Kade finally released his bite completely, his tongue sweeping over the wound one last time before pulling back to look at her.
His golden eyes were burning with intensity, with satisfaction, with possessive certainty that made her breath catch.
He said nothing.
Just watched her with those predatory golden eyes, his expression unreadable except for the dark satisfaction that curved his lips into something that wasn’t quite a smile.
Dakota stared at him, waiting for explanation, for justification, for something that would make sense of what had just happened.
But Kade remained silent, his hand coming up to cup the back of her neck, his thumb brushing over the fresh mark with proprietary gentleness that sent shivers down her spine.
“Answer me!” Dakota demanded, though her voice wavered slightly under the weight of his stare.
“Why did it….
what are you….” But there was something in her tone beyond outrage, confusion, yes, and surprise, but also something that might have been relief, as though some part of her had been waiting for exactly this, had needed someone to claim her strongly enough to override what had come before.
Kade’s response was a low, dark chuckle that rumbled through his chest, the sound carrying undertones of satisfied possession and barely restrained dominance.
His golden eyes burned into hers with intensity that made it impossible to look away, made it clear that he felt absolutely no remorse for what he’d just done.
“I thought you wanted things to go a bit more wilder?” he murmured, his voice dropping into a register that vibrated through her entire body and made her wolf whine in submission to the power radiating from him.
His hand tightened slightly on her neck, not threatening, but possessive, a reminder that she was his now, that the mark on her neck proclaimed ownership that couldn’t be denied or undone.
Dakota’s mouth opened to protest again, to demand answers, to push back against the casual dominance in his tone.
But something in that sound, that low, rumbling chuckle that spoke of absolute confidence and unshakeable dominance, made her protests die in her throat, made fascination replace shock on her expressive face.
She could feel it now, could sense the bond settling into place between them with the inexorable weight of something that couldn’t be undone or denied.
It felt different from what she vaguely remembered of her first bond, stronger somehow, more fundamental, as it reached deeper into her soul than anything she’d experienced before.
And Kade was still watching her with those burning golden eyes, still saying nothing, still offering no explanations or justifications.
Just claiming her with his gaze as thoroughly as he’d claimed her with his bite.
The silence stretched between them, charged with tension and a newly formed bond and the weight of what had just happened.
Dakota’s hand remained on her neck, feeling the mark pulse beneath her fingers, feeling the connection to this stranger who’d just changed her life irrevocably.
“You’re insane,” she finally whispered, though the words lacked real heat.
Kade’s smile widened slightly, predatory and satisfied.
“And you offered yourself to me knowing exactly what I was,” he countered, his voice soft but carrying steel beneath.
“So what does that make you?” Before Dakota could formulate a response, before she could process the implications of his words or the bond still settling into her system, Kade shifted his hold on her and called out without breaking eye contact.
“Marcus,” his voice carried the unmistakable weight of Alpha command.
“Get out.” The driver responded immediately, his movements sharp and efficient as he pulled the car to the side.
There was movement from the front seat, the driver’s door opening, footsteps on pavement, the door closing again with a soft click that left them completely alone in the backseat of the luxury vehicle.
Marcus knew better than to argue when his Alpha used that particular tone, especially when he could undoubtedly scent what had just happened in the back seat, the claiming bite, the fresh blood, the shift in the air that came with a new bond snapping into place.
The privacy screen had already been up, but now they were truly isolated, no witnesses, no interruptions, nothing except the two of them and the fresh claiming mark that bound them together.
Kade’s eyes never left Dakota’s face, watching every micro-expression, cataloging every reaction as the bond between them pulsed with increasing strength.