Matias nodded. “Sí, he was thinking of that last night. It was someone named Magnus, and he recalled him back to England when he decided to fly out here to Canada, but he was thinking he should put him back on you after last night’s attack.”
“Son of a—I can’t believe he had someone watching me all this time,” Beth said grimly. “How did I not notice?”
“You are missing the point, chica,” Matias said with exasperation. “Why would he do that? Why did he have someone watching you even way back then?” he asked, and then answered, “He must have known all along that you were his life mate.”
Beth stared at her cousin blankly as everything he’d said circled slowly inside her head. Scotty had set a bodyguard on her. He’d been looking out for her. He was eating and easily read because he’d found his life mate. And the dreams . . . Beth frowned. Were they shared dreams? Life mates were said to have them when in the vicinity of each other . . . but Scotty had played in most of her wet dreams since she’d met him. Even the ones she had when they were on different continents.
Although, she thought suddenly, they had always been more powerful when he’d popped up in Spain, and now here. Beth had just assumed it was because he was on the scene and big as life. Now she realized he’d often stayed in either a house or hotel near wherever she lived. Then the dreams had been much more powerful, more real. She’d been able to smell him, and touching him in her dreams had felt like she was touching him in real life . . . like the dream tonight, she thought with a frown.
“Frankly, I am surprised that you did not realize it yourself,” Matias added.
Beth scowled at him. “How was I supposed to know? I was a new turn when I met him. It had only been two weeks since I was turned. I couldn’t read anyone, so not being able to read him meant nothing to me. And I was still eating back then. And . . . well, he’s a good-looking man. I just assumed I was dreaming about him because he was a hottie.”
“All true,” Matias decided after a moment’s consideration. “So I will accept that you did not know, but he definitely must have known.”
Beth bit her lip, unwilling to believe that Scotty had known all this time and not claimed her. How much did you have to hate someone that you would bypass claiming them as a possible life mate? The one thing all immortals yearned for and were seeking? And why would they even be life mates when he hated her?
“Maybe he wasn’t sure,” she suggested hopefully.
“Beth,” Matias said heavily. “Scotty is not an idiot. He knows the signs of meeting a life mate. His not being able to read you by itself would have told him that is what you are.”
“He can’t read me?” she asked curiously. “How do you know that?”
“Because he didn’t know that you knew about his interfering in your becoming a hunter and some of the jobs you’ve been on,” Matias explained. “If he could read you, he’d know that. But he didn’t and was surprised and even dismayed when I told him that you do know.”
Beth merely grunted at that. It still annoyed her to think of the way he’d interfered in her being an Enforcer over the years.
“So, he must know,” Matias decided, and then frowned and said, “But if so, why has he not yet claimed you? Most immortals would have claimed you right away, yet he has not.”
When he peered toward her in question, Beth lowered her head and concentrated on petting Chico as she finally gave in to the truth. Scotty had known they were life mates for over a century and done nothing about it. There was only one reason she could think of for that, and it was both simple and obvious.
“If I had to guess, I would say because he doesn’t like me,” she said softly.
“What?” Matias shook his head and blew a raspberry. “Impossible! You are beautiful, and charming and strong and smart! You are a goddess among women!”
“And yet he doesn’t want me,” Beth said wearily. “He hasn’t claimed me and usually, at least until this visit, he’s been cold as a witch’s tit to me.”
“I have not seen this cold tit,” Matias assured her solemnly. “In fact, I would say from the looks I have seen him give you that the witch’s tit is on fire.”
“Yes, well, that’s only this time,” she assured him. “In the past he treated me like I had the plague. He even wanted to have my mind wiped in a three-on-one.”
“What?” Matias’s eyes widened incredulously and she couldn’t blame him. A three-on-one was when three immortals worked together to invade and eradicate another immortal’s memories. They erased each memory over and over again to prevent the nanos repairing them, until the individual was as blank as a clean chalkboard. It was a drastic measure, used as a last resort.
“Yes,” Beth assured him firmly. “When he and his men saved us from Jamieson, he pulled Dree aside and said the Council would want me put down, but he thought I should be given the three-on-one and have my mind wiped,” she told him. “In fact, if not for Dree, I’m sure he would have done it. But she refused to allow it and got us on a boat headed for Spain that very night.”
“Thank God for Drina,” Matias said with a shake of the head. “I cannot imagine life without you in it as . . . well, as you.”
“Apparently, that’s what Scotty would have preferred, though,” Beth whispered miserably.
Matias’s mouth tightened. “Well, screw him and the cow he rode in on. He is out of luck. We will find you another life mate, and Scotty can go wipe someone else’s mind to have a pickle for a mate.”
Beth’s lips twitched at the words. “A pickle?”
“Well, what do you think is the result of a three-on-one?” he asked grimly.
She shook her head. “Marguerite Argeneau’s husband did a three-on-one on her, and I’m quite sure he didn’t wipe all her memories, leaving her a pickle.”
“Then she is lucky. From what I understand, that is very hard to do. It is easier to just wipe the memory completely, and when that happens, the person is no longer themselves. They are a tabula rasa. A blank slate. Their personality gone.” Matias snorted and added, “That is probably what he wanted, a blank slate to turn into whatever he wishes.”
“Or just a woman who wasn’t a prostitute as a mortal,” Beth said quietly.
Matias turned on her sharply. “That was not your choice. He cannot blame you for that,” he said with outrage. “Your father sold you to those disgusting purveyors of flesh! And they in turn sold you to Danny after your chastity was stolen.”
“But I stayed in the business after Dree killed Danny and I was free,” she pointed out solemnly. Matias had known her life history for years. He’d asked her and she’d told him. Beth didn’t hide it. Secrets were never a good thing. They tended to give others power over you if they learned of them. Besides, she wasn’t ashamed of her history. At least, she hadn’t thought she was. But now she wondered if she shouldn’t be.
Sighing, Beth leaned back against the headboard and closed her eyes. It was far too early in the day to have to deal with this. Or was it? Opening her eyes, she turned to her cousin and asked, “What time is it?”