Mark of Sin: Bound to the Cruel Alpha

I stared into Magnus’s furious face, my mind wildly trying to process what I had just heard.

Did he... did he really just say that to me?

The words hovered in the midnight air like suspended blades, poised to drop and shred whatever fragile remnants of my self-control were left. Every logical thread in my brain screamed that provoking him was suicide. An unhinged bastard like Magnus Rainn could snap me in half without breaking a sweat, leaving me to regret ever breathing in the first place.

"I don’t want any of that," I squeezed out, forcing every muscle in my throat to keep my voice from trembling. "I just needed a job. It was the only place around that paid cash at the end of every shift."

He loomed over me, his chest rising and falling in heavy, ragged cycles as he openly scented the air. The thick fragrance of expensive tobacco intertwined with raw, predatory cedar hit my lungs so hard my breathing hitched.

His gray eyes tracked across mine, cold and razor-sharp, hunting for the slightest trace of a lie. He scanned my features with such methodical, suffocating intensity that my skin began to burn beneath his gaze.

He was out of his mind. Lethal, unstable, and entirely unpredictable.

He hadn’t given a damn about how I was supposed to get back to the dorms late at night, or whether some rogue would corner me in an alley. Yet he had tracked me down at my workplace. To do what? To measure the exact depth of my desperation?

"In the entire fucking city, you couldn’t find a single other place?" The low, rumbling growl lacing his voice vibrated straight through my ribs, chilling me to the bone.

At that sound, my insides twisted into a tight, agonizing knot. My primal instincts were screaming at me to run, but my limbs refused to obey, anchored to the cold hood of his SUV as if rooted there. A drop of icy sweat trickled down my spine, and I felt a wave of self-loathing for being so utterly paralyzed.

"It had to be near the academy..." I whispered, the words sounding pathetic even to my own ears. "...so I could make it there right after lectures."

A dense, suffocating silence fell between us, weighing down on my chest like a slab of granite. Then, without a word, he suddenly eased back, stepping half a pace away. The sudden vacuum of his presence made the air instantly lighter, though not nearly enough for me to draw a proper breath.

"Why the hell do you even need a job?" he asked, a dark, unreadable undertone slipping into his baritone. "Are you out of money?"

Was he actually serious? Where on earth did he think my money was supposed to come from?

"I have to eat, buy clothes, buy academic notebooks, and pay for a hundred other basic things," I said, straining every muscle in my face to keep the dripping sarcasm out of my voice.

A bastard like Magnus Rainn wouldn’t hesitate to bury me along the shoulder of a dark highway or stuff me into the dumpster behind the bar if I pushed him.

He straightened up, reaching out to catch my wrist and pulling me off the hood of the SUV. The touch of his fingers scorched my skin—a heavy, dominant heat that surged up my arm before vanishing as I violently yanked my wrist from his hold. Where his skin had met mine, the nerve endings burned as if he had stamped a permanent crest into my flesh.

I backed up two quick paces, only to glance around and realize I’d stepped right onto the open asphalt. The street was dead, but my heart still slammed into my ribs at my own carelessness. Keeping a wide, nervous arc between us, my eyes darted between his towering frame and the empty road until I planted both feet safely back on the sidewalk.

A decent distance stretched between us now, but his gray eyes still burned right through me. He looked deeply thoughtful, and that calculated quiet was infinitely more terrifying than his explosive rage.

I understood rage. But whatever was turning in his mind right now was a complete black box.

"From what I know, the state issues a monthly stipend to every registered breeder," he said slowly, weighing every syllable like a judge passing sentence. "So running around serving drinks in a low-end bar makes zero sense to me."

At the word bar, his voice dipped into a low, rumbling growl, a fresh wave of fury simmering just beneath the surface.

The atmosphere thickened instantly, heavy dominant pheromones pressing down until my inner instincts whimpered, begging me to tuck my tail and drop my gaze in total submission. Even unawakened, the fragile omega inside me clawed to bow its head.

I clamped my jaw shut so hard my molars ached.

No. These are just stupid biological traps. I am not my instincts.

"The stipend goes directly to the legal guardian," I replied, forcing my voice to stay level despite the violent shivers wrecking my body. "I don’t see a single cent."

A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the alley, as if the universe itself had paused to digest the truth.

"Your parents never transferred your funds?"

His voice dropped an octave, turning quieter—and infinitely more dangerous. Something raw and violently predatory flickered behind his eyes, a beast scenting blood.

I looked away, refusing to answer. Truthfully, all I wanted was to put as many miles between us as humanly possible, not engage in casual conversation about my miserable family life. What the hell did he care anyway? Whether they sent money or kept it for themselves, what right did he have to pry into my life?

I left the question hanging in the cold night air, balling my hands into tight fists until my fingernails bit deep into my palms. The sharp sting offered a fleeting anchor against the suffocating helplessness he evoked in me.

"Can I please just go home?" I whispered, staring fixedly at the pavement.

His eyes swept over my shivering frame. "Get in the car. I’m driving you to the dorms."

I glanced uncertainly at the sleek, pitch-black SUV, knowing the interior would feel far colder than the night air. I was going to freeze to death out here anyway—my hoodie was still locked inside the bar’s staff room, a place I could never step foot in again. Magnus had undoubtedly pulverized the owner, and if I dared walk back through those doors, there was no telling what the man would do to me. Not that Magnus would ever let me cross that threshold again.

"No, I... I’ll just walk," I muttered, taking another cautious step back.

"Get in the car, Jane."