The Alpha King Is My Second Chance Mate
CHAPTER 16— WANT TO CLAIM୧⁠|⁠ ͡⁠ᵔ⁠ ⁠﹏⁠ ͡⁠ᵔ⁠ ⁠|⁠୨

Now that only the two of them stood on the paved path, a certain nervousness took ahold of Quinn.She pulled her hand out of his, her eyes shifting away from his intense gaze. “So, uh...I'll just takeyou to the pack house first...I'm certain that's where you'll be staying during your time here.”

“Okay, lead the way.”

Quinn walked in front, forcing confidence in each of her steps until they made it to the marketplace."Our pack is small, but we grow our own food and sell it both to the people of our pack and others.We also trade food for weapons, it is an attribute of ours, we use it to coax other packs into trustingand forming an alliance with us. Thus, this is our marketplace and the people here are mostlyfarmers.”

“Nice and creative...we don't really plant on our land, like most packs, we buy food in bulk anddistribute it.”

“That works too, but since our pack is small and a little low in the rankings, we need a selling point.”“Well, that makes sense.”

As they walked past the stalls splayed out along the sidewalk, the people bowed to them, someeven offering Quinn various fruits, which she respectfully declined. She had enough at home.

The next stop was the place of interest, the pack house. The massive building was painted in purewhite, and it stood tall in the center of the land. “This is our pack house. Mostly teenagers who haveyet to replace their mates live here. In our pack, it's tradition for the dominant wolf to build a house fortheir mate as soon as they replace them.”

“You think so?” He chuckled, the sound as dark as the night. “You don't get to tell me what concernsme and what doesn’t, Quinn. Everything about you concerns me. Quit trying to push me away,you're mine now, not his...at least acknowledge that fact.”

“What are you saying? I'm not~"

A low growl rumbled through his chest as he twisted her towards him. “Finish that statement if youdare.”

Quinn's lips wobbled at the anger in his voice and the dark abyss behind his eyes. He moved closertowards her, forcing her to retreat until her back was against the rough bark of a tree. He caged heragainst it, hauling submission out of her with nothing but his intense gaze. “I don't think youunderstand this, Quinn. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, you are still my materegardless, and you're always going to be. So if I were you, I'd get used to me being around.”“Mate...? What do you mean?”

"Stop pretending to not know...you've been doing that since the very night we met while I had to beforcing my wolf under control and trying hard to not claim you since you obviously weren't ready. Iwas alright with that, but pretending that a bond doesn't exist between us is as far as my tolerancegoes.”

“I don’t understand...” Quinn's eyes were wide with confusion now. What was he talking about? Hermate? He was her mate? How and since when? “What bond? I will be honest, I do feel attracted toyou, but my wolf has never acknowledged you as our mate. I don't know what you're talking about.”"Are you lying to me, Quinn?” The tone of his voice made it impossible for her to lie, did he notknow that?

Quinn shook her head. “I'm not. I swear I'm not.”

A sigh left his lips as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Alright, I'm not sure what's going onwith you since it's almost impossible for a wolf to not be able to scent out their mate, but I'm goingto believe you, which means that I also forgive you. But since you know now...you have no excuse. Irefuse to have you continuously running away from me when I've been waiting my whole life foryou. You're mine, Quinn...or perhaps my words alone won't assure you of that. Should I start movinga little faster? Fast enough to leave my mark on your neck?”

He pushed himself closer to her, and a shiver wracked through Quinn as his hand reached for herface, holding it still as he leaned down to kiss her.

His lips, they were as soft as the first time he kissed her five nights ago...but now the kiss wasrougher, carved out of dominance and possessiveness. His free hand reached around her waist,pulling her body flush against him so his warmth and the sparks could flow freely from him to her.When he pulled back, Quinn was panting...her legs feeling weak beneath her. “A-Alpha Zayd...?"

"Or perhaps that's taking it too far...must I show you who you belong to by different means...? Afterall, there are many ways to leave my mark on you without actually leaving it, right Quinn?”dead