The Unwanted Mate: The Bond

Chapter 22:

Marc POV:
We drive in silence back to the house. I can hear her heart beating faster than normal and smell the anxiety sweat on her. She is scared. She is scared of me. She begged me not to kill her! But what made her think that I would do something like that? I know I haven't treated her like my mate and there is definitely some things I regret like the first night, but I never threatened her or acted violently around her. But I guess I didn't exactly do much to make her feel safe either. Fuck.

I park the car and turn my head to look at her. She keeps her head down like usually. She isn't good with eye contact.

"Will you please let me carry you inside?" I ask her, hoping that she will allow me. If she says no I might just do it anyway. I can smell the blood from her open wounds and I know it must be very painful however she shows no sign of pain. I could hear how she held her breath when she took a few steps into the car, but she doesn't show it.

"I can walk" she says without looking at me.

"Please. I'm begging you" begging isn't exactly something I'm used to. In fact I don't think I ever have, yet the words just seemed to roll off my tongue. I hope that if I make it sound like something I want to do instead of me doing her a favor she might say yes. And she does.

"Okay" she say and hold her arms around herself protectively. How did I never notice how fragile she is? Was I truly blinded so much by my hatred for her kind? And how is it possible for her to be so fragile yet so good at tolerating pain?

I step out of the car and walk around it. She has already opened the door and unbuckled her seatbelt so I slide my arm under her thighs and the other behind her back. I hear her gasp lowly as I lift her up and hold her against my chest. I want to burry my nose in her hair and inhale but I can't. Not only would she be terrified but I'm already fighting my wolfs desire to keep her and mark her. But I know I can't do that. She belongs with the witches and I belong with the wolfs. And she doesn't want to stay here anyway she wants to go home. The thought of her going makes my heart hurt a little and I hold on to her a little tighter.

"We need to clean the wounds. I have some supplies in my bathroom" I say and walk up the stairs.

"You don't have to. I'll just rinse it out in the shower" she says her voice cracking a bit.

"It won't be enough. It will get infected. And if it gets infected you could get blood poisoning. Or the infection could get so bad that you could die from it. So please let me clean it" she is a human she doesn't heal as quickly as we do. Her body can't handle a major infection.

When she doesn't reject my offer to clean it, I take it as a yes. So I push open the door to my bedroom and walk into my private bathroom. I put her down on the countertop and when I look at her face I see a pair of beautiful blue eyes looking at me. She looks like she is pleading me not to hurt her as her eyes study me and her bottom lip quiver a bit as if she is about to burst into tears again.

"I won't hurt you Hannah. Not ever. You are safe with me" i vow as I stare into her eyes.

She lowers her head slightly and look away from me. She doesn't believe me. But why? I know she feels something when I'm close to her I could tell earlier. But if it is the mate bond she feels then why doesn't she believe that she is safe with me?

"I will keep you safe. No one is going to hurt you"

I see her discomfort so I change the subject. "We need to rinse the dirt out of the wounds first. Put your feet in the sink" I say and turn on the water making sure it's the right temperature. Hesitantly she does as I say and place her feet in the sink under the running water. Muddy water runs down her feet and into the drain revealing her bare feet covered in cuts and scratches on the upper side and several lager cuts underneath her feet. She gently runs her hands over the cuts allowing the last pieces of soil to rinse out. I clench my jaw and inhale as I watch the cuts that I know I caused. Cuts she got running from me. Fearing for her life.