Eden Grace
Husband.
Eden's heartbeat stuttered at the word, at the possessive tilt of his voice.
Heat rushed to her face before she could stop it. "You…you did not even talk about staying together. You just decided everything by yourself."
Cassian smiled slowly. "I am your husband. That gives me certain privileges."
Eden sneered at him, going red, "Stop using that word like it is a weapon."
Cassian leaned closer, voice teasing. "Then stop running away like you are not mine."
"I am not yours," she shot back, though her voice wavered.
Cassian smirked, "Say that again when your heart stops racing."
Eden crossed her arms tightly, trying to hide her embarrassment. "That is because your men dragged me here without warning, not because of you."
Cassian only smiled at her denial. "Yeah, okay," he said lazily.
Before she could react, his arm slid around her waist, pulling her close.
Eden stiffened. "H-Hey! What are you doing?"
"What else?" Cassian looked at her amused, "We are going to celebrate. Like a newlywed couple should."
What?
Eden tried to remove his bruising grip. "Are you mad? I am not celebrating anything with you. We are not like a real couple. Also I'm not staying on the same roof as you."
Staying with Cassian felt like stepping into a devil's den for Eden and the threat he gave in the marriage office was enough bone chilling. He could keep an eye on her 24/7 here!
No! Not happening!
She turned and started toward the door but then voice dropped, dark and commanding, stripping away her sanity.
"Sit. Down."
Her body froze before her mind could react. A sudden, invisible pressure wrapped around her, heavy and suffocating, pinning her in place.
W-What's happening!?
She had never felt this before, never surrendered like this and yet now every muscle in her body obeyed him, every thought tangled in the suffocating pressure of his dominance.
It was the Alpha's aura. Her Alpha's.
It moved through the air like an invisible force, heavy and commanding, pressing down on every instinct inside her body.
"Did I tell you to walk away, dear wife?" His voice was dark and brooding with rancour.
Eden's knees buckled before she could stop herself and she sank onto the floor as his aura wrapped tighter around her, stealing the strength from her limbs.
As his mate and an official member of Blackthorn, she was bound to him in ways she could not escape. Her heart, her blood, her wolf all recognized him as her Alpha.
Cassian took a slow step toward her, his eyes dark and unreadable as he looked down at her trembling form.
"Defying me on day 1 already. You seem to get away with things too easily. Running. Disappearing. Opposing me as if I would simply let it go." He crouched down, his eyes burning into hers, dark and possessive. "But did you forget where you are, dear wife?"
"You are in my territory. Under my rule. Under my protection. Just because I let you loose for a while, you think you can walk all over me now..?" he said quietly. "You test my patience. You challenge me. You act as if I have no control over you."
His voice dropped lower, rough with restrained emotion. "And I hate that the most about you, always had. No one has ever dared to stand on my head like this and survive. So don't take advantage of my softness, wife."
This deranged psycho. Eden tried to speak, but only a broken sound escaped her lips. "L-Let go…" she whispered, her chest tightening as the pressure crushed down on her, stealing her breath away.
"You're hurting me..!"
Cassian watched her for a long moment and then slowly, he withdrew his dominating aura. The invisible weight vanished at once.
Eden gasped and coughed, clutching her chest as air rushed back into her lungs, her body sagging with sudden relief.
Cassian turned and walked away casually, "Follow me."
Eden looked at him holding her chest. This ruthless, merciless Cassian before her was the same man he had always been. Cold. Dangerous. Unforgivingly terrifying.
He had waited patiently, cunningly. He had let her believe she had a choice, let her sign first, let her walk into the bond on her own feet. Only after she became officially his, only after the law and fate tied her to him, did he finally show his claws.
This was Cassian Blackthorn. A predator who smiled first. And dominated later.
Cassian was already seated when she entered the hall, leaning back in a high backed chair like a king on his throne.
"Sit," he ordered.
Eden hesitated for half a second before her body betrayed her again, moving on its own as she lowered herself onto the chair across from him, her jaw tightening in silent protest.
"You will stay here, right under my roof. Understood?" he said quietly. "And while you are in my territory, you will not defy me. You will not insult me. You will not test my authority. I have respect here. Power and control. And you will uphold it. You will obey it."
He leaned back in his chair, eyes dark.
"If you don't…I will give you a punishment meant only for you. One you will never forget."
Eden's breath caught. Cassian went on as if listing rules to a soldier.
"Next, you will inform me wherever you go. Whatever you do. Whoever you meet. I will know everything."
"What?" Eden burst out. "Are you serious right now?"
She stood up abruptly, her hands trembling.
"Why should I report my every breath to you? I am not your servant. I am not your prisoner."
"Of course…you are not a servant," he continued, voice low. "And you are not a prisoner. Prisoners get chains. Servants get orders."
Cassian's gaze darkened, his jaw tightening as he took a slow step toward her. "You are my Luna. The Alpha's Luna. Which means every eye in this territory will be on you. Allies. Enemies. Traitors."
He stopped in front of her, towering over her.
"And because of that, you stay under my surveillance. Not to cage you. To keep you alive."
Eden let out a cold, mocking laugh. The audacity of him. "Protect me? After nearly suffocating me? If this is 'keeping me alive' then I would hate to see how you kill."
Cassian's eyes twitched but Eden lifted her chin stubbornly. "I will not live like a shadow that reports to you. I can agree to respect you, honor you as the Alpha, obey the pack rules strictly. I will stand beside you and never shame your name. But I will not ask permission to breathe, to walk, to exist in this world. I will not shrink myself to fit inside your fear. I am not your possession. And I never will be."
Cassian's jaw tightened, a dangerous flicker crossing his eyes. "You…"
"Go ahead." Eden snapped, "Suppress me. Bend me. Break me if you think you can and see what happens next."
Her tone turned cold and lethal. "Do not forget you need my blood, Cassian. You need me standing. You need me alive and willing."
She glared at him, "Touch my will and I will destroy everything you are building and mine too. I will make sure neither of us gets anything."
Silence followed.
Not the calm kind.
The kind that crackled with tension, with power colliding against power, with two storms locked in each other's path.
"I hope you have not forgotten the actual reason why we made the deal," she said coldly, "Do not get lost in doll play, Cassian. I'm only here in business. I hope you complete all the requirements. I would like to work on it as soon as possible."
With that she turned without waiting for his reply and walked away, leaving silence and fire behind her.
'That feisty woman,' Rael mused, almost laughing. 'Look at that audacity….standing in front of an Alpha like that and daring him to break her. I like her! She's definitely fit to be my mate!'
A slow, dangerous smirk curved Cassian's lips. He signaled his men to take action.
Eden barely took three steps before her phone vibrated in her hand.
The number on the screen made her throat tighten. One billion dollars had dropped onto her account!
Wait…what!?