Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 112500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 563(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 563(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
He lounged against the wall, looking tall and strong and confident. “Very well. Next time I’ll loiter outside for all your neighbors to see.”
There wouldn’t be a next time. “What happened to your face?” Three parallel scratches ran down his cheek, already regenerating.
“Nettle took exception to my presence, clawed me, then bolted to the attic. Your wee pussy is pouting over me.” Sly grin.
“Why are you here?”
“I wrote you I would be. Missed you, lass.” He stepped forward to kiss her, but she didn’t respond. “What’s wrong?”
“Is there anything you’d like to tell me?”
He straightened. “That I’m no’ a fan of self-incrimination?”
“You knew all along that Ditch was Thane’s mate.”
“Aye.” Lowell exhaled slowly, as if he’d been waiting for this. “’Twas no’ my secret to tell.”
“I brought up this very possibility, and you brushed it off like a hypothetical.”
“I did. I have a duty to my king.”
Simmering all week, her power flared. “Was it your duty to seduce his mate’s assistant?”
“As I’ve told you, I was attracted to you before I knew of Thane’s connection to your boss. Did you no’ notice my interest?”
She could almost believe him. Almost. “Well, it doesn’t matter. This is getting way too deep, and we both agreed not to embark on anything.”
“We did no’ both agree. Nor would I, witch.”
The moon’s light stole in through cracks in the curtains. Outside, a breeze blew, and a spider skittered through her garden, spinning webs she’d need to trim tomorrow. She was just tired enough to say, “I wondered if you might show up here on the night of the full moon. With your beast risen. I imagined your breaths coming rough, your eyes glowing blue, your fangs bared to claim me.” She’d prayed to Hecate for exactly such a scenario, aching for it.
He raked a hand through his hair. “I wondered too. Even though I’ve never felt the moon’s pull like that.”
“It would just be so much easier if I was your mate.” Resentment tangled with grief. Nothing could change fate.
Voice gone hoarse, he said, “I wish to the gods you were.”
His declaring these feelings for her made Meera queasy. She had to make him see. “You feel this way because…because I’ve enthralled you.”
He huffed a laugh. “Aye. No shite.”
“I can make people furious—that’s my power—and you’ve been soaking it in.” Words spilled now that she’d finally admitted it. “You’re so unacquainted with fury, you must love the rush. The recklessness. It amplifies everything. Our nights together felt so explosive because magic fueled them. I see it so clearly. Your pacing, your dilated pupils. You’re here for a fix.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You might be using magic on me, but you’ll never convince me I doona feel more for you. I godsdamned know my own heart. And this”—he pounded his chest—“is real.” He stepped close enough that she felt his heat. “I’ve always been different, dreaming of life outside my pack. My beast has been quiet. My Instinct chimes in only about once a year. So why would I no’ experience matehood differently too? I want to choose my female.” His hands settled gently but firmly on her shoulders. “And, Meera, I choose you.”
Her heart stuttered.
Lowell heard, hope lighting his green eyes. “I think you’re falling for me too.”
“We can never be together,” she whispered. “There’s no future for us! The longer we drag this out, the worse it’ll hurt when we end it.”
“Then we doona end.”
“Once Ditch plays her hand, your king will suffer. At best, he won’t let you see me—as I suspect he did this last week—and Ditch will forbid it as well.”
“Then let’s leave. Strike out together. Homestead in Umber.”
“Are you crazy?” Her laugh came out shaken. “Destiny always wins. And you’d hate yourself for abandoning Craigdúr when the kingdom fell apart without you. I can’t be the reason for your self-loathing, or you’ll grow to hate me too.”
“Self-loathing? I finally feel like I understand myself. I am a fate fighter. Always will be. I want you. I choose you. Why won’t you choose me back?”
“Our sacrifices would not be equal.” Her voice thickened. “Your future mate will comfort you. But I’ll look back at lost years. I want a family. There’s a cradle in my attic that my foremothers have passed down through generations. I want to fill it with a cooing baby, one I’ll never have with you. If I stay here, I have options.”
Lowell’s gaze darkened dangerously. “Warlock options?”
His seething jealousy made her toes curl. “A mating season is being planned. It begins the night after the Hunter’s Moon.”
A muscle ticked in his cheek. “Is that what you want?”
“I want to be a mother, yes.” She swallowed. “I can’t give that up for you. For anyone.”
“Then we’ll adopt. We’ll make our own way.” He made it sound so easy.
“How could we turn our backs on our people? If witches cried out, I’d go to them. And you’d return to your pack. When war comes—”