, no longer a brilliant violet blue. Now, they glowed flat black. The timbre of his voice dropped, gruff through his vocal cords, “He touched you?”

My Wolf and I stood frozen, the hair along the ridge of her spine straight up, ears flat, hind legs stiff. Adrenaline rushed through my body. My instincts heightened by the overwhelming sense of danger swirling around me. My fury was long gone. Concentrating on my anger was simply a luxury I didn’t have. Every one of my senses were required for the task at hand if I hoped to survive whatever was going to happen next.

I breathed, “Yes.”

A low sustained growl echoed through his chest, the veins in his arms and neck making an appearance under the pressure of straining release. His tone reverberated with feral intensity, “Tell me exactly what happened…from the beginning. Do not leave anything out.”

Goosebumps raised on my arms. I nodded my agreement and forced my brain to concentrate on that day, on those moments that I had previously tried to forget. “They found me at the tattoo parlor. They came in and Dagger saidmuscles begging for something about, uh, I’d been naughty, and…he was there to punish me. So I turned and ran. I dove through the plate glass window in the back.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “You dove through a window?”

“Uh huh.”

His jaw clenched. “Continue.”

“I ran, but he caught me in the woods, knocking me down from behind. I got free…kicking him in the face, and landed a punch to his gut and a kick to his kneecap. But he used his weight advantage to force me to the ground…with uh, him on top of me.”

Leander hissed furiously. I shivered and waited, tense for his next move. I didn’t know what to expect from him now. But he didn’t say anything, so after a moment, I continued, “Um, I tried to buck him off…and then scratched his face.”

“The claw marks,” Leander gritted out.

“Yes,” I confirmed. “I drew b***d. Dagger’s canines came out. He said he’d rip out my throat, so I stopped fighting. He called me something. A wildcat, I think. And then, for some reason his expression changed…from anger to l**t. He confirmed it when he reached under my shirt and bra to grab my nipp وو

The storm broke loose.

Suddenly, violently, Leander was in motion. His claws came out. A fierce growl ripped from his chest as he picked up the dresser and hurled it across the room. The impact was thunderous, echoing loudly in the enclosed space. Wood splintered, broken apart with the force of his devastation. Clothing littered the wreckage of the dresser, now lying broken in pieces against the unforgiving wall.

I stood, shaking, and silent. I didn’t dare speak. I waited for some calm to conquer the raging beast. His chest heaved. His nostrils flared as he panted. He turned back to me and snarled, “What happened next?”

I tried unsuccessfully to control the tremor in my voice, “I, I begged him…to stop. I even threatened him that…that you would kill him for touching me.”

Leander’s eyebrows shot up.

“I just assumed…that any Alpha would,” I explained. “But he laughed…and told me of your plans to make me into your little whore.”

Leander cringed, and his expression changed-guilt.

“So it’s true, then?” I whispered, my heart contracting in pain. “That was your plan for me? If we hadn’t made this deal, after the Claiming Ceremony, I’d have just been a whore to you?” Tears pricked my eyes.

“No!” he said quickly, coming to stand right in front of me and continued fervently, “I’m so f*****g sorry for ever saying that! Those words were the ravings of an angry man during the first three months you were missing. I calmed down after that. I reassessed what was important. Looking back, and knowing what I do now about the bond, I was a fool ever to think I could have treated you that way, even if I’d have caught you the next day.”

I didn’t like that he’d told his men he’d make me into his whore, but I understood the irrationality that came along with anger. I understood people said stupid things when they were mad, things they didn’t mean. Or in his case, things he was too stupid to realize weren’t even possible the bond would never have allowed it. I whispered, “Okay.”

His expression softened with relief. He murmured, “Please continue. What happened next?”

I pulled out those images in my head again, trying to determine where I’d left off and flinched at the memory. “He told me that y-you had no problems sharing your women. I was no different. Then he undid my pants. And shoved his hand between my legs-.”

Chaos exploded around me.

Thunder and lightning, raging wind-a blur of devastation.

The curtains and bedspread torn, shredded into bits by his claws, more furniture flying across the room. A loud resounding crack when his fists compromised the bed frame. Fierce growls echoed, one on top of the other, the first one not even finished before the next one began. He was partially shifting, his shape vibrating, fur springing out on his arms and then back down again, his jaw elongating before he could regain control.

Abruptly, the door was almost jerked off of its hinges from someone on the outside and Ever sprang into the room. His body vibrated as well, eyes wild, darting around, taking in the devastation, zeroing in on the out-of-control Alpha, before they turned to extreme worry when he saw me quaking in the middle of the room. But I remained untouched, unharmed, by the cyclone whirling around me.

“F*****g hell, Leander.

What the f**k are you doing?!”

I wasn’t sure if Leander even knew Ever was standing there, let alone registered the fact he’d asked him a question. Leander came to a halt again, facing me, breathing ragged, his voice gravelly and deep, “Did he penetrate you?”

Ever’s eyes snapped wide, fury darkening his expression as he exhaled sharply, “F**k.”

“No,” I whispered. “He didn’t have time. Another Wolf stopped him, demanding to know what he was doing. Dagger told him he was just sampling the goods. The other Wolf said you’d kill him for touching me before you had everything you wanted from me first, so he needed to stop.”