She gasped, truly shocked, but how could she be?
She shot to her feet, shaking, her voice sharp. "It may never be me, but when you are well, you'll see it never could be that vampire either." She flew to the door.
"I'll make sure she leaves," Bowe offered. "Just after a quick detour to the kitchen. They cooked for an army." He hesitated, then said, "Good luck."
Lachlain nodded, lost in thought, hearing cars departing down the long drive.
A king was in residence with his queen, a Lykae had his mate after a millennium, and the moon was waxing. Everyone here knew what that meant. Everyone except Emma.
He'd run out of time. He'd run out of options. His gaze fell to the sideboard, to the crystal glinting in the light.
24
When Emma woke, she was in Lachlain's arms, with her face tucked against his chest and his fingers gently sifting through her hair. Just before she went irate at the thought of him moving her to the bed again, she realized he was in her blankets on the floor.
Then the dream came back to her in a rush.
She'd seen Lachlain in some kind of war long ago, passing the time between charges. Garreth and Heath - his brothers? - and some other Lykae males talked about finding their mates, musing on what they would look like. They spoke in Gaelic. She understood the words.
"I'm just saying it would be nice if she's fair of form," one called Uilleam said. He indicated what he meant by cupping his hands in front of his chest.
Another said, "Just give mine a sweet arse to hold on to in the night - "
They quieted when Lachlain walked by, not wanting to talk of such things in front of him.
Lachlain was the oldest, and had waited the longest. Nine hundred years he'd waited.
He continued to a stream by their camp, bounding easily over boulders even under the weight of chain mail. He knelt on the shore by a becalmed pool and leaned down to cup water to his face.
His reflection wavered for the briefest second. He hadn't shaved for days and he had a long, winding cut down his face. His hair was long.
He was absolutely stunning to Emma, and she reacted viscerally to this remembered image from the dream.
When he'd sat back on his haunches and gazed up at the blue sky, Emma had felt the startling warmth of the sun as though she'd been there. Then a wave of emptiness had hit him. Why can I no' find her...?
Emma blinked open her eyes. She was her. The one he'd longed for...
She'd seen him with rage in his eyes, with confusion, with hatred, but she'd never seen hopelessness as she had in his reflection.
"Sleep well?" he said, rumbling his words.
"Did you sleep with me? Here?"
"Aye."
"Why?"
"Because you prefer sleeping here. And I prefer sleeping with you."
"And I have no say in the matter."
Ignoring her comment, he said, "I want to give you something," then reached behind him, drawing out...the gold necklace from her dream. Her eyes locked on it, mesmerized. It was more beautiful in reality.
Chapter 17
"Do you like it? I never knew what you would prefer and guessed again and again."
Her gaze followed it as it swung like a pendulum. This was proof that she was going loopy, and yet she still had an inward evil grin. "I'll be sure to wear it in front of Cassandra," she murmured absently.
He caught it in his palm, breaking her stare. "Why would you say that?"
As she often did when she wanted to lie and couldn't, she asked a question. "Wouldn't she be jealous to see you'd bought me jewelry?"
He was still frowning at her.
"It's clear she wants you for herself."
"Aye. That's true," he said, surprising her with his honesty. "But she's gone. I've sent her away, no' to return until it pleases you, or never. I will no' have you uncomfortable in your own home."
Through gritted teeth, she said, "It's not my home." She pushed away, but he held her by her shoulder.
"Emma, it's your home whether you accept me or no'. It has always been and always will be."
She jerked from his hand. "I don't want your home and I don't want you," she cried. "Not when you've hurt me like this."
His body went tense and his expression turned bleak. As though he'd failed. "Tell me how."
"When you lied, it...it hurt."
"I dinna want to lie to you." He brushed her hair from her face. "But I dinna think you were ready to hear everything, and I already sensed a threat from the vampires and feared you would run away."
"But now keeping me from my family pains me even more."
"I will take you to them," he said quickly. "I have to meet with some of the clan and then I must go away for a short while. After that, I will take you there myself. But you canna go alone."
"Why?"
"I am uneasy. Emma, I need you to cleave to me. I know you doona and I fear losing you. They will talk you from any headway I may have made with you."
Annika would, in fact, remind Emma that she'd gone insane.
"I know the minute you enter that coven alone, I will have hell to get you back."
"And you have to get me back."
"O' course I do. I will no' lose you just when I've finally found you."
She rubbed her forehead. "Why are you so certain about this? For someone who's not a Lykae, this all seems really extreme. I mean, you've only known me for a week."
"While I've waited my entire lifetime."
"That doesn't mean you were right to have. It doesn't mean you should have."
His voice went low. "No, but it means having you here now feels verra, verra satisfying."