ROTTEN LOVE

UNIDENTIFIED| 9

Marisa intervenes, "She is not your mate and we have established no one has fucked her. Not my brother nor you."

Gosh. I sound like a tramp.

Zain responds, "No I did not have her. Well, not in the way it counts but she is marked, making her my wife."

Marisa is about to protest when I slump my head on the table. This is a nightmare. I needed things to work out but not like this. He technically does not have to bargain with us if he already has me, if I can't threaten to leave at any given time.

I rub my temples and feel a hand on my shoulder. Marisa lowly calls my name.

I snap my attention back to Zain with a newfound furry, "How dare you. You had no right."

I snap up on my feet. Maddox gets to my side. He grabs my face.

He pleas, "Tell me it's not true. You wouldn't let him mark you. You wouldn't let someone else bite you."

I feel my eyes water. I can't look at him. Instead, I feel his fingers pull my hair back, revealing Zain's mark. I can feel him stiffen at the confirmation.

I look at him, "I had no idea. I did not realize."

Zains growls and gets up. He walks to us, but Marisa gets in his way.

"You can't have her. You have to get through me first, wolf," she snarls.

Maddox grabs my wrist and shoves me behind him. He stands guard. Like he always does. Like he did when we were kids.

I ruined everything. I doomed us all. All because I couldn't face my feelings for Maddox, and I tried to make him mad.

Maddox threats Zain, "I dare you."

My brother moves to my side and we all stare Zain down. Zain is fuming.

"I would suggest removing your hands from her, Maddox. It's done. She chose her fate. She agreed to the deal. She approached me last night. She made her move first. Now, she must deal with it," Zain yells.

"I didn't give you permission to bite me, dog," I bark.

"I liked it better when you called me alpha, baby," he sinisterly smirks at me, "you had no issues with me claiming you last night. I sucked and probed the area for a long time. There was no protest from you. You liked it and when I marked you, you did not even notice. You were squirming for my touch, clouded with lust."

He's right. His lips on my neck were very distracting. I never even suspected it.

"You're full of yourself," I yell back.

Zain takes a big breath in, "Look, you are mine. End of discussion. There is nothing else to be said. But I am a man of my word and like you reminded me last night, I need this alliance for my people. We will complete the process, announce the marriage, and move on. The Malfattos will still be welcome here. It was going to happen, we simply sped up the process."

"Complete the process," I ask.

Zain looks at me with his infuriating stunning blue eyes and grins.

"Don't worry about that part. I'll do all the work."

My feet curl in the inside of my shoes. I have a feeling I know what he means. He is delusional if he thinks I'll allow anything remotely like last night to occur again.

"Keep dreaming," I retort.

"It's either that or you can try to leave. There is no alliance with the Malffatos. My pack will have to get rid of your friends, but YOU will stay at my side," he says.