A Highland Werewolf Wedding - By Terry Spear Page 0,54
treasure hunt. For your peace of mind, I’m not mating you. You can let your mother know that, too.”
He loved her pragmatism and fighting spirit. He also saw the challenge in her eyes. He was certain she was waiting for him to contradict her, to say he wanted her. She had to know he did. That he recognized she wanted him also.
He cast her a predatory grin, tilted his chin down, and reached under the table to take her hand from where it was resting in her lap. Her gaze latched on to his, and he knew she could see the desire he had for her as plain as he could see the interest in hers. “We’ll see about that.”
He was named “victorious” for a reason. He was often victorious in anything he set his mind to accomplish. And he was determined to have her.
He released her hand and finished his stew.
“All these years, you’ve never been mated?” Cearnach asked, not believing Kelly Rafferty could have been the only one she’d mated with.
“Oh, sure, several times… nearly.”
The inference that she’d been mated several times got to him, until she clarified with nearly. As beautiful and fun to be with as she was, he wasn’t surprised she could have been mated many times over, although hearing it bothered him deep down. He couldn’t fathom why any wolf wouldn’t have followed through.
She took a deep breath, then said brightly, her tone incongruent with her body posture, “A lot of wolves took interest in me over the years. They just always vanished before anything could come of the relationship.”
“That’s hard to believe.” He meant it. Why would any of them show interest and then quit the relationship? Not when she was as intriguing as she was.
She smiled a sad kind of smile. “Maybe so, but it’s true. I began to believe I could easily attract attention, but no one was interested in mating me for a lifetime.”
That’s why she thought he couldn’t want her? Because the others had skipped out on her?
Why would they change their minds overnight like that? He pondered that for a moment more, then a realization dawned. “They were betas.”
“How… did you know?”
“No alpha who wanted you would vanish without making you his. So they had to be betas, unsure whether being mated to an alpha would work out. Why your interest in betas? You need an alpha.”
Like me, he wanted to say.
She gave him a ghost of a smile. “An alpha would have been like Kelly Rafferty—in charge, beating me when I didn’t do as he wished, in control of my money.” She gave a half shrug. “I didn’t need a mate for that.”
Cearnach clenched his fists and wanted to kill the wolf himself for hurting Elaine. “You’re certain he’s dead?”
Though the point was moot. No alpha who had taken her to mate would have left her alone all these years. Not one as controlling as Rafferty had been.
He would change her mind. Not all alpha males were like that bastard.
“Yes, he’s dead. His men wouldn’t have come for me if he hadn’t been dead. They’d know he would have killed them.”
She looked so tired, her eyelids drooping, the swelling and bruising on her face from where Vardon had hit her making her look all the more done in. Cearnach took her hand again and rubbed his thumb over her soft skin. “We can talk more tomorrow. Did you want to eat any of the stew?”
She shook her head. “Too tired.”
“All right.” Then he made his claim, unwilling to put it off any longer. “You need a mate.” He kissed her cheek, deciding this once and for all. “And a family. You’ll have both with me.”
Her eyes widened and her lips parted.
He knew she would disagree with him for now, but he would sway her one way or another. She needed a family, a pack, him.
She said softly, tears glittering in her eyes, “You’ll vanish before we do it. That’s the way it always happens. A wolf promises me the moon, and then he disappears as if he didn’t have the courage to tell me to my face that it wouldn’t work out between us.”
His jaw dropped. He couldn’t conceal his surprise. She was agreeing to be his mate? He was expecting to work a lot harder at it than that. He was ready.
He had to be sure that she was.
He stood, then pulled her from her chair and into his arms, and hugged her with all his