You Belong To Me

Chapter Ten: Wren

As soon as Gene and Rehan have left the room, I turn my full attention to Maddox. He doesn't look all too happy that I'm still here, but he didn't refuse when I said I wanted a minute alone with him.

His eyes flash a shimmering gold, as if in warning, and I blink in response, my expression blank.

"I'm sorry that she lied to you. It isn't fair, but I am sorry you feel you can't trust us right now."

He doesn't say anything in response, but I know I have his attention. At least until I say something to piss him off.

Instead of doing anything that might inadvertently lead to that, I just tell him the truth. How I'd been on that rock when I heard Russell, how I'd watched him take a bullet that had killed him instantly. The fight between me and the venatoribus, and how Gene had saved my life after I'd taken three poisoned bullets.

His eyes widened in absolute shock when I told him that all of this happened about two days ago, and that Gene had been the one to nurse me back to health.

"You did not survive three shots of that s**t. It's impossible."

"Gene said pretty much the same thing as well. But I'm standing right here and you have the bullets she dug out of me."

He gives me a look that I don't quite understand, one that tells me he wants to say something, but he catches himself in time.

"Your Highness, I understand you feel you owe her a favour, but I'm not going to help you. There's nothing you can do to change my mind," Maddox says, his voice firm.

“That's not why I'm still here. Trust me, I hate being lied to just as much as you do. I think it’s the most insulting thing someone can ever do," I tell him, my voice dripping with tension, my mind shifting through everything my parents had done so far.

“But?” he prompts.

“Has she ever lied to you before? About anything?”

He looks away as he thinks, and when he meets my gaze, he shakes his head firmly.

“No, never.”

“Could you give her the benefit of the doubt? Just this once? You know what could happen if any of the theories racing through your mind turn out to be the truth. We could have a major war on our hands, one that could change this world and its surrounding realms forever. Russell has already died, and we don't need anymore people dying for us to do something about this. Please."

Maddox is quiet for several minutes, perhaps contemplating the outcomes of his decision. His gaze searches my features for a very long time, and I have a feeling he's doing more than just trying to figure out if I'm lying.

“You have feelings for her, don’t you? That's the reason you willingly got between us the way you did," he muses, his voice warmer now.

"Gene is…"

I fumble for words, trying to find something adequate to describe the way I felt about her, but there's only one word that keeps popping into my mind.

“She’s my mate. Every fibre of my being knows that. I’m jealous of anyone who touches her, and the thought of anyone even breathing the same air as her makes me want to rip out their heart. The only reason I actually came is because she’s here.”

“Maybe you should tell her that,” Maddox advises.

“I’m not sure she’s ready for that right now, honestly.”

Maddox shakes his head slowly, as if I'd just said something incredibly stupid.

"I have been alive for longer than a thousand years, Your Highness. During that time, I've seen people choose the cowardly way out because they were too scared to go for what they wanted. Sometimes, they delayed because they thought they had time. Just tell her. She should be the one to tell you whether she's ready or not. Don't make the mistake of thinking for her."

"And if she says no?" I ask him, voicing what has become my third biggest fear.

"She won't. She might tell you 'not now', but she will not tell you no. True mates, true soulmates, cannot stay away from each other too long. It is written. You cannot defy the gods."

I file that information away for now, and take a few steps in Maddox's direction. He waits, his gaze ever alert, as I stop a few feet away from him.

I hold out my hand, my gaze locked on his, while I ask, "Will you help us, Maddox? Because we won't be able to do this without you."

There's not even a second of hesitation before he closes the distance between us and lifts his hand to shake mine. Relief, warm and cleansing, washes through me.

"It would be an honour."

The tension between Maddox and Gene eases the second we step out of the room, and I have to calm the jealousy that rises through me when he pulls her into a hug.

Maddox disappears upstairs to shower and change, and both Gene and my brother turn to look at me with surprised, pleased expressions.

"Way to go, big bro. What did you say to convince him to come with us?"

I shrug. "I just told him the truth and asked nicely. Not a big deal."

I notice Gene's gaze drop at my words.

"I'm sorry, you guys. I made a bad call," she says.

Rehan shrugs nonchalantly, and I reach over to turn her face so she's looking at me again. My fingers spark with the raw tension between us, her eyes widening slightly from the sensations that rush through her body.

"It's fine. We're back on track and that's all that matters."

As soon as Maddox is done, he has our bags taken from the house and placed in the trunk. We get in, and I lift my brows at the luxurious interior of the SUV. Maddox's wealth exceeded ours, but not by much. He had clearly mastered the art of simple sophistication.

"So what happened back there?" Rehan asks when we're settled in. "Bullets don't usually cause explosions."

Maddox turns to Rehan, who's sitting across from the both of us, his hands lying casually on his lap.

"They had a protective essence around them that were set to explode as soon as I tried to manipulate them. I was able to get a general location, but we will need something more specific if we want to find them."

"Do we still have the bullets?" Gene asks.

Maddox shakes his head. "They were destroyed in the explosion. Wren told me what happened with Russell, so I'm going to trace the signature of that bullet instead."

"Won't it just explode as well?" I ask him.

"Now that I know what I'm dealing with, I'm better prepared. I have my grimoire and a list of ingredients for a spell that will keep the bullets from being destroyed long enough for me to trace it, and that won't alert the caster of what we're up to."

"Let's see," Gene says, holding her hand out for the list.

Maddox hands it to her, and she scans the ingredients before nodding quietly.

"My mother should have all these. The only thing missing is that last herb. I've never even heard of it before," she says, handing it back.

"It's very old. Fortunately, I have a garden at my house and I asked Herald to pick out a few bushels for me. If nothing goes wrong, we should have a location before noon tomorrow."

A few minutes go by without anyone speaking. I glance at Gene, who's already looking at me, her expression blank. But I catch the glimmer in them when I look at her, and can hear her heart begin to race the longer I stare.

"Okay, you guys need to stop that. You're letting out so many pheromones it's actually gross. Mostly because you're my brother," Rehan interjected.

Gene grins, unashamedly, and allows herself another careful sweep of my body before she turns her gaze to the window.

Soon after, we're dropped off at a train station, our bags loaded into a private car at the back of the train.

An early dinner is served within minutes of our boarding, along with a variety of wine. We're waited on hand and foot, and Maddox is so used to this that he doesn't even acknowledge the staff. Gene is the only one who looks a little uncomfortable, but I figure that has more to do with her job of protecting us than the unfamiliarity.

She calms somewhat when the doors are finally closed and we're left alone for the last ten minutes of the journey.

There's a car to drive us from the station to the private plane awaiting us, whose crew hurriedly gets us settled so we could take off in time.

As soon as Abby disappears to give us some privacy, Gene leans towards Maddox.

"What if this is The Twelve again?"

"All the members of that organisation were killed, Gene. I was there when they were executed," Maddox says.

"But who's to say someone isn't picking up where they left off?"

He shakes his head, thinking hard.

"But why go after Russell? Why not put the names of the Cormiers on the list instead of the bellator?"

"Because Russell would've protected my parents with everything. With him, gone-"

"They can easily get someone to replace him, though. They could have easily gone after Gene as well. It's not exactly a secret that she's a bellatrix," Maddox argued.

Gene frowns at him, and he shrugs casually.

"You've made quite a name for yourself, love. Not sure whether that's good or bad."

Gene grins at that, then asks, "You've never really gotten involved in all this stuff before. What's changed?"

Maddox's expression turned deadly serious, his eyes softening with sadness and regret. He looked away from us briefly, and I could tell that he was trying to gather his words before speaking.

"For years, I watched The Twelve murder thousands of innocents. My family was among those who fell victim to their deeds, yet I ran like a coward because I was trying to save myself. I spent decades drinking and f*****g my grief away, which you saw only a glimpse of. A few months ago, I realised that I was wasting my talents and my wealth on nonsense. So I cleaned up my act and I'm trying to do better."

"Now I feel like an absolute asshole for calling you eccentric and a man-w***e," she admits.

Maddox chuckles. "That's the version of me you met, so I don't blame you."

We're interrupted by Abby, who kindly lets us know that we'll be experiencing a bit of turbulence since we're headed into a storm.

Unfortunately, we're confined to our seats for now. Rehan and Maddox are sitting comfortably beside one another, deep in conversation. They had clearly taken a liking to each other, which I thought was rather great.

Rehan had never really been able to form any lasting relationships with anyone since the guys he dated were always so intimidated by his status and position in the pack.

Maddox didn't seem to care that Rehan was werewolf royalty. They spoke about history, empires that had fallen and the most revolutionary moments of all time.

Maddox delights Rehan with stories of his youth, and all the people he had met and had the pleasure of getting to know on a more… 'personal' level.

Gene and I watch them for a bit, and when I turn to glance at her, her expression is distant, as if she's thinking about too many things.

She blinks then, feeling my gaze on her face. She unbuckles her belt and disappears into the back without a word. Maddox and Rehan don't even notice, they're so drawn to one another.

I give it maybe five minutes before I stand from my own seat, closing the door into the seating area to give us a bit of privacy.

I find her on the couch in the entertainment room, scrolling through a very long list of movies, her legs curled up underneath her body.

She looks up briefly when she senses my presence, her body tensing slightly, before she turns her attention back to the screen.

"Hey."

"Hey," I replied.

I sit on the opposite end of the couch, then lean forward with my elbows on my knees. Gene doesn't look in my direction.

"We need to talk."

"This isn't a good time, Wren."

I run my hand through my hair, and sit back with frustration.

"Gene-"

"Look, I really don't want to get into this right now. I came here to be alone for a while."

She continues to scroll through the movies, but I doubt she's even paying attention to what she's doing.

"May I ask when we can talk? Or is this just an excuse to push me away so you won't have to admit what's going on?"

She stops, turns her head. "Aren't you engaged?"

I frown, taken slightly off guard by her words.

"Aurora and I aren't together, Gene."

"And yet you said nothing to her last week when she placed her hand on your shoulder and basically announced it to the entire town."

"I didn't want to cause a scene. Appearances do matter in a position like mine," I reply.

She narrows her eyes at that, then turns back to the TV.

"I just want us to talk. We cannot keep going on like this."

"Maybe it'll be better if we stay out of each other's way," she suggests, her voice quiet.

"That's going to be impossible. Besides, it wouldn't change anything. You'd still be drawn to me, like I am to you. We both know what this is, Gene."

She doesn't say anything to that, and I close my eyes in frustration.

"Please let this go," she says, standing abruptly from her seat on the couch.

I remain seated, looking up at her with what I hope is sincerity, rather the raging need I seemed to be carrying around lately.

"How am I supposed to do that when I get restless in your absence? It feels like there's something missing, and then the second I catch your scent or hear your voice, or f**k, when I see you… everything aligns the way that it should."

She blinks, her eyes widening while her breath quickens in her chest. I stand, unable to remain any further from her than I already was.

"And I know you feel it too. I've seen the way your body tenses up whenever I enter a room. I've heard the pounding of your heart whenever I look at you. You can't deny we're unnaturally attracted to each other, Gene."

She takes a step back when I start to approach her, chewing on her bottom lip.

"No," she says, raising a hand to stop me. "Just because I feel like that, doesn't mean either of us need to act on it."

"Why not? We're adults, we're not committed to other people and we can-"

"Wren, we can't. It's not proper…"

I pause for a second at that, uncertain whether that even merited a response.

"I know for a fact you don't give a f**k about s**t like that," I said, "And we haven't known each other long, but I think you're just as terrified of this as I am."

The plane rocks beneath us, but neither of us even acknowledge it. All of my attention is focused on her right now, and I want so badly to close the distance between us and kiss her until neither of us can breathe.

I approach her again, and she doesn't step back this time. I stop about a foot away from her, and I hear her heart pounding steadily in her chest.

"Talk to me, sweetheart. I need to know what you're thinking right now."

She inhales deeply, then lets her breath out in a long, shuddering exhale.

"I'm not… I don't usually get into relationships, Wren. My history involves casual flings with guys I never really want to be around for long. No feelings, no commitments. I figured the first time I'd catch feelings would be with some guy that I would eventually forget, but I already know that this won't be that. It'll rock us hard, Wren, and I'm not sure I'm ready for something like that yet."

I take another step towards her, and she tenses again, but stays in place. When my hands finally snake around her waist, my heart is beating so fast I know she can hear it.

"It's okay if you're not ready to dive head first into it. You can take your time, and I'll give you your space if that's what you want."

Her hands slide up my arms, her palms trailing up the bare flesh of my biceps. She hooks them around my neck, her fingers playing with the hair at the nape of my neck.

My entire body feels like it's on fire. Being this close to her, finally holding her in my arms like this, it takes every shred of control not to slam her into the wall behind her and rip her clothes off.

My gaze lowers from her eyes to her lips, wet and slightly parted in invitation. I don't even realise I'm leaning down until her face is a breath away from mine, and we're both panting, fingers digging into each other's skin possessively.

When she pushes my head down, and traces her lips against mine, I feel a jolt of electricity spark through my lips.

I can't help it, then.

I kiss her.