The Mate That Wasn't Mine novel Chapter 4

4.

TESSA POV

Shaking his hand, silent promises rise up, Not just to stick to this lie, for both our benefits. But a silent promise to myself too.

I’m not going to fall in love with him. The heart I do have left to give, it’s not for him.

My first real kiss has gone to him. Nothing more. It’s too cheap a trade.

I remember hearing from some of the farmers’ wives in their many, many lectures over the campfires about virginity resembling a fresh layer of snow. So perfect and precious. But when every man has trudged through it is soon regarded as something unpleasant and spoiled.

I thought the wrinkled old hags were fools at the time.

Now I’m presented with someone who looks like he’d sweep through my firsts as casually as he throws knives into a corkboard. Their words aren’t feeling quite as foolish. Maxim is a man of impulse. To be swept up in all that, could easily leave me crushed underfoot.

So I keep my questions sensible. Boring.

“What does Alpha Hale look like?”

“A shaved gorilla? He’s massive. Taller than me, maybe…” gesturing outwards with his hands, “this wide? He doesn’t have to shift to fight a wolf. He can just do it barehanded. Bluest eyes you’ve ever seen too. His son Remy is heading the same way.”

“What about Luna Sabrina?”

“Blonde, bright blue eyes too, but not ape-sized. Same as you maybe?”

I don’t ask about Princess Hazel. I’m sure she’s stunning and not the female equivalent of a shaved gorilla.

“How many Betas are in Ravenbow Packhouse?”

“A few hundred. There are six housing blocks, A, B, C each housing different ranks. First years are usually in single rooms in block A. We’ll probably be in E, double rooms. Not all Betas and Gammas are at the packhouse though.”

“Why, where do the rest go?” watching the sway of my long hair, back and forth in sync with the juddering train. Anything to make my brain behave and not stare at Maxim’s olive skin, less than a metre away.

“Putting down rebellions, guarding the human border, guarding the elven border.”

“Elven border? That’s hundreds of miles away!”

“And the fuckers are sneaky enough to think that’s license to tread into our territory as they please.”

“I’ve only practiced with silver-tipped arrows,” I add stupidly. “They’re not going to be lethal against either a human or Fae?”

“Iron tipped for elves. Poisons their blood, corrodes their powers. You’ll practice with them anyway. Humans, any arrow will do the job, once you get it through the armour.”

“Do you think I might be able to borrow an iron-tipped set, you know, for extra practice?”

Maybe I’m getting used to him after an hour rattling around in this metal box because I add. “When I can’t sleep I go and fire rounds.”

Maxim gives me a long, steady stare. His tanned skin soft, short beard and way he can stare right into my soul is rapidly imprinting upon my memory. I think he approves of my intention to practice outside of lessons. “I’ll sort out your a set of iron-tipped.”

He says it so casually. But I have no money for new equipment. I’m travelling with everything I have in the world.

“I’ll find a way to pay-” but Maxim just waves my concern away.

“Why would I have all the best equipment for my skills and my mate not?”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t worry I’ll think of a way for you to repay me,” he adds with menace, but the amber glow of his eyes doesn’t scare me. “Serenade me in public perhaps?”

“Goddess no,” but I can’t help smiling along with Maxim as the train rocks us back and forth. “I’ll tell everyone you’re good in bed? How about that?”

“You’d only be preaching to the converted Feisty. Sorry, Tessa,” his grin briefly faltering.

I don’t ask how many women he’s slept with, if he’s got a bad reputation. Or why he would need to go through with this in the first place. What if all that charm is hiding someone the Pack knows not to trust with a permanent position?

I really want to know what the hell watching Alpha Hale fling someone from a cliff feels like. Instead we spend the train journey going through the expectations of Ravenbow. Continuing to determinedly ignore all the fierce, prickling sensations my wolf fizzes through me.

In private I can keep my distance. He hasn’t touched me once since we shook hands in this cramped metal space. Good. Safe.

In public, I’m going to have to hold his hand, sit with him, eat with him, talk, kiss and listen to that velvety smooth voice all day long.

Maybe after I complete my second year, get a position assigned, I could probably fake a rejection, setting us both free.

There’s an end in sight. A goal to keep my mind on when I’m watching his hands wave about. My fake-make is apparently unable to describe something without his hands building it out of thin air.

But when the train starts to slow down for the final time, I feel almost confident. Now I know that when the train stops it will be at a huge stone platform, a dozen columns draped in fiery red flowers and huge red-leaved trees.

Alpha Hale’s symbols. The Alpha and his family dress in the deep maroon of royalty. Blood red, not for the wars and people hurt in defence of our pack, but for his ties to us all.

The first years who gaze open-mouthed at it are judged. Rows of Wardens wait, clipboards ready, starting the ranking from the very first moments.

All of them experts in various skills, all keen to prove us foolish first years are best sent back home. I need to avoid shrinking away. My natural instinct to hide from the front has to remain back in the fields. The Wardens want impressing.

They’re not all bad. Maxim insists Warden Marshall is a bastard, with awful fuzzy blonde hair. Maxim’s violent insistence seems more like proof he has done something wrong rather than the Warden.

Whereas he described the ancient Warden Donlon, down to one eye after saving the Alpha’s life when he was a youngster, as harsh but fair. He liked people to think outside the box. “But he’s unique. The best path for nearly every Warden is to just do exactly as they say, every single time,” unable to hide the annoyance in his voice.

“Archery is just accuracy though-”

“No it’s not. Wait until you have multiple targets running at you. Who do you aim for? Or you have to fire whilst tracking through the landmines. They release paint. You come back bright blue you’ve fucked up. You don’t get to stand there, breathe, steady and shoot in the real world.”

My imagination runs wild. I really need to practice that. “Did you get covered in paint then?”

“Course not,” that easy smile of his flashing my way. “Silas did, the big lump, Looked like a clown for a week. Had to cut some of his hair off in the end.”

I smiled at the idea, leaning my head against the cool metal surrounding me. Three sharp blasts of the trains shrill whistle left me flinching, clutching my ears.

“Almost there. We need to fix something,” Maxim mutters, the sound of footsteps and chatter outside increasing, the trains chugs slowing. Running a hand over his bearded jaw, his mind is working overtime.

“What?”

“Trust me?”

I really don’t. “Maxim-”

“I’m not going to hurt you,” before quickly adding, “Or bite you.”

My lips thin together, working out how to say no. But we both know I’m going to say yes. “Okay…”

I drop back down to the metal floor, my legs unsteady after being on the narrow basin ledge for so long. I don’t have time to worry about numb toes. Maxim leaps into action.

His arms come around my waist, but not like an embrace. It’s a wrestling move. A shriek escapes as my head flies south. My stomach is pressed against his, my head is hanging in between his legs.

Oh Goddess my legs, my blatant arousal, it’s right in his fucking face.

Banshee-like screams rocket out of me. There is no chance to tell him to stop. Maxim starts jumping up and down whilst holding me.

“MAXIM! MAXIM! ARGH! MAXIM!”

“Fucking yes, that’s it!” he shouts back, leaping up again, his thick boots making a thunderous racket. I keep screaming, he keeps jumping. His tight hold rubs against the sore area on my hip and I start yelping in pain until he eventually adjusts.

“Fucking hell Tess,” he groans loudly, stepping backwards so his body makes a smashing racket into the metal door.

It’s for everyone outside to hear. This is a performance. Nothing but a calculated move.

I go quiet. All those men and women outside, they all think he’s absolutely shattered my world.

My hair will be wild, my cheeks flushed, the inescapable proof of my scented arousal perfuming this small space.

A moment of clarity hits whilst swinging about between his thighs. Maxim needs a big finish too.

Quickly using the only weapon I have I twist and bite sharply into his clothed upper thigh. This time his shoulder crashing into the door is completely real. His loud, guttural,”Shit, shit, shit, what the fuck are you doing to me! TESSA!” is real too.

The familiar squealing of the train brakes then overtakes any sound we can produce. Maxim spins me the right way round, his face as flushed as mine. I’m grinning, but that soon dies when I see the fire in his eyes.

“The fuck was that about,” he growls lowly, the grinding brakes still screeching.

“You should have told me what you were going to do,” despairing at my long, crazily dishevelled hair in the tinny mirror.

The train jolts to a final, juddering stop, bouncing us together, when Maxim sharply grabs my arm barking at my mirrored reflection. “Hey! This isn’t a fucking game Tessa. I’m not playing for fun. It’s not a bet, it’s not a prank.”

“I know that!”

Maxim spins me around, his arms trapping me between the basin and his body. His amber eyes blaze with annoyance. “I don’t think you do. It’s my life and your life now. No going back. We’re fucking tied together Tessa. We either both go up, or we both crash down.”

Chapter 5

MAXIM POV

Oh she is pissed now.

Those brown eyes of hers make it very clear. Well tough. Biting me a few inches higher, I’d have been a forever off–balance, shadow of a man.

Maybe spinning her upside down wasn’t ideal. But it was the surprise of grabbing her like that which achieved those perfectly blood–curdling

screams.

20

If any of the passengers were eavesdropping, they had everything they needed now. Tessa sounded utterly wrecked. Just as the train pulled up too. Glorious. Until she bit me. After reprimanding her I added a final, “are we clear?” looming over her smaller frame.

“I’m not an idiot,” she insists quietly, her fiery gaze blazing up at me, her pouting cupid’s bow lips begging to be silenced with a kiss.

“I know. But you need to trust me.”

“Well you need to tell me what you’re thinking!”

“Bite me again and I swear I’ll return it. I promise you that Tessa,” I command darkly. “That’s what I’m thinking.”

Her blush deepens. I wonder if I’ve woken some butterflies in the pit of her stomach. Except her glare doesn’t falter.

“I’ve done my three years. I know how easy it is to fail. You have any idea how many friends I’ve had to watch leave on this train, off back to the factories and mines? Or living as exiles out in the fucking wild?”

“Then what next? Everyone is leaving the train!”

I inhale and assess. We still look too fresh and proper.

1/8

7:18 pm

Chapter 5

GO

20

“Fuck it,” I grunt, shrugging my jacket off and ripping the upper portion of my shirt away to reveal Tessa’s bite above my heart. “Now you.”

“What?”

“You’ve just had your world set on fire by me, you think you’re going to look so prim and proper?”

“Set on fire?” she checks sarcastically. Goddess knows why she won’t let me call me feisty when attitude is blatantly lurking underneath the shy surface.

“That’s what I said.”

“But the Wardens…they’re going to judge everything?”

“Including catching people lying,” placing my leather jacket on the side, my eyes glued to the edgy, fawn–like Tessa. “May I?”

My fake–mate ponders for a few seconds. “I’m going to regret saying yes aren’t I…”

I raise my eyebrow, as with one rough yank every button pops away from her white blouse, a delicious rip filling the air.

Her full, creamy cleavage is contained in a white silk bra. My wolf annoyingly points out that the stick thin girls I’ve been entertaining myself with for years never looked as much as fun as those curvy shapes her waist and chest were angling my way.

Before Tessa can land another bite on me I quickly take the ends of the shirt material and tie them in a rough knot under her bra. Her bare, sort- of flat stomach is on show, that crazy copper hair flying.

“Now we’re talking,” taking a step back to admire my sexy little creation.

Tessa keeps her hands planted to her hips, the unimpressed pout only increasing. “Again…why not just tell me?”

2/8

7:18 pm

Chapter 5

+20

“Here.” passing her my black leather jacket. To my surprise she quickly ties it around her waist and doesn’t cover up her upper body.

Then it’s my turn to be surprised as she quickly unbuttons her pants, spins to the basin and wets her hand.

She places that moist hand down the crotch of her tan pants creating a small but tell–tale dampness.

Not that I’m staring but I notice her panties are the same white silk material as her bra. And the scent of perfuming orange is hitting me like a sledgehammer.

My brain paints the rest of the picture with ease. Several pictures.

“Good thinking,” croaks out of me. Why the fuck has my throat gone dry. Tessa blushes, then grimaces. “Your turn,”

Fuck yeah it is, I’ll play along if she wants to adjust my pants.

Only she grips my hair and yanks it hard. Then drags her nails across my shoulders and down my chest. So not only do I have a still–stinging bite to contend with, I’m striped like a tiger and have shit hair.

I expect her to look triumphant, cocky whilst I wince. Instead she completes her idea then pauses, frozen like I’m going to go crazy at her. Just where has this girl come from?

“That works. Let’s go,” I murmur instead.

I slide open the metal door to an empty carriage. Shit, being last off the train never looks good to the Wardens. But then very little does on their beloved clipboards.

Striding down the carriage I grab my black rucksack and Tessa’s meagre little bow and arrow quiver. She lifts her brown holdall, the weight of it making her chest pop even more. Without asking I take that from her too and ignore her whimper of a protest.

3/8

+20)

Chapter 5

I offer her a hand down the steep metal carriage steps. “Remember. You’re MY mate. Everyone knows me, so everyone is going to want to know you. You’re not just any first year now.”

I get a shy nod back. Not ideal.

The still–steaming train releases a sharp whistle just as we dismount, causing everyone to spin around. The blatant heat of everyone’s gaze amongst the blood–red trees and flowers causes Tessa’s hand to squeeze mine way too tightly.

“Maxim…” she whispers.

“Come on Foxy,” I declare loudly back, planting a winning smile on my face. Her eyes widen a little but she follows.

“That’s worse. So much worse,” she hisses.

“Hmm, Feisty then?” my smile as broad as possible, dropping her hand to drape my free arm snugly around her shoulders.

“Sorry, no.”

I appear relaxed, but my wolf still curls in my stomach upon seeing the Wardens. The best of the best. Strongest, loyalest, smartest.

Between them and Alpha Hale, Ravenbow functions. It is only Wardens the Alpha blesses with a shifter mindlink too.

My chest constricts with the same tight pressure that always hits me on this platform. Back at Ravenbow and its gossip filled corridors and constant competition.

Time to win my place. Top assassin, not basic infantry, dying in the middle of nowhere fighting scab–riddled humans. Stop tangling with bitter Wardens and kill my dubious reputation.

I can’t spot Hazel and her piercing blue eyes, thank fuck for that.

4/8

7:18 pm

Chapter 5

20

Tessa’s train bitch’s green eyes might fall out she’s staring that hard. All the first years are lined up, being scrutinised by Warden Gray, confirming names, skills and villages.

That fucker loves a clipboard and his own voice. Like Warden Marshal he is just a few years older than me, his short silver hair clipped short, allowing his green eyes to really glower.

Silas and Kai are loitering, grinning alongside dozens of other chunky blue–shirted Beta’s. The scarred ones must be back from the Elven front.