Ava finished her second glass of water. Yes, she chose to drink water and had avoided the array of wine and whiskey on the bar inside Matthew’s room. She knew it would be expensive and apparently, her body isn’t used to expensive stuff.
She started pacing inside the room.
As much as she wanted to calm down, she couldn’t. She had actually fought against a Royal Lycan! Now, this shouldn’t be a problem if she was still with Trillium. But... she wasn’t.
The fact that Matthew had such a complicated relationship with other Lycans should have been enough to scare her away. But for some reason, his bloodied face lingered in her head.
Hours have passed since Erenes and Kieran disappeared. She eyed the door. She had been staying here since they left, clueless about what’s happening outside.
She walked towards the door and deliberated for a few seconds. Should she go out and talk to him? Ava didn’t feel like intruding. But before she could turn the knob, the door opened, revealing a clean looking Matthew.
It looked like the man disappeared so he could clean himself up. Dressed in black sweater and gray pants, Matthew stared at her. "May I come in?" he asked.
"Oh!" she had forgotten this was actually his room. She moved to the side, letting him walked in. "H— How are you?" she asked just as he walked towards the huge glass door that would lead them to a balcony.
"What happened today..." Matthew had his back on her. And while she couldn’t see his face, the anger in his voice was apparent. "It shouldn’t have happened."
"That’s alright." She already knew what he was going to say. While staying here, she deliberated and thought hard about the reasons why she went inside his office knowing the danger that awaited her.
Deep inside she knew that the reason she had come up with was too shallow. But she had no choice but to use it.
She couldn’t tell him that something stirred inside her as she looked at him while she was outside her body.
"I am working for you. The contract that I signed clearly stated that I will be here if you need me."
"You shouldn’t have done that." Matthew gritted his teeth. He slowly turned towards her.
"Done what?" she asked. Was he angry that she went inside and intervened?
"Save me."
"Oh.... " Irritation flashed in her eyes. "I thought you were going to thank me."
"I could have handled them."
"You were bleeding, your wolf was bound. You couldn’t have used your strength against that spell." She had seen that spell in Texas. It was one of the forbidden ones that could bind any shifter and easily kill them. The dangers that came with that spell was too much.
Ava read somewhere that one only needed to use it for a few seconds or the magick could damage the shifter’s soul. For a Lycan that could have devastating effects.
"I could have handled it." Matthew growled, his voice had a hint of danger that surprised her. "You didn’t have to show yourself."
"Are you really going to growl at me because I saved you?" she snapped. "Is this how you thank your savior?"
"I didn’t ask you to put yourself in danger for me, Ava!" His voice boomed inside the room. The intensity of his gaze silenced her.
However, Ava wasn’t planning to back down. She had seen him struggle because of that spell. What the hell was she supposed to do? Anger hummed inside her body as the fire from the fireplace hissed and flickered.
"So I am supposed to watch your wolf suffer? Why? Was it because of your damn pride Matthew?" she chided. "Was it because you cannot accept the fact that a woman saved you?"
"I said— "
"So, you actually throw a tantrum because of your egos! Well damn you Lycan! I am no princess that would watch someone suffer! I am capable of defending myself!"
"I didn’t say you can’t defend yourself!"
"Then why were you angry?" she asked, her eyes widened. Instead of a damn thank you, the man was screaming at her face asking her why she saved him! "If not because I hurt your pride, then tell me Matthew! Why the hell are you screaming at me for saving your life!"
"They are not going to spare you."
"I can take care of myself," she said.
"You don’t understand— "
"Then tell me!" she yelled. "Don’t you dare act like a three year old in front of me Matthew!"
His jaws clenched as he moved closer. This time, she didn’t take a step back or avoid his fiery gaze. Instead, she lifted her head and met his eyes.
"I could have killed each one of them without your help!"
"Bullshit!"
"I didn’t want them to know that you were there! " He blurted without hiding the insanity in his eyes.
"Ha... so you are going to say that you did it for me." Folding her arms across her chest, Ava smirked. "Tell me Matthew... if an army would attack this mansion right now. Are you going to ask me to run or to stay and fight?"
Matthew didn’t have to answer her question. The protectiveness that he emitted was enough to explain what he was going to say.
"I don’t want to lose you..." Matthew’s voice suddenly became soft as he stood next to her.
The fire in his eyes was alluring. Yet she couldn’t help but snort at his words. Why was he speaking like something was going on between them?
"The Lycans... are going to want to have you now. They won’t stop until I bring you to them. A powerful witch like you can be a strong ally. So they would force you to serve them..."
She pursed her lips. She heard about things like this before. Before the salem hunt, some witches were treated as slaves by other shifters, especially the powerful ones. When they tried to revolt, they were hunted and killed like chickens.
It was a part of their dark history.
Who would have known that this would still happen in this time and place?
"They are going to come for you." He lifted his head and held a stray hair before he tucked it behind her ear.
"Are you going to let them have me?" she asked after a long deadly silence.
"No."
"Then... it’s settled," she said. She wasn’t very familiar with the rules in between Lycans. However, she now understood why Matthew was so angry when she showed up. But again, she had no choice. She thought Matthew was in danger. Or at least that was what she saw.
She panicked and just stopped thinking rationally.
"See?" she lifted one of her sexy eyebrows. "Talking like adults... can solve everything."
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