Page 78 of Wolf's Keep

“I know he’s a werewolf. What else is there for me to know?”

“I have not had the time, and it is complicated,” said Gaharet.

Ulrik turned to her. “In wolf speak, he is claiming you. Making sure I know you are his. Betrothals are the human equivalent. You and Gaharet have both.”

Erin’s eyebrows hitched, and she turned to Gaharet. “You told Lothair I was your betrothed to protect me, right? Right?”

Gaharet didn’t answer her.

“Look, I…” She glanced at Ulrik, then back at Gaharet, her palms going sweaty. “I know we… We were…” She thought she had more time before she had to face this conversation. Would’ve liked some place more private. “In the keep when we… You know, but…” She wrung her hands together. He understood she couldn’t stay here, right? “I don’t belong here, Gaharet.” God, it hurt to say those words, and the flash of pain in his eyes told her it hurt him, too. It made what she had to say all that much harder. “I have to go home.”

Ulrik stared at her, his mouth agape.

Gaharet took her hands, moving her away from Ulrik, rubbing his thumbs across her knuckles.

“Erin, I have not told you everything about…about the amulet.”

He hadmoresecrets? A sense of foreboding slithered in her stomach. “What haven’t you told me?”

He raised his eyes to the night sky, sighing, before settling his gaze on her. “Why did the amulet bring you to me?”

“You said it was because you were the head of the family.”

“Think about the inscription, Erin.To bloodstone shall they return.”

She shook her head, not wanting to let his words to sink in.

“I have the amulet with the bloodstone. It is the binding amulet. You recited the inscription, activating the bloodstone, and it drew you in.”

“What are you saying?”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “The amulet only works one way. There is no reverse spell, Erin.”

A shake started in her fingertips, working its way up her arms to her torso. “There’s no… That can’t…” She pulled her hands out of his grasp, the rub of his thumbs no longer soothing. “You mean I’m stuck? Here? In this century? In a world where people use swords to solve disputes? Where the highest ranked churchman wants to confine me in an underground cell, and my life is at the mercy of a comte they call The Devil.” She began pacing in earnest, ringing her hands together.

He caught her shoulders, turning her to face him. “I will protect you,ma petite pouliche. Trust me to take care of you.”

“I can’t… I can’t live here.” In her distress, she’d reverted to English, unable to maintain her grasp on Old French. “I come from a world of modern conveniences, Gaharet. Where the life expectancy is greater than forty to fifty years, and people die of old age not in…battleor in childbirth. Where women get an education and have choices and freedoms that just don’t exist here. Freedom to wear what they want, go where they please and have financial independence. I have a…a career. One I love and have worked damn hard for.”

Ulrik moved closer. “What is she talking about, Gaharet? Why is she speaking in Anglo-Saxonne? And strangely at that?”

Gaharet snarled. Ulrik raised his hands, backing away.

“Erin, you may not have the same life as you had in your world, but as my wife, you will have more freedoms than most, I promise you.” He cupped her face, his thumb brushing against her cheek. “I am wealthy enough to provide for you, to give you access to whatever tomes and manuscripts you wish. I can show you things, take you places, introduce you to people you have only ever had the chance to study or read about. You wish to wear clothes like those I found you in? Very well. I will arrange for some to be made for you. You may wear them within the keep any time you wish. I am not averse to seeing you in such garments.”

He gave her a cheeky smile. She did not respond to it, and his smile slipped from his face.

“I will not curtail your freedoms, Erin. I may not be able to give you everything you are accustomed to, but I will give my all to make you happy.”

Erin’s bottom lip trembled.

“You should know, as werewolves, we view marriage differently to our human counterparts. I told you of my parents’ marriage. You saw the wall hanging. You have heard the story of their love. This is how it is for all werewolves. If we find our mate. For years I longed for what my parents had, searched for it and despaired of ever finding it. I resigned myself to a match made of necessity rather than love.” He stared into her eyes. “Since the moment I found you wandering beneath the full moon in naught but an undershirt and men’s breeches, I have thought of little else. Once I held you in my arms, kissed you, I knew no other woman would do. You are the only one for me, Erin. Youaremy mate.”

Her heart swelled even as it broke. The forest, Ulrik, the horse, receded. Her whole world narrowed down to this man standing before her, baring his soul. She blinked back tears and pulled away from him.

“There has to be some way to reverse the spell.”

“I am truly sorry, Erin. If there is one, I do not know of it.”

---