CHAPTER 58: CHAPTER 58

Triton reaches closer to her and holds her hands, just to be sure that she’s the one. He calls out her name again, "Maria, you’re alive."

She shrugged her hand off his gently, and was now standing in the middle of him and his brother.

"You’re Triton, aren’t you?" She asked.

"Yes. I’m Triton, and you’re Maria, my lost mate."

Trevor frowned and stepped between them to separate Triton from Maria.

"Lost mate?" Maria echoed, and even those words didn’t make sense to her.

She had been in the room like Trevor told her, but after giving it a lot of thought, she decided to come out to see Trevor’s brother, in case he may recognize her like how he teased the previous time. And he actually did. Although, she didn’t understand why he was calling her his mate.

"Yes. We are mates. Everyone, including your parents, thought you were dead." Triton furrowed his brows and looked at Trevor. A suspicion was already rising in his throat. She smelled exactly like the scent he perceived the previous time he was here, and Trevor told him that it was the scent of his mate.

"She isn’t your mate, is she?" Triton asked with a raised brow.

"She is my mate and not yours." Trevor growled. He was already getting jealous of Triton referring to Maria as his mate. "What else do you know about her?"

"She is the daughter of Alpha Reynolds and Luna Laura of Veilwood, but since everyone thinks she’s dead, her sister would be crowned as alpha on the next full moon."

"I have a sister?" Maria asked almost absentmindedly.

"Yes."

She pressed further. "What about brothers?"

Triton shook his head. "No."

She kept quiet and turned towards Trevor. There was this look of satisfaction and happiness that he hadn’t seen on her face before. She was excited that her wild guess about Triton knowing about her was actually true.

"You didn’t respond to what I said." Trevor cut through the moment of silence. "I said I’d only help if I get to know what the forger is doing with the women."

Triton placed his hands on his hips and paced around restlessly. "I doubt if he would share. Why do you even want to know?"

"Because they are innocent women from my pack." Maria cut through. "I’m the leader of Veilwood, and I can’t watch you give out my people as a sacrifice." She wagged her finger at Triton. Her expression revealed that she was upset about what he was doing.

She continued, without even giving him a chance to explain himself.

"I’m upset that I knew an evil man like you. You’re selling off innocent people because the evil forger has promised you power and riches." She pointed a finger at him, and used it in hitting his chest, causing him to jerk backwards.

"If there’s anything I know about you, I’d never be a mate to an evil man. I’m not your mate!" She added defiantly. "Now, tell us how to free my people."

Triton was speechless, and Trevor too was a bit stunned. Trevor hadn’t expected Maria to give his brother such a stern warning. With the way she was talking at the moment, she looked nothing like that frail timid woman that had been caught in his drainage.

What made him the happiest was that she rejected Triton as a mate.

"I’m still waiting for your response." Maria said as Triton kept silent. "If you can’t help us, give me the direction of the forger, and I’ll free my people by myself."

"Maria," Triton whispered, and his throat felt dry as he spoke. "I’m not working with the forger because of power and fame. Those things mean little to me compared to what I’m facing."

He took a deep breath and stared at the ground. "You can’t face the forger alone, he’s more dangerous than you think. We need to make a plan first."

Maria’s arms were folded across her chest. Her breathing was harder than normal, a thousand thoughts lingered in her head.

Trevor noticed and moved closer to her, wrapping her in a hug and allowing her to place her head on his chest and find comfort in his arms.

Triton narrowed his eyes at that little gesture. He felt something rise in his throat, and tried hard to suppress it. Even though Maria had rejected him, the fact that she was now his brother’s mate made Triton feel unsettled. The feeling lingered in his chest and he couldn’t name it, jealousy maybe.

"How come they don’t have the blight?" Maria whispered to Trevor. "Both of you passed through the forest, didn’t you?"

Sam responded. "We did."

"That’s strange." Maria muttered. She turned towards Trevor. "Doesn’t the blight affect outsiders, like people that aren’t rogues?"

Trevor shrugged his shoulders. He had never attempted thinking in that direction. "That could be true, but we can’t judge if they have the blight too suddenly. Let’s call for the nurses to check them."

Triton arched his brow. "What blight?"

They sent Devon to get Alice and Trevor used that time to fill Triton’s curiosity about the blight, telling him what had been happening in the cursed lands, and how Maria was found unconscious in the drainage, together with another strange packborn wolf who was already dead.

Triton couldn’t help but stare at Maria the entire while, noticing how she looked different— bolder, louder, and even more beautiful. It seemed like her black hair had grown longer and those hazel eyes of hers carried more life and warmth in them.

His breath hitched in his throat and he almost slapped himself. How could he be so lost that he forgot the very question that he was supposed to ask.

Maria had been lost in that shipwreck with his unborn child. There was no sign of a baby bump as he looked at her now.

He didn’t hesitate before asking his question. "What about our child?"

Maria frowned, her face was shadowed in confusion. She glanced at Trevor, and then back at Triton, then muttered, "I don’t understand."