Free Web NovelChapter 37: The Second Fated Mate I
"Did you really have to try such a thing?" Blaise asked.
We stepped into the room that was prepared for me. Blaise closed the door shut behind him, locking it in place as I sat on the edge of the bed. I sighed, falling back against the soft mattress as I stared lifelessly at the ceiling.
Great. Back again. This time, with a nagging mother chiding my ear off too. Maybe it would be better to be teased to the edge of insanity by Damon instead.
I looked at my hand, wiggling my fingers back and forth. For all the exercise that I had done, I didn’t feel as tired as I thought I would be. I might’ve been out of breath while running but it didn’t take too long before I bounced back. It was just like with Susie― I shouldn’t have had that amount of strength.
Did the mate mark change me somehow?
"You should’ve known that you wouldn’t be able to run far," Blaise continued. "It’s just a waste of both time and energy."
He walked over, peering out of the window for a second before drawing the curtains. He left a small slit so that some sunlight could still stream through while maintaining our privacy.
"Won’t know until you give it a go, right?" I grumbled under my breath.
Damon might’ve mentioned a punishment but Blaise seemed to be awfully laxed about it. He merely bade his older brother goodbye before leading me up to my new room― better known as my new prison cell. I had been expecting the collar to send me into heat the moment Damon passed on those instructions, but even up until now, there was nothing but harmless nagging. frёewebnoѵēl.com
"Elijah suffered the bulk of the punishment on your behalf," he said.
I sprang up the moment Elijah’s name was mentioned. Hurriedly, I turned around so that I could face Blaise, who still stood at the windows.
"What happened to him?" I asked.
"Like I said, punished," Blaise replied. "You don’t need to know the details, only that you’ve caused enough trouble for him."
I bit my lip, my eyes downcast. While I felt guilty for dragging Elijah — who had been nothing but kind to me — into this, I didn’t regret it. It was a horribly thought out plan but it was better than nothing at all. I didn’t want to stay in Fangborne, not when my ’mate’ wasn’t willing to abide by the rules the Moon Goddess had set.
He was happy to play around and break the most sacred oath werewolves could give to their fated half. If I wasn’t allowed to reject him, then I would just have to disappear from his life.
"He’s alive at least, right?" I meekly asked, my voice soft, having lost all the fight in fury in it previously.
"He’ll live," Blaise said with a shrug. "Damon isn’t the kind to throw away a good soldier for something so trivial."
"So my escape attempt was trivial," I said and scoffed. "Makes you wonder why he even spared so much effort to come after me. Personally, too."
"Damon tends to speak harsher words than his original intention," Blaise said. "If he truly didn’t wish to see you again, your collar would no longer be gray."
I raised an eyebrow, my interest raised. "Like Susie’s?"
His eyes widened with genuine surprise, eyebrows arching upward. There was a spark in his gaze, reflecting a momentary pause as he absorbed the words I had just spoken. Then, his lips stretched slowly into a grin and the lines on his forehead eased into a pattern of admiration.
"So you’ve noticed?" It might’ve seemed like a question but I knew that Blaise meant it as a statement.
"Hard not to," I retorted. "Especially when she keeps coming into my face to pick imaginary fights."
"Susie will not be around Sirius House for the foreseeable future," Blaise said. "Damon heard from Elijah what happened. She will be moved to Orion House as part of her punishment."
"About damn time," I muttered under my breath.
Blaise for sure had heard what I said. However, he made no comment and simply smirked, calmly walking over to the bed. The closer he got, the more my body tensed up. He didn’t stop his steps until he came right to the side of the bed where he stood right in front of me.
With a hand on my collar, he yanked me forward, and forced me to tilt my head up so that I could meet his gaze despite both the height difference between us — I was sitting down while he stood — and the close proximity.
"Sweet Harper, you’ve got to stop worrying about other people’s punishments when you’ve yet to be sentenced to a punishment of your own," Blaise said with a tut. "You can’t possibly think that you would be let off with just some chiding, surely?"
I laughed nervously, thinking back to the induced heat of the collar. Looking down as far as I could, I eyed the collar. Blaise wouldn’t send me into heat, would he? With Damon giving me the cold shoulder now, this would truly be more of a punishment than a reward.
"Oh, don’t worry about that," Blaise said. He definitely noticed my gaze lingering on the collar around my neck. With a chuckle, he continued, "It’s not fun when you’re given the same sentence twice in a row."
"Then what?" I asked. Taking in a deep breath, I tried my hardest to maintain a cool and collected front. "I’m not assigned to toilet scrubbing duty, am I?"
"We have maids in the packhouse," Blaise replied, still smiling. "There isn’t a need for that." freewebnovel.cσ๓
His eyes roamed across my body, sending the fine hairs on my skin to stand immediately. Damon’s mark might be on my shoulder but I had never rejected Blaise. He was still, technically, my fated mate, as much as Damon was.
"What is it then?" I said. "Or are you just going to keep teasing me until I eventually die from anxiety?"
"Of course not," Blaise said. "I hope you’ve not forgotten, but you are my fated mate as well. I’ll let you off easy. It won’t be as much of a punishment for you as it would be for my brother instead."
"A punishment for Damon?"
"Well, Damon said that I could punish you as I see fit." Blaise’s grin widened. "How about I give you a mark of my own instead?"
