Under His Mark, I Fell Apart

POV of Rachel

"Rachel, are you excited to be in the meeting room?"

The question hung in the air as Keanu's voice dropped to that dangerous rumble that always made my pulse quicken. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, the Silverfang Pack territory stretched out beneath the afternoon sun—my new home for the past two years. I should have been reviewing quarterly financial reports, but my mate had other plans.

His hand caught my wrist, spinning me away from the mahogany conference table. My back hit the cold marble wall with enough force to knock the breath from my lungs.

Inside my mind, Aria—my inner wolf—snarled a warning. Danger. This is wrong.

But the mate bond pulsed between us like a living thing, drowning out her protests.

"Keanu, not here," I managed, pressing my palms against the solid wall of his chest. My fingers caught in the expensive fabric of his suit. "The pack elders could walk in. Your Beta—"

"Let them." His mouth curved into that predatory smile that had first captivated me two years ago when he'd saved me from rogues at the border. Now that same smile made something twist uncomfortably in my gut. "You're my Luna, Rachel. I take what's mine. When I want it."

The words should have sounded romantic—possessive in that Alpha way that made she-wolves swoon. Instead, they felt like a claim of ownership.

His wolf Fenrir rose to the surface, eyes flashing gold. The Alpha dominance rolled off him in waves, pressing down on Aria until she whimpered and retreated to the back of my consciousness.

"Tell me," he murmured against the shell of my ear, his breath hot on my skin. One hand slid up my thigh, bunching the fabric of my skirt. "Doesn't the risk make it better? Knowing anyone could walk through that door?"

Before I could answer, he lifted me effortlessly—an unnecessary display of Alpha strength—and deposited me on the polished conference table. Financial reports scattered beneath me. The cold wood bit through the thin fabric of my clothes, making me gasp.

My legs instinctively pressed together, but his hands were already there, spreading them apart with an ease that spoke of practice. Of ownership.

"He's humiliating us!" Aria suddenly roared back to consciousness, fighting against Fenrir's suppression. "This isn't love! This isn't how true mates behave! Rachel, LOOK at him!"

I tried. I really tried. But the mate bond was a drug in my veins, his scent—cedar and winter frost—overriding every instinct of self-preservation.

That's when I saw the phone in his hand.

The camera lens pointed directly at me.

"What are you—" My voice cracked. "Keanu, please. Not again."

"Relax," he said, but there was something cold in his eyes now. Something that had been appearing more and more frequently lately. "You look beautiful like this. Spread out for me. Desperate."

"The mate bond is FAKE!" Aria was screaming now. "I can't sense his wolf properly! Something is wrong! Rachel, he's using us!"

"But the bond..." I thought