The Mate That Wasn't Mine novel Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A squeal flies out when he starts to tip me backwards.

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“Don’t forget your arrow,” Maxim smirks. “Here, lean back and grab it.”

My legs remain wrapped around his waist whilst I’m dipping lower and lower to the ground. My back arches outwards, held in solid safety. Maxim’s warm hands are planted to my bare skin, right under his borrowed jacket. The sensation causes me to forget what the hell an arrow even looks like for a second or two.

“Nearly…nearly!” I grimace, stretching my arm out, my fingers wide, everything upside down, my long dark copper hair swaying.

“Keep trying,” Maxim chuckles. Suddenly his breath is on my bare stomach where his oversized jacket has ridden up. “Stretch all you need.”

His tongue darts out onto my skin, followed by his lips. His nose nudges the jacket high, almost to the wire of my bra and I flinch.

The more I clench my legs around him, twisting and reaching to regain my arrow, the greedier his little kisses grow. “This isn’t fair…this…just give me a couple of inches please!” I whisper, fully aware of my spread apart legs being dangerously close to the growing hardness in his pants.

“Tessa…now that’s a request,” he chuckles darkly, his hot, staggered breaths fanning across my skin. The softness of his beard tickles which doesn’t help my clenching, flinching state.

“What? Have I done something wrong?” trying to make a final grab for the

arrow.

“Nothing. Apart from…” he growls, planting another series of kisses upon my bare upper stomach, my right arm still flailing for the arrow. I’m starting to think he is keeping it purposely out of my reach for his own amusement, my fingertips just brushing the grass. “…I don’t think my advice included flashing your chest at the worst of the Wardens.”

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“I couldn’t move my shoulder! I’d have missed otherwise. Now lift me up! Everyones watching!”

“No, they’ve all left. Now promise me, no more teasing the Wardens with what’s mine.”

“Yours! Teasing?” I exclaim, trying to ignore the thrill that idea sent plunging into the deepest, most secret part of me.

“Damn right, Goddess you don’t half go red,” and for a second I forget about the wall of lies we’ve supposedly constructed between us.

Proving his point with a flourish, he quickly swirls me upright, grinning and raising a dark eyebrow, daring me to argue with him.

All I can do is smile shyly instead, my long copper hair now an unruly, long mess over my shoulders.

My cheeks are an inferno, My logical brain insists the heat is from being dangled upside down. Not the lingering sensation of his lips and soft beard all over my bare stomach.

If we’re alone out where, what are the rules then? Can I kiss him?

“Fuck’s sake,” Maxim grunts, my head turning to catch what has broken the spell once more.

Warden Marshall has lingered, watching us the entire time. I grip Maxim’s shirt a little tighter only for him to place me back down on the ground. It’s awkward, fumbling. There could almost be two separate men I’m

pretending to be mated to.

“Better make a move, go grab your gear” Maxim snaps quickly. He’s striding away from the targets, back to the sidelines where he first stood watching me.

Which leaves me running back towards where I shot from, my bow and arrows on the lush grass waiting to be retrieved.

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Except Warden Marshall is standing right there. And my bow is snapped. Like someone stamped on it. With venom.

“No! Oh no, no!” lifting up the limp, useless chunks of wood. The once- taught string hangs limp. The bow I’ve spent years practicing with is fucked beyond repair.

“You should have watched your equipment. Worn the proper clothing.” Warden Marshall states flatly. He doesn’t even cast his grey–blue eyes my way, he’s too scribbling down notes on his clipboard.

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Whatever was good about hitting that bullseye I’ve managed to cancel out in the space of five minutes.

“I just…I thought-”

“No. You didn’t think. That is precisely the problem Miss Darnell. Do you even know how your fellow students did? Some will go home today, but that doesn’t matter because you hit one bullseye?”

“No you are completely correct, Warden. I should have been more responsible,” I murmur back, quickly tucking long reams of my hair behind my ear. He stands a little taller, buoyed by my submission. His tall figure is only slightly smaller than Maxim’s, clad in a loose, gray and white cotton training–style uniform.

Every inch of me is numb, my brain unsure what to do with the ruined lump of wood in my hands.

Is it possible to physically shrink on the spot? It certainly feels like I am. Warden Marshall continues to scribble, not giving me a second glance.

I was so caught up in the moment, in Maxim, I let everything sensible fall straight out of my head. All the promises I made myself are dust.

The judgment, the scoring. Horror twists my guts. It was never just about hitting the target. All those first years who are watching and cheering on the other students in the wrestling and bladework are scoring points over

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1. me. They’re showing teamwork, loyalty. Pack discipline.

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The ruined bow was not a family treasure. It’s not been passed down through the generations. But still, it was mine. Something I scrimped and saved for after Luca first taught me the basics years ago.

His black hair wasn’t so savagely long back then. The almost black depths of his irises still shone.

But then, he hadn’t been sent away when he first took me to our clearing. Showed me the targets he’d spent hours whittling down, hanging at all kinds of heights, some fixed, some swaying in the breeze.

We had once talked about doing this together. Both applying for archery at Ravenbow. Before he changed, anyway. But we were so young back then, our wolves yet to awaken, a whole other lifetime. Not this one where I’m barely dressed, waiting to be told I’ve blown my chance after less than half a day.

“What are you waiting for Miss Darnell?” he snaps. The scratching of his pen cuts through the gentle breeze. His scent is lavender. Soapy and irritating.

In a pathetic little voice I choke out. “For your permission to leave, Warden. So that I might take your advice and see how my fellow students are faring.”

“You know they all think Maxim told you about the site conditions? That the contest was rigged.”

“That’s not what happened!”

I gulp, my pulse racing. No. No this can’t be. There were a few comments but surely every single man who I shot against cannot think I had an advantage. Warden Marshall looks up from his board.

His pale face is emotionless, the gray–blue of his eyes sapping the last shreds of confidence from my soul. He thinks I’m a cheat. My so–called

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mate isn’t helping me, he’s tarnishing me.

“Hey!” Maxim interrupts, roughly grabbing the wrecked bow from my hands and tossing it behind him. His arm lumps around my shoulder. “You can borrow mine until I buy you one from stores. I hope there isn’t a problem Warden?”

His jaw is clenched, he and Warden Marshall sharing a clear, heated hatred of each other. I’m frozen to the spot.

“You’re going to ruin her chances, Beta.”

Maxim scoffs. “Are you really corrupt enough to mark her down just to attack me? She was the best today. Everyone saw.”

“Watch your fucking tone Pagana. You’ve no permanent spot either.”

Maxim’s lips thin but it doesn’t take a genius to guess he’s biting a flourish of curse words. Instead his arm leaves my shoulder and grips my hand tightly.

“She’s done everything you asked. So we’re leaving. Now.” His frame barging past the white and gray suited Warden. When I look back, his glassy stare follows our every step.

Everything is swallowing me up. Crunching on white gravel I look up in confusion, only to see we are walking towards a collection of four–storey blocks. Accommodation. Not where the other students are. Where I need

to be.

“Wait. No. I need to go and watch the other students, I was being selfish-”

“No. He was a prick to you because he hates me. We need to get this room shit sorted,” his pace only quickening.

“Why? What would be so wrong if we’re in separate rooms for a few days?” I offer only for Maxim to spin around, his frustration now turned onto me. The man is so quick to feel everything, from adoring to angry to

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defensive in seconds.

“Because you might not know me, but everyone else here does. And someone like me, not living with their mate would be insane. Ridiculous

even.”

“Why someone like you, what does that mean?”

“It means I know what I’m doing. Come on.”

I’m getting pretty sick of being dragged around like a dog. Yanking my hand free I stop, aware of the hundreds of windows surrounding us, where anyone could possibly view our conversation.

“What are you doing Tessa?” his voice low, laced with frustration.

“I’m going to watch the other first–years. Try to meet some people. Like I am meant to do.”

Maxim places his hands on his hips, a long whistle of a breath leaving his pursed lips. Looking up to the blue sky above those amber eyes remain hypnotic whatever mood he’s in.

“Don’t let him get in your head. Marshall is not…he’s isn’t all–powerful you

know.”

But I haven’t left one shitty existence to trade it for another. I’m going to need people I can trust. Friends that aren’t criminals or fakes.

“Neither are you,” I say quietly, before folding my arms across my chest, turning and walking back the way I came,

Ignoring the whispered comments and my aching feet, I stand, watch and applaud. Every single wrestling round until the sun sets I dutifully study. I try to make conversation with those around me, but I’m a leper already.

There is no sign of Maxim.

Some huge lump named Nico comes out champion for the day. The

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archery results are officially announced. My name is top. A man named Gideon is going home. Nobody congratulates me.

For all his threats, the cool malice of Warden Marshall could not change the fact I hit the best shot today. Does that make Maxim right after all?

Shit, I don’t know what to think. Once more I’m standing alone in the dusk, with only my depressed wolf for company. Just like home.

“Hey, Tessa isn’t it?”

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I turn to see Silas and Kai, the guys from the train. In their dark blue Beta shirts, they make an odd pair. Silas has his lion–like mane scraped up into a half–ponytail, his features stern when not smiling, Kai’s black spikes have softened into ruffles, his slender face bright and youthful.

“Come and get something to eat. Alpha usually does a speech this first night.”

Trudging into the gray monolith of a packhouse, its red strikes of stone are more fearsome than enchanting. With Maxim is nowhere to be seen right now, I’m going to toe the line, do as I’m told.

Because there is no return home for me. It’s here or exile. Not even

Maxim’s glorious amber gaze, or the way his lips feel upon my skin can

make Ravenbow my home. Only playing by their rules will.

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