Chapter 57 Through the Archway
❀ Maeve ❀
He moved a hand from my waist to cup my face, his expression earnest.
I cut him off before he could speak.
“You marked me. Without my permission, if you recall. But I accepted it in stride.”
Tension thrummed through him. “Every action I take is meant to protect us.”
Brushing his arms off, I took a step back. I crossed my arms, pacing.
My mind whirled, panic robbing me of breath.
“Tell me one thing honestly,” I said harshly.
“Anything.”
“Am I really your bride? This is all so convenient, isn’t it? You discover my importance to the pack, you mark and string me along, you find my mother right when I tell you I’ve found a lead. And now…” I scoffed. “I can’t mark you because… drum roll… Drusilla!”
I was panting by the time I finished, my face hot from holding back the worst of my anger.
“Answer me,” I urged. “It’s Drusilla, isn’t it? The reason I can’t mark you. I’m starting to suspect there’s something you’re not telling me about your sire ‘bond’ with her.”
He looked appalled at the suggestion.
“Maeve, hear me. Drusilla, the regent, is desperate to sit on that throne. She will cut through anything, and anyone. She is the one being who could defeat me in a fight. I will not risk you that way.”
“Then how long must I wait, Nikolai?” I stubbornly blinked my tears back. “Bastian won’t mark me, and I can’t mark you. Yet I carry your mark, and he carries mine. I’m torn. Not in my mind, but in my heart. Can’t you see that?”
His jaw clenched, and he nodded slowly, resolute.
“Once I find Graves, I’ll be free. I’ll be yours to mark. Yours to love. I swear this.”
“Don’t lie to me. Or trick me…”
He pressed his forehead to mine, breaths heavy. “Never. I would never.”
“Then let’s end that mortal,” I spat fiercely.
Nikolai looked taken aback by my intensity, but he had no idea how the actions of this Maverick Graves had affected my life.
First, he formulated a way to create the amulet without Queen Lyssa’s consent, plaguing the alpha and, by extension, my mate, Bastian.
He cursed Blackbridge and Ironwolf with ferals and his impending war, endangering myself and my mother.
Lastly, the coward kept Veilmoor politics at a standstill, forcing an obligation on Nikolai.
I’d kill him myself if I got the chance.
“You should get rest,” Nikolai said.
“You won’t leave us?” When he didn’t respond, I added, “Since you won’t trace us out of here, you can’t set out to hunt Graves without us.”
“I won’t leave,” he assured me.
With reverent kisses on my face and a hug so deep I almost got lost in it, he walked me back to Tammy.
The girl had slept off, her eyes flitting wildly behind her lids.
Nikolai watched me get under the bedding, glinting eyes locked on mine in the dimly lit cave.
The last thing I saw before I slumbered was a menacing vampire I knew would give his life for mine.
❀ ❦ ❀ ❦ ❀ ❦ ❀
I roused to Nikolai’s vehement voice.
“Absolutely not,” he growled.
Turning onto my side, my lids peeled open to see Nikolai in the same spot he’d been before I’d slept.
Had he watched over us the entire night?
Tammy stood before him, her back to me.
Her shoulders visibly tensed. “If you don’t do it, I’ll throw myself at the ferals and get it that way!”
“Why should I care?”
Tammy gasped. “I helped you,” she hissed. “Without me, you would have never known the labs were here!”
“And you have my thanks. I will not bite you, Tammy. You have much to enjoy as a human, take my word for it.”
“That’s like when rich people say ‘money isn’t happiness.’ Well, guess what? I want it regardless!”
Nikolai rolled his eyes so hard I smirked, enjoying his irritation.
Then he fixed her with a hard stare. “No.”
“Fine. I’ll do it. You’ll see. Then you’ll be sorry.”
“I doubt that,” he said dryly.
I chose that moment to dramatically stretch. Nikolai’s eyes immediately flitted to me. He crossed the distance in two strides, lowering himself to my height on the floor.
“Are you rested?” His thumb softly brushed my chin.
I loved that he couldn’t stop touching me.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I have… needs,” Tammy spoke up.
Nikolai frowned. I internally facepalmed at her bluntness.
“How bad?” I asked her.
The grimace she made betrayed her before she spoke. “Really bad.”
Nikolai’s eyes shot wide as he finally caught up with the conversation. I nearly laughed.
“Don’t go too far.”
“I won’t. I hear water dripping somewhere close, that’s where I’ll be!” she yelled as she zoomed away, skirts rustling.
Nikolai sighed, relieved to be free of her.
“I guess that’s one of the many blessings of humanity you pointed out she’ll miss?”
He growled in distaste. “The girl is too eager to transform. It’s no wonder she ended up in Graves’s clutches.”
“Don’t say that,” I chided. “For every handful of people who willingly go to him, tenfold are forced.”
“You’re right. You’re right.”
He sank to one knee, his large frame tipping toward me. His gaze locked on my lips, intent.
I leaned back shyly, turning my face to the side. “What are you doing?”
“Your breath doesn’t bother me. I love everything that comes with you,” he teased.
“Sure, you can say that because you don’t eat—”
“Uhmmm… you guys might want to see this!” Tammy yelled, her voice dampened by distance and rock.
She sounded unnerved, so I hurried to my feet. I absentmindedly patted my dress to feel my dagger and followed Nikolai out of the cave room.
We followed the soft sound of trickling water, the way lit by the harsh afternoon sun spearing through tiny cracks in the cave ceiling.
Nikolai drew up the hood of his cloak and didn’t dodge the rays.
That’s one powerful cloak.
Finally, we stepped into a wider adjoining cutout, this one carved by nature, not man.
Tammy stood at the edge of a small cliff, hands pressed to her chest as she peered down.
“What is it?” My voice echoed, bouncing off the far walls.
She just pointed, her hand trembling.
Nikolai and I walked to the edge.
The precipice was only a few feet deep, the silent stream flowing so still it looked like glass.
Except around a bloated lump that had me going just as still.
A body.
A dead feral vampire.
I exhaled a shaky breath as I realized bodies were scattered all around the ground, the number increasing toward an arched entryway.
“That’s one of the labs,” Nikolai said, voice cold. “I don’t sense any living ferals, but death is thick here. We must stay on alert.”
Of course it was. Not every attempt at transforming worked, even with wolves.
More died than changed into immortals, making the process risky.
Sweat dotted my upper lip. I wiped it away. I wasn’t afraid, just disturbed, but my body reacted anyway.
My heart thundered in my chest.
Nikolai looked at me, no doubt hearing my accelerated heartbeat.
“I won’t let any harm come to you. Know this.”
I nodded.
“And me?” Tammy asked from his other side.
Her need for reassurance made my lips curl.
“Yes, Tammy,” he said gruffly.
Tammy sighed with obvious relief.
But when I looked at Nikolai, I caught the emotion he tried to hide.
He was debating tracing us away from here, weighing the risk of taking us along on this mission. But his fear of losing me to Bastian wouldn’t let him.
His face hardened, a decision clearly made.
I shifted my gaze back to the entrance of the lab.
Rolling my shoulders back, I flexed my claws and prepared for the adventure.
Because I knew—
Nikolai would die before he ever let me go.