A Web of Lies Read online

  Or will we?

  I can still go back there. I can ask Shayla to take me.

  What it would achieve exactly, I didn’t know—quite possibly nothing at all. But I was dying for some sense of closure. If I could complete what Lawrence and I had been planning to do before we were forced to leave Scotland, I could feel that I had at least tied up the loose end of the graveyard… and it might make it easier for me to move on.

  Victoria

  I was uncertain of when sleep managed to carry Bastien and me away. I guessed that it was some time after three AM.

  When I woke up the following morning to the sun streaming through the French windows, I had forgotten where I was. It wasn’t until I realized that Bastien’s arm was wrapped around me, my back pressed against his chest, that I remembered. I twisted around slowly to take in his face. Peaceful, serene, still asleep.

  I planted a kiss against his warm forehead before gently detaching myself from him and heading to the bathroom. I took a shower and tamed my hair. By the time I’d finished and stepped back into the bedroom, Bastien had awoken. He looked so sexy as he glanced at me from across the room, his eyes hooded, dark hair tousled.

  “Good morning,” he said, his voice deep and husky.

  “Good morning,” I replied, breaking out in a smile.

  He climbed out of bed and engulfed me in an embrace before heading to the bathroom. I continued grinning as I heard the lock click. Given the quickness of his greeting, I guessed that he needed the toilet. Only the day before, Bastien hadn’t known how to use a regular toilet. One of the male nurses had to explain it to him. He’d stared in wonder when the nurse demonstrated the flush, gazing into the pot as though it was some kind of witchcraft. Recalling the kind of toilets I had experience with in The Woodlands, this didn’t exactly come as a surprise.

  I sat on the bed and waited while listening to him brush his teeth and then turn on the shower. I couldn’t help but giggle as he let out a low groan. I guessed that he was enjoying the hot water.

  When he stepped out, he was completely bare except for a towel draped low around his waist. I cleared my throat even as I ogled his physique.

  Coming to my senses, I realized that I had forgotten to put a change of clothes in the bathroom for him.

  “I’ll just go and, uh, get… something…” I said breathlessly, my voice trailing off as I left the room. I fetched a pair of pajamas from the cabinet and returned to hand them to him.

  When he retreated into the bathroom to change, I caught a glimpse of the floor—and chuckled to myself again. It looked like a mini-swimming pool in there. I wondered how much water had actually made it down the drain. Use of the shower curtain, I supposed, was still new to him.

  He returned, dressed in the pajamas. His body appeared dry, though his hair was still wet. I moved into the bathroom and laid some towels down on the floor to dry it before reaching into one of the cupboards and pulling out a hairdryer. I could bet a lot of money that he had never seen one of these before.

  I moved a chair in front of the mirror in the bedroom and indicated to Bastien that he should take a seat. He stared at the dryer as I switched it on and began blowing it against his locks. By the time I had finished, his hair had become static. I calmed it down with a comb and then suggested that we head downstairs to the hospital dining room for breakfast. When we arrived, I was happy to see that the breakfast table was still laid out. I wasn’t sure exactly what he might like, so I served him a bit of everything before sitting down opposite him with my own plate.

  It turned out that he wasn’t a fussy eater. And he seemed to be very hungry, too. He finished the whole plate, then got up and helped himself to seconds… and then thirds. I noticed he took a particular liking to the blackberry strudel. The cooks didn’t often prepare that for breakfast, but it was always a treat when they did; it was one of my favorites, too.

  Once we had finished eating, I led Bastien out of the hospital. His eyes positively shone as he drew in a deep breath and gazed around at the sprawling sunflower meadow and the thick forest that bordered it.

  He was back in his favorite kind of habitat. Out in the open. Out in the wild. As his eyes continued roaming the island, including the mountains that were visible in the distance, I realized how he saw it. Like one big playground.

  I guessed about now he would be feeling the urge to start…

  He finished my thought for me with action. He pulled me to him and gestured for me to climb onto his back. I barely had a chance to gain a firm grip on him before he bolted forward and began running through the field. The soft leaves and petals of the sunflowers brushed against my cheeks, as Bastien’s feet thudded against the soil.

  We soon reached the end of the field and arrived at the redwood trees. It didn’t take much to guess what would happen next. He leapt into the tree closest to us and began scaling it, branch by branch, until we reached the very top. Even though I was used to a stunning view of the island from my family’s penthouse, the sight we beheld at the top of this tree didn’t fail to take my breath away. Bastien looked mesmerized.

  “Beautiful,” he said softly.

  I was thrilled that he liked it so much.

  He remained standing for a few minutes in the same position, drinking in The Shade’s beauty, before, with a strong thrust of his legs, he leapt with me into the neighboring tree. Then into the next one, and the next one.

  “Bastien,” I said, clinging to him as tightly as I could, “I want to take you to my treehouse.” I actually wanted to give him some proper clothes to wear in place of hospital pajamas. I also wanted to change.

  “Where is it?” he asked, as he took another exhilarating leap.

  “Um…” I gazed around the sea of treetops, not used to having to navigate the island from this height. I indicated the direction of the Residences, not bothering to suggest that we could just travel on foot like normal people because… well, there was nothing normal about Bastien.

  I pointed to my treehouse as soon as it came into view. He sped up and touched down with me in the center of the veranda. He set me down on my feet and examined the treehouse’s exterior curiously.

  “Fine workmanship,” he commented, trailing a hand along the veranda’s wooden railing.

  “All credit goes to our witches,” I explained, pushing open the front door and inviting him inside.

  I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him as he stepped through the doorway. I wanted to witness every detail of his reaction to my home. Holding his hand, I pulled him past the entrance hall and into the living room.

  He glanced with appreciation at the furniture and decor, but his eyes lingered the longest on the various pieces of technology we had. Our television, phones, and other inventions he would never have seen before in his life.

  I took him on a guided tour of the apartment, showing him every room, even the spare rooms, along with the views each held of different parts of the island. I stopped outside my bedroom last. I gripped the handle and pushed it open, allowing him to enter first.

  “This is where you usually sleep?” he asked, approaching my single bed that was pushed up against the window on the opposite side of the room.

  I nodded. I approached beside him and sank down on the mattress, inviting him to do the same. “Well,” I said. “You’ve seen it all now. My home. I’ve lived here since I was a baby.”

  “Where are your parents?” he wondered.

  I realized that I’d forgotten to tell him that the League had returned to the supernatural dimension. I had slipped away to say goodbye to my parents while Bastien had been resting.

  “They’ve gone on another mission,” I explained. “To the ogres’ realm. They want to rid that place of hunters as well, and then move on to search every other territory the hunters might have sunk their claws into.”

  He nodded thoughtfully. “I see… Your parents—all your family—they are good people.”

  “They are,” I agreed. I couldn’t say the same
for Bastien’s family, or at least those that I had been acquainted with thus far. But it sounded like his parents and siblings had been a lot nicer than the Northstones—or more specifically Brucella.

  Not a lot of time had passed since he’d lost his family. I guessed he was still recovering from the trauma.

  “Did you ever see Brucella again, after you escaped from the mutants in The Woodlands?” I couldn’t help but ask.

  He nodded grimly, clenching his jaw. “She found me in my boat. She tried to persuade me to jump aboard her ship. I ignored her and fled. In fact, she was the reason I abandoned my boat in the first place.”

  The reason you got so badly injured by a shark. Just another reason to despise that she-wolf.

  “Where do you think she is now?” I asked.

  Bastien shrugged. “Still roaming the oceans looking for me, I suppose.”

  “And when she doesn’t find you? What then?”

  He heaved a sigh. “Brucella will have a decision to make. Keep looking for me until she eventually discovers me again, or find another suitor for her daughter.”

  I ran my tongue over my lower lip. “Do you really think that she would choose the second option?”

  Bastien’s expression darkened. “No,” he admitted. “But it doesn’t matter. I don’t care anymore what she or any of the other Northstones think or say about me.” He looked deep into my eyes, his expression infused with passion and indignation. “I know that Rona is not the one for me.”

  When he reached out and held my hand, his touch felt electrifying. We gazed at each other in silence for several moments. Then he looked out of the window. We both drifted off into our own thoughts.

  I found myself continuing to mull over Brucella, wondering if there really was any possibility that she could just decide to give up. To find a man who actually wanted to marry her daughter. Maybe she wasn’t as insane as I feared she might be, and if she got desperate enough, hopefully she would move on.

  Bastien leaned back against my mattress. His expression had become less somber and more curious.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked.

  “I was just wondering… have you ever shared this—or any—bed with a man before?”

  A smile broke out on my face. I shook my head. Lying down beside him, I cupped his face in my hands. “Only you, Bastien,” I whispered. “Only you.”

  Bastien’s gray eyes twinkled at my admission. He seemed thrilled.

  I already knew that Bastien was a virgin, of course—I would have had to be deaf to not pick that fact up after the number of times Brucella had broadcast it to me.

  It appeared to be ingrained in werewolf culture that virginity was important when considering a member of the opposite sex. At least, it was to the wolves I’d had experience with so far in The Woodlands.

  We lay together in my bed a while longer. I was glad that we had the apartment to ourselves. I still wasn’t sure about how I felt about my parents knowing the full extent of my attraction to Bastien. It felt like something I ought to keep to myself until I came to grips with my emotions a bit more.

  Remembering the main reason I’d brought Bastien to my home in the first place, I sat up and swung my legs off the mattress. Bastien rose with me. I took him to my parents’ bedroom and opened their closet. I began sifting through my father’s clothes, wondering if they would fit Bastien. I asked him to choose what he wanted to wear. He ended up picking a loose T-shirt and light cotton pants. Flexible and light—the same type of clothes he’d worn back in The Woodlands.

  He changed in my parents’ bathroom while I returned to my bedroom to pull on a change of clothes. I chose a deep blue dress that stopped just above my knees. When I returned to my parents’ room, Bastien was ready too. He stood in front of the mirror, checking out his outfit. Apparently pleased with it, he turned to face me. His eyes moved to my bare lower legs before raising again.

  Now that he was out of those pajamas and properly dressed, I found myself wondering… What next?

  I hadn’t really been thinking past the next hour or so since he’d arrived on the island. I’d been mostly caught up in his recovery. Now here he was, healed and standing on his feet.

  Bastien’s demeanor was contemplative, and I wondered if the same question might be running through his mind now, too.

  “Will you stay?” I asked, feeling nervous to hear his answer.

  He paused before replying, “I would like to, Victoria…”

  I didn’t like the sound of where this was going.

  “But… I’m thinking about my people. Those who remained loyal to my family and myself… all those I never got a chance to seek out during our brief return to Blackhall Mountain. My cousin and uncle may have been executed by now, but being the only surviving child of my father, I have a responsibility to uphold… The Woodlands is safe now,” he added, apparently sensing the unease his words were causing me. “There will be no danger in my returning.”

  “For how long, do you think?” I asked, trying to hide how tight my throat had become.

  He shrugged. “I am not sure. I must first examine the state in which my people are living. Perhaps they will decide another man will make for a better ruler than me, and request to instate him instead. Whatever the case, I need to be there to oversee my tribe during this time of tumult.” He moved to me, his lips lowering and pressing against my temple. His eyes were soulful as he said in a quieter voice, “I do not wish to leave you, dear Victoria. You understand that, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” I said quickly. “Of course.” Although the idea of him returning to The Woodlands—even if only temporarily—killed me, I wasn’t narcissistic enough to think that he should just abandon all his duties and responsibilities and stay with me. He was a prince among wolves, son of a prominent chieftain. And now he had a role to fulfill.

  However, I did have a suggestion lingering at the tip of my tongue. A suggestion I was still uncertain about voicing out loud.

  But he ended up touching on my idea before I could.

  “I would make an offer for you to come with me, but it is not wise.”

  “What makes you say that?” I asked. “Do you think Brucella could be hanging out near Blackhall territory?”

  “It’s impossible to say for certain,” Bastien replied, scowling. “Brucella might check there for me. But even if she didn’t, The Woodlands is no place for a human.”

  “Even if I were to stay within your castle’s walls and never leave?”

  Bastien still looked reluctant. “Perhaps if I locked you within our fortress, in my apartment, or kept an eye on you at all times. But would you really want to live like that, chained to me and fearful?”

  Being chained to Bastien and full of fear somehow did not equate in my mind…

  “I don’t know about live,” I replied, trying to force myself to think logically, rather than let myself become completely blinded by my desire to not be parted from Bastien again. “But I could come for a few days at least, to see how things settle. Your enemies there have been defeated after all. Besides, I managed to survive all that time with you when we were traveling across The Woodlands, picking up many dangerous wolf packs along the way. This time, I wouldn’t even leave Blackhall territory. Your territory.”

  “Would your parents approve?” Bastien asked, eyeing me dubiously.

  “I’m an adult,” I replied. “I don’t need their permission for everything.”

  Bastien remained looking at me seriously. “That wasn’t my question.”

  I let out a sigh. “Would they approve? Honestly? Probably not. That is just parental instinct. Even though they allowed me to join the League, I’m sure that, deep down, their preference would be for me to never leave the island.”

  “Then you should take that into account,” Bastien said. “The love and concern of a parent for their child should never be taken for granted.”

  “I agree,” I said, sensing what a delicate topic this was for him. “But, if I’d n
ever left the island, I never would’ve met you,” I reminded him.

  He furrowed his brows. “That is true, I suppose…” He let us fall into a long beat of silence before finally saying, “I need to think about this, Victoria. I need to think carefully. I would like a few hours.”

  “Of course,” I replied. “Shall we go for a walk while you think?” I could not keep the chirpiness from my tone. After all that had happened in The Woodlands, that should be the last place on earth that I wanted to visit again. But, high on this newly budding romance, it felt like I would have been excited to accompany Bastien anywhere.

  “Okay,” he said, allowing me to loop my arm through his. “Let’s go for a walk.”

  Grace

  I visited Shayla in her and Eli’s treehouse first thing the next morning. I knocked on the door, and when she answered it wearing her nightgown and looking bleary-eyed, I realized that I must’ve woken her up.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. Really, I should have offered to come back later, but I was too selfish for that right now—too wrapped up in thoughts of Lawrence and that snowy mountain graveyard.

  “Come in,” she said, beckoning me inside.

  She sat with me on the sofa. There was a pause as the two of us gazed into each other’s eyes. I guessed that we were both experiencing the same emotions in that moment, our minds both turning back over the same event. Lawrence leaving. Shayla still appeared doubtful about it, too.

  Then she cleared her throat. “We did what we could for him,” she assured me.

  I nodded. “I don’t disagree,” I said. “But”—I looked at her earnestly—“are we really just going to leave things like this?”

  The witch shrugged. “Like what? I don’t see what more there is to do,” she said. “Lawrence’s father came for him and took him away. He’s doing what he believes is best for his son—as any father has the right to do. Lawrence is Atticus’ responsibility now.”

  I couldn’t bring myself to fully agree with Shayla’s latter statement. Lawrence was eighteen—or so he believed—which meant that he was technically an adult. Lawrence was his own responsibility. He just couldn’t act on that responsibility due to his condition, and so it had passed on to his father.