Her throat felt tight and angry tears threatened to fal . “Who cares? You were out in the woods fighting with your father because of me. What if he’d misjudged and severed an artery?”
“But he didn’t.”
“Not this time, but I can see this pledging-with-your-life crap is real, and I don’t want you doing it anymore! Don’t you dare risk your life for me ever again, Aidan Wal ace. Promise me you won’t.”
He smiled gently. “Sorry, but I can’t promise that.”
“Sure you can. People retract promises al the time.”
“A werewolf doesn’t.”
“Okay, but you made the promise to me, and I release you from it. I’l sign a document, swear in front of witnesses, whatever it takes.”
“You don’t have that power, Emma. You could sign a hundred documents in front of a thousand witnesses, and my life would stil be yours.”
“Oh, Aidan.” She was going to start leaking tears any second, and she didn’t want that. “You may be the bravest person— werewolf—in the world, but I’m a rotten coward, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, ever.”
“I don’t expect anything bad to happen to me. For one thing, I trust you not to betray the pack, no matter where you go or what you do. And you’re free to go, Emma. Ralph can take you back to your loft tomorrow if you want.”
That should have made her ecstatical y happy, but leaving him sounded like a horrible idea. Besides, something about that plan didn’t sound right. “They’l just let me go? What sort of guarantee do they have that I won’t blow the whistle on al of you?” She was afraid she knew the answer.
“Me. I’m the guarantee.”
She closed her eyes. “So if I slip somehow, they’l come after you.” They’ll kill you. She couldn’t make herself say that part.
“You won’t slip, Emma. I have great faith in you.”
She opened her eyes to gaze into his beloved face. “Look, I know you’l end up with a Were wife someday soon, and I’m cool with that, but—”
“Are you?”
“No, but it seems like the right thing to say. You obviously want me out of here ASAP, so I thought it would be classy to wish you a happy life. But the thing is, I don’t want to lose touch, because communicating with you will help me remember not to screw up accidental y. You’re like my lucky charm.”
“Your lucky charm.” He didn’t seem al that pleased with that.
“Al right. You mean a lot more to me than a four-leaf clover embedded in a plastic key ring, but since we’l be going our separate ways, I think we should—”
“Do you want to go your separate way, Emma?”
She looked into his eyes, searching for the wolf and finding the warm gaze of a man, instead. “Do I have a choice?”
Slowly he nodded.
Her breath caught. “But I’m human. And your mother hates me.”
“No, she doesn’t. She’s the one who advised me to bind you. And the sooner, the better.”
That jacked up her heart rate. “You’l have to define this binding thing.” Tension coiled within her, and she tried to ease it with a joke. “If it’s whips and chains, then I’m not interested.” She didn’t think that for a minute.
He touched his thumb to her lower lip and stroked softly back and forth. “We came close to it that first night in the hotel. I made sure we never came that close again.”
She gulped.
“If we make love that way tonight, you’l be bound to me forever, and I to you. It’s the strongest bond possible, stronger than anything forged in a church or a law office, stronger even than blood. In our world, there’s no such thing as divorce. A wolf mates for life.”
She began to tremble, but clutching his muscled shoulders did a lot to steady her.
And arouse her. “Does a wolf mate for love?”
“Apparently this one does.”
She sighed. Right answer.
“I’ve fought it with every breath in my body, Emma, but I can’t fight it anymore. I love you. And because I do, I must give you the choice to walk away. I want what’s best for you.”
She cradled the back of his head in both hands. “I’m thinking that would be you, hotshot.”
His steady gaze didn’t waver. “You need to consider your answer careful y. Living my life wouldn’t be easy.”
“I’l say. Riding around in town cars, staying in luxury hotels, eating truffles. But just so you know, if anybody gives me a watch worth eight hundred large, I’m hawking it and donating the money to charity.”
Stil , he didn’t crack a smile. “You’l have to be alert at al times so you don’t accidental y give away our secret. You can’t tel anyone, not even your mother or your best friend.”
She knew better than to joke about that. “I understand.”
“You could face antagonism from the other Weres, although no one would dare snub you when I’m around. Stil , I can’t promise that the Were community will ever accept you.”
“Maybe not, but think of the research possibilities.”
Final y he gave up and grinned. “Is that al I am to you? A research assistant?”
She massaged the back of his neck. “Research assistant, dance partner, cabana boy ... love of my life.”
His grin faded, and heat flickered in his gaze. “Say that last part again.”
“Love of my life. I love you, Aidan. Whatever this binding process is, I want it.”
The wolf emerged from the golden depths of his eyes. “You could get pregnant.”
“Wil our children be Were?”
“We won’t know. Can you—can you live with the uncertainty?”
Her heart beat so fast she grew dizzy. “The only certainty I need is that you love me.”
“I do.”
Stepping away from him, she pul ed her sweater over her head. “Then show me, Aidan.” She stripped off her slacks and dispensed with her bra and panties. “Show me how a Were binds his mate.”
And so he did.
She’d expected wild and primitive. Instead he was tender and slow. He guided her down in front of the fire, and as the heat caressed her quivering body, he took her slowly from behind, easing into her with murmured words of praise and gratitude.
The slow rhythm spoke of passion, but also of intense emotion. He took his time loving her, holding her h*ps steady for each firm thrust. As her orgasm drew near, he seemed to sense it.
With a low growl, he increased the pace. This was more what she’d expected.
She’d braced her hands on the floor, and he placed his hands on top of hers. His chest brushed her spine and his thighs slapped hers with ever faster strokes.
She cried out when the first spasm of her cli**x hit. Lifting his hand from hers, he combed her hair away from her neck. As she rode the waves of the most intense orgasm of her life, he surged forward and raked the back of her neck with his teeth.
Then he came, shuddering silently against her and gasping for breath.
“It is done.” He gulped for air. “We are bound.” Gently he pul ed her down to the rug and curled his body around hers. “I love you, Emma.” He kissed the spot where his teeth had been.
She took a long, shaky breath. “I love you, too, Aidan. And when I recover sufficiently, I’m biting you back.” She felt his smile against her skin.
“Anytime, my love. Absolutely anytime.”
Epilogue
“Well, big brother, looks like you’ve pul ed off the society wedding of the year.” As stirring organ music fil ed the church, Roarke stood next to Aidan and gazed out at the expectant faces of New York City’s A-list. “If only they knew this is a mere formality.”
“Some of them do,” Aidan said. His father had invited his friends from each of the other packs, so the room was a mix of humans and Weres.
“So far they’ve al been pretty cool about Emma.”
“Yeah. That’s saved me from having to kick some ass.”
“Which I know you’re ful y prepared to do. I just about plotzed when you took on the old man that night.”
“And I’l always remember that you backed me up, Roarke. I owe you one.”
“You owe me several. Let’s not forget making me stand up here in this monkey suit. I wouldn’t be doing that by choice, either.”
“Yeah, you would. You love it. You’l have your pick of the women at the reception.”
“There’s a pleasant thought.” Roarke smiled. “Wil you look at the ’rents sitting out there, proud as punch, both acting like they’ve won the lottery? After al the bitching and moaning about their new daughter-in-law’s lineage, they’re total y on board.
Emma’s won them over.”
“I never doubted it.”
“Liar.”
“Okay, there were some dicey moments.” He thought back over the fight with Theo, the disapproval of his parents, the ultimate confrontation with his father.
“Well, you’re about to have the payoff for sticking it out. Here’s a moment for you, bro. Your lady love approacheth.”
Roarke didn’t have to tel him that. Aidan had caught Emma’s scent the moment she’d stepped out of the chamber where she and her mother had finished preparing for the ceremony. She walked arm in arm with her mother, who served as her only escort and attendant, just as Roarke was his.
Aidan hadn’t been al owed to see Emma since yesterday, and the night had been long, indeed. Now he drank in the sight of her like a man presented with a feast after starving for days. Everyone else became a blur as he focused al his senses on her.
Her lace dress flowed in a graceful column down her stil -slim body, and her veil, also of hand-woven lace, cascaded down her back. She’d chosen not to cover her face, and he applauded that choice. The joy of impending motherhood made her skin glow and her blue eyes sparkle.
He was the only one who knew that she was three months pregnant with the child they’d conceived the night of the binding, and he liked knowing they shared the secret. They would tel it when they were ready. Emma was good at keeping secrets.
He hadn’t realized what a great secret keeper she was until he’d watched her provide partial truths to her inquisitive mother. Thanks to Emma’s talent for fiction, Betty Gavin believed that her daughter was marrying a wealthy bachelor whose parents traveled outside the country frequently, often taking Aidan and Emma with them. That was the story Emma had created to explain why the Wal aces were only occasional y in the city and why they preferred having rooms at the Waldorf to owning a place in Manhattan.
The life that Aidan had feared would become a burden to Emma had proven to be an exciting chal enge instead. Her fascination with the Were community won her more converts every day. Some Weres were already suggesting plots and characters for future projects.
His father stil insisted on reading everything she wrote, but she’d taken that with good grace. She said she actual y found some of his literary comments helpful in developing her stories. Now instead of resenting him as a censor, she seemed to enjoy him as an editor. Aidan was learning from her that confrontation wasn’t always the best way around his father.
He’d learned much from his mate, in fact, and knew that in the years ahead, he’d become wiser stil . Sometimes when he was with her, he even took the subway.
But they would not ride the subway today. A white limo waiting outside the church would take them to the Rainbow Room and the Waldorf. Later tonight, it would transport them to a private runway where the corporate jet would fly them in style to St. Barts.
On some things he refused to compromise, and when it came to giving Emma a day to remember and the honeymoon of her dreams, he would shower her with luxury.
Most of al , though, he would shower her with love. When he took her hand and turned to the minister, his heart was so ful that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to voice the required responses. But when the time came and the minister asked whether he would take this woman, he found the words came easily.
He gazed down at Emma’s smiling face and poured every ounce of his love into his pledge. “I will.”