after she was exhausted and relaxed from their lovemaking. Still, she had managed to deflect the questions with tidbits that could not hurt her people to reveal.
She opened her mouth to do it again, but he put his hand up. His eyes were dark with some unnamable emotion. “Dinna.”
“What?” But she knew.
And he was aware of it. “Answer my question with truth.”
“I always answer your questions with truth.” Even when it was one he did not want to hear.
“Small truths. Tell me about the Éan.”
“I cannot.”
“You can.”
She shook her head. He was her mate, but he was Faol. She could not break her people’s secrecy.
His countenance turned dark. “You yet do not trust me.”
“It is not my place to trust you on my people’s behalf.”
“If not you, then who? This separation of the races must end.”
Shock stole her breath. He thought the Éan could join the Faol? Live among the clans? Impossible. “The separation began with the Faol.”
“And we, the Faol, will end it.”
“You have gone mad. It can never happen.”
“Only because you refuse to trust. According to our legends, all Chrechte once lived together as one People.”
She knew that quite well. “We have been at war twice again the years since the Faol joined the clans.”
“Aye. It is time for the war to end.”
“One man cannot accomplish this.”
“With your help, I can.”
What he sought was not only impossible, it was impossibly dangerous. “Has Earc told you Verica’s story?”
“Verica has shared her past with me. But I am not her father. He trusted the wrong Chrechte.”
“You are right. He trusted himself to protect his family, but all his strength was not enough against the cunning of those intent on the Éan’s destruction. Even now they would destroy our people from within.”
“What do you mean?”
Realizing what she had almost revealed about the sacred stone and the Éan’s need for it to beget the next generation, she sealed her lips tight and blocked his thoughts with all her Chrechte discipline.
“Damn it, Sabrine, you must give me your trust.”
“On my own behalf, I might, but I cannot risk my people.”
“I will not hurt them.”
“You might not mean to.”
“But you believe I will.”
“Yes.” The word came out in a whisper, but he heard it.
His frown was fierce, but worse was the look of pain in his eyes. “You will never accept my wolf.”
She could not make words come. She shook her head, not to say he was right, but because she did not know what to say.
She realized he’d taken it wrong when his entire body went rigid with a stoicism that hid every nuance of emotion. A wall heavier than any she could have constructed came down between them.
She put her hand out to touch him. “Barr—”
He jerked away, for the first time looking at her with the disgust she had always dreaded. Only she knew it was not because of her raven; it was due to her cowardice.
“You are my true mate.” He had never made the claim with anything less than contentment, but his words held no joy now.
“I have not denied it.”
“Not since we began mindspeak.”
His reminder she had tried to deny their bond hurt, though she could not deny the truth of it. She nodded, her throat going too dry to speak.
“You plan to leave me, to return to your people.”
Again, she could do nothing but nod.
“You will steal my hope of children, my one hope of a companion and family.”
She could not gainsay him. Neither she nor he would be physically capable of sexual intimacy with another so long as both lived.
Pain moved through her in a way it had not since her parents’ death. “I am sorry.”
“You are a coward.”
She felt like a coward, but it was not all about her fear. “I have committed my life to the protection of my people.”
“I have offered to share that burden.”
“You cannot.”
“You will not allow me to.”
“Please, Barr . . .”
“Please what? Please do not bring into the light your plans to betray me, to betray our bond?”
“I cannot be your mate.”
“You are my mate.”
She turned away, unable to stand the look in his eyes any longer. “I cannot be your wife.”
Only silence greeted that pronouncement.
Only the slightest shift of air gave her any warning before his big body slammed into hers, taking her to the ground as an arrow whizzed through the air where she had been standing. Barr was shifting into his wolf form even as they landed against the grass-covered earth.
Another arrow landed in the dirt