"I can never accept you as my mate," he said coldly.
Valeska barely had a second to process his words before Nevian leaned in, his breath warm against her ear. His scent—dark pine and something more primal—wrapped around her, but instead of comfort, it only suffocated her.
"I have a fiancée I will be marrying soon," he murmured, his voice devoid of emotion. "She can't know anything about you. No one in my family or my pack should know that I'm mated to a wolfless deviant—it would bring disgrace to me and my bloodline."
A sharp, invisible force clutched Valeska's chest, squeezing until she could hardly breathe. Her body trembled, and for a moment, she thought her legs would give out beneath her.
But Nevian wasn't finished.
"So I'm going to make you a generous offer," he continued, brushing his lips against the sensitive skin of her neck, just beneath her ear. The same spot where, had things been different, he might have marked her as his mate.
