Chapter 47 CONFRONTATION IN THE MAZE (2)
WILLA'S POV
I sent him the fiercest glare I could muster despite the apprehension chilling my bones. “Let me go, you jerk. You’re hurting me.”
It seemed like the third time was really the charm, because Gallahan loosened his grip and said, “I will let you go, but only if you promise not to run away from me. Swear on oath under the moon that you will talk to me. Because that’s all I want, Willa.”
“Why should I promise such a thing?” I said, not wanting to give in to his condition.
Because I knew he would want to talk about the twins, and I was far from ready for that. I couldn’t… I couldn’t lose them to Gallahan.
The same Gallahan who still ruthlessly tortured humans in the dungeons of his father’s castle under the pretext that the captured were all heartless creature hunters. The same Gallahan who still thought bloody violence was the best kind of justice to serve.
Just thinking of my sweet Calisto and Gillian growing up around and near such brutal cruelty made my blood curdle.
“Willa.” Gallahan sighed. “Must you always make things difficult? If you don’t take a simple fucking oath, then we can stay here all night. I’ll keep my hold on you until we talk.”
“What is there to talk about?” I snapped.
“The bloody fact that we are fated mates, and yet we are apart!” Gallahan bellowed, unable to reign in his temper any longer. “Don’t you feel it? Don’t you feel the maddening yearning? What about the strain? The ache so deep I can feel it deep in my bones with every rejection, every denial, and with every day we spent in separation? Our incomplete bond is basically screaming at us to get our heads out of our asses and talk it all out!”
“You’re mistaken,” I lied. “You got the wrong person.”
But everything he had thrown at me was true. Our incomplete bond was taking a toll on me, especially on days I had to spend my agonizing heats all on my own.
His strong gaze softened, and he looked at me beseechingly that it made my eyes pool with tears.
Because damn it. How could he look at me like I was the air he desperately needed to breathe? How could he look at me the way the Han I knew that night did?
“Do you despise me that much?” Gallahan suddenly whispered.
I bit my lower lip and looked away, refusing to answer him.
Silence cloaked us heavily for several tensed seconds.
Then he drew a long and sharp breath, released it in a shuddering manner, and said, “If you’re going to reject me, fine. But our children are a different story, Willa. Do not deny the twins to me. I felt the parental blood link form. I also saw their names on my wrists.”
A hysterical laugh bubbled out of my mouth before I could even think of holding it in.
“Children?!” I exclaimed, deciding to just double down on my pretending and denial. “What children, Mr. Wick? The mark you’ve seen on your wrists and the parental blood link you felt must’ve been for the children you’ve sired with one of the many women you’ve bedded.”
Gallahan’s expression hardened, and his jaw tensed in anger. His grip on my arm also tightened, making me wince.
“Don’t mock me, Willa. You know damn well about the existence of Calisto and Gillian.”
“I don’t,” I lied once again. “We don’t have children together, Mr. Wick.”
“You’re lying,” he hissed, leaning close to my face. “You are a liar, Willa. A fucking duplicitous woman.”
The words stung me more than I would like to admit. Maybe because it was true.
I was indeed a liar. A pathetic one.
And since he already thought of me as a deceitful woman, I might as well go all the way to get him off my back for good. So he would leave me and the twins alone.
“No, Mr. Wick. We don’t have children together. Because let’s face it. We are too different, too incompatible.”
I paused for a brief moment, steeling myself to say the next words that were too cold and too scathing for me to normally say.
I then tilted my chin in a defiant manner, so I could meet him eye to eye as I said, “And there’s no way I would ever spawn a child for a violent and bloodthirsty man like you.”
Regret consumed me instantly, and if my inner wolf whimpered in agony, no one would have to know but me.