Alpha Nathan pov.

"But even if I am," Isabella continued, "I still refuse to be treated like a breeding toy for the Alpha."

I started walking toward her, closing the distance between us until I was standing right in front of her. "A breeding toy?" I repeated, looking down into her beautiful brown eyes. "Really? Is that what you think this is about?"

Isabella looked up at me with defiance, but I could see the heat in her cheeks, could sense that she was struggling to maintain her strong facade. She loved me just as much as I loved her.

"Yes," she said, but her voice was slightly shaky. "I'm not a sex toy either."

"Really?" I rubbed my chin thoughtfully, never taking my eyes off her. "And who exactly told you that's what I think of you?"

I cupped her cheeks gently in my hands and kissed her lips passionately, right there in front of everyone. I didn't care about the gasps and screams from Lily. I didn't care about the shocked murmurs from the crowd. Isabella was mine, and I was done hiding it.

When I pulled away from the kiss, I made a decision that would change everything.

In one smooth motion, I picked Isabella up and threw her over my shoulder like she weighed nothing.

"Nathan!" she squealed, but I could hear the laughter in her voice.

I gave her ass a playful smack and chuckled. "I'm going to show you exactly what I think of you, Isabella Rodriguez. And it has nothing to do with being a toy or a breeding machine."

As I carried her toward the castle, ignoring Lily's screams and Ethan's protests, I felt freer than I had in years.

"Fuck them all," I said loud enough for everyone to hear. "She's mine, and I'm keeping her forever."

I carried Isabella through the castle, past all the shocked servants and gawking nobility, until I reached my favorite room on the third floor. This was my private sanctuary, the one place in the entire castle where I could escape from all the stress and politics of being Alpha. Even Lily wasn't allowed to set foot in this room.

It was admittedly a bit of a mess because I didn't allow any servants to clean in here either. It contained my personal library with hundreds of books, a massive mahogany desk where I handled my most sensitive business, and most importantly, it housed my secret safe where I kept the most valuable things in my life – gold, important documents, family heirlooms.

I had always called this room my treasure vault.

And since Isabella was my greatest treasure, I had decided this was where she belonged.

I set her down gently on her feet, then pulled out my keys and unlocked the heavy wooden door. Isabella watched me with curious eyes.

"What? Is this room always locked?" she asked, looking around as I pushed the door open.

I smirked and nodded before gently pushing her inside and locking the door behind us again. I didn't answer her question immediately, which made her even more curious and slightly worried.

"Nathan," she said, her voice trembling slightly, "are you planning to keep me locked in here?"

I rubbed my chin and slowly walked toward her, grinning the whole way. When I reached her, I leaned close to her face and said teasingly, "Yes, I'm going to keep you here with all my other precious things."

She gasped and looked around the room, taking in the books, the messy desk, the general chaos of my personal space. "What precious things? This place isn't even clean. And you can't just lock me up like I'm some kind of object. I'm not stuff!"

"You are," I said with a chuckle, walking over to a large closet on the far wall.

She followed me, clearly annoyed by my cryptic responses. I snapped my fingers and gestured for her to come closer.

"Here, come look at this."

She stood next to me as I opened the closet door, revealing the hidden safe built into the wall. It was a massive steel vault, the kind you'd find in a bank.

"See?" I said proudly. "This is my secret safe. This is where I keep everything that matters most to me."

Isabella crossed her arms over her chest, looking unimpressed. "I don't understand! I want to be free! I used to sleep in the forest, outside in the cold, but at least I was free. You can't keep someone like me locked up."

Her words hit me harder than I expected. I realized she had completely misunderstood my intentions.

I took her hand and gently pulled her closer to the safe, then turned her around so her back was pressed against it. I placed my hands on either side of her head, trapping her body between my arms, and looked deep into her gorgeous brown eyes.

"Isabella," I said softly, "you're my everything. You're my real treasure, and I want to keep you safe in my life forever. This isn't about locking you up – it's about protecting what matters most to me."

She sighed and nodded, looking a bit shy. "Okay, I'll try to understand and wait. But until I do, could you please tell me what you're planning?"

I couldn't help but laugh at her earnestness. She was so innocent, so trusting despite everything she'd been through.

"Nathan!" she huffed, getting annoyed at my laughter. "Why are you laughing? I didn't say anything funny! Could you please stop?"

I walked over to the bed – yes, there was a bed in here for when I needed to get away from everything – and sat on the edge. She followed me, clearly frustrated by my non-answers.

"Well," I said, pulling her down onto my lap, "it's a secret. But if you kiss me properly, maybe I'll give you a hint."

She leaned forward and gave me a soft peck on the cheek. "There. One kiss."

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious? That barely counts as contact, let alone a kiss."

She smiled mischievously and shrugged. "Yes, I think that was a perfectly good kiss."

When she tried to stand up, I pulled her back and flipped her onto the bed beneath me. I crawled over her body, my eyes moving from her chest to her lips and back again.

"Now," I said in a husky voice, "let me show you what a real kiss feels like."

I attacked her lips hungrily, licking and sucking her upper and lower lips like a man dying of thirst. I had been desperate to be alone with her, to touch her without worrying about who might see us or what the consequences might be.

"Nathan," she moaned against my mouth, and the sound drove me absolutely wild.

After several minutes of intense kissing, she started making those needy little sounds that made my blood boil with desire. She wrapped her arms around my neck and bit her lower lip seductively.

"I want you, Nathan," she whispered. "I want you so badly it hurts."

I stared down at her face for a moment, then deliberately pulled back and moved to sit on the couch across the room. She remained on the bed, looking confused and slightly hurt.

"What's wrong?" she asked, adjusting her shirt. "Don't you want me?"

I lit a cigar and put my feet up on the small table in front of me, trying to look casual. "I told you, I don't want you to feel like a sex slave. So the answer is both yes and no."

She made a small humming sound of confusion when she realized what I was referring to – her earlier comment about being a breeding toy.

I deliberately ignored her questioning gaze, occasionally stealing glances but pretending to be absorbed in my cigar.

Honestly, I had no idea what she was planning to do next.

But Isabella was apparently more cunning than I had given her credit for. Without warning, she started taking off her clothes, piece by piece, slowly and deliberately.

"Okay," she said casually, "I think I'll take a nap now."

My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw her completely naked. She didn't even bother to cover herself with a blanket in the cool room.

"What the hell are you doing?" I managed to croak out. "Cover yourself! And why are you sleeping naked?"

She didn't answer. She just rolled over in a way that was impossibly sexy, giving me a perfect view of her round ass and the curve of her back.

"Isabella!" I said more firmly, standing up from the couch. "Cover your body!"

I was getting desperate because my cock was already hard and straining against my pants. I was supposed to be the one teasing her, but somehow she had turned the tables on me.

I walked to the edge of the bed, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath, trying to resist the temptation. "Isabella, you're going to catch cold."

Still no response.

I pulled the blanket up to cover her body, but she immediately kicked it off with her feet.

"Damn it, Isabella!" I groaned in frustration.

She rolled over onto her back, giving me an even more tempting view. She pretended to yawn and stretched like a cat, slightly parting her legs in the process.

My hands shook as I reached out to touch her, starting at her feet and slowly moving up her thighs to her flat stomach and perfect breasts. Her skin was so soft and smooth that it made me shiver with desire.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes and looked directly at me. "Don't touch me," she said firmly.

I jerked my hand back like I'd been burned. "What?"

She raised an eyebrow and repeated, "I said don't touch me. I'm not your mate. I'm not your Luna."