Fated to my Timebound Mate(Breeder#7)

Chapter 6 : Stalled

*Lucas*

Her lavender scent clung to my clothes hours later. I was able to use the scent and the vision of Sasha wrapped in a blanket on a chair in my office to keep my temper.

She had nearly fallen into that damned pit.

“A f*****g temple," I grumbled over and over as I looked over the artifacts that kept coming up from the hole.

Luckily, Herb had been just fine, though he was still crossing himself every time he went back down to bring more religious artifacts to the surface.

Moldy, disintegrating books, pottery shards, tattered vestments, and ceremonial tools now littered my desk–the most intact pieces, anyway.

“The Lycaon Church is going to be all up our asses if they find out about this," Reece the foreman spat, kicking a dented bronze plate across the floor of my trailer for good measure.

I sighed and nodded. “I can't believe they didn't know that was down there."

“Maybe they did. What we should do–build over the fucker and not tell anyone?" Reece suggested darkly.

Sasha let out a little squeak, the most that had come out of her since nearly falling to her death.

“She's right. We can't just cover it up… without asking the king," I mused.

“We'll have to hope to hell the Lycaon Church doesn't find out about this first," Reece muttered.

“I know." I raked a hand through my hair. “Rope off the area and block off the view as best you can. That'll satisfy the purpose of keeping it a secret, and keeping it protected if the king decides it does need to be preserved."

An ominous rumble in the distance punctuated my words. I turned to watch the darkening sky and rolling clouds through the window.

“Perfect," Reece muttered and stomped to the door, letting himself out, barking orders before the door had even swung shut behind him.

I sank into the chair behind my desk and looked over at Sasha. Finally, we were alone. “You okay?"

Sasha's hand shook as she tucked her long, blond hair behind her ear, her navy eyes averted from mine. “Absolutely," she said, her voice slightly faltering.

“You don't have to pretend to be okay. It's just me and you here."

Sasha swallowed, but her spine stiffened before she changed the subject.

“Maybe we should look over the engineer's journal? I assume he kept one," Sasha said, letting the blanket drop from around her shoulders.

Even in a university sweatshirt and jeans, it was impossible not to see how beautiful she was. She'd filled out in all the right places, though remaining rather slim, as she always had been.

I remembered holding her trembling frame in my arms, feeling all of her softness against me, breathing in her lavender scent.

What if I hadn't gotten to her in time? My heart squeezed in on itself at the thought.

“Mr. Black?" Sasha prompted, pulling me back from my thoughts.

I hadn't answered her question about the journal. “Good idea. I'll let you look that over, how about that?"

“Without… you?" She sounded surprised.

I shrugged. “I don't think you'll have any trouble figuring out if he mentioned anything about an underground chamber or not."

In truth, the old plans had been swimming before my eyes since I'd carried Sasha into my trailer and plopped her in that chair. I just remembered her shaking so hard, her eyes wide with fear. It would be impossible for me to concentrate on any damn journal until I got my head on straight.

“Okay," Sasha agreed.

I shuffled around through the mountain of old plans and papers and finally came up with the engineer's journal. It would be a day-by-day record of the original build. I had one myself, though I hesitated to put anything about the temple in it yet.

Sasha took the journal with more steady hands, and relief flooded through me.

“I'm going to try to manage the fallout of this shitshow," I told her. “You let me know if you find anything in that journal."

“I will," Sasha said, opening it and turning her attention to the handwriting pages.

With a bracing breath, I stepped out of the trailer and onto the construction site, where many of the workers were driving in new posts to rope off the hole. I pitched in to make sure it was done right.

When that was done, I turned to address the crew.

“I'm sure you know by now we have to halt work for the time being. We need to get this temple thing checked out. I'll be sending you home until we can sort out this mess. I'd like to thank you for all your hard w—" I paused. “Who are you?"

Several men I didn't recognize from my crew, though still wearing construction clothes, walked up to the roping.

The men looked at me casually.

“We came with Stone Hamline. King Xander suggested he come to check on things around here and, well, he brought us with him just in case you needed help," one of them said.

I could hear Reece's growl from several paces away as he eyeballed the messenger with a sour expression.

“We don't," I assured him. “Where's Mr. Hamline?"

Five heads turned to look at the trailer where I'd left Sasha alone. “He went looking for you there."

Fuck.

“Please remember what happens at this site is privileged information between the team, me, Miss Wentley, and King Xander," I reminded them all with a glare. “I don't want to go around town hearing anything about the discovery of this temple. Understood?"

“Yes, sir!" everyone responded.

“You're all dismissed for now." I nodded to the group, then just barely kept a measured gait as I returned to the trailer.

Stone was there, which I expected. What I did not expect was to see him leaning over Sasha's with a hand on her shoulder while she read.

Both looked up as I entered. They did look… cozy.

I felt a bolt of irritation as I watched Stone's hand lingering on Sasha's shoulder before finally pulling away. I knew I shouldn't feel possessive of her, but something about them being together like that made my wolf snap as I clenched my jaw to maintain control of him.

“Black," Stone smirked and I nodded.

“Hamline." I raised an impatient eyebrow and he cleared his throat before turning from and addressing Sasha.

“Some of that archaic language in that journal is hard to follow," Stone commented.

“It's not so bad," Sasha countered.

“You actually understand it?" he asked, impressed.

“Yes, I've read a lot of ancient texts concerning Dark Realm structures."

Stone looked at me and seemed as impressed as I was. He gave her shoulder a “friendly" pat and crossed the short distance to stand beside me. “I might have to steal this one from you, Black," he whispered in my ear while he clapped me on the back.

I could feel my blood boil at the insinuation. Stone always had a way of getting under my skin, but this time, it felt personal. I fought back the urge to push him away from me.

Instead, I forced a smile and replied, "Good luck trying, Hamline."

My eyes lingered on Sasha, trying to decipher the emotions that crossed her face as her curious and questioning eyes shifted between me and Stone.

Stone gave an innocent look and raised his hands in mock surrender. But it was entirely for Sasha's benefit.

“I was just kidding, Lucas. Honest. King Xander thought...."

“Yeah whatever. Get out."

“The king sai–"

“Leave. Now." I growled low in my throat.

“Lucas?"

I turned to see a worried look on Sasha's face.

Stone just smirked.

“I can see you're upset," he simpered. “I'll come back on a better day. Oh, Miss Wentley, do contact me. I'd love to go over my project sketches with you."

Sasha cleared her throat and replied politely. “Yes, I will. Thank you, sir."

The hell she would. “I've actually taken Sasha under my wing, Stone, so there's no need for you to look over anything with her."

Stone smirked again and gave a fake tip-of-the-hat to Sasha before heading out. It just began to rain as he stepped through the door.

I watched through the window as Stone and his men dodged the rain until they were gone, then turned to Sasha. “You are not to see that man."

“Excuse me?" Sasha said, drawing herself up in her folding chair. “How can–"

“What did he give you?" I demanded, cutting her off.

“What?" Sasha gaped.

“What. Did. He. Give. You," I enunciated clearly.

Sasha folded her arms. “Lucas, you're being un—“

I saw the white edge of a business card clutched between her fingers and snatched it away. While she squawked at me, I ripped it into pieces and threw it in the trash. It took everything in me not to light a match and set fire to it as well.

“Lucas!" Sasha protested.

“You'll thank me later," I grumbled.

Sasha stared at me, her brows furrowed fiercely. I met her gaze, feeling myself cool down as her face relaxed. The space in the trailer seemed to shrink and the air became thick with her lavender scent.

The work bell chimed, breaking the moment for us.

I exhaled, looked down at my watch, and frowned. “Damn it. The last train arrives in less than an hour."

“I know," Sasha said as she seemed to be catching her breath as well. “Anyway, I got done with the journal. There's nothing in it about the temple, and no pages are missing."

“Well, at least we know there was no record of the temple during the construction of the old library. That really could have come back to bite us in the ass."

“I suppose that's true," Sasha agreed. She stretched, and I could just see the rise and fall of her chest against her sweatshirt.

I bit back a groan. “Come on, Lemon Tart, we'd better get moving."

“Don't call me that!" Sasha protested as she picked up her bag and I picked up mine.

“Alright, princess."

“You are impossible," Sasha grumbled as we stepped out into the rain.

We'd only gone a short distance down the road, still edged by the tree line border between us and the rogues, when rain turned to hail. I quickly took off my shirt and held it over us, but it didn't give much shelter.

“We should head back to the...." I began.

Sasha was looking at the tree line.

My eyes followed hers, and I realized, in the blinding hail, we'd actually stepped past a tree.

Glowing yellow eyes stared at us, and there was a low, feral growl.

I grabbed Sasha's shoulder and tugged her back.

The growl turned into a snarl, and I realized the rogue was intent on blood.

“Sasha," I said in a low, firm tone, “I need you to run."

“But what about—?"

“I'll be right behind you," I responded. I kept my eyes on the rogue wolf for a moment, then gave Sasha a shove.

She began running.

The yellow eyes clocked the movement and went running after her, but, as I'd said, I was right behind her. The rogue's attention quickly returned to me, as I began feeling the shift in my bones. Cracking sounds could almost be heard over the twanging of the hail as I started to shift.

Both Sasha and I ran half on, half off the road, unable to see where we were going. We'd have a much better chance after I'd shifted, so if we could just stay ahead of the rogue until—

Sasha stumbled, hitting the ground with an awful thud and scrape of flesh. I was lucky I didn't tumble right over her.

“Get up," I commanded her, hauling her to her feet. “We need to keep going!"

I could smell copper and knew that yellow-eyed menace had just caused my Sasha to bleed. But she was a trooper, getting her forward momentum going again.

Unfortunately, that fall cost us what little distance there had been between us and the rogue.

And I had yet to complete the shift.

A barn, the first sign of civilization, was just visible through the rain and hail. I gripped Sasha's arm and steered her that way.

Mud kicked up around us as we ran through the neglected, grassy field. I laughed bitterly when we actually reached the gray, listing structure.

It was abandoned. Remnants of a charred farmhouse were nearby. There was no one around to help us.

Still, I hoped the vestiges of civilization would make the rogue turn away.

He had other ideas.

I dragged Sasha into the barn and closed the rickety doors, just to have the rogue slam into them and splinter right through.

Sasha and I backed up as the large, wet, yellow-eyed gray wolf licked its chops, looking from me, to Sasha, and back.

“Go behind me!" I said to Sasha. My tone brooked no argument.

She didn't argue, shuffling behind me.

“Look," I tried again, holding my hands out in a sign of peace. “It was raining so hard we couldn't see the border. We meant no harm or disrespect—“

The rogue snarled, then leaped into the air, smacking me to the moldy hay-covered floor.

Then he snapped his head up and looked at Sasha, licking his lips again.

My Sasha.

A low growl rumbled out of my chest.

That was the very last thing he was ever going to see.