Hunter stifled a snarl. “My wolf isn’t going to accept that.”

“You convinced your wolf not to mate with my twin sister, so I’m sure you can talk him into leaving me alone while you have me locked in your house.”

A gigantic hand caught my wrist and spun me around with a light tug. With two large steps, Hunter had me pinned to the wall, his gigantic body towering over me.

His eyes were dark amber, and the look in them was more dangerous than I had ever seen. “What did I say about comparing this situation to the shitshow with Nova? She was nothing to me. You are mymate. This isn’t a matter of misplaced animalistic obsession. We are bound together for the rest of our lives, whether we like it or not. It may not have been planned or intentional, but our worlds now revolve around each other.”

“I can sleep without you,” I countered.

“Your wolf will demand my presence in her own way.” Hunter seemed certain, but I wasn’t convinced.

“I guess we’ll just wait and see if that’s true.”

“It is.”

“Then it won’t hurt you to let me live the way I want for a few days, will it?”

He clenched his jaw.

I tipped my head back and lifted a hand to Hunter’s neck. When I pulled him down toward me, he didn’t put in a shred of effort to stop me.

Our lips were only a breath apart when I whispered, “You still owe me an explanation for what happened this morning, Hun. Not the lying. The sex.”

His jaw clenched harder for a moment before he forced out the words. “It takes a while for my mind to wake up after my body does. I don’t know why. I thought you were a pillow.”

My eyes narrowed. “You thought you were screwing apillow?”

“I didn’t think anything. I was hardly conscious,” he growled. “I don’t have sex. I haven’t spent the night with someone in a century and a half. It’s too risky. I’m entirely useless after waking up. I smelled your arousal, and everything that happened afterward was instinct.”

“So you used me.”

“I wasn’t aware enough to call it that.”

“You thought I was a pillow, Hunter. You thought you were humping a pillow while you were coming inside me,” I argued.

He clenched his jaw again.

“Fuck you. I’ll put my groceries away myself. Where are my clothes?”

“Inourcloset. We’re mates. Everything is yours as much as it’s mine now.”

“I’ll take them out of your room and put them in mine myself.” I released the back of his neck and turned, striding away as I gripped my towel tightly.

Part of me waited for Hunter to call out for me to stop—but he didn’t.

And I wouldn’t have listened anyway.

My anger fadedas I moved the new clothes Hunter had bought me from his closet to an empty one near the other kitchen.

The clothes were nice, the sizes were right, and the style was what I liked. He must’ve sent someone to check what clothes I had back in Crimson River or something.

I’d expected an outfit or two, but the man had purchased an entire wardrobe’s worth. It was more clothing than I had at home, and everything was significantly better quality.

That didn’t erase the lies he’d told me, though.

I had time to process his revelation about screwing me unconsciously that morning while I transferred my groceries over and organized everything. He had a duplicate set of seasonings, cookware, and dishes in the kitchen I was claiming, so I didn’t need to worry about any of that.

The more I thought about the accidental screwing, the more I felt bad for blowing up at him about it.