10. The Drunken Mess

**Xander **

As much as I continued to live in denial, I should have known the power of attraction between the mates. Human or not, my wolf took a shine at Maeve. That means my wolf could seek out her even when she was hidden in a canopy of strangers.
I padded downstairs, near the club floor, when a powerful whiff caught my nose and every hair on my body prickled with attentiveness. The air was saturated with the thickness of alcohol and human scent, but I could still filter out everyone else. And the second I recognised the whiff, I knew there was something wrong.
"What happened?" Blaize asked as my eyes frantically scanned the crowd. Maeve has to be here; I didn’t know how but my heightened senses could not be wrong.
"I think I picked up a familiar scent," I mumbled, still browsing amidst the drunken Friday evening crowd until my eyes landed on a table near the bar.
It was Maeve.
"Fuck! Call security," I told Blaize and hustled through the mob to reach her.
Maeve was seemingly unstable, almost swaying on her feet while a lecherous man was trying to put his mouth on her lips. Every muscle in my body bunched tight and unleashing in the form of a wrathful punch. It had no measurable strength of my beast but it was powerful enough to land him on his ass and far away from her.
"Maeve! Are you okay?"
Groaning, she grabbed her head with both her hands like she was in pain. And before she could answer, her knees buckled and she fell into my arms. Torn between the rage to kill that man and the impulse to save her, my skin prickled with heat.
"I will take care of him." Out of nowhere, Blaize appeared, ushering me away while half the crowd watched the scene unfold and the other half too drunk to notice.
"I am taking her upstairs," I gritted low, although Blaize heard me just fine and crispy nodded.
Dashing away, I climbed up the stairs with the half-fainted woman in my arms and veered into my office room. Laying her on the couch, I had to force half a bottle of water down her throat.
"Go...away...sleepy," Maeve mumbled drunkenly, flailing her arms.
"Right, of course," I snickered and watched her as she curled into a comfortable position on the couch and mumbled to sleep. It wasn’t just alcohol in her blood; I could bet my ass and say that she was drugged, and the thought was enough to roil my anger.
A solid knock rapped on the door before it wrenched open and Blaize returned.
"Tell me he is dead," I seethed as he coolly strode in and locked the door.
"Well, there are witnesses, so the answer is no. But I made sure that he won’t be walking for the next two months." His dark eyes landed on Maeve and then shifted back to me. "Do we need to call a doctor?"
"I don’t think so. We just have to let her sleep in."
"Okay. There were a couple of girls inquiring about her, probably her colleagues. I told them that you took her home."
My brows shot up. "And they bought it?"
"They were pissing drunk themselves." Blaize smirked.
"Great."
Sighing, I looked at her sleeping form and draped the lap blanket over her body. Maeve and I need to have a long conversation about safety and responsible behaviour once she wakes up. I didn’t care if she wanted or not, but she won’t be able to get away from me this time.
"Can you handle the club for the rest of the night?" I asked Blaize.
"Sure. You just take care of her."
With a meaningful nod, he was about to leave when I called out again. "Blaize?"
"Yeah?"
"No need to discuss this with anyone," I cautioned.
Our eyes locked momentarily as Blaize quickly acquiesced with a nod and left.
As a pack, we were not supposed to hide anything from each other and especially a secret involving humans, but at this point, I didn’t want an uproar. I didn’t want my father to find out about Maeve and blow this out of proportion.
Bad enough I was fated to a human mate, one that has no boundaries about her safety, I didn’t need the intervention of the Council or my father at this point.
First, I needed to stake my claim on her.
Second, she needed to see my wolf.
And then…
*Fuck me, like the first two was going to be easy.*

**Maeve **

Even before I was fully awake, I could sense the unfamiliarity of the surroundings. The bed was softer, warmer and the lingering cedar wood whiff was all too different than the aroma diffuser of my bedroom.
Oh, my God.
I sprang upright, clutching the covers near my cleavage and took in the settings. The morning sunlight filtered through the off white curtains and into this grey and white bedroom with minimalist interior. It was almost the size of my apartment bedroom, only differently set.
Where was I and how the hell did I land up here?
All my questions seemed to have answered on its own when the door opened and in walked the man I had expected the least.
"Xander," I whispered in a thin, breathy voice.
He stood with his towering height and considerable weight, leaning against the doorway and a sarcastic smirk etched over on his face. And then there was his eyes, smoked out with something terrifying.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"
Fumbling with my thoughts, I looked around once again. "What am I doing here?" I asked.
"That must be a million dollar question." He pushed off the doorway and slowly sauntered closer to the bed. "Do you happen to remember anything about last night? Club Fever and sleazy stranglers?"
Just like my visions, the flashes of that man trying to force his mouth on me appeared. Oh, my god.
"What were you doing in that club?" The question flew out of me before I could censor with better words.
Xander chuckled, shaking his head. "That is your question?"
I quickly pulled the comforter tighter to me when he closed the distance. "That’s not what I mean. I was just...I don’t remember much," I admittedly guiltily.
"You can stop clutching the sheets like you are naked," he almost growled. "If I ever strip you, trust me, you’d be wide awake and willing."
Thorny trepidation clawed up my spine. I wanted to take offence in his words and yet I couldn’t.
So I feigned. "What do you mean? And why did you bring it to your bedroom?"
His face slipped into a mask of exasperated irritation. "Fates, you have some nerves to talk to me in that tone after what you have done."
I gasped incredulously. He completely disregarded that I was the victim in all this and went ahead and put all the blame on me. "I have done? How is someone else tricking me, my fault?"
"You let a complete stranger buy you a drink," he snapped. "A drink that was laced with a drug to have your senses incapacitated. That is your fault, little girl. So you better stop mouthing me off."
"Or what?" I dared. Offence was the best defence, I thought. "Did you not get the message that I don’t want anything to do with you?"
He planted his hands into his pockets as corded muscles tightened. "Oh, I got the message alright. You hate me so much that you kept mumbling my name and asking for my help in your sleep."
My heart drummed, beating hard and fast. "You are talking shit. I need to go back to my place," I managed to mumble without any fire and pushed aside the covers.
Xander immediately blocked my way with his outstretched arm. "You are not going anywhere until we are done here."
"I am done talking. Move aside," I said, daunted by the towering height.
"You are far from done here." His calm voice was infused in steel. "Even for a second if I believe your lie that you want nothing from me, what were you doing with a bloody stranger? Maeve, you need to stop putting yourself at risk."
"It doesn’t concern you," I countered and added daringly. "Move aside or I swear, I will scream and then report to the apartment authorities."
Xander cast an emotionless look like his face was set in stone and carved in marble yet it was his eyes that held all the contempt
"I see that my words are not being very effective," he sighed. "Very well, then."
He calmly sat on the edge of the bed, blocking my way and yanked me by the elbow. In a flash I was sprawled over his hard knees and before I could even get a word of protest out, a resounding swat cracked over my derrière.
*Did he just smack my ass?*