Chapter 91

Tyler

My heart thundered. My face ached, but it was nothing compared to the shock, the heart ache. I turned looking back at her, seeing her almost as if for the first time. Maya would never hit anyone… least of all me. My wolf cried out, my stomach twisting in my gut, the pain in her eyes.

"Maya--"

"I knew I was right," she said, glaring at me, lips trembling. “All those times I thought… I thought maybe I was being too reserved, being too protective of myself and you---" She turned from me, her face twisted in disgust.

Maya crossed her arms tight against her chest, her eyes hard even as tears slipped free.

“You’re not listening to me,” I said, trying to keep my voice even. “Vivian doesn’t matter. She never did.”

Maya looked at me, the fire in her eyes hot and vicious.

“Don’t insult me,” she snapped. “You’ve been sleeping with her for what, two years now? Three? Off and on? Every night. Whenever she asked? And I’m supposed to believe she means nothing? Am I supposed to believe you didn't enjoy it?”

I clenched my jaw. “I told you it's--"

"Don't lie to me Tyler!" She yelled. "That's the least you could do now!"

Her jaw trembled, and she stared at me with those big eyes.

"You… wanted a chaste courtship," I said. She reared back like she'd been slapped. "You wouldn't--"

"Do not blame me because you can't keep it in your pants!" Maya hissed. "I don't accept responsibility for that."

I set my jaw and took a deep breath. "I thought it wouldn't matter."

Maya blinked at me. "Why would you think… you sleeping with someone else, carrying on --"

"Because she's the daughter of my alpha!" I hissed. "Do you… is that what you think of me?"

Maya stared at me. The wretched feeling in my chest growing and burning. She knew. She knew more than anyone what my family was like. What it meant to be a gamma in Brightclaw.

She knew because unlike anyone else I'd told her.

"And your fiancé?" I looked up at her. "How does she fit in with this?"

"Vivian…" My shoulders slumped. "Vivian hates her. I had to do what she asked of me. How else--- how else am I supposed to provide a better life for us?"

"Did you sleep with her, Tyler?"

"No," I hissed out.

"And yet you told people you did."

"I had to--"

"You have to do a lot of things, don't you, Tyler?" I looked at her, unsure of what to say. How to take her tone.

She shook her head. "Well, maybe you had to give Vivian whatever she asked for. Maybe that included using her, too. Maybe you had to, for the sake of your family, your standing, you had to ruin that woman's life and go along."

Hope swelled in me that she understood.

"But you didn't have to lie to me about." I swallowed, thickly, my stomach turning. "And you don't have to pretend that you're innocent in all of this."

Maya’s voice shook at the end. Heartbreak. Rage. It was all over her face, but there was… no hatred. Anger, yes. Hurt, yes, but not hatred. I stepped closer, reaching for her, head spinning too fast, but she stepped back, shaking her head.

"You've told me about Alpha Brightclaw. Y-You told me he was a good man, if blind to his daughter's wrongs, but not once did you say that you went to him."

"That's not how it works--"

"Isn't it?" Maya asked. "You're his gamma. Or you were." I grimaced. "You were a promising gamma in his forces, he'd known you for as long as you've been born, and you took the easy way out. You gave in." She wiped her face. "You didn't even try."

"You have no idea what it's like!" I yelled. "You have no idea…"

"I know that just taking orders has never been a good excuse."

I flinched at those words, looking at her, knowing what those words, the sentiment, meant to her. For the first time, since I realized that I was just convenient to Vivian, controllable, a toy, I felt the world shifting beneath my feet, throwing me down.

An avalanche over my head, burying me under in deep, dark cold where I couldn't move or breathe. Maya… had only every been a light in my life. My heart. My mate. She couldn't…

She couldn't…

"I can't…" Maya shook her head. "I can't even look at you right now."

"Maya --"

"You smeared her name and you helped ruin her life long before the pictures because you made her love you," she shook her head. "You were going to let her father compel her into marrying you. You were using her and you -- she was helpless!" Tears streamed down her face. "She was in just the same position as you and you helped make it worse for the asking of someone you knew didn't give a damn about you. You Vivian set you up to take the fall for all of this, and you won't even try to save yourself."

"It's not that simple--"

"It is." She shook her head. "What did I tell you my father said to me?"

Her words echoed through my mind.

If you find love, find a strong love. A kind love. A true love.

“I’m doing this for us,” I said, finally, pressing forward. “You know that. You’ve always known that.”

She looked sick.

“You deserve a better life,” I went on, pushing through her silence. “One where you aren't clawing for scraps."

I reached for her again and she stepped back again.

"I would have had you," she said. "You, a little flour, a little sugar, peace, dignity, and us."

My eyes widened as I stared at her. She shook her head slowly.

"And now…"

"Now?" I barely breathed, shaking my head, reaching for her. "Maya… Maya, please…"

"Don't touch me," she said softly, curling into herself. "Don't…"

"Maya, please, don't--"

"I have to go."

She turned, and I could feel her slipping away, like sand through a fist.

“Maya, please!" I went after her, but she didn't stop.

Didn’t even look back.

And that awful fucking perfume that had starred in far too many of my nightmares was clogging up my nose more by the second. I had to deal with Vivian. Now. Soon, but I just kept staring after Maya.

I should’ve said something better. Something honest. Or at least something more persuasive. Should have had something better to say, but her presence here had disarmed me. Mountainhowl was more thorough than I ever thought.

I had never imagined that they'd come to Renee's aid since she didn't even seem to have a relationship with any of them.

The truth was, none of this had gone the way it was supposed to. If I had played it cleaner—if I had pushed Vivian into a public engagement when I’d had the chance—I might already be Alpha. I could have gotten rid of her as soon as I met Maya without problem. Killed her and Dominic and she would have been Luna Brightclaw. If I had pulled Renee in faster and gotten rid of her, at least the Mountainhowl money would have been mine, or Frostborn, whatever.

But I’d made mistake after mistake. I'd never meant for Maya to learn about any of this. I'd never wanted her to see this.

And now the whole house of cards was collapsing.

And for what?

I was losing Maya. What did any of it matter now?

The thought made my chest burn.

I leaned against the wall, dragged a hand down my face.

And it was all Vivian's fucking fault. That fucking stunt with her underwear in my fucking suit jacket. I still wasn't sure how Renee had even known it was there. More importantly, why it had to be underwear that were so fucking obviously hers.

The money, the embezzling, all of that was definitely Vivian, and Maya, like always, was fucking right.

Vivian had been setting me up, using me, to take the fall, for what? All because Neil liked Renee and wouldn't even give Vivian the time of day if he didn't have to.

I set my jaw. I would deal with my relationship with Maya, but if I had any hope of that. I had to…

I had to deal with Vivian. Really deal with her. My stomach turned. My father would lose his shit. The whole family would be in an uproar. They would lose any chance of returning to Brightclaw, me too probably, but at least I'd get myself some leniency.

Dominic was nothing if not a fair man. I'd seen the guilt eating at him, and I had my own evidence to deal with Vivian, a mountain of it that I'd planned to use when the time was right.

A fraction of it would be enough to burn Vivian to ash.

If I had even a shot in the dark's chance to reconcile with Maya, I'd set the whole world on fire.

I took another breath, but I didn't turned.

"Come out," I said. "You wear too much perfume to be stealthy."