Seducing The Wolf - By Marisa Chenery Page 0,38

his head at Roxie.

Roxie ignored Royce. "Would you really like to be like Royce and me, Billie?"

"Don't even suggest it, Roxie," Royce said in a hard voice. "We don't know for sure it will work on Billie."

"You're talking about the spell Gren wants Royce's blood for, aren't you?" Billie asked Roxie. When Royce turned to look at her, she said, "Don't look at me like that. I do have more than half a brain, and I was in the same room as the two of you. I can assure you I have perfect hearing."

Roxie bit back a smile. "I can see you're not going to have any problems handling Royce, Billie. And yes, I mean that spell. Gren used it to change me into a werewolf. Little did he know his doing so also fulfilled an ancient prophecy."

"Royce told Gren that was the only reason why the spell worked on you when it had failed with the others Gren tried it on."

"Well, that isn't exactly true. As far as Gren knows, I'm the only one the spell has changed into a werewolf. He doesn't know I used it on Taryn."

"You used it to change Taryn into a werewolf?" Billie asked with wonder.

"Yes. And contrary to what Gren thinks, Royce's blood isn't the key to making the spell work either. It's my blood."

"So you can make anyone into a werewolf then?"

"That is something we don't know for sure," Royce answered. "Taryn was born half werewolf. Her father is a werewolf and her mother was a mortal. She already had werewolf genes, just as Roxie had them through me."

"I also thought at first the spell only worked on me because Gren used your blood, the sire of my bloodline, with the spell," Roxie added. "I was proven wrong when we first attempted the spell on Taryn using her father's blood. It was my blood that changed her."

"But who is to say it only worked because you both possess werewolf genes to start with? I'm pretty sure Billie won't be having any relatives who happen to be werewolves popping out of the woodwork anytime soon as Taryn did."

"That could be true, but what if it had no bearing on the spell's validity? You claimed Billie as your mate, wouldn't you rather take the chance and have the spell work than not and watch her grow old and die as you live on for a great many more years?" At Royce's groan, Roxie cringed. "Sorry. I forgot Billie doesn't yet know about the whole mate thing."

Billie didn't know what to feel. Listening to Royce and Roxie talk was bringing home to her that there was a lot more going on than the fact that they were werewolves. She wasn't particularly thrilled to hear Roxie say Royce had claimed her as his mate. It sounded too cavemanish for her liking.

Before Royce and Roxie could continue to argue whether or not the spell would work, Billie broke into the conversation. "Let's drop the spell business for a minute. Explain how Royce claimed me as his mate. As far as I knew we haven't reached that permanent commitment stage yet."

Roxie gestured for Royce to take over. He turned sideways on the loveseat so he could look at Billie. "When a male werewolf meets a female who is his mate, her scent sets off his mating urge. That alone tells him she is the one for him. It's not something he can ignore. It will ride him hard until he claims her."

"And how exactly does he do that?"

"By making love to her."

"Let me get this straight. So when you made love to me for the first time you knew you would be claiming me as your mate?"

Royce nodded. "Correct. That's when our souls joined together. That is also why you started to feel uncomfortable being separated from me for long periods of time. Just as I do when I'm not around you."

Billie grew quiet as she mulled that bit of information over in her mind. "Okay, now I know I'm not going crazy. For a while there I thought I lost it when I started to miss you and it really hadn't been that long since I had last seen you."

"It will get easier to handle with time."

"Next question. How can you be both Roxie and her mother's grandfather? You don't look that old."

Royce sighed. "Werewolves don't age the same as mortals. Our kind can live up to three thousand years old."

"Three thousand years old," Billie repeated softly.