Magnus #2
“I’m not sure,” she answered, her voice small and soft. “Probably wolf-mated to someone else by now. They forced me into the mating cage with him, but the next morning when we woke up, I was a bloody mess. Apparently, my wolf did everything but tear his throat out to keep him away.”
She expelled a long breath on the other side of the door. “That’s why I left my pack. Because neither my wolf nor my human wanted that life for me—we were in full agreement about that. And she’s protected me ever since. She never let a man anywhere near me, until …”
“Until me,” I finished for her with a new understanding of the position her wolf had put her human in, even if I couldn’t help but feel complimented by the choice.
“Until you,” she confirmed. Her voice was low and miserable in a way that grated at both my ego and my heart.
“Was being with me really so bad, Tara?” I despised how needy I sounded, even as I held my breath for her answer.
“No, it wasn’t,” she admitted. “That heat sex … it was better than anything I’ve ever known. Beyond anything I ever imagined or expected.”
However, before I could let her words go to my head, she added, “But we’re all wrong for each other. And I don’t understand why my wolf did this. To me. To us.”
I expelled a heavy breath, for once not taking offense. I’d encountered enough city she-wolves to know they were almost na?ve when it came to the way of animals.
“Your wolf is not a rational being, Tara,” I informed her gently.
“She’s the beast inside you. And if she’s anything like my wolf, she knew we were meant from the first moment we laid eyes on each other.
Believe me, I wasnae happy about it either.
I’ve been waiting my whole life for my wolf to stand up.
Imagine having it finally do so for a female who then goes off and right hooks me. ”
She chuckled.
And I smiled. “I like the sound of your laugh. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before.”
“Oh, I laughed real hard when Iain decked you,” she answered, her voice wry with amusement. “But you probably were too knocked out to register it.”
I turned my head to glare at the voice on the other side of the door. “I see you’re recovered from your bout of greetin’, then.”
“Greetin’… that’s Scottish for crying, right?” she asked.
“It is, aye. And I’m assuming my wise consultation has put you in a better state.”
“If you are trying to ask in the most toolish way possible if I’m feeling better, the answer is yes,” Tara answered.
“But I’m still confused. I don’t understand how this happened.
A wolf mating is one thing. But how the hell did I end up going into heat when I’m already pregnant?
I mean that shouldn’t even be biologically possible, right? ”
“Well … there is the legend of Ri Faol Rufglen,” I answered carefully. “But that’s one of the auld stories, and I wouldn’t want to insult your modern sensibilities with it.”
I waited to see how Tara would respond.
“Tell me the story. I want to hear,” she said after a moment, sending a thrill through me.
“Alright, then,” I said, settling in for the tale.
“A very long time ago, before the Kingdom of Alba, there lived the Pictish wolf prince who would eventually become our own Ri Faol Rufglen. The legend goes that while out on a full moon hunt, he came across a particularly quality she-wolf who was also out on a hunt. It was the kind of Baltic day that could freeze the chebs right off a witch, and apparently, their wolves decided to keep each other warm in the animal way. This turned into a huge scandal when the lass’s mother found them the next morn.
Because as it would happen, she was a Gàidheal princess and promised to a widowed Gàidheal alpha king who ruled over the lands to the north of us as soon as she went into heat. ”
Back then, we were not so conservative as we are today.
And the princess’s father was still keen for the alliance with the northern Gàidheal king.
However, the pregnant princess carried the Pictish prince’s bairn.
The northern Gàidheal king would have smelled it immediately if she were to try to pass the bairn off as his.
Therefore, a deal was struck. The pregnant princess would come to Faoiltiarn for three seasons.
If she gave birth to a boy, she would leave it with the Pictish wolves to raise as the son of the then-crown prince.
If it was a girl, the Gàidheal princess would take it home to her parents to raise as another daughter while she went off to mate her intended.
It was a good plan but, cue the cock up.
The Gàidheal princess went into heat not even a few moments after clapping eyes on the Pictish prince again.
And according to the legend, he ended up claiming her in front of his entire court. ”
“Whoa …” Tara exhaled on the other side of the door.
“Whoa, is right. She became his mate by the next moon and ended up having twins, a boy and a girl, eight moons later. They remain to this day the only twins to have ever graced our village. And as for Rufglen and his Gàidheal princess, since the princess’s father had no sons to carry his kingdom, he gave it to Rufglen as a wedding present and together they invaded and took claim of the widowed Gàidheal king’s lands to the north.
And this is how my line came to rule all of Scotland. ”
My voice rung with pride as I told her, “The story of Ri Faol Rufglen’s mating went down in history.
We even had a holiday to go with it for a while before the Kirk broke with Rome and the new Presbyterian alpha king decided to strike all our pagan holidays from the calendar.
But if legend is to be believed, you and I will be welcoming twins in eight moons, Tara. ”
“Twins,” she breathed out on the other side of the door. “I’m having twins. That’s why I smell stronger. Like, really, really pregnant now. So pregnant …”
I once again turned to face her voice. “Aye, twins,” I confirmed. “Even though this wasn’t the life you wanted, and you don’t want a family. Isn’t that what your father said on the phone?”
I waited. Afraid of what she’d say next. That she’d slice me open with her answer.
“Well, when I left home, I told my parents I didn’t want to live the same life they did.
But that didn’t mean I don’t want a family.
It meant I didn’t want a family right then at the age of eighteen.
I’m twenty-eight now. But I just never thought this was where I would end up.
Wolf mated and heated by … well, you of all people. I trust my wolf, but …”
Okay, not as bad as I thought it would be. But not exactly the crazy bird at my last game who’d flashed her diddies at me and waved an “I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABY, MAGNUS!” poster before security escorted her out. That incident had made the news.
But now here I was, unsure of what to say next or even how to talk to the she-wolf who would be bearing two of my babies eight moons from now. We were off to a bad start, to say the least, and I had a hard time imagining we’d become a legend as Rufglen and his Gàidheal princess had.
“Plus, your pack …” she went on. “They nearly mobbed Milly when they found out she was carrying one baby. What will they do to me when they find out I’m carrying two?”
“Nothing.” My voice became hard with determination.
“Alban and my da will tell them the news beforehand, so they’re not caught out as they were with Milly and Iain’s ‘pregnancy announcement.’ Also, you really are banrigh, which means the same laws now apply to you.
I’ll banish anyone who dares to touch you without your permission. ”
I let that threat linger for a few beats but then had to admit, “However, I won’t be able to stop my people from throwing a festival in your honor.
And we’ll be lucky if we’re able to get them to keep it under a week.
There’s still enough pagan left in us to feel that a several days-long celebration is the only thing to put to news of this magnitude.
Twins are unheard of in our village. They are literally the stuff of legend since that’s the only accounting we’ve ever had of them. ”
Tara laughed again.
But this time I didn’t know why. “What?”
“You’re like this cocky, arrogant guy, but when it comes to your village you turn into a gruff but indulgent father. It’s, ah …”
“Incraedibly sexy?” I finished for her, my voice taking on a hopeful note.
“Incraedibly unexpected,” she edited for me with another laugh.
I could get used to hearing her laughter. But when it died down, I pushed a potentially mood-killing question into her head, “Can I see you now, Tara?”
Silence. I could swear I felt her freeze on the other side of the door. She’d yet to speak into my head as I had hers, but our mate bond pulsed strong as a rope between us. Connecting us. Letting me know I’d been heard.
Christ, I thought, experiencing her hesitation as if it were my own. The final year of “divorce proceedings” must have killed Da. To feel his mate’s hatred as if it were his own—no wonder it took him so very long to recover.
That thought made me stand and place a hand on the door. “You dinnae have to let me near ye, Tara. I willnae touch ye if that’s your wish. But that earlier bout of weeping … my wolf and I cannae rest until we see you are alright.”
Another stretch of silence. Then, with the suddenness of a decision hastily made, she opened the door.
I nearly broke my promise at the sight of her.
Tara’s eyes were red from crying, her bottom lip plumper than usual. I could tell she’d been biting it. She had also wrapped a towel around the nightgown I’d ruined. And …
“You have freckles.”
Much of her makeup had come off with her tears revealing adorable dark brown freckles sprinkled liberally over her cheeks and nose.
She touched her cheeks and then quickly looked away from me. “Yeah. Usually, I keep them covered with makeup, but I guess I cried it all off …” She shrugged as if embarrassed.