Chapter 4 - Corinne

“I would never subject my people to the punishment of having someone like you as them Luna.” Hunter Calibur said to her, with those gray eyes cold and sharp like the blade of a sword “I will never touch you and I will never allow you to touch me. When this crisis in both our packs is over, I will reject you as my wife and send you back to your homeland, in the exactly same way you came here today.”

In silence, Corinne just stared at her new husband and did what she had been doing since they had started that conversation: nod, without comment. After all, it would be rude to tell him that she was hoping, as much as he was, for a quick divorce.

“I want to hear you say it.” he growled low, intimidating “Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Corinne said, a little tired of having to keep repeating the same thing “I understand. I will not cause problems for you or your pack. I promise, even though it’s very obvious that my word doesn’t mean much to you.”

And, as she expected, he clearly didn't believe her sincerity, either. Well, it wasn't like he needed to believe her, anyway. Corinne had been warned about how the wolves would treat her and everything was going as expected, including that moment. In fact, she was grateful that he promised he wouldn't touch her like a husband should touch his wife, and, for some reason, Corinne believed him. Her tigress was not happy with this, of course, but, her beast would have to get used to the idea that her fated mate hated her and, unlike what fate had imagined, they were not born to be together.

Hunter Calibur was handsome, she couldn't deny it. A few times, in her visits to Central City in her pack, Corinne had heard rumors about him, his way of acting and, most importantly, his appearance, most of it coming from the mouths of young females who had just entered adulthood and were easily impressed by any male, wanting to find they mates. However, now she knew that not even the descriptions she had found most exaggerated did him justice.

Corinne knew that wolves, especially males, tended to be very tall, but he was something else, with those broad shoulders and a visibly muscular body even beneath his clothes. Through the sleeves of his shirt rolled up at his elbows, she could see his skin almost completely covered in tattoos, a custom that, as far as she knew, was typical of wolf shifters, especially among Alphas, like him. His smell of wet earth and hot leather also seemed to be stoking some kind of fire inside her, making her tigress twist and turn in an almost obscene manner, waiting for the slightest slip on her part so that she could snatch her mate in the most diverse ways possible.

However, there was something in his face that was especially attractive to her. His face was not slender or almost angelic, like most of the male tigers that girls of her age pined for all day. He was hard, angular and sharp, with thin scars at the corners of his mouth, his eyebrows and his jaw, as well as those cold gray eyes and full lips that, for the first time in her life, made Corinne think about what it would be like to have a man to mate…

Worried about having stared at him for too long, Corinne cleared her throat, deciding that her best option was to continue telling the truth, even if he didn't believe her.

"You do not need to worry about me. I don't intend to complicate our situation further. So, if what you need is to make a deal with me so that I will remain silent for as long as our marriage lasts, then we are agreed. That’s what I’ll do.”

And, honestly, Corinne liked to believe that it wouldn't be that difficult to keep that promise. Disaster seemed to follow her everywhere she went, but perhaps things could be different among the wolves, where everyone seemed so determined to stay away from her, even her own husband. Her tigress could have that almost insane need for his body and be trying to fill Corinne's mind with romantic ideas of eternal love that only existed in the stories mothers told them cubs, but she would be able to resist. That marriage wasn't about him, much less about her. It was about they pack and they families.

As long as Corinne knew that her presence in Calibur was protecting her family, then it wouldn't matter if her husband hated her or treated her badly. It wasn't like she hadn't expected this from the beginning, anyway.

“I really don’t want anything from you or your pack.” she shrugged, in her last fruitless attempt to convince her, feeling that the exhaustion of those last few days was beginning to overtake her.

“That's what we'll see…” Hunter muttered under his breath, so, instead of continuing to strive for something as unattainable as his confidence, Corinne turned her back on him, walking towards the extremely inviting bed in the corner of the room.

“Well, if you've already said everything you wanted, could you please leave?” she sighed, sitting down on the soft mattress and starting to move her shoulders to try and ease the tightness of the fabric of the dress on her breasts “I would like to rest.” Corinne summed it up, although what she really wanted was to get out of those tight clothes she had been forced to put on in a hurry, in order not to leave home even more late than she already was, when her father finally sent the car to take her to Calibur.

When Hunter was silent for too long, she might have even believed he was gone if his scent hadn't continued to spread through the room, strong and thick. However, when she looked up, instead of finding him staring at her as if she had already tried to kill him at least twenty times, she blushed a little to find Hunter's eyes fixed on the neckline of her dress, which wasn't even that revealing, but, perhaps because the tight fabric was perfectly outlining the shapes of her breasts or simply because the hunger in her stare was impossible to miss, she felt almost naked.

“You…” he cleared his throat, when he realized she had caught him peeking “Are you sure you’re feeling… The mating bond?”

“What does it matter to you whether I’m being affected by the mating heat or not?” Corinne retorted, slightly irritated that he was making her feel embarrassed “You've already finished the business you came here to discuss, haven't you? The rest is irrelevant.”

“Yes…” he growled, nodding in agreement “Completely irrelevant.”

“Well, good night then. I’ll do my best to make sure you don’t see me tomorrow and the days after.” she promised, starting to loosen her hair from the simple hairstyle that held it back.

“One last thing…” Hunter grunted, making her turn to him again; however, instead of another accusation or threat, what came next shocked Corinne “Have the pack's seamstresses make clothes in your size. I don't know if that dress was your plan to tempt me, but…” he looked at her breasts again, his jaw clenched so tightly that she wondered if the bulging vein there was about to burst “It won't work. It doesn't matter how much you are…” this time, Hunter ran his eyes over her entire body, from her face, her cleavage, her hips perfectly hugged by the dress and the little bit of her leg that was exposed by the small slit below the knee “It's… It's Better you start covering up while you’re here.” he grunted, hoarsely, before turning his back on her and leaving the room, slamming the door violently behind him.

And, once alone in the room, Corinne could only blink and ask herself... Was she going crazy or had he almost called her... Pretty, perhaps?

No, she was definitely going crazy, after that wedding.

Finally allowing herself to undo the buttons on the dress in her back, Corinne tossed it away, wrapping only the sheets around herself as she snuggled into bed, determined to restrain the insecurities that were trying to take hold of her mind and just fall asleep as soon as possible. At some point, hopefully sooner than she would be able to realize, her union with the Calibur's wolves would no longer be necessary and she could return home...

Where Hunter Calibur would be nothing more than a bittersweet memory.