<h4>Chapter 91: Bossy Much?</h4>


    <strong>REED — POV</strong>


    Her scent was the strongest here.


    I slowed my steps near the edge of the cliff, boots crunching softly over dirt and loose stone. The wind tore through the trees around me, but even the chill couldn’t numb the turmoil burning inside my chest. I knelt, brushing my fingers over the broken earth where her scent ended—sharp, scattered, a desperate pattern that screamed she was running for her life.


    She’d made it this far. Gods. She’d made it almost to the edge.


    But thest traces of her scent didn’t go forward. They didn’t drop over the cliff.


    They vanished.


    Masked.


    Hidden beneath a scentless void that could only mean one thing.


    ze.


    That bastard got to her first.


    I closed my eyes, jaw clenching so tightly it ached. A thousand emotions tangled inside me like barbed wire—relief, rage, guilt, envy. I was <i>d</i> she was safe. Of course I was. But it <i>should have been me.</i>


    I should’vee for her the second the hunt started. I should’ve ignored the ceremony, ignored my father, ignored every whispered expectation about legacy and throne and Luna queens. I should’ve run straight into the forest and torn down anything that came near her.


    <i>But you didn’t,</i> my wolf snarled inside me, pacing like a storm trapped in a cage. <i>You let her go alone. You let him take her.</i>


    "I had no choice," I muttered under my breath, fists curling into the dirt. "I couldn’t blow our cover. I had to secure protection for her—<i>real</i> protection."


    The wolf didn’t care for reason. It was growling, pacing, angry with me for choosing politics over instinct. But it didn’t understand what I saw from the other side—the whispers of the alphas’ daughters sharpening into daggers, the way their eyes followed me like wolves sizing up prey. They’d seen how I hesitated at the ceremony, how I refused to entertain their advances. They already suspected.


    And if they <i>knew</i>? If they realized that the Alpha King’s heir had a <i>human</i> as a mate?


    She wouldn’t survive the night.


    Not unless I took extreme measures. Not unless I made itw—<i>my</i>w—that no one could touch her.


    iming her publicly was suicide for both of us but mostly hers.


    But iming her as a ve? That, at least, offered her a shield.


    Not from humiliation. Not from pain. But from death.


    She could be tortured, mocked, ostracized—but not <i>killed.</i> And that would buy me time. Time to gain my father’s approval. Time to manipte thews in her favor. Time to make her position <i>unquestionable.</i>


    And yet... even knowing that, the guilt didn’t ease. The shame didn’t lift.


    Because while I’d been calcting how to protect her <i>safely</i>, ze had risked everything and <i>just done it</i>.


    He crossed the border. He defied thew. He didn’t care who saw or what consequences came next. He saved her.


    And part of me—every human part—was grateful.


    But my wolf? My wolf was howling for blood.


    She was <i>mine</i>. Not his.


    I mmed my fist against the ground, a growl rattling my throat. A small rock cracked beneath my knuckles, splitting like bone. My vision blurred as I stood, eyes scanning the expanse of forest stretching out beyond the cliff.


    They were long gone now. ze would cover her scent, mask their tracks, vanish into the shadows like the demon he was. She was probably across the vampire border by now—safe, unreachable... from <i>me</i>.


    And I hated that I had to feel relief and anger in the same breath.


    I turned my head toward the distant howls still echoing through the forest. The others were deep in the hunt now, chasing the remaining humans like game. I’d left them behind, racing ahead on instinct, desperate to reach her before they did.


    I hadn’t been fast enough.


    I let out a breath that felt like smoke, and whispered to the wind, "I’ll fix this. I swear to you. I’ll find a way to make this right."


    <strong>CLARE — POV</strong>


    Just like before, he bent down, slipped his arms under my thighs, and lifted me bridal style like it was nothing. Only this time, he was wrinkling his nose.


    At first, I thought it was because I smelled like... well, a literal hostage who’d been dragged through a dungeon, a hunt, and thirty minutes of pure panic-fueled running. I didn’t exactly expect to be rosy-fresh. But then I realized it wasn’t <i>just</i> me. It was him. <i>The wolf. The stupid wolf who I hope I had bruise from springing little him.</i>


    "I can’t keep carrying you while you smell like a mutt," ze growled, nostrils ring with pure disgust.


    Oh. Oh. That’s what this was.


    Good lord, here I was stressing that I smelled like anxiety, sweat, and maybe a little bit of dungeon mildew—but no. He was furious because I smelled like <i>that</i> wolf. The one who almost— <i>God</i>, no.


    "Well excuse me, your highness," I muttered. "It’s not like I passed a shower on my way out of hell."


    He didn’t even grace my sarcasm with a reply. Just clenched his jaw, eyes glowing faintly, and bolted into the trees—still carrying me like a precious, tainted object.


    Branches whipped past us, wind tearing through my hair. After a few minutes, I began to hear it: the faint rush of water. Soft at first, then louder. <i>Oh no. No, no, no...</i>


    He stopped.


    Before us, a river curved through the forest like a silver ribbon, reflecting the starlight above so perfectly it looked like the sky had fallen and melted into water. It was beautiful. Magical. And also <i>very much cold</i>.


    No. No way. He wasn’t serious.


    Yup. He was.


    He put me down.


    "Go wash off his scent," he snapped, eyes burning. "Now."


    I blinked at him. "You’re joking. Right? That water is freezing. The water is freezing. And there might be, like, slimy slugs in there or... creepy river things. And leeches. And <i>ghost fish</i>. I’m not going in."


    "use." He said my fake name like it was amand, like he was biting it off with his teeth.


    "It’s re," I shot back before I could stop myself.


    "What?"


    "My name. It’s re," I repeated, voice quieter now. I don’t even know why I said it—maybe because I was tired of being someone else, or maybe because it felt important for him to know me. The real me.


    His expression shifted for a moment, flickering like a faulty lightbulb. "Okay, re," he said, trying it out for the first time—and damn it, I <i>felt</i> it. My name had never sounded that good, not even when my mom screamed it down the hallway because I forgot to take out the trash for the hundredth time or when she was yelling it across the kitchen because I’d skipped church or stolen her wine..


    Then he blinked, rage rebooted, and he was back to being Mr. Vampiric Drill Sergeant.


    "Get in. I’m not carrying you around smelling like another man. And he better pray I don’te across him," he snarled, voice dripping with possessive fury.


    "Oh, I can walk just fine, thank you <i>very</i> much," I said with as much elegance as I could muster, which, considering the state of my ankle, meant I limped away like a pissed-off goblin pretending to be a ballerina.


    Unfortunately, ze had zero patience for dramatics. Or humans, apparently.


    Without warning, he scooped me up again—and <i>tossed me in.</i>


    <i>What the actual FUCK?</i>


    <i>Cold. Sharp. Soul-stealing cold.</i>


    "AHHH—YOU CRAZY DEAD BASTARD!" I screamed, thrashing in the freezing water as it pped me like a thousand angry hands. I iled. Panicked. Kicked like the river was made ofva. "I CAN’T SWIM! I’M GONNA DROWN, YOU JACKASS!"


    "Stand up," he said tly.


    "What?!"


    "<i>Stand. Up.</i> The water’s not even past your waist."


    I stopped sshing and nted my feet—and... yeah. Okay. Fine. It was only like, thigh-deep. But still.


    Embarrassed, soaked, and freezing, I turned and red daggers at him.


    "I <i>could</i> have drowned," I grumbled, ring at him as I shuffled toward the shallows, dripping and furious. "You don’t just <i>throw</i> someone in a river."


    "You didn’t drown," he said with a smug little smirk. "Now hurry up and scrub that filthy scent off before I change my mind and do it for you."


    My jaw dropped. "Oh my <i>God</i>. You’re insane."


    "And you’re still stalling," he replied, folding his arms. "Hurry up, re."


    "Ugh, you are the <i>worst</i>. Like, king of the undead, lord of passive-aggressive tantrums—"


    "<i>re.</i>"


    I scowled, muttering curses as I sshed water over my arms and neck. "There could be creepy slimy things in here."


    "There aren’t."


    "It’s <i>cold</i>."


    He didn’t even blink. "Then hurry."


    I shot him another re, but he didn’t look away.


    God, this man. Vampire. Whatever.


    Possessive. Infuriating. Completely, <ipletely</i> out of line.


    "CLARE"


    <fn48f1> Official source is FindN()vel</fn48f1>


    "FINE!"


    "Unbelievable," I muttered. "You’re unbelievable. You undead bastard."


    I sshed some of the icy water on myself and started scrubbing like I was trying to erase the memory of that damn wolf. Which, in a way, I guess I was. The water was <i>freezing</i>, my teeth started chattering, and every part of me wanted to be warm, dry, and somewhere far away from psycho vampire drama.


    But...


    When I looked up, ze was still standing there, back to me, but close. Watching. Guarding.


    For all his fury, he wasn’t looking at me like prey. He was protecting me.


    Even if he was a bossy, growling, possessive, undead lunatic... he had saved me. Twice now.


    And maybe... maybe I wasn’t entirely mad about that.


    But I was <i>definitely</i> still going to ssh him with water before this bath-from-hell was over.


    Asshole.