The Mate That Wasn't Mine novel Chapter 86

Chapter 86

Chapter 86

TESSA POV

It is the middle of the night, the bells pounding away outside for the new Alpha.

Bandaging Maxim’s thigh up tightly, I had to leave him on the bathroom floor whilst I slowly dabbed away at his blood–stained face. I could tell exactly where the huge knuckles of Alpha Hale swung into his cheek.

Using the scissors, I snip away his black shirt. Rather than move him unnecessarily I peel away the fabric urider him. Only to gasp at the state of his ribcage and throat. Grabbing the lantern I examine every injury, stroking and caressing it, imagining love and sympathy could undo all the pain.

He must have been bleeding internally. Now my traitorous memory guiltily replays him hauling himself over the ropes. Lifting me up. How hard! squeezed and felt his body.

My wolf softly nudges me. Maxim will heal. He will be fine. All we need is time now.

Sniffing, I wipe my own face, strip away the chunky black armour and work in the under–layer of soft black cotton. Maxim’s boots, sock are removed. Only his snug, hugging underwear remains.

The blood has mainly soaked downwards, so there is no real need to wield my scissors and get confirmation about just how close I came to wounding him. Merely an inch Maxim joked.

Goddess only knows how long I spent staring down at his body before giving my head a shake. “He needs to be cleaned, I’ve seen it before. It’s…oh come on Tess,” before roughly snipping away the last fabric like it was on fire.

He remained unfesponsive. Even as I gently washed and towelled down his body there were no flinches or reactions. Maxim needs somewhere comfortable but looking at the huge bed, there was no chance I could lift him that high.

My feverish brain urges me to do more for him. I can’t paint pictures with words like him, but actions count. He will feel my love through being warm, healed and safe.

Dragging the entire mattress, pillows and blanket to the floor became the next plan. A whole new bed that I could just about haul him onto. Gripping him under his arms and dragging wasn’t ideal. If he had been conscious he would have definitely reprimanded me for the amount of times I apologised.

Tucking fresh white sheets over his naked frame, it is obvious how hard he has worked at forming himself into the man he is today. There is not an inch of his body that isn’t powerfully chiselled. I place a kiss on the site of my bite, just above his heart and run my hands through his brown wavy hair.

Up on the ledge, Hale shouted he had born with nothing before Ravenbow. Maybe that’s why the Goddess thought us a good pairing. Two lost souls who can take care of each other. I make a silent promise to do exactly that.

Then, unable to stand the sight of his bruises any longer I haul myself up and keep going.

I violently scrub the bathroom and floor of his blood, then scour myself clean. Stood naked in the mirror, I assess myself. I always look so serious, but my eyes are drawn to the bite on my hip. It should be nothing but a blemish. I know it doesn’t define me, but it remains. It will always be there. I’ll always hate it.

Quietly tiptoeing across the room, I open the cupboards. There is just a collection of his black shirts. No leather jacket or trinkets to suggest Maxim ever existed.

The other cupboard reveals my former life. Beige and gold uniform. Drawers revealing plain white underwear and nightwear. But I don’t want to wear those items either. It doesn’t feel like me. They belong to the other, shyer version of Tess.

Looks like we both have nothing.

By the time I finish fussing, dawn is only a few hours away. There is nothing left to do but try and get some rest. Extinguishing the lantern, and reluctantly wearing a thin white cotton nightgown I slide in next to the resting Maxim.

Only I simply cannot settle.

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Chapter 86

It’s not deja vu but I can feel, deep down somewhere in these locked away memories, that something about this just isn’t correct, still Thry a ve Perhaps it is being on the floor, although the mattress is more than thick enough.

Rolling over, I stare at Maxim’s outline in the shadows. Is this how I used to lie? Away from him, choosing to sleep in the cold? But he’s my mate, by love a Cautiously! scoot over, wary of his injuries. The worst of his rib damage is on the other side.

His hand rests down by hip and I grip it tightly in both of mine. Then I press the length of my body down the length of his bare arm, my head nurizing a his shoulder, close enough for every breath to contain his rich, unique scent.

The warmth of his body acts like a balm. Slowly I feel warmer, drowsier. I squirm and roll closer. I don’t want the cold. Only for the eventul blackness of my dreams to turn into the void. I’m back at the cliffs. But I’m not watching Maxim fall.

It’s me. In slow motion I’m tumbling further and further down, scrambling against the rocks. I’ve got a hold. I can’t let go. I’m holding on,

Until I suddenly stop, heart racing. But it is not a web of ropes or some arrow shot in the dark that saves me. In a half sleeping, half waking world I’m suddenly aware that Maxim’s arms are wrapped around me. “Tess. Wake up,” he groans, squeezing my hand tightly. “Goddess wake up!”

My eyes flutter open, tiny shards of daylight stream in through the curtins. The bells have finally stopped ringing. But I’m not where I started my slumber. I’ve got one thigh straddling Maxim’s and my hand tightly wrapped around his waist.

Specifically, my hands on his ribs. Those damaged, bruip

ribs of his.

The ones I was specifically meant to avoid when I laid on this side of the bed. No, wait. I wasn’t on this side before.

“What happened?”

C

Maxim lets out a deep, burly growl of a noise before adding. “You were on the wrong side, I think you were correcting that in your sleep.”

“Wrong side?”

Maxim adjusts so his arm is wrapped around me, my head resting on his bicep. “You’ve never slept on that side of the bed with me. In fact you insisted! move over from the first night.”

“So what…I?”

“You crawled over me.”

“Crawled? But…oh I was meant to be looking after you,” I groan, nyzzling into the crook of his arm. Without thinking my hand wanders over his ribs, his chest, down to his stomach. Goddess he is is so warm and solid. “You passed out. I got the arrow out.”

Maxim looks straight at me, hypnotising me all over again. “I know. But I dreamed of you.”

My hands pause halfway down his stomach. “You did?”

“Same as every night,” his hand met mine, entwining underneath the blanket. “Every single night Tess.”

My hand travels. With Maxim’s on top, he doesn’t stop me, just follows. The weight of his hand stops my fingers from shyly, lightly tracing. Instead he forces them to feel deeply, firmly. Every muscle and outline down his abdominals and v–line.

Absentmindedly, I murmur, “It felt wrong, being on the other side. I should have realised that’s what it was.”

“Glad you put it right,” Maxim murmurs back, kissing the top of my head. My hand skirts down his thigh, down to the bandage on his thigh. “But this isn’t how we normally sleep either.”

My throat seizes. But curiosity is a powerful tool. “How do we normally sleep?”

I squeal as Maxim grins and pounces. He grips my hand, rolling me onto my side. My legs match the outline of his. The arm my head rests upon, stretches down across my breasts, holding my stomach, clamping me tight against his stomach.

Chapter 86

Shivers race down my spine as he gently starts moving my long hair to the side. He takes his time, each sweeping motion as tantalising as the next before placing a series of soft kisses against the nape of my neck.

I shut my eyes and melt. Beyond melting. I remember. This feeling, in bed, being loved. Being completely his. “Maxim…I remember this…”

“Yeah?” he murmurs, continuing to gently kiss and nuzzle the nape of my neck. “Well, I did this every single night too. But you were nearly alway’s asleep.”