Chapter 919

Rafe's stomach sinks to his feet and he ducks his head, clenching his empty whiskey glass in his hand. Because this is...this is the worst possible way he could ever imagine Maryam finding out about their bond.

"Mark!" Dominic barks, pointing solidly to his side, demanding that his son come to heel. Mark ducks his shoulders, glancing apology at Rafe as he does as he's told, moving to stand next to his father.

Slowly, Maryam starts through the room, advancing towards Rafe. He hears every one of her footsteps and sighs, lifting his head, meeting her eyes as she stops ten feet from him, hatred radiating off of her in waves.

"What did he just say?" she snarls, pointing at Mark, her words slipping from between clenched teeth.

Rafe sighs and stands straight, meeting his mate's gaze, knowing that she deserves more than for him to cower right now.

"He said that you're my mate, Maryam."

A stir goes through the room but Rafe doesn't look at anyone but her, at this... fairly magnificent creature standing before him, powerful and delicate and vicious. Even as anxiety and regret turns in him, Rafe's wolf howls his pleasure. Rafe's mental hands snaps out, wrapping around his wolf's muzzle because...this is not the time for that.

A laugh, thick with derision, slips from Maryam's lips as she leans forward to stare at Rafe in disbelief. "Tell me this is a joke," she demands, her voice harsh. "A stupid, very poorly conceived joke – the kind of bullshit trick you Alphas play on your human guests just to embarrass them."

"It's not a joke, Maryam," Rafe responds, his voice low and serious. "I wouldn't do that to you."

She guffaws again, disbelief all over her face for a moment until...until something shifts, and she stands straight, suddenly realizing that...

That he's telling the truth. That he fucking means this - that he actually believes that he is her mate.

Maryam's mouth falls slack and she just...stares. Stares into the prince's impossibly handsome face, her eyes flashing all over him, his form, judging him. Rafe stands true and steady, ready to be judged, letting her see that he is unwavering in his conviction that she's his. Utterly his, forever, his mate.

And as he watches, Maryam rankles under this silent claiming.noveldrama

"Bullshit," she snarls, leaning forward towards him, her hands tightening at her sides, her teeth flashing in – well, in rather a wolfish way. Rafe's wolf dances from paw to paw, loving it, loving the strength in her, the defiance.

"Maryam, I'm very sorry," Rafe says, taking a step towards her with a hand out, sending his little brother a hearty glare from the corner of his eye. "This is not the way I wanted you to find out -"

"Find out!" She spits back, laughing a little at the ridiculousness of it all. "Find out what that you - that you~~ just...fucking claim me!? That I'm yours att of a sudden, your fucking mate that you own me!? And what

-I have no choice in this or

whatever!?"

She spins to stare at everyone else in the room, appalled and shocked.

"And all of you are just – just going to stand there!? And let him make this ridiculous claim!?"

"Maryam," Hank says, his voice quite gentle as he begins to cross the room to his daughter, his eyes full of worry and sympathy for his daughter. "It's not...like that

"Even you won't stand by me on this!?" Maryam gasps, stumbling back a step away from her father. But she quickly turns again, realizing that the step takes her closer to Rafe and moving hastily away pressing her hands out to the side like she wants to keep everyone away - wants to stand completely apart.

ver

"Maryam," Hank snaps, drawing her eyes back to him. "Of course I'm on your side," he says, arriving next to her and holding out his hand, begging her to take it. "But, please, love you...you are vastly misunderstanding if you think that any wolf - and especially any Sinclair - would make this kind of statement as a joke."

Maryam begins to pant in her panic, staring at her father in disbelief. Then she snarls again, her eyes moving around the room, hate in the set of her jaw, in her eyes.

"No," she snarls, roughly shaking her head, standing up tall and proud. “No. I am - I am not going to be claimed - claimed just because you," she spins to Rafe here, "you like me or something. Absolutely not! I fucking refuse!"

Rafe's wolf howls in regret and his face falls in sorrow and horror to see her so upset, to see her panic like this. God, he couldn't imagine this going any worse -

"Maryam, please," Rafe begs, taking another step towards her. “Please just talk to me - it's not like that, not at all -"

"You stay the fuck away from me," she snarls, taking a vicious step towards him, stopping him in his tracks. She holds out a hand towards him, palm out. "I - I refuse this. Or what - whatever fucking thing it is that you say. What is it?"