49. Back To The Land Of The Living

**MAEVE**

“What kind of a deal?”
She nodded carefully, locking her magnificent gaze with mine. “In exchange for your life and the life of your loved one, Xander, you will help me escape this limbo between heaven and hell. You will be the one to bring me back to the land of the living.”
It wasn’t that I did not know of her intentions, but the mere utterance palpitated my heart beat.
I shook my head vehemently. “That would cost me my life. You want me to kill myself in order to bring you back?”
Ametrine snorted, barking a dry laugh. “Of course not, silly girl. Your blood and cooperation are all I need for a witch to perform the special magic. And with the little help from a vampire and a wolf.”
“A vampire?” My mind spun. “Vampires are extinct.”
She laughed again, only in a. Higher octave. “That’s what the world thinks.” Her smiling eyes went around as she strode through the dreamland of her mind’s creation. “As I said, the vampires and the wolves are my creations, my beasts, and nobody could obliterate them as long as I survive. Not even my sweet, darling sister.”
Fear clawed around my throat and constricted my voice. Ametrine, unlike her sister, was pure evil. The unfortunate death of her family has obliterated every speck of emotion from her body, and the betrayal of her sister only worsened the pain. She was incompletely incapable of healing.
But I could not let the dread show. Tilting my chin, I dared, “Why should I help you anyway? As long as you had lived in the land of living, you have done nothing but murder innocent people. The entire village, including women and children? There is no way I am helping you to commit mass murders!”
Even though I was stuck in her imagination and had nowhere to go, I stomped ahead of her before a hand grabbed my elbow and halted my steps.
“If you have been born with power similar to me and my sister,” she snarled in distaste, and her eyes narrowed in slits. “So, I would not peg you for a stupid woman. But there’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity, Maeve. Think about your life very carefully.”
“You can’t kill me,” I braved, feigning courage. “I know it, or you would have done that anyway if you had the power. So, Ametrine, you need me more than I need you.”
A slow smirk curved at the corner of her lips as her hand loosened its grip. “Maybe, I can’t kill you,” she shrugged. “…but that does not stop me from killing the ones you love. I created them, so I have every power to abolish them from the face of the earth should need be.”
A burst of fear and anger exploded within me. “You will do no such thing, Ametrine!” I barked.
“Then don’t tempt me, Maeve!” she threatened back but quickly reined in her infamous temper. “I am going to return to the land of the living one way or the other. So, you have a choice to make. You can either help me and give the shifter wolves the peace for a lifetime. Or you can make an enemy out of me and face the consequences. The choice is yours.”
There was no choice but a farce. Ametrine has ambushed me into her world with god-knows how, but her intentions were as clear as day. She demanded nothing but fierce allegiance in helping her undo the stability that her sister had created.
“I need time,” I stuttered. “I can’t think of anything right now.”
She thought for a moment and then nodded, even though her face was set in harsh lines. It was evident that she was going to accept nothing but a positive response. “““You are granted. You have roughly around three weeks to make up your mind and then I would make the inevitable happen anyway.”
Three weeks? No way.
“How will I…”
“Contact me?” she finished for me, exhaling a deep breath. “I am afraid that this is the first and last time I will be able to pull you into my realm. But I will have my eyes on you, so I would know. You leave that part to me.”
I contemplated how much of her words were true, especially what she said about ‘having her eyes on me.’ Was she bluffing?
The rest of my thoughts were interrupted by her sharp voice. “You should go back now. Any moment longer, and they could declare you as dead. That would not be in my favour now, is it?” She flashed a sardonic smile, and before I could retort, she placed her hand on my shoulder and squeeze. Closing her eyes, she began to chant something I barely understood.
“What do…”
A burst of light blinded my vision as my eyes tried to adjust. And before I could get a word out or reach out for something, I was transported back to the land of the living. My eyes jolted awake as if I had woken up from a terrible nightmare, and my entire body was covered in sweat.
“Maeve! You are awake!” That voice. Deep, dark, and rough. I knew it all too well.
“Dammit! You have to open your eyes, kitten!” I heard Xander’s voice, hoarse in panic and grief. I blinked rapidly, trying to clear out the foggy blur as his face slowly came into view. “Fates, you took my fucking breath! Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
He cradled a palm at the back of my head and gently urged me to sit up. I gladly took his offered strength, having no vigor to push myself off the bed.
*How long was I gone?
What time was it?
Was it just a fragment of my imagination, or was I pulled into another realm?*
A thousand questions were swarming inside my head, but I barely voiced anything. Partly because I was still fighting off the lump in my throat, and my mouth felt as dry as a desert.
“Wa…” I half-croaked, half-gestured before Xander promptly held a glass of water to my lips. It was only when I took the slow sips of life-saving liquid that I finally found my voice.
“Nothing’s wrong, Xander,” I assured, although feebly. “I’m absolutely fine.”
“Bullshit!” A possessive arm wrapped around me, pulling me against the warmth of his muscular chest. Instantly, I melted into him. There wasn’t a place in the world which made me feel safest than his arms.
“I am okay. I am really okay,” I tried once again, whispering against his thrumming heartbeats.
“You have been gone for almost a day,” he said in a tremulous voice, hugging me tighter. “Your body turned cold and your skin turned pale. I thought, I…”
“I am here, Xander. Where will I ever be without you?”
I have heard the testimony of various shifter she-wolves that a mating changes you forever. But never have I contemplated that it would bring forth a havoc change in me or my feelings for Xander, owing to the fact that I was not a shifter.
But at that moment, in his arms, I could feel the bond between us more potent than ever. I could feel him in my veins, in my bones, as if he was just a part of me. And for Xander as well, everything intensified and heightened as well.
“I don’t ever remember to be this scared in my entire life,” he said, pulling back to stare into my eyes. “The thought of losing you almost tore me apart, and knowing that I caused you too…”
“Shh.” I cut him off by placing a finger on his lips. “You did not do anything, Xander. It was my choice. I wanted to be with you, to be your mate for life.”
The words fell out of my lips effortlessly. With a faint smile, he slowly pressed a kiss on my forehead.
“I don’t have words to express how lucky I am. Do not ever shun me out like you did now, or I swear, I would go crazy,” Xan threatened.
*Little did he know…*
When I went quiet, he must have read the worried look on my face as his hands quickly cupped my cheeks to lay his dark eyes on mine. “Are you feeling alright?”
Maybe it was the mate thing or the fact that he could easily read me like an open book, but Xander could clearly read between the lines. And for my part, I did not want to hide the truth from him too.
*I trust him and him only.*
I slowly sat up, raking a nervous hand through my hair before revealing, “I did not want to shun you out, trust me. I was just ambushed. Or at least, my mind was.”
His brows creased. “What do you mean?”
“I was taken into another world—another realm. And there, I saw *Ametrine*.”


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***Extremely sorry for the long wait! I took a small break, but that’s over now. It’s going to be regular updates from now on. Hope you all have enjoyed reading the chapter because I have tons of surprises, twists, and turns left for Xander and Maeve.
Let me know in the comments if I am pacing the story too much! *