At her pinched brow, he drew her close. She stepped into the circle of his arms and rested her hands on his chest. He rewarded her with a chaste kiss to her temple.
“I’ve started binding us, but until I complete my half of our union, I’m not one with you. I won’t be able to help you in the way of a mate.” He turned her palm over and traced where his circle would soon be imprinted upon her. “You need this.” He skimmed his parted lips to her ear. “I need this. Okay?”
“But Raul—”
“You must trust in me. I will protect all those you love. No redcap or sluagh will get near them.”
He was asking a lot from her, but he couldn’t let her walk away without his tie to her. Mated to him, he could touch her mind from a distance and take any anger she might experience before she gave in to it. Above all else, she couldn’t act on it. He understood the precariousness of their situation. She was too close to the edge, and if she embraced her darker side and killed, he’d be dragged down with her, exactly as Rhys had warned. Calan wouldn’t allow it to happen.
He eased back. “The second I sense a redcap or a sluagh, I will hunt it down.”
A long moment passed where she searched his gaze before finally nodding. The sign of her trust brought a smile to his lips. Unable to resist her sweetness, he brushed his mouth against hers. He eased back and swept his hand to the entryway. Eagerness rushed up. He hadn’t been able to connect with his animals while chained. “But first, greet my loyal companions.”
His three favored hounds trotted into the room on silent paws. As tall as his waist, the white animals with red ears and eyes looked exactly as they had the last time he’d seen them. When the Hunt rode, they turned as black as night, but this was their true form.
He dropped to his knees and welcomed the ferocious creatures to him. Licks to his face and nuzzles from the female mutt to his chin showed him their affection. He returned it, rubbing their sides and petting their heads.
As one, they backed up, sat on their haunches, and turned their intelligent and insightful eyes to Harley. Their noses twitched, their ears lowered, and a low growl crawled in unison from their throats. Although they wouldn’t smell the chaos she carried because of his partial tie to her, they’d see the evidence of it on her aura, the same as he could.
She was damaged.
Their snarls confirmed his guess that the conflicting clues concerning Harley’s true nature had left his hounds distrustful, not a state he wanted the deadly beasts to be immersed in. They were animals, after all. No matter how much they obeyed his command, their instincts could still be triggered. He needed to make sure they understood without a doubt what role she played and how very important she was to him.
“Harley?” He cut a quick peek over his shoulder and found her staring at the dogs with wide eyes. “Slowly lower your hand and allow them to sniff you. No matter what, don’t jerk away.”
She did, palm out and fingers loose. The incomplete mate symbol stood out starkly on her pale skin. The dogs would know the significance of it. His protective stance in front of her along with his scent clinging to her skin would tell the hounds all they needed to know—Harley was his, fairy or not. The alpha male hound approached first, sniffed, and gave her hand a small lick. The others followed suit. Calan’s pent-up breath escaped in a rush.
They’d accepted her and offered her the same loyalty they’d given him.
As one unit, they turned and trotted across the room, fading before they reached the stairs.
“Beautiful. They’re beautiful.”
He glanced at her. “Yes, but not nearly as lovely as you.”
Calan lifted Harley into his arms and strode for the bed. The time had come to claim his mate. He swept the thick quilts to the side and laid Harley in the center of the massive bed. The feather mattress dipped slightly under her. Her eyes fluttered closed on a sigh. The small sign of her comfort pleased him.
“I have never taken a female in a bed, Harley.” He leaned over her, one knee next to her hip and his palm splayed over the soft sheets by her head. “Nor will I take another female anywhere after you.”
The words weren’t necessary, but he wanted her to feel the significance of what they’d do here, even if the room they stood in wasn’t his home.
She blew out a shaky breath. “I don’t know what to say.”
He kissed her, slowly and tenderly, when all he wanted to do was strip her out of her clothes and fuck her as she’d asked him to do earlier in the day.
Lips a hairbreadth away, he whispered, “Nothing. Say nothing. Remember, I’m not asking for anything in return beyond your passion.” But he wanted more.
All of her.
For an eternity.
“Oh, okay.”
The confused lilt to her words would’ve torn a chuckle from him if he hadn’t been so aroused. The years without a female had heightened the need riding him, but it was the act itself that tightened his groin and left him desperate for Harley.
He could take only one mate.
Calan had made his choice and couldn’t wait to complete his half of the bond.
He gripped the hem of his shirt and tugged it over his head. Her gaze dropped to his stomach. He waited for her to meet his eyes. “And now I’m going to get drunk on you. Your passion and your body will be mine tonight.”
“Yes, Calan. Please.”
He undid the knot on the tie holding his pants up but held the material over his cock. “Do you accept me?”
“Yes.”
No uncertainty, no doubt, only eagerness. He
