The Snow Wolf's Mate

Claim Me or Kill Me:

[POV: Hayden]

I loathed jealousy. Loathed the way it made my hands tremble.

The way it made me picture that man’s hands where mine should’ve been. On her waist. On her throat. On her hips. Touching her the way I imagined touching her almost every damn night since I first tasted her scent.

Sirius raged just beneath the surface, snarling in a loop that only added fuel to my already unstable thoughts.

“She’s ours. Ours. He touched what’s ours.”

My body moved before I could think. I reached out and grabbed Aria by the chin, forcing her teary, stunned gaze back to mine.

“Stop crying,” I said sharply, voice thick with restrained fury. “I believe you.”

She blinked, breath still trembling, and I hated the way the tears clung to her lashes. It made her look too breakable—too unlike the girl who had stood her ground before me from time to time.

Who had snapped at me in training and left a scar on my arm that reminds me about her bite during that sparring. Who landed a kick to my jaw and barked back with fire in her eyes.

That was the Aria I knew. The one I couldn’t stop wanting.

This trembling thing in front of me… this didn’t fit.

“You’re a warrior of this pack,” I said, my voice still gruff but lower now. “You’re the same girl who stood in the center of that arena and didn’t flinch. So what is this?”

She inhaled shakily. “I’m sorry. I—” She swallowed hard, and I felt the motion under my fingers. “I didn’t mean to disappoint you. I just… didn’t know how else to explain it. But I would never betray Crimson Fang. I feel that I belong here now.”

Belong.

The word tasted dangerous on my tongue.

I leaned in, pressing my body closer until I felt every inch of her—her heartbeat fluttering against my chest, her warmth sinking into me like a brand. My grip on her chin tightened slightly, my thumb brushing her jaw.

“Do you?” I murmured. “Belong here?”

She nodded carefully, still watching me with those wide, uncertain eyes.

“Then that means…” I tilted my head, letting my lips hover dangerously close to hers, “you belong to me, doesn’t it?”

Her eyes widened further. Her lips parted in a soft, surprised breath—but I didn’t let her answer.

I pressed her back more firmly against the tree, closing the distance between us. My free hand slid down to her waist, fingers curling possessively at her hip, holding her still.

“Or do you still think you belong to him?” I asked, my voice lower now, rough with jealousy. “The man who ran like a coward? Who left you here to deal with the fallout?”

Her brows twitched, her lips parted—but again, I didn’t let her speak. My thumb moved, trailing softly over her bottom lip.

“Did he kiss you?” I whispered.

She flushed—deep, scarlet blooming across her cheeks and down her throat.

That answer was enough.

I leaned closer, letting my lips brush just above her skin, my hand sliding more firmly over her hips.

“Did he touch you?” I asked, my voice now nothing more than a growl against her jaw. “Did you sleep with him?”

She was trembling now—not with fear, not entirely—but with tension, heat, something raw. Her breath hitched.

But she didn’t say anything. And that silence… It was driving me mad.