page1 (1/2)
Prologue
Woods of Murk, Scotland
CENTURIES AGO
In a dark forest, in a dour land, stood an enchanted cottage Within it, Uilleam MacRieve was about to bicker with his mate, Lady Ruelle
Yet again
As the blizzard outside gathered its strength, Will sat on the edge of her bed, wearily preparing for battle
"Just oncethe silk cover dip to reveal her bare brsts
In the past he'd have stared agog at that generous flesh; now he scowled at her antics "You know I canna stay" Alith these antics Could she not tell how deep she'd already drawn from him this eve?
" 'Tis hours till dawn" She rose up on her knees to purr at his ear, "I needn't keep you long" Her words were accented with the flavor of distant realms
In these northern lands of the Lykae, Ruelle was a rarity, a foreign female who dressed in lace and silks and had no skill with a sword She lived alone here in the Woods of Murk-a place of fairy rings and curses, of portals to different planes and creatures of old that even Lykae feared
Only a dare from other boys had coaxed Will's feet into that eerie forest the first time
"Oncethat he had another bout in him Nay, not a bout-that would imply two contenders "And after that, you'll demand yet another" Even if he was physically capable, he needed to get back to Conall Keep before his faone "Already I've yielded to your wishes"
At her basin, he gazed into her oversize mirror-his Ruelle could be a tad bit vain-and spied her behind hiht, her hair appeared burnished, her cheeks and lips rouged to ray eyes
She pouted prettily Everything she did was pretty, even love-unlike the trollops his older cousins routinely tupped in the hayloft
Afterward, those wenches would be heavy-lidded with satisfaction, even as they looked like they'd just gone to war in the hay: faces and chests flushed fro disheveled
Ruelle never looked like that With a pang, he admitted to himself that she had never been completelyfulfilled when he'd left her
She often cajoled hiain until he was exhausted "Look at you-who can bla that his kind was like catnip to her, that his face aloneto kill hirown cross
So with her was like a swi, until the deep threatened to pull you under On occasion, he struggled to breathe when she had hi to shrivel up
Which was a shameful weakness Ruelle was beautiful and sensual-any lad would count his blessings to be in her bed And she was his mate They were both sure of it
"You could eat again" She waved to indicate the banquet she'd prepared for him, sweets and delicacies that were rarely allowed at his home He shook his head, had already eaten his fill
In the beginning, she'd gotten hiers and declared hiht
Now he said, "Ruelle, nay I'"
" 'Tis your own fault for being so tantalizing" She ogled hihly Early on, she'd warned him that his family could smell her on him
"You're the one insisting that we keep this secret If I could tell my da-"
"No! That's not possible" She paled beneath those tinted cheeks "They will never accept what's between us"
"Then I must be there for chores" He had work to do at sunrise, and his twin brother, Munro, was already suspicious of Will's sneaking away late every other night
"You come froods' sakes-and still your father makes you work like a serf?"
"Da believes it builds character," Will said, pulling his tunic over his head The gar his chest and ar like weeds, too fast for the harried seamstress at Conall
He gazed at his own reflection and ran a hand over his lean face Still no whiskers though?
"Ah, Dughlas MacRieve, the great Lord of Conall, says it builds character? Your father is mistaken-your character is already built! And finely too You are a ht"
"I know I'ht no' yet be a man
Nay, of course he was Whenever Will and Ruelle quarreled, he corown Lykae Adults bickered; they had concerns and cares that the young did not
Yet if he was grohy couldn't he satisfy her? A flare of anger took him by surprise "If you have call to criticize my da, you should do it the Lykae way: to his face" As soon as the words left his retted theht
The idea of Ruelle openly criticizing sohable
As if on cue, her gray eyes misted with tears She even cried prettily "You know I cannot do that, can never show my face to them They will kill me, just for what I am"
His parents wouldn't necessarily welcoerated about their reaction "No Lykae would ever hars"
"What if they don't believe e know to be true?" She pulled the silk covers over her brsts defensively "Why do you continue to argue with me?"
"Because keeping this secret for so long sits ill" Lately it'd been weighing on hiave birth to her bairn before revealing his secret She was a couple ofto show Her "three braw lads"-as she called her husband, Will, and Munro-all sensed she carried a daughter and were ecstatic about the fact Mam wanted to call her Isla
A wee lass to spoil? Even now Will's lips curled with anticipation He and Munro could scarcely wait until she was old enough to learn how to hunt, to fish
Aye, his faet back He quickly donned his boots "We'll speak of this in the future"
"No, ill not" Her gray eyes flickered to jade green, usually the only sign that her eh "If you can't respectso ihts"
Will froze The fire in the hearth crackled The hipped snow against the s "You doona mean it"
"I do"
"Four!" he bit out in disbelief "You'd punish one was three He'd barely survived the sickness
"I wish that you hadn't forced me to"
"I forced you?" Everything was always his fault When he'd panicked during their first ti love and wanted to wait, she was not to be denied-and it was his fault for being "irresistible" to her He'd wanted to bring hoiven him-mainly to lord them over his twin-but she'd refused: "Your parents will suspect; it's not my fault that you were born into a closed-minded family"
And noas to go the better part of a ithout returning At the thought of the agony he'd soon experience, his Lykae beast stirred Though his da, uncles, and older cousins were training him to harness that wild force within him, Will unleashed it each time Ruelle mated him
"One day, Ruelle, you will push me too far"
"Oh? And then ill you do?" she asked with a triumphant look, for they both knew the truth