– Chapter 171

Selene

If Bastien wants to hold me up against this wall and growl at me for the rest of our lives, I’ll gladly let him. It’s honestly a miracle I’m not crying like a baby just being reunited with him. The crushing weight that left my shoulders when I saw him was absolutely unfathomable. I truly did not realize how much stress I was carrying until I felt the sweet release of knowing my mate is unharmed – even if he has lost his marbles a bit.

I don’t have the first idea what Arabella has done to him, but it’s clear he has no idea what has been happening while he’s away – or even what happened before. If she were a Volana I might think he’d been hypnotized, but since she’s not, I have to think some sort of magic is responsible.

When he looks at me with that bewildered expression and opens my coat to reveal my small baby bump, I feel a tiny flutter behind my belly button. It’s as if the pup knows it’s father is finally near, and it’s the first time I’ve felt the baby quicken. I’m about to gasp when his silver eyes bore into me, “You’re breeding?”

“Arabella didn’t tell you?” I guess, not surprised Arabella would have kept this knowledge secret when she’s clearly been hiding more recent news from him as well.

“How would she know?” Bastien snarls defensively.

“Bastien, it’s been all over the news. I’ve been in the hospital, Frederic was keeping me there, making me sick.” I explain in the simplest terms I can.

“You’re lying.” He accuses immediately, “I’ve been following the news very closely – I haven’t seen anything about this.”

“I don’t know what coverage you get here, but I promise if you search you’ll find plenty of results.” I share, hoping he’ll do as I suggest. I can’t be sure how much of what I’m saying is actually getting through to him, but I have to try to plant as many seeds as I can.”

Bastien stares at my belly for a moment, his jaw ticking. “I suppose this is another of his bastards?”

“Bastien, If I’d been with Frederic, you’d smell him on me, but you don’t do you? There’s only you.” I pull my neckline back to expose his mark. “I’ve never been with anyone else, and you planted this pup the night you gave me this.”

He stares at the crinkled white scar as if he’s waiting for it to jump out and speak to him. I have no idea what he sees or smells, but I know the way male wolves respond to marks, I know they can sense things completely below women’s radar.

“This pup is yours, just like Lila is.” I remind him passionately.

“Lila?” He repeats, sounding as if the name might be ringing a bell, but one which he simply cannot place.

“Lila, our daughter.” I’m unbelievably glad my pup isn’t here at the moment, it would devastate her to think her father had forgotten her. “Do you truly remember nothing of the last five years?” I press, becoming increasingly worried. “Do… do you remember meeting me?”

Bastien finally sets my feet on the ground, removing some of the pressure forcing me against the cold bricks, “your assassins took my memory in the attack.”

“They weren’t my assassins!” I exclaim. “They were Frederic’s and they didn’t take your memory. We spoke after it happened. You called Aiden and Donovan to get Lila and I to a safe house because you were afraid someone was coming for us too!”

“She’s lying!” Suddenly Arabella is standing next to Helen just inside the alleyway. I’m beginning to think the magic has dulled my other senses. I didn’t smell Bastien until he was in front of me, and I didn’t hear her coming. “Don’t let her fool you Bastien. You remember waking up after the attack – you were in my apartment.”

“And just how did he get from being knocked out by assassins to being in your apartment?” Helene demands, voicing my thoughts. “How did he escape them if they knocked him out. I suppose they had a sudden crisis of conscience, decided to give up their mercenary ways and carried him to your doorstep?”

Keeping one eye on Bastien, a spark of hope lights in my hear when he apparently considers this question for the first time. What in the Goddess’s name has she done to him? I ask Luna. It’s like it’s not just his memory but his logic too.

Better yet, who’s been helping her? My wolf adds, we both know she didn’t manage this alone.

“Put a sock in it, witch.” Arabella spits, sending a flare of outrage through my blood.

As usual however, my mentor needs no help defending herself. “Now, now. Don’t say that like it’s a bad word, deary. You might offend me.” She states ominously.

Cringing away from the woman, Arabella reached for Bastien, “Remember honey, you’d already found me when they caught up to you, after we fought them off I had a friend help me get you inside.”

Bastien looks completely overwhelmed now, as if he’s racking his brain trying to remember but keeps coming up empty. “You’ve seen the newspapers Bastien.” Arabella reminds him. “You’ve seen the lies she’s been spreading about you.”

“Then he will also have seen the news about my pregnancy, Frederics exposure, all of it.” I argue fiercely, looking at my husband helplessly. “If you can get the Novan News Network here it would have been impossible to miss this last week.”

“I’ve been sick this week.” Bastien murmurs hazily, “I slept for seven days straight.”

“How convenient.” I snap, approaching him cautiously. “You don’t get sick, Bastien.” I remind him. “During our first marriage I could be bedridden with the flu for days on end and you could take care of me without ever coming down with so much as a sniffle.” He’s staring straight at me now, and I’m almost tempted to channel some of my power into my words, but I won’t risk being accused of manipulation.

“Since when do you lose fights? Since when do you succumb to injury or illness?” I press, “This isn’t you. If you would only come home with me you’ll see. Aiden, Donovan, your mother, they can verify all this. We’ve all been calling you for weeks.”

“You’ve tricked them.” He says dully, not sounding like himself at all. Disappointment slams into me, for a moment there I thought we’d had him, but now it seems like he’s fallen further away. “You’ve tricked them just like you tricked me.”

Pain and frustration swell up inside me, but then a new thought strikes me. “How did you know I’d changed my eyes, Bastien. How do you know what color my eyes are supposed to be?”

“I had a dream.” Bastien confesses, rubbing the back of his neck and pacing. “I don’t even know if it was real. You were… afraid of me, we talked about someone called Garrick. I killed him for hurting you.”

“That was real, Bastien.” I assure him, “back then I didn’t have my wolf, I didn’t know we were mates.”

“Stop this!” Arabella practically shrieks, “don’t you see what she’s doing? Who are you going to believe Bastien? You’ve known me my entire life, you remember every day we spent together – all you know of her are a couple of imagined flashes amid a fever.”

“If it’s that cut and dry then what’s the danger of hearing my version of events?” I counter.

Footsteps sound on the main road then, and Helene peeks her head around the wall. “Bad news, we’ve got company.”

“I warned you about the curfew!” Arabella half whispers, half-shouts. She grasps Bastien’s hand, dragging him towards the opposite end of the dark corridor. “This is probably one of her traps. She brought you out knowing you’d be caught.”

“It’s far more dangerous for me to be caught by them than him.” I growl, even as Helene begins pulling me away too. “Ask yourself Bastien, ask yourself what makes more sense: Is the person trying to deceive you the one asking you to face reality head on, or is it the one who wants you to stay here with your head in the sand.”

“You bitch!” Arabella scowls, “You have no idea the bond we have – we’re going to be married, and then we’re going to come home and deal with you once and for all.”

“You cannot marry him when he hasn’t yet rejected me!” I remind her sharply, regretting the words the moment they’re out of my mouth.

“That can be easily arranged.” Arabella answers gleefully. “Go ahead, Bastien. Do it! Reject her!”

“We have to go, now!” Helene urges us, even as I stare at my mate in horror as he begins opening his mouth.

“Reject her!” Arabella urges him, “do it now before it’s too late!”