Chapter 204
The Problem
Osman stood beside Candice, eyes sharp and jaw tight. He pulled her back a step, placing himself between her and Zander.
“You’re not going anywhere with him,” Osman said.
Candice yanked her hand free. “Let go of me.”
“I won’t,” he snapped. “Not into something like this.”
Zander watched the exchange with open amusement. “It seems the decision has been made for you.”
Candice glared at Osman. “This is not your call.”
“And getting yourself dragged into a battlefield is not yours either,” Osman shot back.
She opened her mouth to argue, then stopped.
Zander stepped away, already signaling his men to move. “Another time, perhaps,” he said casually. “We all have roles to play.”
Candice watched him go, frustration burning in her chest.
Osman exhaled heavily beside her. “You scare me when you do that.”
She crossed her arms again, eyes still fixed on the tunnel Zander disappeared into. “Good,” she muttered. “That means I’m doing something right.”
Osman only shrugged in response, then reached out and grabbed Candice’s hand, dragging her back toward the cottage assigned to them.
He had been gone for only a short while, summoned by the Alpha King to receive further instructions. He left Candice safely inside the cottage. Or so he thought. When he returned and found the place empty, irritation had flared instantly in his chest. It did not take long to discover where she had gone.
Zander’s private cave with Zander’s disciple, Arlan. The thought alone made his jaw tighten.
He hated this feeling. The sharp, irrational possessiveness clawing at him whenever Candice showed even the slightest interest in another man. It made him feel weak. Unreasonable. Worse, it made him feel exposed.
Candice was his mate. And she did not even know it. She was not a werewolf. She could not feel the bond tugging at her soul the way it did to his. She could not hear the constant whisper that told him she belonged to him. That she always had.
For years, he had tried to get close to her in the only way he knew how. Through teasing. Through sarcasm. Through provoking her until she snapped back at him, eyes blazing and tongue sharp. Annoying her was the easiest way to get her attention, the only way he knew how to keep her looking his way.
It was pathetic, really. But it was safer than telling her the truth.
Osman had thought about confessing more times than he could count. Every time she smiled. Every time she laughed despite herself. Every time she looked at him with that familiar mix of irritation and fondness. The words would rise to his throat, heavy and terrifying.
And every time, fear would crush them back down.
What if she rejected him.
What if she laughed it off.
What if knowing the truth made her pull away instead.
So he stayed silent.
And now, watching her walk willingly into another man’s territory, curiosity written plainly on her face, that silence felt heavier than ever.
[Enough with those stupid what-ifs!] his wolf snarled inside his mind. [I can’t believe how much of a fool you’ve been all these years. Sometimes I feel like going into eternal slumber just to escape your stupidity!]
The voice was sharp, cutting, and unforgiving.
[You’re hopeless.]
And then—silence.
Osman stiffened. His wolf rarely spoke to him, and when it did, it was never without reason. It only ever snapped like this when Candice was involved. That alone should have told him everything he needed to know.
Candice suddenly yanked her wrist free from his grip. Osman stopped walking. He spun around to face her, her hands planted firmly on her hips, her frown deep and unmistakable. The fire in her eyes made his breath hitch for just a second.
“What is wrong with you?” she demanded. “Since when did you get the authority to decide things for me, Osman? Are you out of your mind?” She crossed her arms tightly. “You’re lucky I respect you enough not to make a scene with Zander around!”
Osman’s expression darkened. He took a step closer.
Candice instinctively stepped back—once, twice—until her back hit the cold stone wall of the cave’s passage. She froze, eyes narrowing, refusing to show even a hint of fear.
His voice dropped, low and dangerous. “Are you that conscious around him?” he asked. “So conscious that you don’t want him to see how sharp your tongue can get with me?”
Her brows furrowed in disbelief.
“Why?” he pressed, stepping closer. “You don’t want him to see you snap? You don’t want him to see how unladylike you can be?”
Candice stared at him, stunned.
“What?” she hissed. “You crazy wolf!”
That was it.
That single phrase shattered the last thread of restraint Osman had been clinging to.
“Yes!” he snapped, his voice exploding out of him. “I’m going crazy because of you!”
The words echoed against the stone walls.
Candice’s eyes widened—not in fear, but shock.
Osman raked a hand through his hair, chest rising and falling heavily as he struggled to rein himself in. The anger was still there, boiling and fierce, but beneath it was something far more dangerous.
Frustration. Jealousy. Years of swallowed words and unspoken truth clawing at his chest.
“You walk into his territory without a second thought,” he continued, his voice rough now. “You look at him with curiosity. With interest. And you expect me to just… stand there and do nothing?”
Candice scoffed and pushed herself off the wall. “That’s not your decision to make,” she snapped. “You don’t own me.”
The words hit him harder than he expected. Osman froze for a split second, his jaw tightening as something raw and uncontrollable surged through him. Anger, frustration, fear, desire—everything tangled together until he could no longer separate one from the other.
“I know,” he said hoarsely. “That’s the problem.”
She turned as if to walk past him. That was when something in him finally broke. Osman reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back before she could take another step.
Candice gasped, spinning toward him, ready to protest—
But the words never left her mouth.
Osman cupped her face with one hand and crashed his lips onto hers.