Dear Enemy, You're My Mate

Chapter 72 **

Finn

With a conflicted heart, I study the sleeping human woman. Her name is Maya, and she is currently leaning her head against my chest with a big smile on her face. She looks so cute when she is dreaming. The rugged, tortured look on her face, like she has walked through hell and survived, is gone, and left is a cuddly kitten.

I prefer that version. It bothers me that such a young woman seems to have endured more pain than some people will experience throughout their entire lifetime.

Maya rubs her cheek against me. "I will take one bucket of fried chicken wings and two curry dip sauces... And I want extra cayenne..."

A smile strains my lips as I listen to Maya talk in her sleep. Calling her charming wouldn't be accurate. She is a terrible drooler, and I'm half-convinced she is crazy and yet-...

No!

I won't acknowledge it. Attraction is a dangerous thing. It can lead to love, and that emotion will make you fight battles that aren't yours to fight, and humans aren't usually sincere creatures.

I'm speaking from experience. Many moons ago, my mate, Beatrice, pretended to love me when, in reality, all she wanted was to steal my magic abilities for herself.

The woman was an influential member of a magical council, and since I trusted her too much, I let myself be fooled. But it won't happen again. My heart is closed off from love.

I stare out into the distance, only to peer down when Maya jerks in her sleep. She sobs and twitches as if under an attack, and my arms act on a pure instinctual drive. I hug her closer, letting the tiny woman use my pectoral muscle as her pillow while I brush my fingers through her soft, snow-white hair.

"Maya, you're safe..." I'm hoping my words will calm her and kiss the top of her head. Even though she is dirty and malnourished, she carries a faint scent of flowers. I smile. "There are no demons here, and if there were, I would fight them off for your sake."

Maya relaxes, which makes a bubble of joy rise in my chest. She might not admit it out loud, but she feels protected with me—that knowledge satisfies me. I like her company. She is funny, and for some reason, my mouth doesn't water around her.

Well, now I'm lying.

My mouth is constantly accumulating saliva around Maya, but that's because I'm attracted to her and would love to taste her in inappropriate places. I've been trying to fight it, tell myself that I'm crazy for taking an interest in a human, but even now, it's taking me every ounce of self-control not to harden around her.

Earlier, the woman only needed to glance at my cock to blush. And the scent of her arousal did things to my brain I'm not proud of—I immediately pictured myself lifting her onto my cock to let her ride me until reaching her climax.

"Oh, that's so good..." Maya moans in her sleep, probably dreaming about devouring chicken, and my dick responds by twitching. And then, three seconds later, I'm mad at myself and thanking the lord that Maya is fast asleep because my cock is hard as a pole.

I sigh heavily. "You're a fucking mess, Finn..."

I close my eyes and try to get comfortable against the wall. Shortly after, a nightmare crawls into my brain.

I see Beatrice's smile turn into a wicked grin, and then I'm falling through endless darkness. Only this time, a voice is laughing somewhere, making flowers bloom, and there she is, Maya, dancing on a meadow filled with white, bright flowers.

When I wake up, the room is already bright, and Maya is missing from my arms. Instead, there is the sound of men laughing, and I glance up to see a group of vampires. They are inside our prison cell, beating up Maya while her legs are dangling in the air.

"Look at her, two werewolf parents, and yet she lacks an inner wolf—I bet her parents are proud of her!"

The vampires belt out laughter while Maya struggles to breathe. She tries to remove the hand from around her neck, but she lacks the strength. One guard is holding her above the ground, and he doesn't seem sorry for it either.

"She is still hot, though," one vampire is scratching his crotch and looking at Maya with predatory eyes. "Do you think Arvin would notice if we had some fun with her?"

With his hand around her throat, the vampire laughs. He uses his other hand to bring his jeans down to his knees. "Oh, I would love to bury my dick in this little, cute flower. She is truly gorgeous."

"No..." Maya coughs, and I notice tears in her eyes as she attempts to grasp for air. She is a strong woman, but I suspect her fear of men is so intense she has forgotten how to fight back. "Please!"

My mind darkens when I see Maya in distress, and I lift myself from the floor without making a sound. Anger is traveling through my veins, making me a testosterone-fueled time bomb.

One vampire is already stroking his dick against Maya's side and moaning like a pervert. "Man, she smells so nice!"

I've seen enough. Without thinking twice, I grab the disgusting vampire in a heartbeat, break his neck, and move over to the next guy.

"Wait, wasn't he sleeping?!"

I don't have to try very hard with the second—he tries to attack me, trips, and falls unconscious.

My lips twitch. "What a fighter."

The last vampire screams and tries to flee, but I grab him without even blinking. Humans are slow and weak creatures. I barely even need to use any force to break the skull of the third vampire. My fingertips are pressing into his soft head and fragile bones before I throw him to the side like yesterday's trash.

Maya might fear me after this—I realize that now, but I lost it the second I knew they intended to fuck her.

Maya's eyes dart around the scene until she finally glances up at me with her eyebrows knitted together. "You killed them..."

I pick up the keys to our door. "I rather end them before they become an even bigger problem."

Silence falls, and I walk for the door with a cluttered mind. In my world, it's kill or be killed. The weakling dies, while the strongest survives, but I understand if Maya thinks I'm a psychopath.

Humans have this weird sense of what is right and wrong—harming their kind is strictly forbidden no matter how terrible the victim, but slaughtering an innocent pig? Humans see that as acceptable, as they believe themselves to be the most superior creature on earth.

From my point of view, humans are primarily evil creatures I want nothing to do with, but I've had a few human friends in the past. They were pleasant people, and there are times when I can't sleep because I miss them, but it is what it is.

I bet Patricia and Dior are dead already, considering I don't age as quickly as they do, which makes me feel so incredibly lonely. What is the point in living for so long when everybody else is dead?

Sighing, I open the door. "I'm getting out of here. You can decide whether or not to follow me."

Maya inhales sharply. "I can't leave this place! Not yet!"

I turn around to study her features, examine the radiant fear written all over her delicate face. "Why can't you leave?"

Maya part her lips the same time I hear someone coming down the stairs, and I turn to her with a lifted eyebrow. "Better explain quickly, little human, or I'm getting out of here without you."

"Wolf!" Maya exclaims in a frustrated voice. "Arvin has this crystal ball with my wolf in it! I can't leave this place, but you can! Go!"

I swear my heart stops the moment I register her words. A werewolf's inner wolf is part of who they are, a piece of their goddamn soul, and Arvin took that from Maya?

A gasp comes from the staircase, and I turn around to see Arvin standing at the top of it with his body wrapped up in bandages. It's hard not to contain my smirk upon seeing him. I wave at him, and Arvin's expression gossip about his fear—suits the bastard right.

I fought against Arvin and his men before I met Maya, and I knew he was an evil, wicked bastard from the start. Therefore, it felt satisfying to eat his arm and bite off his foot before his men defeated me.

"It's the fairy who ate my fucking arm! Capture him!"

I lift my arms above my head to show my surrender, causing Maya to scream at me. "What are you waiting for, Finn?! Go! Just leave me—the portal is right there!"

I turn to face her, smiling as I whisper. "Your new nickname is 'little wolf,' and I'm not leaving you—we will get out of here together."

"Capture the fairy, and bring him upstairs," Arvin orders. "My mother needs to drink from his blood."

My lips part into a secretive grin while the men inject me with more of that no-speak serum and something else that makes my knees buckle. Maya cries as I blackout, but I'm not worried about the future. Somehow, we will escape from here together.