The Mate That Wasn't Mine novel Chapter 82

Chapter 82

TESSA POV

My instincts are non–existent. I’m too busy reeling to know whether I can trust these strangers or not.

“Prince Remy sent us.”

“Who are you?”

“Seriously?” the big blonde bear frowns, his honey–coloured eyes losing their gentleness swiftly. I take a step back.

If Maxim is in trouble, maybe these two aren’t the people I should be following. Maybe there is a back door to this wooden shack.

Daff and Mrs Braithes are fast approachin

“You’ve no business here. Go along now. We’re not open!” the burly owner bristles.

Receiving a swift nudge in the ribs, the man with black hair takes over. “Maxim said she’d been drugged you idiot,” before facing me, his green eyes wide, curious and glinting. “You don’t know us then?”

“That’s irrelevant. Where is Maxim?”

“We’ve been with him. Alpha Hale choked the shit out of him but he’s alive. The bells are all ringing across Ravenbow. They’re summoning the pack to the cliffs. We haven’t got long.”

“The Alpha is going to kill Maxim?”

“Yes! But Remy wants us to get you somewhere safe. He promised Maxim nothing would happen to you. So, what supplies do you have?”

My head tilts to the side in confusion. Are these two men seriously suggesting the best option is to run away?

The only direction I’m going is straight to Maxim. “Nothing. I have nothing. Maxim was going to bring everything tonight. So what can you lend me?”

“We’ll get you safe first.”

“No. You’re taking me to the Cliffs. So what weapons have you got?”

This time the two men step back, exchanging worried glances. “That’s not what we are doing.”

Rather than waste anymore time, I stride forward, pushing past the pair, completely ignoring their protests.

“It’s a great big cliff they throw people from? I’m sure i’ll find it!” and start running the same direction Maxim left me last night.

Fuck those two. My guess would be they are Silas and Kai.

They weren’t lying about the bells though. I wind my way in and out of the trees until a thick metal rail line appears, the heady, nightmarish, metallic thunder of the bells beckoning me closer.

Knowing Maxim has been harmed wrenched something deep inside. Like I’m bleeding inside myself.

“Wait!” The two men call but’l follow the tracks into the station itself. The blood red drapes overhead give me a sickening sense of deja vu that I haven’t

time to examine.

My wolf and brain are working overtime. Every corner is a fresh assault upon the senses. I recognise enough to be confused, but not enough to have a clue what they represent to me.

Soon, the huge granite columns of the station give way to long grassy driveways and a hulking packhouse that slices the sky in two.

The gray granite stonework looks indestructible. Especially with the dark, bloody red strike through the centre, I cannot stop staring at it, as I edge closer.

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Chapter 82

How did I once live here? The rolling gravel path splits off, leading to a series of large, identical looking buildings, to the other side of thôn torches glow and thick lines of people snake up towards the mountainside.

They are nearly all in beige. Some wear the same dark blue or maybe black shirts as the two strangers.

In my thin cotton dress and thick boots, will people recognise me? How do I get to Maxim if I cause a scene? Struggling for a solution, my arm i prabiber

I squeal but my face is fimmediately slammed roughly against a wooden door. “Don’t scream. Just let me talk

I’m not in a position to argue line shallow, the wooden planks of the arched door are pressed into my cheek. Goddess why didn’t one of those

idiots give me their knife!

“Do you know who I am, Tessa?” his voice

I scan his face with wasted hope. “No, N

“Okay. Well I’m Warden Marshall-” lowerin

neck.

a snarl, but certainly stressed. “Answer me, quickly!”

know who you are!”

his face close to mine, his short blonde hair reminding me of Maxim’s description. A tennis ball on a thick

Except he looks deadly serious, and one side of his face has a livid red and purple mark.

“He told me about you. Let me go! Let go!” I hiss, trying to buck my body away from the door, elbow thrusting towards his ribs.

“What are you trying to do here Tessa? Tell me the truth,” looking around to check for witnesses, his whispers a rapid fire force of their own.

“I need to get to Maxim! I can’t let him be hurt. He’s given up too much for me already!”

Warden Marshall reaches around me. The wooden door swings open and I almost tumble onto the gray stone floor. He points at a large package, bigger than my torso.

“He had this waiting for you in his room. Get changed. I’ll take you to the route the Royals take to the cliffs. Quicker. Nobody will see you. Are Silas and Kai not with you?”

“Is that is who came to find me? I ran. They wanted to take me somewhere safe.”

I squat to the floor rooting through the package. Charcoal coloured armour, weapons, gold coins and a mountain of food and essentials. I could cry.

Marshall turns his back, locking the door, whilst I dress. The solid black plates of armour are a woman’s size, fitting across my chest comfortably. How an earth did he arrange this?

Moments later, dressed to murder, I am sprinting down a series of deep underground tunnel, the bells continuing to ring.

“Once those bells stop, you’re out of time,” Warden Marshall notes sourly.

He remains ahead of me, his bright fire torch guiding us. Coated in jet–black armor, a bow and arrow pulled taut, I am ready. The sound of chatter begins to echo towards us. My destiny is fast approaching at the hand of this unassuming blonde man. “Thank you, for helping.me.”

“Thank you for trusting me,” he nods, his bruised face wrinkled with concern.

“I know you and Maxim have had issues…but he’s my mate. My world. He doesn’t deserve this.”

“I have been harsh on him in the past. What he told you is correct.” he answers with a stoic nod “But as it turns out, you were the one thing he needed.”

Passing racks of menacing hooks and equipment Slowing to a walk, Warden Marshall gestures for me to look upward. A huge, gray stone cylinder, carved with incredible intricacy. At one end a short platform. Above that, a clear night sky.

A pirate’s plank of gray stone juts out halfway up. I don’t need my memory restored to know this is where people die.

“I don’t think I’ve brought him anything good.” Scanning upwards for a trace of those perfect tiger eyes. We’re so far down it’s impossible to see. I feel like an ant staring up at the gigantic world above. “I’ve ruined everything he had.”

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Chapter 82

“You haven’t. Pagano is loyal, determined, Intelligent and cares about this place. A damned fierce lighter. But he didn’t heus anythi Into. So he drifted along. But from the moment he showed up with you, there has been a fire In hins that cannot be dulled you de be reckoned with. You have been the making of him.”

Then why is the Alpha killing him!”

“Because that is Ravenbow. The will of the Alpha. No matter the reasoning, the unsteady nature of his mind.”

Dust rains down into my eyes from the shuffling feet all jostling for position metres above us.

“He’ll be thrown from that ledge then?” I check.

“Yes.”

“What’s down there?”

“Another hundred metres freefall I believe. Death either way.”

We’re on the lowest tier of the balcony. Everyone is gazing upwards, shuffling endlessly. I’m one person. Less than that. I’m one despised, hated, no doubt wanted for rebel stirring, treasonous bitch.

So if I’m going to save Maxim it won’t be via.appealing to Alpha Hale‘ better nature. What do I have? What have I got apart from a need to tell Maxim I love him?