Chapter 34 A Chance for a Lie
❀ Maeve ❀
I’d never been to the greenhouse stream during the day. I’d thought the view at night was magical, but it was a completely different experience under the sun.
Bastian strode right to the edge, his body strung, arms tight around me.
Sunlight broke through branches in warm, golden rays, catching the moving water until it glistened. It was shallow in most places, but deepened in a clear pool where the current had carved the earth away.
The moss was a vivid green, the stepping stones stark and grey under the surface.
“It’s so… beautiful,” distracted from my mate’s searing heat, I gazed at the softly flowing stream.
“It is.” Bastian agreed gruffly.
But when I looked up at him, he was looking down at me.
Sand glittered in his black hair, earth smeared his face, but it did nothing to undermine his utter masculinity.
Sunlight met his eyes like gold meeting diamonds. He looked so handsome he stole my breath. And just like that, guilt stung my chest.
“Bastian…” I began—
He tossed me.
“Aaah!”
My body sank like a boulder, air bubbles rushing around my face. I panicked, I couldn’t swim!
The water was clear so I knew which way was up, but for some reason, my frantic paddling drove me deeper rather than up.
Why wasn’t he saving me? Had he brought me out here to drown?
Jokes on him. I’m immortal now, and short of a beheading, nothing else could kill me.
Water began to seep into my lungs just as I gained an inch towards the surface. Muscles aching, lungs burning, a horrid thought blasted in my mind.
I may not die, but I’d drown and come back to life over and over again.
My last breath choked out of me. Just as darkness closed in, something clenched around my waist, dragging me up to the light.
I was dropped against the shore, hot stones digging into my back.
I coughed violently, sputtering and heaving. The taste of water in my lungs was a horrible, horrible experience.
“You asshole!” I yelled. Tears threatened, but my fists clenched hard enough to suppress it.
Eyes finally clear, I glared, but he’d already turned away. Waist deep in the pool, Bastian languidly pulled his soaked shirt off.
Oh gods.
Muscles rippled, drops of water rolling between dips of that wide back that tapered into his small waist.
The instinct roared.
Mine!
I watched him dip his head, rising to whip water out of it. My mind scrambled.
I had to get Bastian to claim me as soon as possible. He’d think I was leading him on a hunt to Nikolai in Blackbridge, meanwhile I’d use his wolf and strength to find my mother.
Bastian wanted Nikolai, Nikolai wanted my participation in his vampiric plans, I wanted my mother and our safety.
May the best player win.
Following his lead, I shed my own shirt as well, sighing at the reduced weight from wet fabric.
Leaving the sheer bralette on, I pulled my pants off, laying it to dry on the dry bank.
“You really shouldn’t be treating an ally this way.” I grumbled.
A scoff. “Ally…”
“Yes.” I walked in the knee deep water toward him, avoiding the deep pool. “We’re both after the same thing. The sooner we come to an agreement the better. Not this… attitude.”
“And what would you be getting out of it? My mark? One was not good enough for you?” His eyes slitted.
I took a deep breath. This had to work. I had no other choice.
“My mother.”
He stilled at that, no doubt just remembering I had a mother I should’ve brought to IronWolf. The other ‘rogue’.
“What of her?”
“The vampire has her. That’s how he threatened me, forcing a mark on me as a message.”
The more I lied, the more I wondered. Had Nikolai kept my mothers location secret from me on purpose, so I’d always have a reason to seek him out?
I bristled at the thought.
Bastian bristled alongside me. “And you’re just telling me now?”
“I couldn’t trust you! You hated me from the very beginning just because of a bite scar. How was I to predict your reaction?”
“I’m your mate.” He deadpanned.
“Yet you’ve threatened to murder me, repeatedly. Obviously I tried to fix my problems myself. But now that our interests are aligned, I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”
“I know everything there is,” he sneered suddenly, advancing on me. “You fucked the leech, probably feel for him. Then he seized on the opportunity of you being my mate to use you.”
Oh. When he put it like that… my lies and reality were starting to blur.
Had Nikolai planned it all?
I shook my head to clear doubts.
“Okay, assuming that’s true, all knowing one…” I rolled my eyes even as my heart clenched. “Will you take him down or not?”
Bastian tipped my chin up with a sharp claw, saying lazily, “I should reject you for this.”
Nikolai’s cave flashed before my eyes, I crossed my arms with mock confidence even as my pulse stuttered.
“But you won’t.”
His lips curved. “You reapplied those perfumed oils, and you’re passing off his mark as mine. Of course I won’t reject you.”
That sharp claw slid over my throat, down my chest, causing shivers on my skin.
His tone turned reflective. “I know just how important it is to you to be in this pack. The fact you’re still here, means your leech lover will not accommodate you.”
His claw dipped into my bralette, the fabric started to rip, to give way.
“So I’ll have his head for the disrespect, and only then, will I turn my attention to punish you.” He ended in a whisper.
My bralette snapped in front, the two ends falling to bar my breasts. The heat of the sun and the cool air from the stream took turns stiffening my peaks.
I held my breath, from both his promise, and his heated gaze.
“You’ve found yourself in the middle of some serious trouble, Maeve of Blackbridge.” He muttered.
He cupped my breast with a firm hand. My back arched, chasing more of his rough palm.
Mark me, my wolf whined.
If he completed that crucial step, I’d be even more secure with the bond. With a boldness I did not feel, I reached for his waist.
Eyes sparkling, he fondled me, trapping a nipple between his fingers. My heart fluttered, my gaze locked on his exquisite form.
Deep down, I craved a real connection with my mate. I wanted to know what made him tick, if he could come to love me. Come to crave me like I did him.
“Your wolf hounds mine for a claiming bite.” He breathed, muscles taut yet soft under my touch. “Know this, I will never.”
My heart sank, my gaze fluttering down.
I debated telling him I was Nikolai’s Bride, but if even I doubted it, how would I convince him that his mortal enemy was one of my two fated mates?
A rogue mated to two strapping, royal males sounded like comedy to even my own ears. Nikolai had sold me a dream, and I’d greedily fallen for it.
Mood soured, I dropped my hand, stepping back from bastian.
“What’s this?” He seethed, irritated. “You’d readily lie with the vampire, but not with your own mate?”
Maybe because the vampire had a sweeter tongue. Literally.
I raised my chin, my eyes narrowed. “Cruel doesn’t get me going.”
Inside, my heart was breaking. And I had no one to confide in.
Bastian growled, his hands gripping my shoulders. His lips claimed mine roughly, making me accidentally nip his lips with my fang.
He didn’t pull back, but groaned into the kiss, one hand pressing me against him as if to prevent escape.
Heart churning, I ran my fingers through his hair, surrendering. Tears spilled down my cheeks as different emotions fought within me.
“You burn me up. And yet, I can’t bring myself to send you away!” He muttered against my lips.
Claws extending, my wolf whined for more contact, more of him, for his bite. But I knew he wasn’t ready.
I whimpered back. “Then maybe you should get to know me, cause I’m not going anywhere, Bastian. You’re mine.”
I could tell he liked that, and if he would just surrender more, maybe we’d have a chance.
But already, I felt him pulling away, his lips firming. I mourned the loss, peering into his sunflecked eyes for any hint of his feelings.
I wasn’t delusional to think this was fair on him. Even if I wasn’t sure myself, even if Nikolai and I had some fated connection, I was still hurting Bastian.
“I’ll never trust you, until the leech is dead by my own hands, Maeve.” He cupped my check, vulnerability bleeding through. “We’ll find your mother, and then, maybe you’ll show me if it’s worth getting to know you.”
My heart swelled. He was giving me a chance despite my unfairness toward him.
My gaze ran over his washed face, kiss swollen lips and determined expression.
I nodded, even though I had zero intentions of leading him to Nikolai. At least not yet.
“I appreciate this. Thank you so much, Bastian.”
He peered down at me with conviction. A wolf on a blood trail. I shivered imagining just what would ensue if they both crossed paths.
A battle between a Crimson vampire and a Lycan would be epic. Deadly.
He’d just parted his lips to speak when a thunderous roar spilt the air.
The branches trembled. Even the stream wavered, tremors running across the surface.
Ice seized my heart.
Were we under attack?
Bastian had frozen, but then he glanced at me, his icy eyes glowing with the emergence of his wolf. At that moment I realized I’d never seen his wolf form.
He pulled his pants on in a blur. “Stay here! Don’t go near the fortress under any circumstance!”
Stay here?
Heart thudding, my eyes flitted around the clearing just as another roar shook the earth.