Chapter 43 #2
“Doesn’t matter. I know how they think—they won’t accept you as Pack Leader, even if you win the challenge—if you insist on taking me as your mate.”
“Then why are we bothering with this at all?” Kor demanded.
“This?” I asked.
“This…all of this. The Pack, the Alpha Challenge—why should we stay here? Why should we care what they think or strive for their ideals when they’ll just try to keep us away from each other?” he asked.
I stared at him blankly for a moment.
“Well…because I’m a Moon Widow,” I said slowly. “I’m tied to the town—to Wolverton Manor. I’m supposed to live the rest of my life upholding Carter’s legacy and name.”
“And what exactly do you get out of that except a lonely existence rattling around a big old house by yourself?” Kor asked, frowning.
“Nothing, I suppose,” I admitted. It would be different if I wanted to be alone, but since I’d met him, I didn’t want that anymore. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him—though I wasn’t quite brave enough to say so.
“So why should we stay?” he asked, reasonably. “Look, I have my own business back in Colorado and I do quite well for myself. I can support us both—let’s just book some plane tickets and get the hell out of here.”
I couldn’t believe what he was saying…and yet, I loved the idea. It had never occurred to me that I could just leave. Even with all of Carter’s money in my private account, I hadn’t thought about leaving Wolverton Manor and Blackridge and going to start a new life somewhere.
“I…I don’t know why I didn’t think of that earlier,” I said at last.
“You’ve been conditioned to think you belong here—but you don’t, Vivienne.
” Kor looked at me earnestly. “This place—this town and this Pack—have stolen enough of your life. Let’s get out of here—let’s travel the world and spend time together and love each other without anyone looking over our shoulders, judging us all the time. ”
I began to catch his vision, and I felt my heart leap with hope.
“Can we go to France? And Italy? And Spain?” I asked eagerly.
He laughed.
“Anywhere you want, baby. We’ll go all over the place.”
“I just want to go anyplace at all that’s not Blackridge,” I said, honestly. “I want to see places I’ve never seen before—I want to hear people speaking different languages and taste exotic foods and walk on the beach at sunset.”
“Yes, all of that—we can do all of that,” Kor agreed, nodding.
He got up from the table so fast he nearly knocked his chair over.
“Look, I’ll go get us some plane tickets for tomorrow—what do you say?
While everyone else is getting ready for the Alpha Challenge, we’ll be hundreds of miles away, starting our new lives together. ”
His words filled me with joy and hope. I could finally get out of here!
I had never liked the people of the Blackridge Pack, and they had never liked me.
Why should I give them one more minute of my life?
Neither Kor nor I needed them and their narrow-minded, judgmental ways.
We could get out of here—we could be free!
“Let’s do it!” I exclaimed. “Let’s get some plane tickets and leave early tomorrow morning!” I bit my lip. “But we’d better be someplace where it’s safe for you to Shift on the full moon night, though—right?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Kor told me. “I’ll get us tickets back to my place. I can Shift and hunt that night with the moon and then we’ll plan the next part of our adventure.”
“Just seeing anyplace but Blackridge and Wolverton Manor will be an adventure for me,” I admitted. “But…will you want me to meet your, er, ‘cursed wolf’ tomorrow night? I know when I first got married to Carter, we had a ceremony in the Moon Glade for me to meet his.”
“What? No—no, absolutely not.” Kor looked positively pale for a minute. “That would be a bad idea.”
“What? Why?” I frowned at him. “Do you think he might hurt me?”
“Not on purpose.” He shook his head. “I can’t explain it, but he’s become very…interested in you these past few weeks.
“Interested?” I put a hand to my throat. “I don’t understand.”
“He wants you—wants to breed you,” Kor said bluntly.
“I’m sorry—there’s no pretty way to say it.
But please don’t worry,” he added quickly, clearly seeing the apprehension on my face.
“I’ll make sure he’s never anywhere near you.
Every full moon I’ll be far away, roaming the woods.
You won’t have to ever even see him, I swear it. ”
I wasn’t sure what to say. It was disconcerting, to say the least, to find out that his alter-ego—the Beast that lived inside him—actually wanted to breed me.
The wolves that live inside most male Weres understand instinctively that it’s wrong to breed in Fur Form.
Also, they retain the sentience of the males who they’re tied to.
I wondered if the Beast was less sentient… or simply harder to control.
“Has he ever, uh, gone after anyone you were with before?” I asked.
Kor shook his head.
“No, never. That’s the strange thing—he’s never even shown an interest in any of the women I’ve dated in the past.” He shrugged his shoulders. “He seems to think you should be our mate.”
“Well, I agree with him about that, at least,” I said, smiling. “But you’re sure it’s safe—”
“I’ll never let him near you,” Kor interrupted. He took me by the arms and looked into my eyes. “I’ll never hurt you or let my Beast even get near you, baby—I swear it. You’re safe with me—always.”
The sincerity in his eyes soothed the last of my doubt.
“All right,” I said, nodding. “I trust you, Kor. I know you won’t hurt me.”
“Good. Thank you for trusting me.”
Kor pulled me close and gave me a long, sweet kiss. When we broke the kiss, he looked down at me.
“I’m going to breed you tonight and make you mine, sweetheart,” he growled softly, looking into my eyes. “I don’t give a damn about the Unbreakable Laws anymore.”
I nibbled my bottom lip.
“But Kor, breeding means Bonding and our age difference—”
“Doesn’t mean a damn thing,” he said, firmly. “We were made for each other—I knew it the first minute I saw you.”
“I might not be able to give you children,” I reminded him.
He shrugged.
“You think I care about that? I’m not my uncle, Vivienne. I care about more than just having an heir to carry on after me. I care about having you as my mate—as my wife, too. I don’t want to just Bond with you—I want to marry you.”
My heart flooded with joy as I understood that he meant it—all of it.
“I want to marry you, too,” I whispered. “And mate with you and Bond with you. And spend the rest of my life with you.”
Kor grinned.
“Then that’s exactly what we’ll do. Let me go get on the computer and find us some flights to Colorado. I’ll get them for tomorrow afternoon—is that enough time for you to wrap up everything here?”
I thought of all the clothes hanging in my closet—the ones I’d worn when Carter was alive that I didn’t want to bring.
Likewise, he had given me a few trinkets on birthdays and holidays that might be worth something.
I could pack those easily enough—or I could just leave them here.
I had enough money in my bank account to buy anything I needed when we got to Colorado.
Really, the only things I needed to pack were the clothes I’d bought since Carter was dead and a few toiletries.
“Yes, that’s plenty of time,” I said, nodding. “But let’s go early tomorrow afternoon. I want to get out of here before the Pack starts gathering in the Moon Glade for the Alpha Challenge.”
“I’ll book the earliest flight I can find,” he promised. He kissed me again and I could see the excitement dancing in his dark brown eyes. “This is it, sweetheart—this is the start of our life together. Our real life.”
“Our real life,” I agreed, grinning at him. I kissed him again and then he left to buy our tickets. My heart was so full I wanted to sing—even if I knew it would come out off-key. It seemed to me that happiness—real happiness—was finally within my reach.
I had no idea how wrong I was or that we were being watched…and had been for some time.