Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
PRINCE REED, HEIR OF THE MAIDEN PACK.
Iwatch her, spread out across the green sheets, her gold hair in little waves across the pillows as she breathes in and out.
I nearly lost her. The poison was designed to kill, and if she wasn’t a creature of oblivion, with the ability to heal by taking blood, she would have died.
My magic wouldn’t have saved her; no one’s magic would have been able to stop her heart from going still and her blood burning her to death like intended.
She would have died, painfully, and the image of her in my arms like that will never go away.
Even now, her veins glow red under her skin, far less bright than before, and she is so pale.
There’s a small tube connected to her hand, pumping healing potions and blood from Orion and me to help her recover, as she isn’t strong enough to feed.
I have hardly moved in the last two days while she has slept and recovered.
Thankfully, this pack is well known for its healers, and Orion has been checking over their work every day while healing her himself to the point of exhaustion.
None of us have left this room or taken our eyes off her.
She has to wake up. We’ve eaten in here and shared the same bathroom in turns so that she’s never alone, because now no one in this pack, or any of our packs, can be trusted.
Orion has only left a few times—to investigate this incident and to speak to his mother and update her on Meredith’s condition while we are guests in her pack.
As much as I’m sure he doesn’t want his mother here, the last thing Alpha Gaia wants is for Meredith to die in this court and bring down the anger of the fourth pack onto her land.
She might be a bitch, but she is smart, and any smart person would not like the death of a guest like Meredith on her hands.
It’s the single reason I don’t believe she has anything to do with it.
The Crone alpha is a monster and an evil fuckhead, but he likes to see the people he kills at the end of their life.
My mother would stoop to this level, but drowning is more her style than poison.
Blackfire sits at the foot of the bed, staring at his wife, willing her to wake.
His wife, but she is my… “I’ll be back,” I tell him before walking to the bathroom, shutting the door behind me.
I lean on the cabinet, staring into the huge mirror at my own reflection, before I start pulling up my shirt.
I tilt, looking at the huge mark that runs all the way down my back.
It looks like a hurricane made of shadows and water, ink made of swirls and beautiful designs.
I’ve always heard that fated mate bonds were the most beautiful, that men are the only ones marked, and now I know it’s true.
Meredith Duskmore is my fated mate. Destined for me. Mine.
The moment I felt her heart slowing, the bond clicked. The bond slammed into place for both of us. Or at least for me. I don’t know if she’ll feel it until she’s awake, and I’m not sure we can communicate through our minds until we are more than this.
Fated mate bonds usually appear for people in long-term relationships…
or at least that’s what I’ve heard. They are so rare, so precious, and it won’t be long before everyone knows.
Our scents will mix, and anyone in a mile of Meredith will know she belongs to me.
I suspect I have five months, just less than half a year before that happens.
It all makes sense now—my obsession with her from the very beginning.
Her pull over me. The way that nothing else mattered except keeping her safe.
The fact that I have been, quite simply, in love with her from the minute she walked into the guardian selection ceremony.
I didn’t even know her name, and I was already in love with her.
I flush the toilet and wash my hands to make it sound like I was doing something in here, rather than internally unravelling the biggest moment in my life, before going back out to my mate.
A marriage mark between her and Blackfire is nothing compared to us now.
I know he is going to hate it, and the thought makes my lips twitch.
I won, motherfucker. She’s mine.
A small voice echoes through the room. Mere.
I’m across the room in a second as she wakes up slowly, parting her dry lips.
I quickly fill a glass of water and hand it to her, helping her drink before Orion lifts her to sit up.
She looks tired—dark circles linger underneath her eyes despite sleeping two days—and she is still so pale.
She is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, even sick.
What I’d do to sink my hand into that gold hair and pull her to me, taste her.
Taste what is designed and fated for me.
I push the thoughts away. She’s sick. My wolf paces up and down in my head, itching for me to tell her about the fated mate mark, but I know Meredith.
I saw how frightened she was about the marriage mark with Blackfire—another permanent thing taken without her permission.
It won’t go well if I tell her everything now.
I need her to trust me more first. To build something more than what we had in the Folkland. That was just the start.
It’s one more secret to add to the fucked-up list I’ve been making these past few months.
The vow to my mother lingers on my hip, reminding me what I traded in order for my pack to respect and leave Meredith alone.
That’s how I know my pack are not the ones who poisoned her.
My mother wants something from me, and she won’t risk losing her most profitable son.
“What happened?” Meredith asks, pulling me back to the present.
“Someone shot you with an arrow in the ballroom. Into your neck—small, but full of poison,” Blackfire explains. “It was from my court’s arsenal from the war. There was no one from my court invited to that ballroom, but Orion is questioning everyone who was there.”
“My mother is being very firm about making sure no one leaves until they are questioned.” Orion looks at Blackfire. “Your cousin attended for a short time with a message from your uncle to my alpha. He was questioned and checked before he left.”
“He’s a sick bastard, but why would he bother?” Blackfire grunts. “I doubt it was him.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t Gaia? She doesn’t like me here,” she asks Orion. Ah, so she has got to know the alpha, then.
“She may not want you here, but she sure as fuck doesn’t want someone else taking your life.
She is angry enough that I don’t suspect her.
” He shrugs. “There are easier and more painful ways to kill someone here, and she wouldn’t need an arrow.
We are the earth pack and specialise in flowers…
many poisonous. It’s how the healers got these potions for you. They also specialise in antidotes.”
Zyran steps forward. “I will take her back to Void City.” A sharp message for us. The way he looks at Meredith has my back straightening. “Your brother has sent a message—he needs you to come urgently. We have good healers there too. They’ll aid your recovery and I can fly you back.”
“Could you carry two of us?” she softly asks.
He looks around at all of us with thinly veiled disdain. “If you wish to take one of these wolves, I will get a shadow portal. It will take a day or two.”
She shakes her head. “No, for Illyia. I don’t think she’s safe here, and she doesn’t know how to fight.
I can’t keep losing friends, and Illyia is human.
I think my brother might agree to her having some training, and he will keep her safe there.
” No one responds right away. I know this is her trauma over losing Tannith, and Illyia seems dead set on being at her side to help.
She might not leave. Meredith realises this, though.
“If she wants to go, of course. I’ll ask her. ”
“Illyia has been coming in and out every couple of hours to check on you,” Zyran informs her. “She has also managed to get the cooks making cakes and different flavoured chocolates for when you’re well enough. She remembered you loved those.”
Her face lights up. I really need to buy my woman an entire bakery of cakes and a city of chocolate.
She looks at Zyran with something like love, a look I want.
Somehow, this monster has found his way into her life.
I don’t like or trust him, but if she’s determined to keep her gargoyle around, then fine.
I do wonder if I could lock him in a cage, though.
“It’s good to see you well, Mere.” I move to her side. “I should have protected you. I’m sorry I didn’t.”
“You couldn’t have known, Reed. But you saved me. Thank you.” She smiles faintly before her cheeks brighten. “I’m also sorry I bit you.”
“Bite me next time.” Blackfire’s voice is laced with jealousy.
“I taste better than these two,” Orion adds in, just as jealous.
She shakes her head, a smile on her lips. “I think I’m going to get some more sleep.” She looks over at me. “Reed, will you stay?”
Mere offers me her hand, and I don’t even hesitate, linking my fingers with hers and sitting on the edge of the bed.
I’d stay here for a lifetime if that’s what she asked of me. “I’m never leaving you.”