I hope you're enjoying Maeve's story so far. Tomorrow will be a crossover from Shattered Bonds with Rich's interrogation of Maeve. If you've read it already you may want to skip the chapter. It will be from Xander's perspective, so a bit different, but very similar.
It took me a week to find the witch. I had returned to the pack when Rich invited Gwen’s father, Beta Trevor and their Alpha, Alpha Carter in for interrogation. They didn’t know it was going to be an interrogation, but they found out the minute they walked in. Beta Trevor and his Alpha both indicated that they had nothing to do with Gwen’s scheming and Leana confirmed that they were telling the truth. When he asked if he could see his daughter, I escorted Beta Trevor to our cells. It was interesting to see the interaction. It was almost as if Gwen expected that her father could get her out of the mess she had made. He told her she’d gone too far this time and there was nothing he could do. It makes me wonder what other messes she’s gotten into that he’s had to get her out of. It’s only a few days after their meeting that I find her, the witch. She’s nothing like what I expect to find when I finally lay eyes on her. She doesn’t look like a witch at all. She looks like a college stude
I watch Alpha Richard Holstin walk out the door of his office. “Xander, a word?” The beautiful woman, Leana, says to Alexander. I’m guessing that Xander is his nickname, or maybe some sort of family name. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.” He says to me. I nod, where else am I going to go? I’m in the middle of a packhouse in the middle of pack lands owned by werewolf shifters that have enhanced senses. I wouldn’t make it out of this house, much less off their lands before I’d be torn to shreds. Alexander comes back into the room. “What do you need?” He asks me. “I have everything I need back in my shop. It would be a lot easier if we could go there.” He looks at me a long moment. I sigh. “Where do you think I’ll go? What am I going to do?” “Scream for help, maybe? Tell them you’ve been kidnapped?” “So you go to jail and I, what? Wait for your brother to come kill me for causing you more problems?” I roll my eyes. In an instant, he's in my face. “I can’t afford any legal entangl
I turn to Maeve. “Wait here, let me make sure whoever did this is gone.” I tell her before quietly walking into her store. I lift my nose in the air, smelling the burning scent that I’ve only smelled a couple of times in my life. The scent of witches. Before I’ve taken two steps, the door behind me opens and Maeve walks in. I growl at her. I don’t know that it’s safe yet. “They aren’t here. I have a spell on the place letting me know if someone is inside.” I tell him. “Do you know who did this?” She looks at me and scoffs. “Let’s just say your family aren't the only ones that wants me dead.” “We aren’t going to kill you.” I say, gritting my teeth. I can’t stand how cavalier she sounds talking about her death, as if dying at 18 is normal. “Well, maybe you’ll get lucky and someone will do your brother’s dirty work for him.” She says, looking around then walking into a back room. Einar is snarling that there is someone trying to kill our mate. It’s a good thing I’ll be keeping her
Why does this guy have to smell so good? It’s distracting and I need to focus. He smells like the coffee shop my father used to take me to in the mornings before school. Rich, dark, freshly ground coffee with a hint of cream and sugar. Right now, he’s standing behind me, so close I can feel the heat of his body radiating off of him. Geez, he’s warm. Must be a wolfy thing. “How do you know those goons worked for her?” He asks me. I never considered myself short. I’m not exactly tall either, but I’m an average 5’6” tall woman. This guy is nearly a foot taller than I am. And his shoulders are wider than mine, by enough that it’s noticeable and don’t even get me started on how muscular he is. Snap out of it, Maeve! His family wants to kill you. Yeah, but, I swear he was flirting with me earlier. And I saw his eyes flicker before too. I’m not sure, but I think that means his wolf was coming forward. I have no idea if that’s good or bad. “I recognize them.” I say, moving away from him.
I know this burner phone is the connection to her family. While I was on the phone to my pack making arrangements to have someone come clean and fix Maeve’s shop, I snuck upstairs. Three bedrooms. While the scent of the goons was up there, I could smell the family scent much more strongly. One female, one male and I’d bet my future position as CEO that they are both juveniles. I had intended to take her upstairs and force her to tell me where they are, but when she indicated that we were being monitored, I changed my plan. She doesn’t seem concerned about them coming back and ‘M’ said they were safe. So, for now, I’ll leave it at that. When we were walking to the car, I smelled them before I saw them. I turned, putting myself between them and my mate. I don’t care that we’re in the middle of a busy part of town, humans passing us all around. If they try to take her, I will kill them. “Sorry, guys, this girl is taken, go find your own.” I say, my claws coming out. I hear Maeve suck i
It was good to speak to Meadow and Tate. I know they want to come home, but it’s definitely not the right time. It may never be again. I reluctantly gave my phone back to Xander before turning my attention back to the landscape passing us by. When we get to the packhouse, Xander shows me to a room. When we walk in, he looks at me and frowns. “I just realized you don’t have any clothes or anything.” I shrug. I’ll make do. I watch as his eyes go unfocused. A moment later, there’s a knock at the door and Leana walks in. “Hi Maeve. Xander said you need some clothes and some toiletries. I wanted to get your sizes and see if there is anything in particular you want or need as far as bath or hair products.” “You don’t need to get me anything. I’m sure I’ll be fine.” I look at Xander. “I won’t be here long, right?” I watch as his lips press together. Rather than answer me, he turns to look at Leana and walks out of the room. I look at her. She’s watching her brother leave. “You were at
I hate walking my mate through the packhouse. Everyone here can smell that she’s a witch and everyone in our pack and our allied packs knows that it was a witch that cast a spell on Rich and caused all the problem between him and Emlyn. But they don’t know Maeve, not like I’m starting to. I can’t even be angry at them. Yesterday, I wanted to kill her. If she wasn’t my mate, I might have, without ever giving her a chance, without realizing that she’s as much of a victim in all of this as Rich and Emlyn are. I’m shocked when she turns and stands up to the pack. I don’t know if she could actually do what she said she could, but the threat felt real enough that everyone looked shocked and the magic in her hands implied she was serious. I feel the surprise ripple through the pack, and I realize that they expect me to shut her down, or at least threaten her for threatening them. But I’m not going to. I know this pack has been through a lot recently, but so has she. In truth, I’m proud of
I was never really sure if Beta Trevor’s voice just got nasty with me when he was being mean or if it was his wolf coming forward. However, I have no such question when Xander’s voice goes deep and his eyes darken. There is something about his wolf that draws me to him. I’ve always loved animals. Meadow and I used to rescue little animals all the time and bring them home, rehabilitate them and release them again. I"m so mesmerized, I don’t even realize that I’ve moved until I’m right in front of Xander, looking into these intelligent, dark eyes. “What’s your name?” I ask quietly, entranced by what I can only guess is animal magnetism. “My name is Einar, little one. And I would really like to show you our pack lands. Would you be willing to go for a run with me?” “Are you sure I’m not too big? I mean….” He leans forward, rubbing his face against mine. It’s such an animal thing to do that I don’t even flinch. “When you see me, you’ll understand. But no, you are not too big. I am