Stefan’s POV
I can’t look away. It’s nothing I want to see. It’s like a train wreck, happening right in front of my eyes and I can’t look away.
Levi was right.
No.
This can’t be right.
He bought her, abused her, and kept her imprisoned for years. There’s no way she would be with him willingly. She would never work for him willingly. That’s not the Mari I know. He must be forcing her.
I’m sure of it.
But the look she gives me when they pull away from each other freezes my heart. It’s cold, searing through me like an ice shard.
This is not the Mari I know. She is not the girl I grew up with. Not the woman I saved…or thought I did.
Her eyes have only ever been warm when she looked at me. Now, I can’t recognise the look in them. All I know is it’s sending chills down my spine.
“What did he do to you?” I ask anyway. Maybe her sudden coldness is just for show. She doesn’t mean to look at me like I’m her prey, finally snagged in her trap. “What has he got over you?”
“He is my mate.”
My frozen heart cracks. She doesn’t mean that. “No,” I whisper. How could I not have known? “Why would you be with him after everything he has done to you?”
“He saved my life.”
My brow tightens. “What?”
She steps towards the gate and stands a few feet in front of Theodore. “If he had not taken me when your mother wanted to kill me, I would be dead.”
What? That’s what she thinks? Even if he bought her and abused her for years, she sees him as her saviour? Does this mean she doesn’t hate him? “Mari…” I can only whisper her name for lack of anything to say.
It’s true, my mother tried to kill her. Theodore bought her, but he kept her alive. She wouldn’t be calling him her saviour if he had treated her badly all these years, would she? Did she lie about everything?
Does she hate me because of what my mother did to her? Does she blame me?
“My own mother did not want me once she found out what I was. She said I was a monster, that I deserved to die. But him?” She turns and looks at Theodore as she says her next words. “He saw the good in me. Thanks to him, I could live as who I am, without hiding.”
I have so many questions. But the one I want to ask badly is whether he has been treating her well. Even after everything, it matters to me.
If he treats her well, I don’t have to worry about her. She is right. He did her a hell of a lot better than my family or her own family did. Who am I to tell her that she should choose my side and not his?
Instead, I ask, “Did you ever feel anything for me?”
She laughs. “Come on, Stefan. I was ten the last time I saw you. Be realistic.”
If Levi was here, he would be having a smug ‘I told you so’ moment. Or maybe he’d be riding me for my stupidity.
“I admit, I was a little jealous of you and my sister. Living with you for those few days…so many memories of our childhood came back to me.” She lifts a hand to her chest. “I was flattered that you’ve been thinking about me all these years.”
“Do you hate your sister too?”
“Kinda hard to hate someone you don’t remember at all.”
When she came to us, she acted like she was ecstatic to be reunited with Gwen. She even cried when they met for the first time in eighteen years. Was it all just for show?
“Are you done interrogating my mate?” Theodore asks, stepping to her side and placing his arm around her shoulder. I badly want to tear that arm off. “I want some alone time with her.”
Mari faces him. “Do you have my sister?"
He shakes his head. “No. Why would you think that?”
She gestures to me. “He said that Alexander got her.”
Theodore pulls away from her and puts his hands on his hips. “Fuck that stupid vampire!” His coolness is gone. He is agitated.
“What happened?” she asks.
“Something went wrong after the transfusions. I haven’t heard from him for two days!”
“I told you,” Mari says. “You should never trust a vampire. Least of all a bored one. He was toying with us, like a bunch of puppies.”
So she knew about Theodore's vampire experiment. When the first attack happened, she claimed she had no knowledge of his dealings with any vampire.
“Well, he’ll wish he hadn’t when I get him.” He drops his hands and takes hers. “Forget about him. We don’t need him anymore. We’ve got what we wanted. Come on, let’s go see Lea. She’s missed her mummy.”
Mummy?
My gut twists. As if there are still parts of me that have not already gotten the memo that these two are one. In every sense of the matter.
“You are right,” Mari tells him. “She is going to be bummed that I didn’t bring anything back.”
Theodore lands a kiss on her temple. “What are you talking about? You’ve brought a lot back.”
Holding hands, they walk away. Like before, I can’t look away. Still transfixed to that train wreck.
I don’t know how long Max has been calling my name, or how long he has been pulling at my shoulder. But when his voice and actions register, I turn around, ready to tell him to fuck off.
“What?” I snap. I shouldn’t be snapping at Max.
“Your hands,” he says.
My hands?
I look down at them.
Fuck.
My palms are burnt, the skin peeling off them. At what point did I get hold of the bars? I didn’t feel anything. Maybe because it’s nothing compared to the pain coursing through me right now.
I blink.
What am I thinking?
I can’t let them go like this.
Whirling around, I yell, “What about the others?”
Hanna, Andreas, and more than a dozen warriors are out there. Did they also fall into a trap?
When they halt, I add, “Let them go and you can keep me.”
They face me. “Why would I do that?” Theodore asks.
I grit my teeth. “Because if you don’t, I’ll bury you.”
He grins. Even from a distance, I see it well enough to want to tear his stupid face off. “Sounds fun, why would I want to miss that?”
They turn to go, but I’m not done. “Mari, I have something to say to you.”
“What’s done is done,” Theodore says. “Get over it.”
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“It’s alright,” Mari tells him. She walks a few steps back towards us. “What is it?”
I don’t think twice. I don’t hesitate thinking about the could bes, the what ifs. I don’t wait until my brain suggests maybe this isn’t a good idea.
“I, Stefan Lee Klose, reject you, Mari Angela Powers, as my mate. I revoke the Goddess’s blessing and free myself of any bond and duty to you.” I bring my wrist to my mouth and extend my fangs. I bite hard until I taste blood. Pulling my hand back, I let the blood drops hit the ground. “May heaven and earth bear witness, may Mother Goddess grant my wish.”
Her eyes are stone cold as she looks at me. While agony consumes me, while it feels like my very soul is being torn from my being…she looks at me like I’m the least of her concerns.
Like she never cared.
Of course, she doesn't feel any of the pain. We might have been destined, but she isn't a werewolf. She was my destiny, but I was not hers.
So, not only did I not have a wolf, but the Goddess also didn't feel obliged to give me a mate of my own kind. I wouldn't wish my luck on anyone.
I’m moving farther from the gate, but I don’t think I’m moving my feet. More like someone is dragging me. My back hits the wall, and then I’m sitting on the floor.
The last thing I see before my eyes check out is her putting her hand in his as they resume their walk down the hallway.
When I wake up, Eric is waiting.
‘How are you feeling?’
“You know how I’m feeling.”
I look around. The room is dark, but Eric is being generous and I’ve got night vision. Max is sitting in one corner of the cell, eyes open, staring straight at the gate. The other two werewolves are against the wall, asleep. Other than their heavy breathing, there’s no other sound. It must be nighttime.
‘Right.’
I suck in a deep breath. It must be sometime during the night.
“Max?” I call. His head turns towards my direction. “Anything about the others?”
He shakes his head.
Hanna and Andreas are okay, right? They have to be. Everyone has to be.
Everyone.
My stomach cramps up at the thought of Gwen. Right on its heels are all the memories of the promises I made to her. And all the ones I broke.
I’m a piece of shit.
“Tell me about her.”
‘Who?”
He knows who.
“Gwen. What happened in her past life?”