Page 44 of Claim Me

This has to be some sort of spell. She’s a powerful witch. It’s the only thing that makes sense.

Which means we need to reject the bond.

I’m about to say exactly that when we enter Kaspian’s rooms, but for whatever reason, the words refuse to leave my mouth. They… they just sort of linger on my tongue. Taunting me. Infuriating me.Fucking with me.

“This has to be a spell,” I manage to say. “Some sort of trick.”There.So I didn’t sayreject, but I at least forced the explanation out of my stubborn mouth.

“Maybe,” Kaspian says, heading straight for his liquor bar. “But it certainly feels real.”

“Because it is.” Bane’s words are matter of fact, his certainty palpable. “I’ve felt connected to her from the first day we met. The fated-mate bonds snapping into place just makes sense. It’s why I’ve been so drawn to her, but I couldn’t fully connect to her because of Klas’s interference. Now that he’s dead, she’s mine.”

The way he explains it makes it sound so simple.

Except it’snotsimple at all.

“You’ve been drawn to her because she possesses death magic and you’re a phantom,” I tell him. “That’s a natural draw. Kaspian’s a vampire. That’s also a natural draw. I’m an archangel. I’ve never been drawn to her, nor am I drawn to her now.”

A complete lie.

I’ve also been inexplicably drawn to the female. Which is why I couldn’t kill her last year. But fuck if I’m going to admit that right now.

Bane’s dark eyes glitter knowingly, but he doesn’t call me on my bullshit. Instead, he shrugs and says, “If you want to reject her, that’s fine. I do not share that sentiment.”

“You don’t want to reject the bond?” Kaspian asks as he pours three drinks.

“No, I don’t. And I doubt Nox will want to either. But it’s not really up to us. It’s up to Fallon. I’ll respect whatever she desires.” Bane takes a glass. “I’ll also respect whatever decision the two of you make. I can only decide for myself, and I’m choosing to go with what feels right.”

“None of this feels right,” I mutter as Kaspian passes me one of the drinks. “She died and came back, only for the bonds to snap into place. That’s not normal.”

“No, it’s not,” Kaspian agrees, his focus falling to the amber liquid in his glass. “I can’t accept this bond when I don’t trust her. She’s hiding something. And this… this all feels a bit too coincidental to me.”

I nod.Coincidentalis definitely the right term.

“If you push her too far, you risk her never trusting you in return,” Bane warns.

Kaspian doesn’t take his gaze off his drink. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

Bane studies him intently. “Even if her secrets turn out to be irrelevant to our situation?”

“Yes.” Kaspian’s attention shifts to me. “We need to go back to the beginning and conduct a thorough search on her background. Our trackers were more focused on Klas than on Fallon the first time around. We need to make her the focus this time and start over.”

Bane sighs, making his opinion on that plan known without words. But what the phantom fails to understand is that it doesn’t matter what Fallon’s secrets are. What matters here is our inability to trust our fated mate. Kaspian and I are on the same page there—neither of us is even sure this is real. And there’s no way we can move forward with that kind of doubt hanging over our heads.

“I’ll handle the investigation myself,” I tell Kaspian.

I don’t care if Fallon hates me for digging into her background. It’s the price I’m willing to pay to ensure that Kaspian and the others are properly protected.

If she rejects me for it, then she rejects me.

I’ll live with that pain.

But at least I’ll know if it was all real or not.

“In the meantime, Bane, you and Nox should continue guarding Fallon as you’ve been doing. Maybe this new bond will help her open up more.” Kaspian’s tone tells me he doesn’t believe this bond will change anything, and I agree with him on that assessment.

Fallon is strong and stubborn. Whatever she’s hiding must hold significant value to her, which almost makes me feel bad about what I’m going to have to do.

However, it’s a necessary evil. A task I was literally designed to carry out. Just like the potential need to kill her if I find out she’s trying to harm anyone in Gold and Garnet, myself included.