Chapter 61 Before you snap... I love you
She punctuated every word with a punch to my back.
“I love you, Maleene,” I answered. The way I always did. This wasn’t the first time she proclaimed she hated me. But for Mal, love and hate were close companions.
She shrieked again, and her nails pierced my back like tiny spears. “Keep going, Mal. It makes my cock hard.” I continued up the stairs.
She screamed with frustration and pounded on my back, kicking her feet. “You’re a worthless piece of shit, and I’d be better off mated to a clownfish. At least he could follow directions.”
I rolled my eyes at her and entered the apartment, kicking the broken door as shut as it could go behind me.
I went straight to the bedroom and tossed her onto the bed. Her shackles were still in their place on the headboard. She never removed them. Maleene fought me tooth and nail in a way she hadn’t done in thousands of years, truly resisting my control over her, but once I clasped the first one on her wrist, the other was easy. She kicked and screamed, but she couldn’t overpower me.
“Get it out of your system.”
She snarled like a rabid animal. “I’ll fuck every creature.”
“I’ll kill every creature.” I grabbed the pillows to rearrange behind her back. Calming her down was going to take a while. Might as well make her comfortable. She tried to headbutt me, but I grabbed her neck, pinning her to the headboard. “Let me give you some time to cool off.”
I shut the bedroom door behind me, prepared to sleep on the couch after I fixed all the fucking damage she did to the compound.
Some things never change indeed.
I was painting the newly caulked wall when Balthazar came downstairs. “She’s still shrieking.”
“You think I can’t hear her?” I snorted. “That’s why our apartment is made out of pure concrete.”
I couldn’t tell you how many homes she destroyed, just to turn around and blame me for the damage she did. It was thanks to her I knew so much about home repairs.
“You know I can’t intervene, but—”
“Save it.” I tossed the paintbrush into the empty tray. “She’ll run out of gas soon. I can hear it in her voice.”
“It’s making some people concerned for her safety,” he finished anyway.
In the past, no one would have dared to question how I cared for her. Some women needed bondage. Some women needed cuddles and sweet words. We all dealt with our mates with what was best for them.
“Balthazar, I respect you.” A warning growl vibrated in my chest. “But you’re talking about my mate.”
“Some don’t believe you are mates anymore.” “You know that’s not true.”
“I haven’t seen any broken bonds before. Do I know that?” He eyed me warily, calculating how to deal with me if I attacked him.
“I’ve seen it happen a few times. The reason it doesn’t happen more is because the females usually don’t survive long enough.” I took a deep breath, accepting his admission that he was unsure of what the situation was. “It’s her side that’s broken. Not mine.”
He nodded his understanding. “I’ll deal with the complaints.” “From the unmated ancients and primordials, I assume.”
He didn’t respond to that accusation.
“We’ll see what they think when they’ve got their own mate to deal with.”
That got a chuckle out of him. “Most of us can’t handle a Maleene.”
“You can.” I grabbed the paint tray and toolbox to put up. I was certain he had to put Mal in her place a time or two while I was gone.
“Is that your way of telling me I’m in for a fight?” He smiled as he followed me.
“I’m certain of it. Some sweet, passive woman would bore you, just like the endless string of sweet paramours you have.” I lifted my eyebrow.
“Fair enough,” he grunted, but his body grew tense. A low growl grew in his chest.
There wasn’t even the smallest hint of a female’s desire on him. He wasn’t entertaining any paramours. “You found her.”
His tight swallow said more than his sudden silence did. He was barely hanging on to that tight control that wasn’t natural for a beast as young as him. Well, that wasn’t fair. He was likely a few million years old by now, but he managed to rally beasts in a way that had never been done before. Keeping all of us under wraps and functioning as a community instead of dog eat dog. I knew beasts who were billions of years old that couldn’t do that.
“And you don’t have her.”
“I can’t,” he confessed through gritted teeth.
“I always knew your mate would challenge you in ways you weren’t ready for, but this isn’t quite what I meant.”
He laughed like a man on the edge of his sanity snapping.
“How long?” How long had he known who his mate was and hadn’t claimed her?
“Fourteen years.”
“Fourteen years!?” What was wrong with this wyre?
“At first, she was a baby. She didn’t need a primordial god killer hovering over her shoulder before she even figured out who she was. She was only fifteen when I realized who she was.”
That was harsh. A lot of beasts hung back until their mate was older. Finding them right at the cusp of blossoming was a difficult place to be. Especially for us older ones. How do you stand beside someone who was a blank slate without tainting their experience?
“But then?”
“Then things kept getting more complicated.” “Uncomplicate it. Before you snap.”