Veronica's Fallacy

33.

-HER-

"I want to know why you think that?" He asked me. I closed my eyes and tried to take hold of my feelings. I didn't have to tell him. I didn't have to give him any explanation at all. I didn't owe him anything. If anything, telling him more about me could mean more trouble. Yet, the way he ran his fingers through my hair in a soothing manner made me sigh deeply and loosened up a knot or two in my shoulders. I hated that he could make me feel that way and how much I craved it.

Not that his touch entirely drove the tension away, but I considered coming off clean to him because it was obvious he wouldn't stop nagging me about it. And I didn't want to lead him on with all the kisses and my desperate eagerness that somehow managed to seep to the surface.

"My parents were mates too, but it didn't last once they had me. It was never supposed to work either way because they already had spouses and families. It was the stupid mate bond that had them cheating on their spouses and having me. Talk about blessing now," I rambled. That's what it felt like, but still, it didn't ease anything. I still had a lot waiting to flow through me, but there was a barrier.

I opened my eyes and stared at his face. He studied me pensively, consideration and a hint of confusion in his eyes.

"You mean they had a temporary mate bond?" He asked, tilting his head in wonder. Meanwhile, he cupped my face, gently stroking my cheeks with his thumbs, unknowingly teasing at my self-control. My wolf stirred inside me, wanting to close the distance between us and claim him as ours. No, I forced such thoughts out of my head and tried to focus on the present instead.

"A fake bond, yes. My father actually had a mate, a real one, when he met my mother," I tried to explain, but he seemed to get even more confused. I sighed deeply, feeling frustrated but, at the same time, being nagged by the urge to tell him everything. I hadn't talked about this to anyone in a long time.

"Okay, a brief rundown. My biological mother is a human, and she was married with kids when she met my biological father. My father was a werewolf, a member of the Murlow's bloodline, and already mated with his real mate when he had the brief fling with my human mother that resulted in me," I tried explaining. His eyebrows shot to his hairline.

"Is that why you erased your details from the Council's databases? Because you have human blood?" He asked.

"Of course," I shrugged, "I'm an impure bastard that resulted from a fake bond," I said, watching him closely for his reaction. The look of contemplation deepened on his face. I could tell that he was still processing it all. I couldn't help but wonder if this made me less attractive to him. It almost hurt me to think about it. "Couldn't get more blessed than that," I laughed in his face. I tried to push him back and close my legs. I needed to get my guard up before it was already too late. I had already revealed too much. I didn't want to do it anymore. I was risking a lot already...

"This doesn't change anything between us, Veronica," He told me sharply. "If you think merely having human blood would make me want you less, then you're damn wrong. I can't care enough about such things—"

"Neither do I," I snapped, managing to get off my table and stand on my feet. "I just don't want to be caught up in a fake bond," I jabbed, and instantly, his eyes widened. A lethal shadow dawned upon his face, almost making me regret saying that, but that was the truth, and a part of me was glad to put it out there.

"You think this is fake?" He asked, his nose flared slightly in anger, and his eyes darkened. I could feel that dangerous aura oozing off him. Instinctively and rationally, it should've made me run for my life, but it fanned the sparks of desire in me. Of course, it was that damned mate bond pushing me to make irrational decisions. Though I wasn't going to listen to it anymore. I took a step back.

"Yes," I hissed. "This is all fake, Grim. I know this because there's no way we should end up together. We have nothing in common... heck, we are each other's enemies. I shouldn't be here, hooking up with you and discussing all this. This will never work out, mark my words. It's one of those things that fizzles out once the haze clears. It's an illusion,"

"No, it's not," Grim growled. He didn't sound like him anymore, and this finally flicked a speck of fear inside me that I should've felt a long time ago. I swallowed hard. Even if I ran, I wouldn't be able to outrun him. It wouldn't work anyway, but I was willing to give it a try. There were woods out there, and I could shift and disappear into them and find my way to the city. "This is real, Veronica. I can feel it, and I know that you can feel it, too,"

I shook my head at him, taking another step back.

"I'm telling you, Grim. It's fake, and we're only making it worse by letting it control us," I told him, edging closer and closer towards the gallery lined with the traitor's paintings that led to the stairs. I was already mentally planning my exit. I just needed the right moment.

"You are wrong," He spoke, sounding more and more guttural while he continued to stalk towards me, but with each step, he looked more like a predator. My heart was ramming against my chest, and the hair at the back of my neck bristled. "This is real, and you'll know that once you embrace it,"

I shook my head.

"I don't want to," I told him upfront. He froze in his step, and the look in his eyes grew more lethal. He gave me a slow, devilish smile that made my legs quiver, but for an entirely different reason.

"Because you're afraid to find out this is fake," I said, and this made me stop because he was damn right. But I didn't have the guts to admit it to myself. I was more afraid of finding out that this was a fake bond instead of it being a real bond. It made me feel even more cowardly.

"You're wrong," I tried to deny, but he was definitely seeing through my bullshit because he cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Am I?" He asked, stalking me again. I swallowed hard, finding it hard to move. "You're afraid to find out it's fake, or else you'd have given it a chance before insulting the bond, Veronica," He sounded murderously pissed. That's it.

I ran. 

~

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