“I’ll never be your wife. I’ll never be your submissive. Go find a doormat if that’s what you want.”

His eyes glowed with a hint of anger and then his lips were at her ear. “I want you, Willow, and I’ll never want another. You are my mate, and you will be my wife. And most of all, you will submit to me.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to rebut him; to tell him he was out of his mind, but his teeth sank into the muscle at her neck and shoulder. Her head fell back as muscles warmed and pleasure filled her like liquid heat.

Marking, he was marking her. And she was letting him.

When he pulled away, she found she had trouble opening her eyes. Her body was too relaxed, complacent.

“Now everyone will see that you’re mine when we arrive.” His eyes glowed with hunger and pride.

Willow’s eyes widened, and she jerked away from him. He was wrong about that. She’d make sure of it. She put her back to him and stared out at the dark night sky.

She resisted as long as she could before her fingers gently touched the bite mark on her neck. She felt the wetness from where he licked her and the heat of his lips still lingering. She stifled a shivered and pulled the tie out of her hair so she could spread it all across that side of her neck.

She heard him chuckling softly but ignored it. She had this one long plane ride to plan, because once they landed it was on. The Alpha thought he’d caught her, but he’d really only given her a lift to where she needed to go. She couldn’t fuck this up.

Peering over her shoulder, she saw his eyes closed, chin tucked down as he dozed. Lyonis was handsome when he slept, but then again, anything was better than the shit he spewed once his mouth opened. For a moment, just a moment, she let her mind wonder and think, what would it be like to be this man’s wife.

He’d be sweet and generous that she knew already. He’d been kind to her from the beginning. How far would it go before she was forced to kneel at his feet and eat out of his bare hand? He was incredibly forceful and cocky too; that was always bad.

His eyes popped open and a grin spread across his face. “Staring, wife?”

She glared back. “Fuck no. Just thinking.” She turned away, a throbbing pain instantly flaring up in her temples. Great. Just what she needed, a headache.

“It’s all right to look at your future mate and husband, Willow. You’ll be doing more than that soon enough.” She heard the laughter in his voice and she just couldn’t take it anymore. Spinning around in her seat, Willow slapped him clear across the cheek.

For a split second afterwards, she froze in fear. But then he dissolved into belly shaking laughter that left her glaring at him.

“I look forward to our years together, Willow. You will be a lot of fun.”

Willow bit down on her lip to keep from saying she wasn’t a toy, that they wouldn’t be having years together, because his hand snaked around her neck and pulled her close. His mouth came down firm and devastating, exciting all the cells in her bloody to a happy boil. When he pulled back, his tongue lingered in her mouth.

“Much fun, Willow.”

With that, Willow was left to her thoughts and her fiery blood.

Willow had never been so nervous in her life.

The flight was long and tiring and she’d ignored all of Lyonis’ attempts at conversation after that brief kiss. Her plan A had been to flee at the airport and grab a taxi outside but he watched her like a hawk, dragging her through the airport. She had a feeling if he could have gotten away with handcuffing her to him, he would have.

Now she was in sitting in the back of an SUV with him and two guards in the front seat. They were already on his land. It didn’t take long to get here. Her gut was tight with worry; she couldn’t fight the grimace on her face. Was this what Chloe felt like when she had one of her “gut feelings?” Because it was hell.

They drove up a long, winding dirt path. On either side of the road was a dense thicket of trees. A shapeshifter’s heaven, she supposed. And her hell.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that his pack was located in Oklahoma, on who knew how many acres of land, now she was going to be introduced to his pack. A sudden grin broke out on her face. How was he going to explain this? How would they react when they saw that she didn’t want him or to be here. If she were lucky maybe someone would help her escape.

They broke through the trees and pulled into...

“You have your own town?” she sputtered. Lyonis turned to her with a smile.

“A small one yes, but it serves our needs. We didn’t always have one but after some hostility with the local humans, we decided it’d be best to start a few of our own businesses. We simply built around it.”

Willow shook her head in amazement. “A bar, restaurants, clothing stores, craft stores.”

“Of course people go into Muskogee if they need anything or want to get out just like anyone does. This is just convenient for us and has helped us to earn revenue to keep repairs up on the houses.”

“The houses...”

“Yeah, see over there,” he said, pointing out to the left. “Our community lives there. Most packs keep a community so we can live together.”

Willow could only nod slowly as she took in the subdivision-style homes. The houses were all different. Some were suburban looking, others were ranch styles, and a few were cabins. Each of them had a gracious amount of yard with plenty of distance between them to be both private and not too far away.

Willow had never been to a pack before. She had no idea their community was so...homey. There was one other thing she noticed as she took everything in.

“Where is everyone?”

The town was dead. A few cars were parked in front of the shops and homes but there were no children out playing, no one walking, not even the sound of a dog barking. So much for a normal community.

“Waiting for us.”

“Say what?” Willow spun to face him. A frown marred his mouth.

“The pack is expecting us. They’ll be ready to greet their new queen.” Willow glared at him.

“I am not their queen.”

“Yet,” he added with a smile. Willow didn’t argue with him because her gut twisted with nerves.

They pulled in front of a large white building with double-sided front doors. Dozens of cars were parked out front. Hell they were all probably waiting for them inside. One happy celebration.

They came to a stop and the guards got out, leaving her alone with Lyonis. He turned to her and she saw happiness in his eyes. He was happy to be back home. Hell, he was happy to be introducing her. A small part of her wished she was happy too, but she didn’t know this man or anything about him other than on a physical level. He was trying to strap her to him like a ball and chain.

“Nervous?” he asked.

“Like I’m about to go give a speech in front of the whole world.” He chuckled and grabbed her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. The touch made her swallow hard before she tugged her hand back.

“You don’t have to be nervous. They are excited to meet you.”

“Yeah, I bet.” She wished she hadn’t pulled her hand away now because that one touch made her feel a little bit safer. “Let’s just get this over with.”

They got out of the SUV and walked to the tall, ominous doors. Willow closed her eyes. What’s the big deal? It wasn’t like she was going to stay here.

She had no chance to prepare herself or even take a deep breath because Lyonis swung open the doors and dragged her inside to a quiet, staring audience. Dozens of scrutinizing gazes landed directly on her.

Willow lifted her chin and stared back. Dammit, if she could summon a demon, she could stand in front of a bunch of strangers.

Lyonis threw open his arms to encompass the crowd and announced, “I’m home!”