MAEVE'S POV
The Ash Creek study was exactly as I last remembered. The mahogany table was still sleek, overlooking the length of the French windows.
There were shelves on the adjacent wall, lined with stacks of books.
I studied the details of the study, doing everything to avoid thinking about the repercussions of the chaos I had caused in the wedding hall.
I knew there would be consequences.
It didn't matter if the DNA result came back positive. It didn't matter that I was the Moon Healer.
Someone as vindictive as Lydia was going to make sure I was punished in some way for returning to Ash Creek and disrupting the heir's wedding.
After I had left five years ago, it had been quite apparent that I was never meant to return, yet here I was.
The double doors of the study burst open, taking me by surprise. I turned around to find Ivan standing in the doorway.
Behind him, the noise from the hallway filtered into the room, keying me into the fact that everything was still a mess. Because of me.
Ivan shut the door slowly, his movements stilted and filled with tension. He tilted his head for a moment, observing me with those dark, stormy gray eyes that felt like a teasing graze of fingers down my skin.
Then coldly, he pulled away, talking toward me.
The last time we had been alone together in a room, he had made love to me. Tender. Worshipful. Devouring me with the hungry, hard lines of his mouth.
Ivan Cross didn't look like he wanted to make love to me right now. If anything, he looked like he wanted to strangle me.
Well, he wishes.
I moved calmly, ignoring him, turning toward the shelves. I pulled a book from the shelf and pretended to study it.
His footstep drew closer, the hairs on my back standing, but I stood my ground, continuing to flip through the pages mindlessly until he seized my arm without warning.
Before I could react, the book slipped from my grasp. Then, suddenly, I was backed against the shelf.
He placed both hands on the wood behind my head, caging me in, rendering me vulnerable to the overwhelming warmth of his scent. A curl of heat fluttered through my belly.
He smelled sinful. Delightfully delicious in the worst way. That once addictive scent. And now, he was pressing closer, making it impossible for me to escape, even if I wanted to.
"What do you think you are doing?" I asked, glaring up at him. "Have you never heard of the concept of personal space before? Get your hands off me!"
Ivan didn't move. His voice was low and edged with something dark as he murmured:
"Why did you come back?" His hot breath ghosted my lips.
"Where's my son?" I asked instead, ignoring his question.
Frankly, my son's whereabouts were all that mattered to me right now. The last I had seen of him, the priest, Revierrie, had led him away to an adjoining room to conduct a DNA test.
I had stood there, frozen, as my son was led away. It had taken everything in me not to pull him back into my arms.
My palms had itched to spare him the discomfort of the sampling, to shield him from being prodded by strangers. But I couldn't.
According to Devon's carefully laid-out strategy, there needed to be proof. Proof that Asha was Ivan's heir. The first step in gaining Ivan's trust. The first move in tearing down some of his walls.
"He's fine," Ivan said, his tone clipped. He was watching me closely. Too closely. Like he was trying to tear through my mind, rip apart every wall I had built over the last five years. "You're yet to give me an answer."
"I don't know what kind of answer you're expecting," I shot back, lifting a manicured finger and pressing it against his chest—right above his heart. "Last time I checked, you were the one who sent a letter to my doorstep. You summoned the Moon Healer." I arched a brow. "You sent for me, Ivan. And here I am."
"I don't buy it." His nostrils flared, voice darkened by those low, cutting edge. "There's no way you came all this way just to heal my mother, of all fucking people. No, Maeve—you're up to something. And you're going to tell me what it is."
He pushed closer—until our chests nearly touched. Now, there was nowhere to look but into his eyes. Fire and ice, all in one. Enough to steal my next breath. The bond between us flared: that damnable, cursed wrath bond.
I pressed my palms flat against his chest, trying to push him away, but it was a mistake. The movement only brought us closer.
"I am first a healer before anything else, and you might not know this, but the Cross royal family is dead to me. I don't care enough to hold useless grudges." I lied easily, reinforcing with a sharp glare. "Now, move aside, neanderthal. You have no right to be this close to me."
The man only chuckled, a sound so dismissive, it actually stung.
"I must remind you, Maeve, that I am still your Alpha, and I will stand wherever I damn well please. For the sake of my next question, I'll disregard the tone of your disrespect." His gaze pinned me on the spot, cold and lethal. "Tell me truthfully now—is that boy truly mine?"
That boy. He was talking about Asha.
My spine stiffened instinctively, yet I let my voice convey an airy bite.
"I don't believe I stuttered earlier, did I, Alpha? Or has being devastatingly arrogant finally dulled your hearing?"
His jaw ticked.
"Why did you hide the fact that you were pregnant, Maeve? You led me to believe that you had suffered a miscarriage! I demand to know why."
I snorted. "I didn't know that I was still with child until after I left. It's almost as though fate rewarded me for leaving you."
Fire burned in his eyes.
"You could have returned after you found out you were carrying my child!" His voice hardened, a deep rumble filled with accusation. "You had no right to keep my son away from me for five years."
"Your son?" I scoffed, a dry laugh escaping. "You acted like a robot most of the time we were together. How was I supposed to know you wouldn't treat him the same way you treated me?"
"This isn't about you and your insecurities, Maeve. This is about you hiding my heir from me for the last five years. I should have you executed for this. And even then, it wouldn't come close to what you deserve."
"Really?" I threw my head back and laughed in his face, bitterly. "I'd like to see you try, Mister Big Bad Alpha. I dare you."
His jaw clenched tightly, evidently fuming in a quiet, helpless rage. He looked like he wanted to squeeze the life right out of me—but also, something else lit darker in his gaze.
Something that feathered his heavy, teasing breath over my lips, as his eyes languidly dropped to them, then to my exposed neck, my swollen cleavage, robust against the tight, corseted dress.
Those stormy gray eyes darkened before he forced them back to mine.
The temperate dropped. A shiver trailed down my spine.
"You think this is funny?"
"Why?" I taunted, tilting my head. "Don't you?"
"Don't tempt me, Maeve," he growled dangerously low, leaning in until I could feel the heat of him. "I'll have you dragged down to the dungeons, stripped naked, with nothing but silver biting into your skin while you're left shivering in the dark. And the only warmth you'll taste for days—" his lips grazed my ear, "—will be what's left of your body when I'm done using you to take this edge off."