Dawning horror. Her suspicion that she'd harbored and resisted was true. How could she have been so stupid - She stopped herself. No, the idea had been easy to discount because how could she, a half-creature who was part vampire, be a Lykae's mate? A vampire and a Lykae bound together?
And then there had been his convincing, ego-crushing lie...
"So what had you planned to do with me?" She feinted right, then ducked left out from under his arms, snaring her jeans. She knew he'd allowed her to get away and faced him, shaking with anger. "Really planned? Am I to, say, live with your pack? The one you were quick to point out will rip me to bits?"
"No one will ever hurt you again, from my clan or outside of it. But you will no' live among them, because I am their king, and our home is here at Kinevane."
"Wow, I landed European royalty! Somebody call People!" She stormed from the bathroom, then wriggled into her pants.
What she wouldn't give to be able to trace, to disappear her ass out of this castle. She hated being lied to. Since she could never lie back.
Mimicking his accent, she said, " 'Ye're no' my mate, Emmaline. Nothing so serious as my one mate, but I would no' mind keepin' ye for my mistress. I want ye, but no' for that.' How condescending you were!"
He followed, gripping her arm and forcing her to face him. "I regretted having to lie, but what's done is done. I want you to at least listen to what I have to say."
"And I want to go home and see my family." And get her mind straight and ask them, Why do I dream his memories? Why am I always overwhelmed and confused, like someone put a chaos spell on my life?
"Will you no' even consider that this could be true? You would leave me, even knowing what we could have?"
She frowned as a sudden thought occurred. "You said 'every age that I have lived.' So how old are you? Six hundred? Seven hundred years?"
"Does that matter?"
She shook his hand free. "How - old?"
"Roughly twelve hundred years."
She gasped. "Do you know what 'robbing the cradle' means? I am almost seventy-one. This skeeves me out!"
"I knew it would be difficult to accept, but you'll come to see it in time."
"Come to see what? That I want to live in a foreign country away from my family and friends in order to stay with the dishonest, unbalanced Lykae who keeps lying to me?"
"I will never lie to you again, but your place is with me. Here."
"Here. In northern Scotland. And we're coming up on summer. Gee, Lach, how long are the days in the summer way up here?"
"I've thought about that. We'll go to wherever you can be comfortable in the summer. And the nights are longer in the winter. Do you think I would no' take you where I could have more hours with you?"
"You've got it all figured out. You're going to make me say 'I do' whether I do or don't."
"I do?" He frowned. "As in marriage? This is much more serious than marriage."
"That's about as serious - "
"Marriages can end."
Her lips parted. "Well, that certainly puts it into perspective. No way out for eternity. Did it ever occur to you that I might like to take one day at a time? I'm young, and this is everything. You're asking me for - no, you're demanding - everything, and I've only known you a week. You may have this cosmic certainty about me, but I don't have the same about you."
"If I asked you, would that make a difference? Will you stay with me?"
"No, I won't. But I'm not saying we would never see each other again. I'll go home and we'll take things slowly, get to know one another."
He closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were full of pain. Then his face hardened. "I canna allow that. You'll remain here until you can answer that question differently."
"You would separate me from my family?"
He seized her arm, hard. "You have no idea how ruthless I will be to keep you, Emma. I'd do that and more. I will do whatever it takes."
"You'll never hold me prisoner here."
For some reason, that clearly angered him more than the rest. His body tensed and his eyes flickered blue. "No, I canna. You're free to go. But you doona get a car. You doona get to direct someone here to pick you up. We're a hundred miles from the nearest town, which is inhabited almost solely by the clan, so walking out of here is no' recommended."
At the door, he turned back. "I canna keep you a prisoner here. But the sun can."
22
"Nïx!" Emma cried into the receiver when her aunt picked up the phone.
"Why, Emma, how are you? Enjoying Scotland?" she asked in a distracted voice.
"Just let me talk to Annika."
"She's indisposed."
Emma inhaled a deep breath, drumming her nails on the desk in the small office she'd found. "Nïx, this isn't a game. I don't know when I'll be able to make another call, and it's imperative that I speak with her."
"Indisposed."
"What do you mean?" Emma demanded. "She's either there or she's not."
"She's negotiating with the wraiths right now."
Stunned, Emma sank into a cool, leather chair. "Why would we need them?" The wraiths were a final measure when a coven was in grave danger. Their price to circle the manor, protecting it from outsiders with their ghostly power, was steep.
"We were attacked!" Nïx said delightedly. "Ivo the Cruel's vampires ambushed the manor and attacked us - not me, actually, because no one woke me for this, understand, and I'm quite put out. And they weren't all vampires exactly. One was a demon vampire. I want to call it a dempire from now on, but just to be contrary, Regin insists on naming it a vemon. Oh, and then Lucia's arrow missed the dempire and I heard she dropped like a rock, screaming, which burst every light in the house. But in the dark this Lykae came to the rescue, prowling inside. Lucia's screams seemed to really put him out. Hmmm... So he stalked in and he and Regin united and fought side by side to slay the vampires. Except Ivo and his dempire escaped. Anyhoo. Vampires, Valkyrie, and Lykae, oh my. Or as Regin calls it - the 'fucking monster mash.' Hilarity ensued."