14. Maya

14

Maya

"You so much as touch me, I will scream so loud…"

"Settle down, princess," Rhyson sighed. "I'm not here to fuck you. We need to talk."

Was he really so pissed about my knee? It was all that I could do not to roll my eyes. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my knee, but let's be honest. You didn't ask a lot of questions, and you certainly didn't invite a conversation. I believe your words were ‘speak only when spoken to.' My knee has hurt for years. It hurt when you bent me over the bed and fucked me from behind. I've learned to live with it."

His eyes turned gold, and I had a feeling I was skating on thin ice, but I wasn't done. "You want to know about my other injuries? You've seen my scars. They're not battle scars, but they don't hurt anymore. My ankle was fucked up for a while, but it really only hurts when I run on it as a human. The knee bothers me as a human and a wolf, so it's a little more difficult to navigate. It's better now. I won't slow you down."

"Who. Did. It," he snarled.

"You don't get to ask me that. In the short time that we've been together, you've called me a liar and a slut, so you don't get to ask personal questions like that."

"Goddammit, Maya…"

"You want to swear at someone, you should swear at yourself, Rhyson. You're supposed to be a just and fair leader, but all you've done is ridicule and humiliate me."

Turning from him, I let him stew in silence while I carefully checked the sheets. I didn't find anything odd, but I lifted the mattress as best I could. When I grunted, he was beside me, helping me. I nearly told him to fuck off, but instead, I glanced underneath. "It's clean. Let's check yours."

There were no charms or sigils under either of them. I didn't know much about witchcraft, but I had a feeling if they wanted to spy on us, there was probably not much that we could do about it.

"Tell me about your wolf," he said gruffly.

"No."

"Look, we're not going to be great friends, but out here, I have to be something else. This is your chance to be something else as well. We need to watch each other's backs out here. The better I know of your weaknesses, the better I can protect you. And the baby."

Immediately, my hand went to my stomach, and I closed my eyes. Of course he knew just what to say to make me do what he wanted. Wolves of great strength could take power, but it took intelligence and manipulation to keep it.

"I already told you, my wolf and I don't connect."

"Explain that."

"It's exactly what it sounds like. Supposedly, you can communicate with your wolf when you're in human form. I can't do that. I can't communicate with her when I'm in wolf form either. She can't connect with me. I maintain as much control as I can over her, but I can't talk to her."

Usually, this revelation was met with confusion or horror. To his credit, Rhyson didn't look either of those things. He just studied me and pursed his lips. "I can't even sense her now. I've never had that happen before. The disconnect explains that. Did something happen, or have you never been able to communicate with her?"

"Never," I said flatly. I didn't tell him that for years, my father told me that I didn't even have a wolf. That I was defective. It wasn't until I shifted during one of Champ's painful lessons that I learned the truth. "I have tried. I've meditated. Snuck away to commune with the moon. Tried to sneak away to the elders."

"Sneak," Rhyson repeated. "What does that mean? You haven't told your father?"

There it was again, his immediate response to uphold my father's good name. My father didn't do something, so obviously it was my fault. Disgust rolled through me, and I didn't respond. What was the point? We weren't really starting over fresh, despite his words. He just wanted information.

"Maya, I want to help you."

"No, you don't," I retorted. "You just want to make certain you're not blindsided and humiliated when a complete stranger deduces something about me in an hour that you couldn't be bothered to figure out."

Suddenly, I was up against the wall. His hands caged me in on both sides, and his head leaned down and hovered inches from mine. "It is not a good idea to test me, Maya," he murmured. "I could leave you at the mercy of the wild here."

"And your baby?" I echoed with a smile.

His hand moved from the wall to my stomach, slipping under my shirt, and I immediately inhaled sharply at the warmth. The memory of his touch, and just what it could do to me, pooled at my pussy, and I swallowed hard.

Eyes glowing gold, he moved his thumb over my skin. "That has yet to be determined."

"By you, maybe, but then, we've already determined that you're not that quick on certain things, are you?"

With a grunt, he moved closer and slid his hands up. "I remember when you liked me taking my time."

Shit. We were moving into very dangerous territory. I bit my lip, and he grinned. "Something wrong, Maya?"

"I'd ask the same of you. You said you'd never touch me again, and yet your hand is moving dangerously close to my breast."

"Do you want me to move it?"

Inhaling sharply, I nodded, and immediately, he pulled his hand away and stepped back. Cool air rushed to my skin, as did disappointment as I pulled my shirt down. Knowing how much of an effect he still had over my body was unwelcome. What did I always hear the other wolves saying? To get one wolf out of your system, you just needed to fuck another.

It wasn't like I could get pregnant twice.

Pushing the thought away, I turned my back to him and climbed into my bed. Rhyson was silent, but I could feel his gaze on me. It was a long time before I fell asleep.

Sunlight streamed through the dirty window by my bed, and I knew instantly that Rhyson wasn't with me anymore. Quickly, I flipped over, but it was just Juniper sitting cross-legged on Rhyson's bed. She held a wickedly long blade in one hand and a sharpening stone in the other. Any faint trace of jealousy I had that she was in Rhyson's bed fled the moment she ran the stone over the blade and stared at me.

"Do we have a problem, Juniper?" I asked warily as I sat up.

"Only that you're female," she sighed as she continued to sharpen her blade. "I'm his third-in-command. I should be out hunting with the others, and instead I'm babysitting you because he doesn't want any of his trusted male wolves to be alone with you. I find that annoying."

Huh. So maybe trying to seduce one of the other wolves was not a good idea. "Have you and he ever…you know what, forget I even started to ask. It's none of my business, and I don't care."

"Right. No, I can totally tell that you don't care."

"Where exactly have you been keeping that knife?"

She just flashed a smile and stood. "You were sleeping like a rock earlier."

"It's been awhile since I've been free of pain." I flexed my knee carefully and sighed when it twinged. Sometimes, I'd be so stiff in the morning that I could barely put any weight on it. It had been difficult to hide yesterday morning. I was pleased by the progress.

"Who did it to you?"

"Rhyson's spy and my bodyguard?"

Cocking her head, she studied me. "He's my…well, you know what he is. If he asked, I would tell him, but I don't think he would ask. He'd rather you told him yourself, and I wouldn't volunteer the information."

"So you want to be my friend?"

"I want to know more about you so I can decide for myself how to feel about you," she said lightly. "But you don't have to make it seem like us being friends would be so absurd. Rhyson is right about one thing. You should not hide pain and weaknesses from us. It makes it harder for us to move as a group."

I grunted. "I tell you all my weaknesses, and you'll treat me like a child."

"I didn't see you fight, but Duke did, and he was impressed. Very little impresses Duke. He doesn't think you're weak, so maybe you should stop thinking that as well. Come on. Let's go see what we can scout out about this weird place before we leave today. Knowledge is power."

"You don't trust them?"

"Everybody is hiding something, red. Even you. We'll figure it out eventually. I just hope that you're not lying about the father of the baby."

"Why? Because he'll kill me? You'd be surprised how often I hear that threat."

"Oh, Maya, you say that with such indifference. I wonder if maybe you want to die. I suppose this is as good a place to do it as any."

I put my hand to my belly. "No. I'm going to live for my baby."

"Good. At least one of you has something to live for."