Chapter 65 Worth It
Bastien’s POV
I close the bedroom door as quietly as I can, unsurprised to find my mate waiting on the other side. I al most smile; some things never change. My little mate seems just as prone to eavesdropping as ever, and stands with her arms coiled defensively around her body, eyeing me with apprehension.
“Still listening at doorways, little wolf?” I ask, striding forward until I’m towering over Selene and she’s forced to back away to escape my shadow.
Rather than answering, she glowers and says, “Why did you do that?”
“Do what?” I feign ignorance, “Put your pup to bed?”
“No.” She corrects me immediately. “Why did you say those things to her?”
“Because Lila wanted a bedtime story.” I shrug, watching her skirt away from me with amusement. She should know better than to run from a predator especially her mate. I follow her at a distance, never coming close enough to make contact, but making my intentions all too clear.
You can run, little wolf. Axel rumbles, but you can’t hide.
“What did you think of it?”
Selene is beginning to look rather distraught, like a cornered rabbit with nowhere to turn. “It sounded like a fairy tale.” She replies dismissively.
“So?” | ask, taking too much pleasure in baiting her. “What could be better for a growing pup?”
“Fairy tales aren’t real.” Selene argues, a red flush working its way up her cheeks.
study my mate for a long moment, absorbing the blend of fear and arousal muddying her pristine scent. I can hear her pounding heart and panting breaths, and see the confusion tangling her nerves. Her pupils are great black discs, surrounded by coronas
purrs in my
been too long far, far too long since I’ve seen her this way, and far too long since we‘ve mated. She’s perfectly primed, probably nearing her heat and pushed over the edge by my wolf s provocation. But I still
aren’t you with Drake, Selene?” I
question, Selene scrabbles for an answer before fee bly claiming,
“He hasn’t marked you,
to.” She counters, crossing her slender arms over her chest defiantly. “I didn’ t want a mate – I don’t
are you so determined to live without a mate?” I inquire, “what is so
what you’re doing and it’s not going
I ask innocently,
her paternity so that
forward so that I’m standing mere inches away when she turns back to face me. I clamp my hand over her mouth before she
to cup her cheek,
herself completely still, not frozen in terror, but tensed to the point of shaking as if she’s fighting some internal battle I cannot see. I wonder if her wolf is doing as Axel is: urging her to rub herself all
those things” I let the words hang in the air, giving my mate time to backtrack our conversation. When she remembers the last words spoken before I surprised her,
press my lips to her wrinkled forehead with a deep chuckle. “Not because I want to mate with you though I absolutely do.” I promise, “But because that is the way I
her head, tears welling in her eyes. “You’re being cruel.”
my hand up and down Selene’s spine, I search her
me, eyes
| growl, tightening my grip on her small body. “I don’t mind if you eavesdrop, or push me away, or even run from me.” It takes nearly all my strength to
I profess. “I have always loved you and I’m so sorry I didn’t show
her eyes downward even as I force them up. “And I don’t care
know me anymore. I’m
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