“Coming?” his mother asked, her voice brittle.
He followed her to the library, where three walls were covered in books all the way to the ceiling. A large floor-to-ceiling window was situated between two of the bookshelves, providing a view of the garden during daylight. One whole section of a bookcase had been dedicated to Julia’s werewolf romances as well as some of her favorite authors’ romance stories.
A book with a hot-bodied military man and a wolf on the cover lay on one of the tables, apparently someone’s recent read. He could just imagine Julia insisting that Ian wear a dog tag for her next book. He wouldn’t go for it, Cearnach was sure. No self-respecting wolf would wear something called a dog tag.
After his mother was settled in an overstuffed reading chair, he closed the door. He didn’t move any farther into the library, his whole posture stating that the audience with his mother would be as brief as possible. He crossed his arms in a defensive manner and studied her.
“In the old days you would have killed a wolf who hurt a woman like that. Are you going to kill Vardon, Cearnach?” his mother asked, her tone serious.
In fact, if he hadn’t known her better, he would have thought she was giving him permission to do just that. He certainly hadn’t expected her to ask such a question. He cast his mother a wry smile. “Is that what this is all about?”
“Mate with her,” his mother said.
His jaw nearly dropped to the floor. He had half expected his mother to tell him not to get interested in the woman and to get her out of their castle at the earliest convenience. That she was a source of danger to their people.
But mating? He was stunned as hell that she would even suggest such a thing. He wanted to ask if she’d been nipping the brandy with his aunt before he and Elaine arrived.
His mother shrugged. “She’s protective of you, a good quality in an alpha female. She’s able to stand up to me. I like her.”
He ground his teeth, studying his mother’s set expression—the one she used when she was determined to have her way. He knew she had to be interested in something beyond just liking Elaine.
His mother was a crafty wolf, always thinking of what would benefit the clan, the pack. She wasn’t impulsive in the least.
“What else, my lady mother? What are you thinking?”
“She knows where our stolen property is hidden. She’s a Hawthorn, niece to those rogue wolves who were pirates. You will help her to locate the stolen goods and keep her safe at the same time.”
Keeping her safe was what he had in mind. And more. But he didn’t like where this was headed as far as the stolen property was concerned.
“The Kilpatricks, who obviously want it, won’t get a farthing, and we’ll keep all of it,” his mother continued.
He frowned.
She quickly said, “Through a mating. We won’t take it away from her. We’ll keep it in the family. It’s ours anyway. You know if they get hold of her, they’ll plan the same thing—to get the stolen goods. Worse”—she cast him a concerned look—“one of their wolves will mate her.”
“Like hell they will. What about her feelings in the matter?”
His mother smiled slyly. “From what you’ve demonstrated, dear boy, you already know what you’re doing in showing everyone in the clan you’ve claimed her. And she… you. No need for you to ask me how it’s done. Of all my sons, I always thought you would be mated first. It’s past time.”
It was true that he’d loved the lassies since he was a wee lad. Ian had been too busy running Argent Castle and the pack once their father had died. Duncan had been much more interested in quelling battles until Shelley walked into his life. Guthrie couldn’t quit thinking about numbers and the pack’s finances. No female wolf in the near future for him.
“She protected you, Cearnach. She stood up for you and risked her own safety. You won’t often find that to be the case. Not when she didn’t know you all that well. In the old days, a woman who could fight her husband’s battles when he had to leave the castle was a real boon to a marriage. Many a castle was kept out of enemy hands because of a wife’s canny wit and, more than that, a backbone and drive enough to make it happen.”
“I’m not running the castle. Ian is.”
She waved her hand in dismissal. “Don’t be so obtuse, Cearnach. You want the girl. Make it happen.” She gave him a wicked smile. “She said you were at fault for ruining your tires.”
He raised his brows.
She nodded. “I have to agree with her. It was your fault. Now go cook something for the lass and make it good. I know she said she wasn’t hungry, but have her eating out of your hands.”
He shook his head. “A mating is for a lifetime.”
“Aye, you think I don’t know that? Everyone can see the way you feel about the woman. I raised you, you know. I probably understand you better than you do yourself. You want her. Don’t you dare deny it. She feels the same for you.”
He let out his breath. “I wanted to give time for us to get to know each other and for her to feel like she was part of the family first.”
His mother scowled. “Don’t give her a chance to get to know the family. She’s mating you, not us. We don’t want family issues to change her mind.”
He laughed. He suspected Elaine might enjoy their family and all its quirks and not be put off by it. Unless his mother had ruined that chance.
His mother smiled. It was a calculating, evil kind of smile. He wasn’t sure what she was up to, but he knew she was planning something. “Lust is only the beginning. You don’t think your father lusted after me until he wore my father down into letting him have me? Of course the feeling was mutual.”
If Cearnach had been human, he might not have wanted to hear the details. As a wolf, he knew his father and mother had been very much in lust and in love. He was glad she’d had so many good years with his father before he died. Though her relationship with Ethan, Shelley’s uncle, wasn’t the same, he thought they were growing closer every day. He’d even witnessed Ethan kissing his mother briefly in the gardens, and she hadn’t even clouted him one. Just turned a rosy pink. Ethan had smiled in his indomitable way.
“Did you treat Elaine as though you wanted her to become one of our pack?” Cearnach asked, frowning.
“Och, Cearnach, you cannot be serious. She doesn’t need my coddling. She’s a fighter—a good one at that. Agnes and I went at her with a two-pronged attack, and she still came out on top.”
He groaned. “You want me to undo the damage? Do you think I’m a miracle worker?” He let out his breath in annoyance.
“I can be the bad guy and you’re her savior.”
Cearnach shook his head. “I think she sees herself in that role.”
His mother chuckled with wry amusement. “Aye, then she can be yours instead.”
He shouldn’t have allowed his mother to speak with Elaine first. “Is that all you wish of me, my mother?”
“Aye, go sweet-talk the lady. I’ll speak with you later.”
Shaking his head, he stalked out of the library and down the hall, wondering just what his mother had said to Elaine during their exchange. He hoped Elaine wasn’t too upset over the whole affair.
Left to their own devices, he figured he and she could work out their relationship just fine. But he had to keep his mother out of it at all costs.
Now it was time to repair the damage.
Chapter 12