Red and Her Wolf (Kingdom, #3)

He hadn’t saved her. Ewan had killed her grandmother. But then the visions swept in like a tidal wave and each time she watched it, she knew it was true.

The mystery of that night was finally solved. The last piece of the puzzle she couldn’t remember, her soul accepted and believed, her mind screamed. Everyone had lied to her. Her aunt, Jana, everyone.

But not him.

No!

She trembled, something strong and firm gripped her hard. It was comforting, warm, and she was ashamed and confused.

“Wake up, Red,” the thick brogue whispered in her ear, a caress so soft and sweet. “Open those big blue eyes, look at me. Ye can hate me all ye want, just live, Red. Please.”

The last word was choked out and strained, scratchy and full of something deep and profound, but she couldn’t make sense of it.

Finally the dreams relented, and like a fog being lifted, she opened her eyes. Immediately she noticed a heavy sensation against her breast. Glancing down, she saw a purple pendant pulsing against her bare flesh, his hand pressed tight to it.

His mouth was covered in dried blood; looking like he’d feasted. She hissed, glancing at her wrist, suddenly recalling the demonic anger that’d taken her last night. The pure hatred that’d burned brighter than the sun at its zenith, her need to kill him, end her agony, only to discover there was no way around the enchantment he’d woven with his bite.

She swallowed and didn’t push away when he nuzzled her hair, inhaling her scent deep into his lungs, muttering nonsense she couldn’t understand.

“Let me go,” she finally croaked, voice raw and scratchy, as if she’d actually been screaming throughout the night.

He set her aside gently, and crawled back on his knees, moving like an animal would. But instead of disgust, she found beauty in the motion. A perfect symmetry and balance to it that left her awed.

She was still angry, but wasn’t sure anymore if she should be. Not at him. Violet covered her breasts, hugging her arms to her body.

“What happened?” She rubbed her smooth wrist, tracing the length of the faint pink line.

He scrubbed his face. “Our saliva can heal, I… goddess, lass. What? What can I do?! How can I prove to ye I’m nay the devil ye take me for?” He was yelling, chest heaving, his golden eyes wild. Looking like the wolf she’d seen in the dreams.

Violet tucked her knees to her chest. “What did you do to me?” She pointed to the necklace in his hand.

Throwing the necklace against the wall, the stone cracked. He was angry, his body vibrated with it. He wouldn’t even look at her as he began to pace, rubbing his jaw so hard she was afraid he’d scrub the skin off.

“It was the truth I’d tried to show ye last night. I didn’t ken if it would work in yer sleep.” He turned his back to her, staring at the wall. The muscles in his back rippled as a shudder took him. “Ye glowed, yellow. When I licked ye, I tasted the essence of sunshine and wild fae magic. Do ye ken who ye are, lass?”

He turned, and she sucked in a sharp breath. His eyes, so human before, were now pure wolf. Tawny, with a vertical black slit. Breathtaking, but oh so dangerous. Her body thrilled even as her heart raced with forbidden desire.

“No,” she shook her head. “No one tells me anything.” Looking at her feet, she nibbled on her lower lip. “Was that true? Was all that true?”

He knelt beside her, his finger under her chin, forcing her to look at him. She flinched, but held his gaze, spellbound by him.

“Aye. All of it.” His whisper was a caress against her lips.

Her lashes fluttered. “I’ve hated you for so long. I’m scared to stop.”

Alien eyes searched hers. “Why?”

“Because,” she swallowed hard, “then it means everything I knew was wrong. My grandmother hated me, my aunt lied to me.”

Blunt fingertips feathered across her cheekbones and the touch burned a path straight through her body, filled her legs with heat and longing.

“I haven’t, and I won’t. Yer my mate.”

She closed her eyes. “Please don’t say that.”

His hand left and his warmth went with it. She yearned for more, but didn’t know how to ask, how to plead for something that her brain said was so wrong. It was hard reconciling fact with fiction, knowing how wrong she’d been. It made her sick, fueled an anger that now had no release.

“Did you come to kill me too?” Her voice sounded childlike.

He was standing by the wall again, his eyes hooded. “Aye.”

It was a knife to the heart.

“I would have ripped yer throat out and never looked back. I didn’t know ye, and I dinna care to know ye.”

She ground her molars, picking at her blood stained dress. “But you couldn’t because you found out I was your mate, is that it?” Panting, she let the anger take her, felling her limbs grow sure and strong, her blood pulse with adrenaline.

“Stop trying to find reasons to hate me, Red. I’m nay the one ye must fight.”

She snapped her head up, glaring at him.