Chapter 20 Unbinding
Dravik's pov
It is a surprise she said so much at once for long. She never talks for long. One or two sentences then she clamps up.
“You have not told her we can smell her arousal,”
Shadow’s voice slides into my mind
“There is no need to do that. I am sure she can put two and two together.” I answered him without shifting my gaze from the door.
He hums with amusement.
What had she been dreaming about to smell like that? “Or who?” Shadows' voice lands deep in my skull and I grit my teeth as I push him away.
The scent had hit me the moment I entered the room. Sweet heat like Wild nectar warmed by a fevered dream. Shadow, always a horny bastard, had risen like a storm at the first breath of it. Her normal scent already pulls at him, her arousal made it worse.
Almost unbearable.
I had to hold myself back from pinning her to the bed and pushing her joggers down to gaze at the beauty down there. I wanted to bury my face between her thighs and lick the sweetness all up. I wanted to taste her until she forgot every beating, every nightmare and surrender her body to me.
Images of positions I wanted to bend her over floods through my mind.
“Get the hell out of my head.” I snap at Shadow.
The beast had the guts to chuckle.
My whole plan is cracking under the weight of her. It should have been simple. In and out.
Marry her. Use her as the bridge to Silverveil. Claim what was taken, take my revenge and leave her out of the mess if possible.
Yet the more I know her the more desperate the need becomes. I want to claim her……..I desperately wanted to mark her. I want her sleeping on my chest instead of a damned chair. I want her safe under my name.
I cannot mark her now, not with that bond still inside her. Not with Eron’s mark there like a curse.
The Moon Goddess never shows mercy with mate rules. Her laws are older than kingdoms. If I mark Auren while she still carries another mate’s claim, the pain will rip straight through her bones. It will burn through her nerves, it will boil her blood and she will die from it. I am ruthless, but the Goddess is worse.
I glance at the stairs as I head down.
Auren’s gaze had flickered to mine earlier. There had been tears. She had been scared but Brave in a way only broken people are.
“Are you going to take me back?” she had asked in such a tiny voice it scraped something raw inside me.
“Of course not. Why?” I had answered.
“You said you won’t mark me.”
“Yet.” I told her. “I will not mark you yet.”
Her shoulders had fallen at that one word. She never hides her emotions well. She does not understand that not marking her is the only way to keep her alive.
“Get more rest.” I told her. “It will help with the healing.”
“Are you leaving?” she asked.
“Yes. I have to see someone about the unbinding first. I will take care of the rest.”
Now as I reach the last few steps. My brothers are waiting. Garrick is leaning on the wall like he is guarding a battlefield. Jace is fiddling with a loose thread on his jacket like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
“Meeting a witch?” Garrick asks the moment he sees me. “Is that advisable right now?”
“She is the only one I know who can deal with this.” I move past them heading for the entrance.
I hated being questioned, exactly what my brothers do, questioning my every turn.
“You think she can help us?” He presses.
“Even if she cannot, she might know someone who can.”
Jace lifts a brow. “Okay but why are we going to her instead of her coming here?”
I stop and turn to glare at him and he shrugs with his trademark cocky half smile. Jace always has that cowboy air around him. Easy going. Always ready to ride into trouble just for the thrill. Yet he is the first to step between Garrick and me whenever the heat rises.
“We are not exactly going to her,” I look at them. “She is meeting us at the borders. I want to know if she can truly do what I want before I allow her inside my territory.”
Garrick’s eyes narrow. “How do you know her?”
My jaw ticks, and I let silence take over a bit.
“She helped me with something once.”
It is all I give. They know better than to pry. Jace opens his mouth, sees my face, then closes it again.
I walk ahead. The past flashes at the edges of my mind. Blood……Screams……A spell that tore through bone. A price I paid with more than money and I shove the memory down. I am not going down that lane again.
Garrick pushes forward. “I am not trying to fight you Dravik but I just have one question. Is all this necessary? This is getting more complicated than we bargained for. We can just return her and find another way.”
“I am not returning her.” My voice came out louder than I wanted. “Not now. Not ever.”
Jace whistles. “You really like her, don’t you.”
I cut my eyes at him. No way am I having a conversation with him about who I like or don't like. He puts his hand up in a dramatic motion. He even pretends to zip his lips and throw away the key.
I almost smile. Almost.
We reach the border.
Fog curls low over the ground like smoke. The forest is quiet and the moon is full and bright.
No one was there, I had told her the exact time to meet me here, no way was I waiting. I almost turned. One second the space is empty and the next Madame Agatha stands in front of me.
“Shit. I hate witches.” Jace mutters through the packlink.
She wears a purple scarf wrapped around her head, her long dress the same shade. Bangles ring along her arms, clinking with every slight movement.
“Alpha Dravik.” She gives a small bow. “Imagine my surprise when you called.”
“Madame Agatha.” I incline my head. “Thank you for accepting my invitation.”
“You call and I answer. Now tell your brothers to come out from behind those trees. They look like creeps.
“You can come out.” I mindlink them.
They both came out, coming to where I was standing and flanking me. She steps closer.
“So. What is with the cloak and dagger meeting?”
“Like I told you on the phone. It is about my bride.”
“Yes you told me about her ” Her brows rise. “But why come to me? Did you choose a demon? A human? Is that the problem?”
“No. She is a wolf. But her wolf is bound.”
She pauses. “Bound.”
“Twice.” Garrick adds.
“Twice?” She looks genuinely intrigued. “Is this why you want to meet me? You think I have something to do with that?”
“No.” I answer. “I want to know if you can unbind her or if you know someone who can.”
She begins pacing slowly. Her bangles making noises like little bells.
“It can be done.” She murmurs. “But it will not be easy.” She looks at me. “Why was she bound the first time?”
“She was Accused of killing her parents when she was thirteen.”
“And the second time?”
“When she was eighteen. She started scenting her mate and healing again. They bound her again.”
She whistles softly. “She must have strong alpha blood to fight the first binding. So you want the bindings broken so her wolf can snap the mate bond, right?”
“Not exactly but something close to that.”
She nods slowly. “There is a way. But it will cost you.”
“Give me a number.” I growl.
“Two million.”
“Shit.”
“No way.”
Both Jace and Garrick says at the same time.
“Done.” I answer without blinking. “You will have your money when it is done.”
Garrick steps in front of me. “Bro. You cannot be serious. You have already paid so much for this girl. Let us step back and rethink this.”
“Step aside.”
He hesitates and my patience snaps.
“Move your fucking body out of my face, Garrick.”
He steps aside, his jaw tight and I feel a sting of guilt but I push it away.
Madame Agatha claps her hands. “Since that is settled, lead me to her.”
We head back to the mansion. Only she and I enter the room. Auren sleeps on the bed, dead to the world, her breath soft and her hair spilling over the pillow.
Madame Agatha lifts a wrinkled hand. She does not touch her, just holds her palm over her head. Her eyes closes.
Then it snaps back open as color drains from her face.
“What is this?” Her voice cracks.
“What.” I demand.
“Where is this girl from.”
“Silverveil.”
Her entire body recoils. She backs away fast. One step and another. Then she whirls toward the door, her skirts swaying as she does. Outside the door Garrick and Jace wait, talking in hushed tones.
“What. Is it done?” Garricks asks, pushing off the wall.
I ignored him reaching for Madam Agatha’s wrists as she headed for the stairs. She jerks from my grasp.
“The deal is off.” She says as she reaches the staircase. “I cannot help you. My advice? Take her back.”
“Agatha. Stop.” I growl and block the staircase
She lifts a hand. Light flares and her body blurs…….In one breath she disappears.
The witch is gone.