Chapter 30

AUBREY'S POV "Do you understand what you're asking?" Knox's words vibrated with barely controlled anger, his alpha energy filling the room. "What it means to deny the marking?" I met his gaze steadily, forcing myself not to flinch from the intensity there. "Yes. I understand perfectly." "You're disrespecting everything the mate bond stands for," Aria snarled in my mind. "Everything we are." "We are nothing to him," I thought back fiercely. "He's Lancelot's son. His father's blood runs in his veins—the same blood that spilled my family's." "You don't know that for certain," my wolf argued. "That dream—" "I know what I saw." I pushed her protests aside, focusing instead on Knox's face. The anger there was real, but so was the hurt beneath it. I could use that, manipulate that weakness to get what I needed. "I'm not rejecting you," I said softly, letting calculated vulnerability seep into my voice. "I just need time. To adjust. To be sure." Knox ran a hand through his dark hair—a gesture