be.
No, that was a lie.
Part of her very much wanted to be a lifelong mate to the werewolf leaning against the door, his big body pulsing with energy denied by his negligent stance. Already, she could not imagine her life without him. And that terrified her more than the fact that she had been kidnapped and forced into a marriage born of the Balmoral laird's need to redress an insult.
She should not feel so much. Indeed, she should not feel
She had not felt this way about Sean, not before or after marriage. She had wed him because her brother had commanded it, but she had never fallen in love with him. She very much feared she was halfway there already with Drustan. He'd been so careful with her, even when she'd tried to escape. And when he kissed her, she experienced cravings she had never known existed, even when she had gone into heat and mated with Sean during a full moon.
'You look worried.' His voice sent shivers over her flesh though the air was not cold.
She took a deep breath and almost choked letting it out when he stepped away from the door… toward her. She quickly moved in the opposite direction. 'I'm simply making myself acquainted with my new home.'
Drustan's quarters were directly above the soldiers' quarters on the opposite side of the keep from where Emily had been taken. No matter how hard she tried, Cait could hear nothing of her friend. In fact, with the heavy door shut, she could hear nothing at all through it or the thick stone walls. It afforded a level of privacy unknown among the Sinclair pack members. She liked it.
The room they were in was not a bedroom, having a table and chairs in one corner near a fireplace, which was an extravagance she never would have expected in a room besides the main hall. Two benches lined the opposite wall near a large chest. There was an open door close to one of the benches which she surmised led to a bedroom because she distinctly remembered him saying he had a bed.
She scooted around the table as her new husband stalked her. 'Your mother seems very nice. She welcomed me into the family.'
'As she should.' Drustan's eyes glowed with unmistakable hunger. Only he looked as if food were the last thing on his mind.
Her heart pounded so loudly, she was sure he could hear it. He took a step closer, coming around the table.
She backed up, toward the wall. 'Where do you sleep?' she asked in a bid to distract him.
'
'I was thinking we could wait.'
'To sleep?' His teeth flashed white. 'Yes, that will come later.'
Oh, heavens above, how could he put such strong sensual promise into a few short words?
'I meant before we mate… I would like to know you better.'
He came closer, his scent growing stronger, letting her know that he was aroused. Her body reacted to it even as her mind scrabbled for logical reasons why he should not claim her.
Reaching out, he brushed his fingertips down the side of her face, making her shiver. 'You have very soft skin.'
'Thank you,' she said primly.
He smiled as if her words amused him. 'How well did you know your first husband before you mated?'
'He was a member of my clan. I had known him since childhood.'
'Did you? Or did you know his face, his name… rumors of what kind of soldier he was?'
'I don't understand.' But she did. He was implying she had not known her first husband the day they had wed any better than she knew Drustan. And he was right.
'Don't you?'
Silence was her best defense and she made use of it.
He touched her again, this time brushing his thumb across her lips. 'Did your first husband court you?'
She almost laughed at that, but Drustan's touch drowned her humor in rapidly growing desire. Sean had never even run with her during a hunt before her brother decreed the two of them should wed.
Scurrying backward, she bumped her shoulder on the wall, changed course and increased the distance between them. 'No. He did not court me.'
'Did he wait to claim you as his until after the wedding?' Drustan sounded only mildly curious as he stalked closer, making her feel like prey for the first time in her life.
As a femwolf, she had hunted, but had never been the prize to be caught. Even when she'd gone into heat the first time, she'd already been mated and there had been no 'hunting' involved.
She shook her head at Drustan, unable to talk because, try as she might, she couldn't seem to get the table between them again. She was panting in a combination of atavistic fear and excitement.
He got closer with each passing second, maneuvering her with the skill of a master predator until she was up against the wall beside the open doorway to the bedroom. Another step and she would be in the room. He did not stop until his body brushed against hers. Then, he caged her in with one hand against the wall on either side of her.
His head lowered until their lips almost touched. 'I make you this promise, Cait. You will know me very well come morning.'
Then his mouth covered hers in a kiss that burned her remaining resistance to cinders. She was clinging to his shoulders with both hands when he lifted his mouth from hers.
Drustan's wolf looked at her through his eyes, turning them dark green like emeralds. 'You belong to me, Caitriona. You are my mate.'
'Not yet,' she said, shocking herself as her own wolf came out to defy him in a mating rite as old as her people.
Nevertheless, she had experienced no desire to indulge in this sort of behavior with Sean. They had mated like humans. It had been pleasant, but she had never craved physical joining with him as she did now with Drustan. She wanted to have his body connected intimately with hers, but she could not simply submit and let it happen. She needed him to prove himself a strong and worthy mate in the most primitive way. That need frightened her, but it excited her even more.
The scent of her arousal mingled with his now, letting him know what she felt without a word being spoken or even a slight movement on her part.
He growled, the sound blatant affirmation of her body's response to his. 'I want you,' he said gutturally. 'I will have you.'
'Do you?' She licked her lips, sliding her hands away from his shoulders. 'Will you?'
His eyes narrowed. 'You want me, too.'
Her head cocked to one side. 'Perhaps.' But first he had to prove he was powerful enough to mate her wolf.
He rubbed against her, marking her with his scent, but with their clothes on, it was not a full claiming. She smiled, dropping down and ducking under his arm before moving quickly out of his reach again.
She stopped by the door, ready to flee, to force him to chase her as a wolf chases its mate. 'But then perhaps not.'
Chapter 8
Drustan had spun to face her and his expression
Her entire body tensed with the need to do just that. 'You must.'
'No,' he gritted, as if the single word was hard to get out. He wanted the chase, too. She could see it in his face. He took a visible rein on his desires. 'I promised not to hurt you or the babe. I cannot let you do so
