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.”
“You will never be with another man. You are my true mate.”
“But I’m just human. You clearly don’t want me for your mate, sacred or otherwise.”
“That is not true; even if I had a choice, I would never want another woman.”
“You do have a choice, especially now with your king offering to get rid of me.”
“We are sacred mates. I am Chrechte.”
“So?”
“My wolf will never accept another woman.”
“What does that mean?”
“You see this?” He indicated his hard member.
“Yes.”
“With another woman, it would be as limp as milk toast.”
“No, you are far too . . . too . . . um . . . virile,” she said finally.
He shook his head. “As Chrechte I am not physically capable of mating any but my true mate once my wolf has found her.”
“So, it is your wolf that wants to keep me.”
Chapter 20
A starburst of understanding went off inside Talorc.
He grabbed his precious wife and held her close, looking down into her soft brown gaze, he spoke aloud as well as through their mindspeak. “That is what I told myself. I believed my wolf felt possessive of you, that he wanted to protect you at all costs,” he said as the knowledge came over him.
“Are you and your wolf such different beings?” she asked in her soft voice with new tears shimmering in her eyes. “Emily does not speak of Lachlan as if he and his wolf are different beings.”
“They are not. My wolf and I are not. We are one in the same, but in my desire to protect myself from making my father’s mistakes, I tried to separate my feelings as a laird from those of my wolf. It does not work. I love you with every bit of my wolf’s essence, but that is even truer as a man because my wolf cannot share physically in that final consummation of our mating.”
“You love me?”
“More than my own life. So much that life is not worth living without you in it.”
“You don’t mean that. You can’t.”
“I can. I do. Please, believe me, sweet wife. My own precious angel.” He looked at her with nothing less than naked longing. “Do not leave me to the loneliness I knew before you.”
“You had a whole clan before I came.”
“With not one the true mate of my soul. It took a clever Englishwoman to fill that place inside my heart, to complete the other half of my Chrechte spirit.”
“You said I am no longer English.”