#Chapter 138 – Selene Calls Bastien
Arabella
“What?” i squeak, “Why do you want to meet Blaise?” That cannot be allowed to happen. Blaise can’t find out he’s here!
“I need allies.” Bastien explains, releasing me. “And he’s the closest possibility.”
Though my tears had been completely fake a moment before, true desperation grips me now. “No Bastien, please.” I beg. “You don’t know Blaise. If he knows the Nova pack is without an Alpha right now, if he finds out you’re here all alone, he’ll move against you.” This much, at least, is true. “I came here because I thought it was the only place i’d be safe from Selene, because Blaise is an even bigger monster than she is. He’s powermad and violent, he wants to grow his empire at any cost.”
“The Nova pack isn’t without an Alpha.” Bastien growls, “And I’m not so weak as you imagine.”
“I’m not saying you’re weak.” I insist, wincing slightly when I realize how he interpreted my words. “I’m merely saying that Blaise is impossibly strong, and far crueler than you.”
“Then what do you propose I do?” Bastien demands, “Lay low here forever, try and return home without any reinforcements?”
“I’m suggesting you look elsewhere for allies.” I breathe, “Please believe me, Blaise will not help you. He will only make things worse.”
“I believe you.” Bastien rumbles, looking as if he feels the opposite. “I’m just frustrated.”
“I know.” I tell him carefully, feeling my own frustration seethe beneath the surface of this ridiculous farce. I’m so sick of pretending to be nice and supportive of this man. I honestly don’t know how spies manage to keep up constant deception; it’s exhausting. “But you just have to tell yourself the same thing you told me after Flynn died. Do you remember?”
His brow furrows, “No.”
Of course not. I think bitterly. The one part of his memory that’s completely intact, and he can’t remember. Clearly it wasn’t important enough to him to stick. “You would say that I just have to get through this one moment in time. You told me to stop thinking about everything I had ahead of me and to take things one at a time. Survive this moment, and once that’s done, survive the next. Eventually I’d have so many behind me that the ones ahead wouldn’t feel so daunting.”
“Did it work?” Bastien asks, his silver eyes boring into me.
I want to say: Not in the fucking least you selfish mongrel. Instead I grit my teeth into a smile and force out a falsely cheerful platitude. “of course it worked, that’s why I’m advising you to do the same now.”
Bastien’s shoulder’s slump, relaxing per my guidance, “thank you, Arabella.”
Now I finally manage a true smile, if for no other reason than I’m relieved at how completely I have the big Alpha eating out of the palm of my hand. “Of course, I’m here to help!”
Selene
“I’m not sure this is a good idea.” Aiden gripes.
“Come on, what’s the worst that could happen?” Donavon replies, nodding towards me in encouragement.
I’ve finally convinced the Betas to let me try calling Bastien, though I have a feeling they’re going to continue arguing about the matter until the deed is done.
Raising my cell phone to my ear, I press the green send button and wait for the call to connect, muttering prayers to the Goddess under my breath. I’m expecting to suffer through a drawn out series of rings, but the line never connects at all. It goes straight to Bastien’s voicemail.
My fingers are shaking as I lower the phone and end the call. “Either his phone is dead or turned off.”
*That’s not entirely surprising.” Aiden assures me, sounding far more relaxed than I think he truly feels. “We knew he’d have to go dark for this.”
“Go dark?” I repeat skeptically, a rush of nausea taking my stomach hostage and clutching painfully at my insides. “You talk like he’s a secret agent.”
Both men shrug as if this is precisely the case, and I find myself gnashing my teeth.
“So what’s your plan for making contact again when he completes his mission?” i bite sarcastically. “Carrier pigeons? Morse code?”
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