Melynda stood rigidly in the middle of the room, listening to Dax's dispassionate account and feeling the cold anger behind his words. He had been mated—to a witch!
Melynda could feel herself begin to shake, and she had to clench her teeth hard to stop herself from screaming.
Dax met her burning gaze. “I didn't kill her.”
“You...were mated—to her.” Her voice didn't sound like her own. It was scratchy, hoarse, full of hurt and bitterness.
“She tricked me. Savannah was an Emotional witch—like you. She used her dark Emotional magick to twist my emotions around my neck like a leash. I couldn't see her for what she really was, until it was too late. I thought...I imagined that she was my mate. It had felt so real. Oh, she was good, that witch was good.” He smirked. “I really thought I'd found my true mate. Turns out it was just an illusion, a dark spell. Emotional witches are the most dangerous of all the paranormals, if you ask me. Behind the pretty face hides a predator. They prey on your emotions, and crush your soul and your mind with their dark magick. And you, Melynda Morgan, are an Emotional witch. Whose emotions did you play with last night, Melynda? Was it...mine?”
“How...?” She struggled to speak, but the words lodged painfully in her constricted throat.
“How do I know?” Dax smirked. “Savannah had the same silver spark in her eyes whenever she yanked on my emotions with her magick. It took me a long while, but I finally realized the connection. The silver speck in her eyes was the exact same shade of silver of my eyes, my wolf eyes.” Dax's eyes changed from gray to silver, and Melynda glimpsed her own reflection in those brilliant silver eyes. She saw the fleck of silver in her own wide, brown eyes merge and melt into the silver of Dax's intense, gleaming eyes.
She blinked hard and stepped away.
Dax's eyes faded back to gray in two blinks. “What were you trying to do to me, Melynda? Why were you using Emotional magick on me, Melynda.” His voice was very quiet, but she heard the menace in his words.
She held his gaze steadily, balling her fists at her side. It was time to come clean. The truth would...set her free. If it didn't kill her first.
“I wanted to know how you felt, towards me.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“That's all. That's all I wanted.” I want you too, but...
“That's not what you want.”
“Huh?”
“You want my wolf. You want the Silver Wolf.” His lips curved, but it wasn't in a smile.
“No!”
“Don't lie, Melynda. You know I can smell a lie.”
“I'm not lying! I don't want your wolf! That's not what I want!” she yelled.
“Don't. Lie. To. Me!”
“I am not lying to you! You! You are the one. You're lying to yourself!”
His face contorted into a grimace or a scowl, she couldn't tell. Not that she cared. Where did he get off calling her a liar over and over again? He wasn't listening to her. And it was clear he didn't want to listen to her. He just wanted to vent, vent his anger and hate on her. So what if she was an Emotional witch? She wasn't...
“I am not her! You mate lied to you. Not me! She...”
“She is not my mate,” he corrected her.
“Whatever. It's none of my business what she is, or is not. But you...you.” She stopped, feeling tears spring up in her eyes. Shit! She wasn't going to cry, not here, not in front of him.
She swiped furiously at her eyes, and said, “I never knew you were a Silver Wolf, Dax. I just knew you're a werewolf, a shifter. I didn't care what you were. It didn't matter to me. What mattered was...you, how you felt towards me. I...I thought you despised me, hated me, because you suspected what kind of witch I really was.” She laughed painfully. “Well, now I know. You do hate me and despise me. But it's not because of me. It...it's not even about me.”
She suppressed a violent sob, and turned it into a harsh, painful laugh. “It's not about me. It's about you, and your...mate!” she spat. “You hate me because of what she did to you! Well, this might come as a surprise to you, but—” She paused, letting her sarcasm sink in before raising her voice once more. “I am not her! I am not your ex-mate, your wicked witch, your...punching bag!”
Dax's nostrils flared and he took a step towards her. But she didn't flinch. He might be a Silver Wolf, but he was a bastard.
Looking down on her? Insulting her? Comparing her to another woman, and his ex-mate at that!
No man had ever made her feel so low, so worthless, so damn stupid!
To think she had been crushing on him, obsessing about him, wanting him to notice her and just...like her. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
“I thought...” She hiccuped a sob. “I thought you were...” Mine.
He was standing right in front of her, but she couldn't hear him breathe. “What did you think, Melynda?” he said very softly.
She screwed up her face. “I thought that you were nice.”
When he didn't respond, she sniffed and boldly carried on, “But you're not.”
You're not mine.
“Not at all,” she finished in a whisper.
CHAPTER NINE
Dax didn't touch her, just stood so close to her she could hardly breathe. She should just shove him back, push him away from her. But all the fight and strength seemed to have left her. Melynda felt so tired, and so sick of everything.
She swayed on her feet, and Dax caught her arm to steady her.
“Don't...touch...me.”
He didn't release her.
Wearily, she looked up at him.
“Just let me go, Dax. I'm an Emotional witch. Touching me might...” She gestured at his hand and snorted. “I don't know, dirty your fingers. You are a rare, precious breed, aren't you? A Silver Wolf, highly sought after by all magickal practitioners.” She made quotation marks with her fingers. “Blah, blah, blah. You are so full of yourself, so full of shit, Dax Ferro.”
“Melynda, I...I know you are not her.” His face twisted at the last word, like there was a bad taste in his mouth.
“Oh. Really?” Melynda pretended to look shocked.
“It's just...it was a really bad experience. I was young, and she used me, used my feelings, used my wolf. It's a really horrible memory.”
“Poor Dax,” she deadpanned.
“I...you are right, Melynda. I shouldn't have taken my pain and anger out on you. It's just that the way you make me feel...”
Melynda held her breath and waited.
“—reminded me of what she did to me. I thought she was my mate, and...”
“Ugh!” Melynda wrenched her arm away. “Just stop, Dax! You sure know how to make me feel real good about myself,” she sneered.
She turned and yanked the door open. Without looking back, she went to her desk and dragged her bag out of the drawer. She just couldn't bear to be near him another minute.
She walked briskly past the cubicles, keeping her head down so no one could see the mess she was in. Rushing to the lift lobby, she stabbed urgently at the lift button, wishing the lift doors would open and swallow her up right this instant.
At the sound of the lift door sliding open, she pushed in blindly and bumped into Matthew Wells. The handsome young lawyer stopped whistling as he strolled out of the lift.
“Whoa, what's the hurry? Melynda? You okay?” he frowned, his megawatt smile disappearing. “What's wrong?”
Matthew was the managing partner of the firm, and the face of Ferro, Wells and Robertson. He handled most of the interviews and publicity for the firm. He was a great spokesperson and was a natural in front of cameras and microphones.
“Morning, Mr Wells. I...I have to go,” she stuttered.
Before Matthew could question her further, Dax marched past him and stormed into the lift. Melynda tried to get out, but Dax put out an arm to block her and pressed the button to close the door.
Matthew shook a finger at Dax. “I knew it had something to do with you. Scoundrel...”
&nbs
p; “Not now, Matt.”
“Geez, Dax, you really shouldn't...” The lift door closed, cutting off Matthew Well's admonishing words.
Dax turned to face her. “Melynda, I know you're angry...”
“Damn right I am.”
“I'd hoped that you would just tell me the truth. And—you have, Melynda,” he added quickly. “You've spoken the truth...about yourself, and about me. I'm an ass. The worst kind of ass. I messed up, I did and I'm sorry. I...I am sorry, Melynda.”
Melynda wrapped her arms around herself, keeping her distance from him. She sniffed loudly.
“Asshat,” she muttered.
Dax smiled. He seemed happy to have gotten a response from her, even if it wasn't the most flattering response.
“I...know what you can do, Melynda. I don't really care what you did to me last night using your Emotional magick, though—I am a little curious,” he admitted. “I know you didn't harm me or hurt me. I didn't feel any pain or danger, unlike..." He swallowed and shook away the memory.
“I know you can pull a person's emotions out and give it a tangible form,” he said looking at her with a mix of revulsion and respect.
“Yeah. So?” she answered petulantly.
“You can help Levi.”
“What?”
“Levi's life is on the line here. And you can help him, Melynda. You can help Levi and Rebecca.”
“Levi didn't kill that man,” she said immediately. She had read Dax's notes on his meeting with Levi that morning. As his secretary, she had access to all his online folders so she could retrieve them and organize them as necessary.
Melynda had met Levi a couple of times. Jasynta had dragged her along to the Madden family barbeques and gatherings. The Madden werebears were all blond, blue-eyed and easygoing. She got along with the whole clan and she quite liked those big bear shifters. She didn't believe for a second that Levi had murdered the man in cold blood.
But she knew that the bears were fiercely protective and possessive of their mates.
Would they kill for their mates?
The answer was yes.
Melynda sighed heavily. Had Levi killed a man for Rebecca Rose?
She wanted to believe that he was innocent. He had to be. Blake would be devastated if Levi was convicted of murder. And Jasynta definitely didn't need a rampaging wreck of a bear at her side right now. Her pregnancy was stressful enough, and she needed her mate to be strong and steady for her, supporting her, seeing to her needs. She needed her mate to be a rock, not a wreck.
Melynda rubbed her nose. She knew what Dax was saying. Dax always put his clients' interests first, before his own issues and problems. It was one of the things she admired about him. His selflessness and sense of duty towards his clients.
Hopefully Rebecca could show them something that would help Levi clear his name.
“Rebecca Rose is...in a coma,” Melynda said at last, recalling what she'd read in his notes.
“Yes. She suffered severe head injuries in the course of the altercation.”
Melynda mumbled, “Lawyerlese.”
Dax raised a brow at her.
She cleared her throat. “You didn't say she was injured when Phin Lester attacked her.”
“We don't know that.”
“Yes we do! Levi would never hurt her,” she answered hotly. “And he didn't kill that man either.”
“That's what we hope to prove.” He paused, letting her digest the full import of his words. “You can help him, Melynda.”
She hugged herself tightly. “Are you asking me to do what I think you're asking me to do?”
“Yes.”
“I...I've never done this before...”
“Really? I have a feeling...” He narrowed his eyes. “I'm sure, yeah I'm pretty sure you did this to me last night.”
“Did what to you?” she asked defensively.
“Manifested my feelings for you.”
Melynda gasped as Dax slammed his hand against the stop button. The lift jerked to a halt and if the display panel was to be believed, they were hovering somewhere between the ninth and tenth floors.
Dax braced both palms against the wall. Melynda whimpered as her back pressed hard against the wall of the lift. She squirmed as Dax slowly lowered his face to hers. There was nowhere to run. She was trapped.
Slowly, he leaned in and whispered in her ear, “It wasn't just a dream. I was in your bed last night. And I did take you, didn't I, Melynda?”
I don't know what you're talking about.
Melynda squeezed her eyes shut. She did know what he was talking about. The image of her naked on her bed, her legs spread wide as Dax entered her flashed in her mind. She began to pant at the erotic image, and she heard herself cry out.
It was real. His feelings were real. He desired her and wanted her so badly.
He wants me. And he hates that he wants me.
Melynda opened her eyes to meet Dax's blazing gaze. “Yes. I did manifest your emotions and I did take you to my bed. But I...I never thought I would succeed. It was...my first time. I never tried using Emotional magick before. I always tried to get my Elemental magick right. But I always made a mess of it. Last night was the first time that everything felt...right.”
She blinked repeatedly, expecting him to laugh at her or make a derisive comment. Instead, he growled and pressed his lips to hers in a bruising, burning kiss.
She gasped into his mouth, her eyelids fluttering shut as she surrendered to the pleasure and the passion.
Dax kissed her fiercely, angrily, his mouth demanding that she yield to him. She moaned against his lips as he sucked her plump lower lip and flicked his tongue over her lips.
Melynda speared her fingers through his dark hair and kissed him back with all her pent-up passion and frustration. Dax could hurt her, but he could also heal her.
When he kissed her like this, she literally saw stars and she couldn't think straight.
“Stop, Dax...please, stop,” she panted.
He gave her one last lingering kiss and pulled back. Resting his forehead against hers, he closed his eyes and murmured, “Tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“Tell me that this is real.” His voice was strained and tortured. “Tell me this isn't magick.”
Melynda pressed her shaking hand to his cheek. “There is no magick, Dax. I never used any magick to make you want me, to make you feel anything for me.”
A look of pain crossed his face.
That was what she said as well.
No magick, just love.
Dax sighed and opened his eyes slowly. He smiled at her, but she saw his struggle and his sadness. He so wanted to believe her, but...he just couldn't.
Never again.
Damn him. Damn that witch!
With a huff, Melynda shoved him off her and punched the button to restart the lift.
As the lift whirred back to life and began its descent, she straightened her clothes and hair, and spun round to glare at him.
“I will help Levi. He's a good man. I will do everything I can to get the truth out of Rebecca.”
He stared at her for a while. “Can you draw out her emotions even though she is in a coma?” he said at last.
“It's not too different from drawing out someone's emotions while they are sleeping,” she said pointedly. “As you said, I've done it before. Last night. But I won't do it again. Not with you,” she said emphatically.
Dax's gray eyes darkened, but he said nothing.
“We'll go to the hospital now,” was all he said when the lift door opened at the ground floor.
CHAPTER TEN
There was a human police officer standing guard outside the ward. Dax showed the police officer his identification. The officer squinted at the official PAC badge that was issued to its members, Enforcers and its appointed legal counsel.
“So you're the PAC lawyer,” the officer sniffed. Melynda sensed that he was about to say more, but fortunately for him, he held
his tongue and waved them in.
“The police don't seem to like you,” Melynda commented wryly as they entered the room.
Dax shrugged. “At this moment, I've defending the bear shifter accused of killing a man and wounding a helpless woman. The woman is in a coma. She can't speak up for him. A whole squad of police officers saw Levi attacking the human male. It's their word against his.”
“But they didn't see the body...”
“Shifters are incredibly fast. They assumed Levi flung the body into the sea the split second he heard or saw or smelled them.”
Melynda fell silent, listening to the soft beep of machines and monitors in the room. Rebecca Rose had suffered severe trauma. There were massive, terrible injuries to her head and there was a risk that she might never regain consciousness.
Melynda took a painful breath as she stepped up to the bed. Rebecca was swathed in bandages from head to toe. She had been brutally assaulted, and Melynda knew that even if she survived her physical wounds, her mental and emotional wounds might take much longer to heal. The scars left by her ordeal would stay with her for a long, long time, perhaps forever. No wonder Levi had been so enraged. Seeing his mate so violently and viciously attacked by a brute would awaken every protective and killer instinct in the shifter. In his bear form, Melynda had no doubt that Levi could kill the human male with just one blow. But she believed that Levi didn't kill him. He wasn't a killer. He couldn't be.
“Can you read her?” Dax said, staring down at Rebecca's bruised, swollen face.
Melynda touched Rebecca's hand lightly. A tingling sensation crept up her arm, and swirls of colors flashed on the back of her eyelids. She saw images, snapshots and heard whispers and echos in her mind. Melynda gasped. “Yes! I can. I...I believe she's trying to reach out. She might be in a coma, trapped in an unresponsive body, but she is here. And she knows we are here...for Levi.”
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