Page 80 of Howl You Doin?
He points a finger at himself. “Why the hell wouldn’t I have? I thought she was my foretold human, and she bloody well fell into the moat, didn’t she?” he bites out at the end, his eyesshimmering with green light as he turns his finger on me, like it’s my fault she’s my mate and not his.
Whitley doesn’t come to me no matter how much I gesture for her to, and I can see the distrust in her eyes. She looks nervous, afraid even, and I somehow know this is all my fault. I can only imagine what’s going through her head. She’s a human, a mortal. The knowledge that this must be daunting for her eats at some fundamental place deep in my gut. I need her towantto come to me, to trust in me, but she doesn’t, and it shatters something deep inside.
I curl my hands into fists, wanting to beg her to let me pull her into my arms so I can comfort her. I wish she would trust me enough to cross the distance and come to me, and I’m too worried that she’ll back away from me if I try to go to her—or worse, she’ll shift during one of her emotional outbursts and hurt us both.
I don’t know how to tell her what’s happened when I don’t know myself. This has never happened before. I’ve never turned someone, and by all accounts, thisshouldn’thave happened.
The only thing I do know is she is my mate, but I’ll be damned if we discuss it in front of Lachlan.
“Why didn’t you tell me what you are? A lycan or whatever?” she says, and I’m disturbed by the calmness of her tone.
I glare at Lachlan in reproach. How dare he explainanyof this to her when he should be able to smell me all over her?! This was my responsibility, and I feel like he’s stolen something precious from me by doing so.
“There was no way for me to tell you. We are supposed to keep ourselves hidden.” My words sound like bullshit even though they’re supernatural law. We are all supposed to avoid humans unless we can blend easily and not give ourselves away.
“Stupid fucking rule that,” Lachlan says with a scoff. “How in the hells are ye supposed tae mate, when ye can’t tell the lass what ye are?”
“I don’t make the rules.”
I want to groan at how I’m fucking this explanation up. This would be so much better if I could have time to speak with her without an audience. Lachlan talks too much.
“They’re stupid rules,” Lachlan snarks under his breath, and I want to pummel him.
“Can’t you just shut up and go back to being a lazy git?” I ask him, wishing he hadn’t intervened. I almost had a heart attack when I saw her being dragged to the depths from the window! I now understandwhyhe did, but it’s still frustrating as all hells.
It’s just made everything harder than it needed to be.
“Please, Whitley. Let’s go,” I plead.
Her lips tighten as she gives me her signature glare. “I’m not fucking leaving here until you give me some kind of answer, Connor.” She pushes her arm across her stomach to point at Lachlan. “At leasthe’sactually given me some answers. And after everything we’ve been through... how you hid this from me... you’re asking me to trust you?”
I think on how I haven’t been able to sleep without her in my arms since I got back from America and saving Vlad from himself. Her scent and how it aroused and infuriated me all at once, scratching at my inner wolf like a beast. How her beauty, her voice, and the very shine of her hair have been driving me up the wall for weeks. I decide to start where I can.
“I was never supposed to have a mate. I’m not a normal—” I want to say lycan, but I’m not actually sure that’s what I am. How I was created isn’t normal, even to the supernatural. I could be a fucked-up werewolf for all I know. Everyone just calls me a lycan, but they are so rare that not even I’ve met one, and I’ve been alive for centuries.
I refrain from continuing when puzzlement coasts across her expression.
“Not a normal what?” she asks.
I grimace and my gaze slides to Lachlan. “Can we go back inside, and I can explain?”
She looks behind her, and the fuckwit raises a brow at us like we’re the ones being strange. Can’t he see that he’s overstepping here?
“What?” he asks, flicking his brow higher. “You’re in my home.”
“I don’t want to leave him here alone,” Whitley murmurs. She says this while staring at the sea monster and something dies a little in my chest.
Lachlan freezes, and his gaze meets mine. He knows as well as I do that if she chooses to stay, I must stay too. If the stories about mate bonds are true, it’s going to be impossible to stay away from her. She has no idea what has been thrust upon her.
No matter what stories Lachlan has told her.
“That’s not possible. Ye arehismate,” he says, saving me the trouble.
She turns her face to mine, stubborn and concerned. “But he will be all alone down here. Fifty years, Connor. Really? You can’t just leave him here like that.”
Lachlan begins to laugh. I open my mouth to explain how truly ancient he is, how fifty years doesn’t mean much to many of us, especially as old as he is, but he cuts me off.
“Trust me, Whitley, my dear. I’m just fine right where I’m at.”
