he glowed a pale silver in the moonlight.
Guaire trembled beside Abigail. “Niall?”
The other wolf did not answer as Talorc had done, but padded forward, stopping only when his big head butted against Guaire’s side. A look of wonder took over Guaire’s features, dissipating the defeated pain that had been so strong only a moment ago.
He reached down and ran his fingers through the wolf’s pelt. “Is this okay?” he asked the beast.
Niall barked. Guaire dropped to a crouch. The white wolf rubbed his head against Guaire’s cheek and the seneschal buried his head in the beast’s fur. The wolf’s body shook as if beset by intense emotion, and the man wrapped his arms around the beast’s neck.
“He is not afraid of Niall’s wolf at all,” Talorc’s voice was tinged with bleakness.
Abigail used her voice, such that it was, to speak. “If I had known it was you, I wouldn’t have been afraid of you either.”
“You are so certain of that?” The wolf’s eyes . . . Talorc’s eyes . . . seemed to look into her heart.
“I have always trusted you with my safety. From the very first moment.”
“And yet you ran away.”
“You complained about me to your king. You wanted rid of me.” Her earlier distress returned, setting grief like a stranglehold around her heart.
“I sent a messenger in a drunken moment of idiocy. I did not want rid of you. Surely I made that clear after I sobered up.”
Abigail turned away from him only to find Niall tugging Guaire’s plaid off. Shock forced a reaction other than sorrow, at least for that moment.
“Surely he does not mean to mate with him as a wolf?” Abigail asked in her mind of Talorc.
Unwanted pleasure filled her as he answered her. Until that moment she had not been absolutely sure the special form of communication could go both ways. “Nay, of course not. He is scenting his mate, claiming him so all will know Guaire belongs to Niall.”
And indeed that was what the big wolf was doing. He rubbed his head against every inch of Guaire he could reach. Guaire was laughing, whether because it tickled or he was simply filled with joy, Abigail could not tell, but regardless, her friend appeared quite happy with what the man—werewolf—he loved was doing.
She turned away from the other couple, giving them their privacy. “Is that why you rub your face against me when we are making love?” Or used to.
“Yes. I crave scenting you as a wolf.”
“But you did not trust me enough to tell me of your true nature, so you could not do it.”
“I did not want to love you.”
“You got what you wanted.”
“Aye, in you I got the deepest, most secret desires of my heart.” The words echoing her own thoughts paralyzed her. “You are my true mate.” He approached her slowly, as if afraid of spooking her. “I need you to accept me in this form for my wolf to have happiness.”
“What difference does it make if you are going to let your king annul our marriage?”
“I will not. I sent his soldier back with this message: I would consider any attempt to annul our marriage or take you from your clan an act of war.”
“You cannot go to war with your own king!”
“It would not be the first time the Highland clans rebelled.”
“But we are just one clan.”
“I have allies.”
“You truly do not wish to be rid of me?” Could it be that easy? No, there was still the matter of trust to settle, but Abigail had realized how much she was willing to work on that when she thought Talorc would be taken from her.
“I would die to protect you, and if necessary, I will kill to keep you.”
So, definitely, Talorc did not want their marriage to end.
“You didn’t tell me of your true nature.” Though he had come after her in his wolf form and was now speaking to her in her mind, he had no doubt intended to tell her the truth. And yet . . . “You let me believe I was imagining voices in my head. I worried I was going crazy or that the priests might be right and that my mind was afflicted because of my deafness.”
The wolf butted his head against her stomach. “I am sorry, my angel. I never meant to cause you such grief. None of those thoughts even entered my head. I was afraid to make myself vulnerable to you, and I selfishly acted out of my fear. All that I am belongs to you, and I will never again hold anything back.”
Unable to help herself, she dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around Talorc’s furry neck. “You hurt me so much.”
“I will never do it again.”
She rubbed her cheek against his fur as she finally let tears fall she had not wanted anyone to see. “Can I trust you?”
“I pray that you will.”
She held on and cried, finding it easier to share her pain with the wolf than if her husband held her as a man. He nuzzled her as she cried, subtly scenting her as he gave her comfort.
Her tears turned to watery laughter. “I know what you are doing.”
“Aye, the whole clan knows you are a clever woman.”
He pulled his head back and licked the tears from her cheeks. “Now I am kissing you.” The sound of a wolf’s chuffing in her mind brought a smile to her lips.
“If you are looking to scent me as Niall scented Guaire, I would like to go to the cave.”
A soft shimmer of light ended in Talorc taking his human form. He lifted Abigail in his strong arms. “I have a better idea.”
As he carried her away from the water, out of the corner of her eye, she saw two naked male bodies entwined. She very consciously did not look in that direction, but she could not help feeling glad for her dear friend and the man she hoped to call friend again one day soon.
Talorc carried her through the forest until they came into a small clearing bathed in moonlight. “The grass will be more comfortable than the floor of the cave.”
“But . . .”
“No one else is here. Niall and Guaire are back on the beach and too occupied to notice our departure. Once they do note it, they will not come looking.”
“You are certain?”
“Yes.”
“It is beautiful here.”
“Not as beautiful as you.”
She shook her head, looking away from him.
“Do not try to hide from me.”
“It is easier.”
“I will make it easier to love me, I give you my vow.”
She spun back to glare at him. “So now you believe I love you?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe I have changed my mind. Perhaps I want the annulment so I can find a husband who can love me.”
