Nicholas’s POV

I dragged her forcefully out of the scalding shower.

I grabbed the thickest, softest white towel off the heated rack. I wrapped it completely around her shivering, battered body. I ignored my own soaking wet sweatpants. I sat heavily on the cold marble floor. I pulled her forcefully into my lap.

She didn’t fight me this time. She was completely drained. The hysterical panic from earlier had entirely burned out. She just collapsed weakly against my massive chest like a broken ragdoll.

She was crying. Hot, thick tears soaked rapidly into my dark fabric. Her tiny shoulders heaved with violent, ragged gasps. Every single sob physically struck my chest like a heavy sledgehammer.

I wrapped my thick, heavily scarred arms entirely around her fragile frame. I completely caged her in. I buried my face deep into her damp, dark hair.

I inhaled deeply.

I inhaled so deeply my massive lungs physically ached. Vanilla. Rich, sweet vanilla violently mixed with the dark, heavy scent of my own arousal and her salt tears. It was the absolute most intoxicating, devastating smell in the entire world.

*Mate.*

My inner wolf purred loudly in my mind. He was completely satisfied. We had claimed her. We were holding her. She was finally sitting right in our arms where she belonged.

I nuzzled my nose roughly against the crook of her delicate neck. I scraped my dark stubble lightly over her frantic pulse point. I greedily drank in her scent. I couldn’t get enough of it. I was absolutely, hopelessly addicted to her.

I squeezed her waist tighter. I wanted to completely absorb her into my skin. I wanted to crack my ribs open and hide her directly inside my chest cavity. Then no one would ever look at her. No human bastard could ever text her again. She would be completely, entirely mine.

But she was shaking.

She was vibrating uncontrollably like a terrified prey animal trapped in a deadly, inescapable cage.

"Irina," I growled softly. My voice was a deep, rough rumble that violently vibrated against her wet cheek.

She flinched violently. She squeezed her large, tear-filled eyes tightly shut.

"Look at me," I commanded. It wasn’t a soft request. It was an absolute, unbreakable Alpha order.

She slowly, painfully lifted her head. Her pale face was completely devastated. Her beautiful blue eyes were totally bloodshot and swollen from crying.

I reached one massive, calloused hand up. I gently wiped a hot, fresh tear off her cheek with my rough thumb.

"Come back to the pack with me," I said.

The words hung heavily in the thick, humid air of the bathroom. I didn’t yell. I didn’t threaten her. I just stated the absolute reality. I was the Alpha King. I was offering her the highest position in the entire werewolf underworld. I was offering her mercy.

"Bring Luka. Come home," I stared intensely into her broken eyes. "Let us start over."

She stared at me in absolute, utter shock. Her wet eyelashes fluttered rapidly.

"Start over?" she choked out. Her voice was incredibly raw and totally broken.

"Yes," I stated firmly. "You are my fated mate. I marked you. You belong exactly by my side. Not in some pathetic, defenseless human town. Not hiding in a moldy apartment with cheap plastic toys."

I gripped her delicate chin. "We go back to the estate. We rule as a family."

Irina violently shook her head.

She ripped her chin aggressively out of my massive grip. She pressed both of her small, trembling hands fiercely against my rock-hard chest. She pushed hard, desperately trying to put physical distance between us. It was absolutely useless.

"No," she sobbed hysterically. "No, Nicholas. I won’t do it."

My golden eyes instantly flared. A dark, dangerous spike of pure anger violently pierced my chest. "You are my mate. You have absolutely no choice."

"I am not your prisoner!" she screamed.

Her voice violently echoed off the hard marble walls. She hit my solid chest with her tiny fists. It didn’t hurt me physically. It didn’t even leave a scratch on my hardened muscles. But her desperate rejection entirely infuriated my inner beast.

"I don’t want to be locked in a gilded cage!" she cried. Hot tears poured rapidly down her red cheeks. "I don’t want to be surrounded by your heavily armed mafia guards. I don’t want to flinch in terror every single time a door opens. I want my own life!"

I grabbed her tiny, fragile wrists. I pinned them effortlessly against my chest with just one hand.

"Your life is with me," I snarled darkly, my voice dropping to a lethal threat.

"I want a normal life!" she sobbed violently, struggling pointlessly against my iron grip. "I want to walk down the street without snipers watching me. I want to buy my own groceries. I want to live in the human world where monsters like you don’t exist!"

The word "monsters" hit me incredibly hard.

My jaw clenched violently. My teeth ground together so hard they nearly cracked. I was a monster. I was the Mad King. I slaughtered men with my bare hands and completely enjoyed it. But she was my mate. I would burn the entire human world to absolute ashes before I let her live in it without me.

I leaned entirely into her space. I completely caged her against my massive body, trapping her with my suffocating heat.

"The human world," I sneered viciously. My hot, minty breath brutally brushed her trembling lips. "You really think you can just hide in the human world?"

She stared at me, completely terrified by the sudden, lethal drop in my voice.

"What about Luka?" I demanded harshly.

Irina violently froze. Her ragged breathing completely stopped in her tight throat.

"You want to raise him as a human?" I let out a dark, mocking laugh. It was a cold, incredibly cruel sound. "He is not a human, Irina. He is a werewolf. He is a predator."

"He is just a baby," she whispered desperately, her eyes wide with fresh panic.

"He is my son!" I roared loudly. The deafening, feral sound violently shook the heavy glass shower doors.

Irina violently flinched. She shrank entirely down into the thick white towel, terrified of my overwhelming Alpha aura.

"He has the thick, violent blood of the Alpha King rushing through his veins," I growled, my glowing golden eyes completely burning into hers. "He is pure, concentrated dominance. Right now, he is a small, sleeping baby. But what happens in a few years?"

I released her tiny wrists. I grabbed her fragile shoulders instead. My large fingers dug completely into her soft skin. I forced her to look entirely into my dark, ruthless eyes.

"What happens when he gets angry at a human school?" I pushed fiercely. "What happens when a fragile human child tries to take his toy? He won’t just cry. He will completely shatter their pathetic bones. He will tear them apart."

Irina violently gasped. She shook her head frantically back and forth. "No. I will teach him. I will protect him—"

"You can’t teach away his nature!" I snapped ruthlessly, completely cutting off her pathetic human delusions. "He is an apex predator. As he grows, his inner wolf will violently wake up. He will become incredibly aggressive. He will become violently territorial. He won’t fit into your pathetic human world at all."

I leaned even closer. I made absolutely sure every single word completely pierced her stubborn mind like a sharp knife.

"Do you really want to see that?" I whispered darkly. "Do you want to watch him completely destroy everything around him? Do you want to watch him accidentally kill a human?"

"Stop," she sobbed miserably, burying her pale face entirely in her trembling hands.

"What happens when he shifts into a wolf for the first time?" I relentlessly continued, battering down her final walls. "He will completely tear your tiny human apartment to shreds. The humans will panic. They will call the heavily armed police. They will shoot him. They will lock my son in a government lab and dissect him like a feral dog."

"I said stop!" she shrieked hysterically, her entire body shaking violently.

"I can teach him," I stated firmly. My voice dropped into absolute, unbreakable authority. "I can teach him exactly how to control the beast. I can teach him how to be a King. He needs the pack. He needs my power. He needs me."

I grabbed her wet hands. I gently but firmly pulled them completely away from her tear-soaked face.

"You know I am completely right," I stated darkly. "You cannot raise the Alpha heir in a human town. You will completely destroy him. You will sentence him to death."

Irina stared blankly at me.

The fight completely drained out of her fragile body. I watched the violent, desperate resistance in her beautiful blue eyes totally shatter. It broke forcefully into a million tiny, completely unfixable pieces.

She knew I was absolutely right. She was terrified of me. She hated my cage. But she loved our son more than anything in the entire world. She would walk straight back into actual hell if it meant keeping Luka completely safe.

And I was her hell.

Her slender shoulders slumped entirely in absolute defeat. The heavy white towel slipped slightly, exposing her deeply bruised, marked collarbone. My permanent mark.

She looked completely exhausted. She looked entirely dead inside. A walking ghost trapped in my arms.

She didn’t push my massive chest away anymore. She didn’t scream. She didn’t cry.

She just lowered her heavy head. She stared completely blankly at my scarred collarbone. The vibrant spark in her soul completely extinguished under the crushing weight of my brutal reality.

"Okay," she whispered weakly. Her voice was incredibly hollow. It was completely devoid of any life, any hope, or any joy.

She took a slow, agonizing breath that violently rattled in her chest.

"I am willing to go back with you."