time he didn’t miss her undertone and his wince gave her some measure of satisfaction.
“And the other?” she asked.
“I did not wish to live without control of the change.”
“So?”
“So, I found a willing partner and had sex the night of a hunt.”
The burnished lines of his cheeks said this had neither been particularly pleasant nor a moment he was proud of.
“Was she Faol?”
“Aye. We were both much too young. She was one of the rare female wolves not born with control of her change. It humiliated her.”
“So, you agreed to take care of each other’s problem.”
“Aye. I lost two of my closest friends because of it.”
“Why?” Sabrine did not understand the terrible outcome if the female had been willing. Unless . . . “Did she develop feelings for you that you did not return?”
That Sabrine could understand far too well for her own liking.
He made a sound of bitter amusement. “Not at all. She found my company embarrassing afterward. If I am honest, I will admit I found hers equally so. Though it made no sense to me.”
His perplexity was almost amusing. He gave himself no quarter to experience weak emotion, but then neither did she. “You said two friends? Was the other her brother?” Or maybe her father?
“One of my closest friends turned out to be her true mate. He challenged me after realizing I had had her innocence.”
“You did not kill him.”
“Nay, but our friendship was buried that day.”
“I’m sorry.” That he had lost a friend, but Sabrine was still bothered he’d had sex with these other women. And she could not pretend to be sorry Barr was no longer friends with the female.
“I’m sorry I cannot come to you as untouched as you come to me.” The sincerity in his tone assuaged some of the negative feelings plaguing her.
“It should not matter,” she admitted.
“But it does.”
“Yes.”
“I can only promise you my fidelity from this point forward.”
“Don’t.” Please. She pleaded with him with her eyes though she did not say the word aloud.
His narrowed. “Neither of us will have a choice.”
“You truly believe that?” she asked, half afraid of his answer.
“Aye. You do not?”
“No.” If she did, she’d be out of his bed and out of his room faster than he could blink. Her true mate did not exist, and if he did, he wasn’t a wolf.
“One of us is wrong.”
“Yes.”
“You are confident it is me.”
“I am.” And part of her, a really stupid part, was even saddened by that fact.
He grinned. “Let’s find out, shall we?”
For a single moment, terror unlike anything she had ever known paralyzed her. What if he was right? What if he was the mate she was so certain did not exist for her?
But he couldn’t be. Faol and Éan matings were rare. Of those that had happened, too many ended in betrayal and death for the Éan.
Her raven insisted sharing intimacy with this man would not hurt her; Sabrine had to believe her bird. The raven had never led her astray, not even once.
“Let’s.” She reached around his body, pulling him down onto her to resume those amazing kisses.
This time, he moved against her as his tongue pressed between her lips. He dwarfed her, filling her senses until nothing but him existed for her. The hardness against her body was every bit as big as the rest of him. She had no idea how they were supposed to fit together, but that was one problem she would gladly leave in his hands. She was busy coming to terms with the fire running through her veins as their bodies rubbed together in an imitation of the act to come.
She might never have experienced sex, but the Éan did not have taboos about sexual intimacy as found among the clans.
His hand moved between her legs, touching her in a spot that had her screaming into his mouth. The joy was so intense, the pleasure so immense, she could not hold it inside.
One big finger slid inside her, not deep, but just far enough that she could not ignore its foreign presence.
She whimpered and could not even work up a smidgen of embarrassment for it. He was inside her even if his member was not and the moment was so intimate, she had no other standard by which to compare it.
Other than her younger brother, she allowed no one to get close to her and this was beyond close. This was joining . For this moment in time, they were not Faol and Éan. They