Aria wasn’t mine to claim, but I’d claimed her, anyway. I’d claimed her in a way that couldn’t be undone, and yet I didn’t want to take it back. I liked owning her, even if she wasn’t fucking aware of what it meant. It was a mark of protection, but it was so much more. That mark made her need me, crave me, and it also worked the same way on me. It was a mark of mates, and yet I’d never given or offered it to my mate. So why the fuck had I claimed Aria?
