17. It Would Just End Badly

**XANDER**

I did not intend to say it so casually or so quickly, but before I could even structure the words, it spilled out of me involuntarily. Bad enough, Maeve watched me exploding out of my skin in the form of a wolf that I have now burdened her with another secret.
“I am sorry…WHAT?” Mouth agape, she stared at me as if she had just been shocked.
“A mate,” I echoed slowly and much more carefully. “A partner for life. It’s a gift from the Moon Goddess.”
She shook her head in disbelief—an action she has been repeating quite often now. And so was I.
“Yeah, well, your Moon Goddess didn’t exactly notify me on twitter when she decided to gift-wrap me and sent it to you,” she sneered. “Do you honestly want me to believe this madness?”
*How do I make her understand?*
Raking a hand through my hair, I waited for the restlessness to simmer down. I needed to shift as badly as a human needed his next breath. The skin was making me claustrophobic, rippling beneath the surface.
“Xander,” her honey-like voice cut through my trail of thoughts as I looked up. “I want to go home. I have heard enough now.”
“Maeve, please try and understand that it is not possible,” I implored on a choking tone. “I didn’t want it to happen. I mean, a human mate, really? I have no clue why the Goddess thought it could have been a good idea for me.”
As soon as I said it, I realized my mistake. Maeve looked a little pale and offended, but she quickly schooled her features. “Yes, I am not exactly your type. So, please just let me go.”
I couldn’t help but smile sadly at that. If I actually had a type, it would be exactly someone like you. And someday, I might just tell her that.
She was, after all, my Luna. At the mere thought of it, my wolf settled down, and my nerves felt calmer than before.
“I can’t do that,” I told her. “In our world, dishonoring the Goddess is a sin.” Which meant she was stuck with me for better or worse.
“Well, in our world, it is called coercion,” she snarled, yanking at her wrist again. “A relationship doesn’t exactly start with, ‘hey, I am your mate. Let’s have sex’.” Maeve paled as soon as she said it and quickly amended. “I am sorry. I should not have been so crude.”
Needing to divert this hostile conversation, I slowly rose from the bed and stood with my hands tucked into the pockets. “You need to eat and drink something. It is almost noon.”
“Noon?” Her eyes flew towards the window where the sunlight was trying to seep through the curtains that Blaize had already drawn. “How many hours have I been asleep?” she cluelessly inquired.
“You slept through the entire morning.”
“I couldn’t…I…oh, my god,” Maeve exclaimed in horror. “Did you drug me up and then handcuffed me?”
I might have been an animal, but she was my fucking mate.
“No,” I immediately protested. “I would never do that to my mate. And if I had drugged you, then you would have woken up with one hell of a headache. Do you have a headache?” I countered.
“No,” she said, although finding it hard to believe me. “Then, how did I sleep for so long?”
“I called the Asa (healer) of our pack and asked for a sleeping herb,” I informed her. “It is just a medicine, nothing harmful.”
“I should call the cops on you,” she threatened. “Maybe I will. Just as soon as I am out of these nasty cuffs.”
“Maeve, this is for your own good.”
As expected, her expressions turned livid. “You incapacitated me for my own good? Well, that’s rich.”
I was almost sure that I wouldn’t win this conversation and would only make it worse than it already was. Maeve was not supposed to find out things in this way, and now that she did, there was no going back. It could not be undone. “Let me see what the kitchen has,” Recoiling, I was about to turn around and leave the room when she called out.
“No, I want to go home. I don’t want to stay here even for one more second. You either have to kill me or let me go.”
“Maeve, I—”
Blaize appeared behind me, carrying a small tray of food and water as he cut into the conversation. “Xan, I know I am interrupting…” his glance flickered to Maeve and then back to me. “But with your permission, may I have a word with her?”
“Permission?” Maeve barked a mocking laugh. “Who is he to give the permission?”
Blaize acted as if he hadn’t heard her speak. “I am not asking as your future beta, I am asking as your brother. Please?”
We were hot-blooded males with possessiveness coursing through our veins. The very thought of another man with Maeve…it was torture. But then, it was none other than Blaize. And I did have that trust in him.
I stiffened up a little but finally managed to nod. “Okay.”

**MAEVE**

What is with this guy!
Xander tensed, breathing through his flared nostrils and walked out of the room as his brother, Blaize, offered a small smile before plopping the tray beside the bed. I eyed the contents and then at him.
“With permission?” I glared.
He didn’t sit on the bed and instead chose to stand at the healthy distance. “Xander is going to be the next Alpha of our pack,” he explained. “We have to abide by his rules and dictates to maintain the balance.”
Ugh. I could not help but snort. It felt like they lived in a society, dating back to two hundred years ago.
But Blaize went on. “And with the blessings of the Goddess, you will be the Luna.”
I had to blink thrice to get hold of that term.
“Are you all lunatics?”
His face broke into a laugh. “Fates, you have some sense of humor.” He shook his head slowly. “Luna means the wife of an alpha; the queen of the pack.”
*Whatever happened to dating?*
“No, thank you so much.” My face cringed. “I think I will pass.”
Blaize flinched as if he was in pain, and his eyes turned helpless and sad. “Please, heed my request. Do not reject your mate until you know what you are doing,” he implored. “For us, the wolves, the rejection of a mate is as painful as death. Only you don’t die and suffer endlessly. Please do not do anything to break his heart.”
“I don’t understand…”
He took in a heaving breath before responding. “When a mate vocally rejects another, the bond between them forcefully snaps. Imagine, if a human heart is ripped out of someone’s chest while he is breathing and alive. The pain is as intense as that. And no, I am not being dramatic about it.”
“Okay,” I drawled, unable to process most of it. It felt like my entire life turned upside down, and the symmetry was lost forever. “But I can’t…I can’t just…I need time. And most importantly, I need space.”
“I can spare this room for you,” Blaize offered, almost hopeful. “I mean…”
“No, that’s not enough,” I cut him off. “If you truly want me to give this a shot, that I am your brother’s true and divine chosen mate or whatever, you need to give me the time. I am a human being, not a wolf or a machine. I don’t function that way.”
“What do you exactly want?”
“For starters, I need to go home and then get on with my life,” I repeated for the millionth time today. “And then I will think this through. My head is still reeling with the images from last night and then with all the information from this morning.”
“Okay.”
“Okay what?” I urged. “You will let me go?”
“Yes,” a rasping voice floated in. Blaize and I turned our heads towards the door where Xander was standing. If his stiff demeanor was any indication, I would say it was tough to make that call.
“Thank you,” I mumbled, finally breathing a sigh that I would be escaping this.
“But please, you can’t disclose whatever you saw. “Or even journal it down—online or on paper,” he warned gravely.
“And if I do, you’d have to kill me, right?” I chanced, knowing the weight of every word I spoke just now.
A fleeting dread and pain reflected in his eyes as I caught the iridescent flame in his orbs. Xander quickly blinked it away and stalked closer. Fishing out a key, he leaned down to unlock my wrist and gently rubbed his thumb over the reddish marks. “Yes,” he whispered hoarsely and then looked into my eyes. “But it would kill me too, Maeve.”
A small pang shot through my heart when he said those words. His voice was saturated with sincerity, and for the first time since last night, I felt bad for him.
I felt bad because I would escape before he would find out.
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***(*) Asa – The healer(s) in the werewolf pack.
Hey guys. I will write down a proper terminology list and character catalog and post it before the first chapter (free to access to all) so that anytime you forget a term, you can see it as a reference. Also, a lot of you are asking for my update schedule. It’s SEVEN days a week i.e., so, every day you get a new chapter.***