Chapter 10

• Raven's POV:
• I had to admit, Azrael was really attractive - just like the magazines had described. And seeing him in that tailored suit, goddess, what was he doing to me? His playful flirting made my heart thump faster than normal, an unwelcome betrayal of the bodily reactions I couldn't seem to control around his overwhelming presence.
• But I still had so many questions swirling in my mind. Why this pseudo-date? Did he intend to reject me himself over a romantic dinner setting? After three previous failed mate bonds, I think being turned away by the powerful Alpha King would be the most painful, humiliating rejection of all.
• As we settled into the plush leather interior of his limousine, I remained rigidly silent, staring out the tinted window in an effort to avoid openly gawking at him. Even the ancient laws of the werewolf world dictated that omegas must show the utmost respect and deference to alphas. And an Alpha King's dominant aura practically compelled us to kneel at their feet. So kudos to my willpower for somehow maintaining my composure and not allowing Azrael's overwhelming alpha energy to control me entirely.
• The limo soon pulled up to what appeared to be an upscale restaurant in the heart of downtown. But as we entered through the ornate double doors, I couldn't help but notice it was...empty. Not a single other patron or server in sight.
• I turned a questioning look towards Azrael. "Why is it so empty here?" I asked, unable to mask the skepticism in my tone.
• He met my gaze evenly, and I could have sworn I detected the faintest uptick of his full lips into a knowing smile. "I don't like interruptions, my little mate," he replied in a low, gravelly timbre.
• I felt my cheeks flush at his brazen endearment. "I don't like being called 'little mate'," I retorted, struggling to maintain a mask of indifference. "I'm 25 years old, okay?"
• Azrael chuckled, the deep rumble of amusement seeming to reverberate straight through my very bones. "My apologies. You're correct - you're hardly 'little' at all." His scorching amber eyes purposely raked over the curves of my body in an bold, unabashed perusal. "A beautifully mature woman in the prime of her life."
• I shifted uncomfortably under his hungry regard, a shiver of something dangerously close to arousal licking down my spine. Get a grip, Raven! This was exactly the kind of alpha manipulation tactics I needed to resist.
• "Is that why you've arranged this...private reception?" I asked, arching a single challenging brow as I smoothed my hands over the skirt of my simple white dress. "Hoping to ply me with a lavish romantic setting as some sort of pre-bonding ritual?"
• A low, feral sound rumbled up from Azrael's broad chest - not quite a growl, but unmistakably threatening all the same. In the blink of an eye, he closed the scant distance between us, his sizeable frame practically looming over me.
• "Do not delude yourself into believing you understand the reasons behind my actions, little mate," he warned in a lethal tone that brooked no argument. "This evening's festivities are merely an inconsequential prelude to something far more...profound between us. Something your feeble human mind cannot begin to comprehend."
• My breath stalled in my lungs at the blatant menace underlying his words. And worse - at the dizzying reaction coiling deep within me like a snake preparing to strike. Some primal, visceral part of me practically thrumming with perverse excitement at being so openly commanded by my undisputed alpha superior.
• No...I wouldn't surrender to such repressed, carnal urges. Swallowing hard, I met Azrael's domineering stare with a look of haughty defiance. "We'll see about that, Your Grace," I stated in a tone of mocking sarcasm. "Now, shall we sit? I have a busy evening of rejecting your insufferable arrogance ahead of me."
• I sank into the plush chair across from Azrael, immediately fidgeting with my phone as a distraction from...well, everything. The goddess knew I was trying so hard not to be affected by his consuming presence - those blazing amber eyes that seemed to brand me with their mere gaze, the overwhelming aura of raw alpha dominance rolling off him in intoxicating waves.
• "I wasn't sure what you like, so I thought maybe we could just make do with normal English food for tonight," Azrael said suddenly, his deep timbre slicing through the tense silence.
• I glanced up sharply, my brow furrowing. "What do you want from me?" I blurted out, unable to mask the exasperation in my tone. "Couldn't you have just rejected me earlier instead of dragging this out?"
• A dangerous glint flickered in Azrael's eyes at my brusque words. "Reject you?" He leaned forward, bracing his muscular forearms on the table as he pierced me with an intense stare. "Why would I do that, when you are the mate the Moon Goddess has bestowed upon me after years of searching?"
• I swallowed hard, an icy trickle of trepidation skittering down my spine despite my arrogant front. "You know I'm not what you want," I countered, proud of myself for keeping my voice even and firm. "I'm a half-breed without a wolf form. Just a weak omega...well, half-omega."
• Azrael's full lips curved in a slow, predatory smirk that made him appear almost feral. "I don't care about such arbitrary limitations," he stated with an unsettling air of finality.
• Rallying my nerves, I shook my head vehemently. "No, this can't happen between us. I just want to live a normal human life, okay?"
• "A human life?" Azrael echoed with a derisive snort. "But you are a half-breed, little mate. The ancient laws clearly state you belong with a pack under the governance of a ruling alpha." His penetrating stare seemed to pierce straight through me. "Which is precisely what I will give you once our bond is sealed."
• Panic fluttered in my chest at his declarative words and the weighty implications they carried. He truly didn't comprehend how adamant I was in refusing this mating. "I don't care about your wolf laws," I shot back, fighting to keep my voice steady despite the tremor working its way through me. "My father was human, so I'll live my life the way he did before meeting my mother."
• A muscle ticked along Azrael's clenched jaw as he absorbed my words. When he spoke again, his tone was silk-layered menace dripping with Alpha dominance. "Ah...so your mother was the one with lycanthropic blood then?"
• My mouth went dry, and I found myself unconsciously leaning away from him, away from the predatory intensity radiating from his hulking frame. There was such calculating purpose in his expression now, as if he had unlocked a crucial piece to the puzzle in unraveling my identity.
• "I...yes, my mother was a werewolf," I confirmed in a small voice, silently cursing myself for the admission.
• Azrael held my gaze in a searing look of quiet triumph, his powerful presence seeming to expand and consume the very space around us. "I see..." he murmured in a tone of dark satisfaction.
• Right then, I knew with crushing certainty - he would never willingly let me go now. The hunt was well underway, and I was nothing but a hapless, inferior little rabbit to be methodically run to ground. A hapless prey to be cornered, captured...and claimed by the relentless Alpha King no matter how hard I tried to flee.
• All that was left was to see if I had the inner fortitude to outwit and elude my inexorable fate as his chosen mate. Somehow, I had to try.