Possession

BELLE

I stared at her. I couldn’t believe what she was telling me.

“Is that why you didn’t come here once you got to Paris?” my mother asked. “Because you met your mate?”

I nodded my head slowly, still shocked that we were even having this conversation.

She looked away from me with a pained expression on her face.

“Mom?” I asked. “Are you a werewolf?”

She turned back to me and shook her head. “No, no, of course not. I’m human just like you.”

“But you have a mate?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yes.”

I swallowed. How common was it for humans to have mates? And how did I not know that my mother had one? How did I not know that she was part of the werewolf world?

Had my mother really not wanted me in her life that much? To not tell me about one of the biggest parts of it?

“What is his name?” she asked. I assumed that she was asking about Grayson.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’m going home tomorrow.”

“You’re not staying with him?”

I shook my head. “No. No, I can’t.”

My mother stared at me for a few seconds, looking hesitant. “Belle, is your mate violent?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” my mother started. “I’ve heard stories about how abusive alphas can be toward their mates. They’re possessive and controlling.

“I know what it’s like to be with a normal wolf; I can’t imagine being with an alpha.”

I sat down in shock. Grayson had never hurt me, but it seemed like my mother was implying that he would. She sat down next to me and took my hands in hers.

“You know what I’m talking about, don’t you Belle? Have you seen your mate express his anger through violence?”

I nodded slowly. “He nearly strangled someone to death. He growls at every person who looks at me.”

My mother’s shoulders slumped as a panicked expression took over her face. She squeezed my hands harder. “That’s why you’re trying to get away from him?”

Until that moment, I hadn’t ~actually~ been afraid that Grayson would hurt me. He was a rough guy, sure —but with me, so far, he’d been pretty gentle.

I had different reasons for wanting to leave him.

I just knew that I would probably be better off on my own. It seemed like every person who came into my life got hurt, and I would not let that happen to Grayson. I couldn’t let that happen to Grayson.

I cared too much about him.

“No, that’s not why. I just need to go home,” I said.

My mother let go of my hands and crossed her arms. She nodded in understanding, but still looked skeptical.

“Do you have a plan? Because there is no way an alpha male is just going to let his mate walk out of his life,” she said.

“I was just going to sneak out while he was sleeping and catch a flight home. He doesn’t know where I live,” I replied.

“No, that won’t work. He’ll notice you’re gone the second you leave him.” She stood and began wringing her hands again. “And if he doesn’t notice, his wolf definitely will. Dominant males typically sleep with their noses pressed up to their mates to smell them throughout the night. It calms their wolf and helps them sleep. If your scent isn’t near him, then he’ll immediately wake up.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, to any of it.

She looked at me. “Is that what you’ve been wearing all day?” she asked, pointing at my sweater.

I nodded.

“So it has his scent on it and yours?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Okay. Okay, then that is what you will put near him when you try to escape. It must smell like you, but it must also smell like the new environment that you are in.”

She sat down next to me again. “And Belle, the minute you get away from him, you run like hell and you don’t look behind you. Bring nothing. It will only slow you down. If he catches you…” She paused. “If he catches you, you will never have another opportunity. You will be trapped with him forever with no way out.” Her expression was so intense, so frightening.

“Mom, you’re scaring me,” I whispered.

She gave me a sad smile and lifted her hand to cup my cheek.

“Oh, my sweet Belle, mated to an alpha.” Tears formed in her eyes. “I never wanted this life for you.”

My brow furrowed.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Mom, does your mate hurt you?”

She didn’t answer me. She just continued studying my face as if this was the last time that she would ever see me. Tears flowed down her cheeks.

“I’m so happy to finally be able to talk to you about this, to explain myself. You have no idea how hard it was to keep this from you and your father,” she said.

At the mention of my dad, I pulled away. She shouldn’t have been talking about him. She hadn’t even come to his funeral.

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

She fidgeted a bit. “I—”

Before she could say anything else, I heard the front door opening. I thought it would be Grayson, and my heart plummeted into my stomach.

My mother immediately stood and fixed her makeup that had run due to her crying.

“Claire, is that dinner I smell?” a deep voice asked from the other room. “It better be ready on time tonight. We don’t want a repeat of last night, now do we?”

A man walked into the living room. I hadn’t seen him since I was a kid at the wedding, and even then, we’d barely met, but I recognized him immediately as Carl, my mother’s husband—and, apparently, her mate.

His eyes found my mother and he approached her slowly, his gaze moving up and down her figure. He touched the hem of her skirt when he finally came to stand in front of her.

“Is this skirt new?” he asked. “It’s a bit short, don’t you think?”

My mother nodded. “I’ll change as soon as I get the chance.” She smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder. She leaned in. “We have a guest,” she said to him. She motioned to me.

I stood. “Hi,” I said. “I don’t think we’ve gotten the chance to officially meet. I’m Belle.”

I reached out my hand, offering it to him to shake.

He walked toward me, crossing his arms and looking me over in a slow and threatening way.

“So you’re the daughter she never wanted.”

“Carl!” my mother gasped.

~He apparently doesn’t want to shake my hand.~

He held up his hand to her and gave her a look that made her shrink in on herself. He turned back to me. “Do you have any idea how worried your mother was when you didn’t show up weeks ago? Did you stop to consider how it would make her feel, or did you only take your own selfish feelings into account?”

My mouth fell open in shock. ~Who gave him the right to talk to me like that?~

He knew nothing about my situation or what I had gone through in the last couple of weeks.

“Carl, stop it right now!” my mom yelled.

“I—” I began, but was immediately interrupted.

“No. Do you have any idea how lucky you were that I was going to let you into my home in the first place?” Carl shouted. He pointed a nasty finger at me. “And you took that opportunity for granted and hurt your mother in the process!”

I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t been expecting this reaction at all.

“I’m sorry I didn’t make it. Something came up and I had no way of contacting her. I lost my phone.”

A growl came from Carl’s chest. He was getting closer and closer to me. “Something came up? Something ~came~ up?” he asked. “That’s the best excuse you can come up with?”

My mom walked up next to him and grabbed his arm. “Carl, stop it,” she tried to say calmly.

He let out an ear-shattering growl and shoved her away; she fell to the floor, knocking into the coffee table.

“You will not give me orders!” he yelled at her.

“Stop!” I yelled when he approached her again. I grabbed him, trying to tug him away from her.

A powerful blow hit my face, and an immense amount of pain radiated from my cheek throughout the rest of my body. It sent me flying sideways, to the ground. For a second, I couldn’t see anything. I only felt blinding hot pain. ~Yeah, that will leave a mark.~

“Carl, no!” I heard my mother yell. “She is an alpha’s mate! Look at her neck! She is an alpha’s mate,” she sobbed out.

I didn’t do or say anything. I just continued to lie on the ground, holding my cheek, as tears of pain ran down my face.

I felt someone move the hair away from my neck. “Luna,” Carl breathed out. He dropped onto his knees next to me. “Luna, I am so sorry! I didn’t know.”

Before I could answer, the door came crashing open. A weight lifted off me and I breathed out a sigh of relief. Grayson ran into the room, his chest heaving. His eyes were the blackest that I had ever seen them. He was twice the size that he normally was, and there were veins coming out of his neck and forehead.

He looked livid.

His eyes found mine.

“Grayson,” I said. Without even knowing what I was doing, I reached for him, longing for his arms to be around me.

He immediately ran to me and kneeled down next to me. He wouldn’t stop growling and, with every passing second, he was looking more and more like a wolf instead of a human.

He gently touched the bruise that was already forming on my face. I expected it to hurt, but somehow the sensation just brought me more comfort. His hand came away with blood on it.

He growled so loudly that I’m sure the entire building shook.

“Who did this?” he asked. His voice sounded almost demonic.

“Alpha Grayson, I am so sorry,” Carl said.

When I looked at him, I noticed that he was already baring his neck to Grayson, kneeling on the ground next to us.

“I did not know she was your mate. I never would have hurt her had I known.”

Grayson moved faster than I could comprehend. His hand was around Carl’s neck and he lifted him up against the wall in mere seconds.

“You dare hurt my mate?”

He punched Carl’s face so hard that one of his teeth went flying out of his mouth.

I heard my mother’s sob from the other side of the room. She was on her knees, watching as my mate attempted to kill hers. I knew I had to do something. Grayson was throwing punch after punch at Carl’s face at the same time that he was strangling him. Carl did nothing to fight back. He was going to die if Grayson didn’t stop soon.

I ran up to him, attempting to put myself between him and Carl, but Grayson wouldn’t stop punching him long enough for me to succeed. I grabbed his face and said his name, but he wouldn’t look at me.

“Grayson, please stop,” I said in a panic. “Please stop. I’m in pain. I need you. Please, I need you.”

Grayson looked at me. There was foam dripping from his mouth. His canines were piercing his lips, drawing blood.

I wasn’t sure if he’d heard me, so now that I had his attention, I repeated myself: “I’m in pain, Grayson.” I touched my cheek softly. “It hurts. Please take care of me. I think I might pass out. I need you,” I said desperately.

Of course, that was a lie. With all the adrenaline that was running through my body, I could barely feel anything. But he didn’t need to know that. Grayson shook his head violently as if he was having an internal argument. Take care of his wounded mate or kill the man who did it?

Now that he had stopped punching Carl, I could stand in front of him.

His eyes watched me closely and zeroed in on the handprint on my face. He growled.

“Please, Grayson. Please, I just want to go home with you. I’m so tired. Please, just take me home,” I whispered.

He huffed, and I knew that he had come to a decision. He got so close to Carl, who he was still holding up by the neck, that I was sure Carl could feel Grayson’s breath fanning his battered face.

He looked in Carl’s swollen eyes. “Touch my mate again and you’re a dead man. There will be consequences for this,” he growled.

When Grayson dropped him on the ground, Carl began gasping for air and coughing. My mother was at his side in an instant, cradling his head to her chest.

Grayson didn’t waste any time. He picked me up in his arms so he was carrying me bridal style and began walking to the door.

I looked at my mother on the floor with her mate. “I’m so sorry, Mom. I’m so sorry.”

She shook her head as she watched me being carried away.

“Don’t come back here, Belle. Never come back here.”