“Yes, we are. Once we claim the women who are ours, Tiw grants them immortality and immunity against a werewolf’s bite.”
“Just how old are you?”
“I’ve been around since the 500s A.D. Same with my fellow warriors. Raed is our leader. When we were mortals, he was our king.”
Hearing the sound of voices coming from the living room, Dolf went to walk in that direction when Chris stopped him with a hand on his arm. He looked at the other man. “What?”
“You said Raed was your king. What is Raed short for?”
“Raedwald.”
“Holy fuck. Are you telling me he’s
the
Raedwald? The one who was once King of East Anglia?”
Dolf smiled. “You know your history. And yes, he is.”
“I’ve lived here my entire life. We were taught the local history in school.”
“Well, you’ll meet the others when they return. They’re still out hunting and won’t be back until much later. I’ll introduce you to the women.”
After he and Chris walked into the living room and he’d filled the women in as to why he’d brought a werewolf home, Dolf found himself cornered by Cydney. Lexi, Kamryn and Nika had already taken Chris upstairs to get him settled in the spare bedroom.
“So did you go to Maggie’s place?” Cydney asked. “I’m sure you made time to do that, especially since you finished hunting early.”
Dolf nodded. “Yeah, I did. And I spoke with her too.”
“She actually let you in the house?”
“No. She was outside. By herself.” Just saying that brought a snarl to his lips.
“You mean outside-outside? In the dark?”
“Yes. I told her not to do it again, that it isn’t safe for her.” Cydney punched him in the chest. He scowled as he rubbed the offended area. “Ouch. What was that for?”
“Why did you tell her something stupid like that? Do you know how hard I had to work just to convince her to leave the house, especially at night? So far, she’s been able to keep what’d happened to her a secret from her parents, but lately, they’ve noticed a change in Maggie. They were asking questions about her no longer going out to the club, and why she’d stopped meeting up with Carol and Ali, her other two best friends.” Cydney punched him again. “If you’ve caused her to backtrack, I’m going to get Wulfric to beat your ass for me.”
Dolf rolled his eyes. “He can try, but I’ll do more of the ass beating than him, and he knows it. Relax. I doubt I caused any damage, though I have every right to protect Maggie, since she’s my mate. She told me she’s done cowering. She’s not going to let Stephen win.”
“Good. And just a suggestion, you’d better cool it on the whole
mate
thing whenever you’re around Maggie. She’s nowhere near ready for it. If you push it, you’ll only succeed in driving her away.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll try, but it’s hard, Cydney. I fucking hate seeing the fear in her eyes every time I’m near her.”
Cydney gave him a sad look. “I know, Dolf. You just have to be patient. She’ll get over it eventually.”
He blew out a breath. “To be honest, after talking to her tonight, I’m beginning to doubt that’ll ever happen. She said she’d never accept me.”
“She just feels that way now. Give her some space.”
“I’ve done that, and look where that’s gotten me—nowhere. If I want Maggie as my own, I’m going to have to try another tactic. That’s part of the reason why I brought Chris here.”
“What does Chris have to do with Maggie?” Cydney asked.
“They’re…friends,” he snarled. “I guess they went to school together.”
“He’s
that
Chris? Maggie’s told me about him. Does she know what he is?”
“No, and she doesn’t need to right now. So don’t go and tell her. Chris can hang out with Maggie, continue their friendship, then later, he can reveal what he is. Hopefully, the more time he spends with her, the less likely she’ll be to fear him once she knows.”
Cydney gave him a questioning look. “And where exactly will you be while Chris is out with Maggie?”
“I’ll be joining them.”
“Of course,” she said with an accompanied eye roll. “Just be prepared for it if it doesn’t work.”
“It will, because it has to. I can’t let her go, Cyd,” he said softly.
Wulfric’s mate stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I know, and deep down inside, I think Maggie knows it too.”
“I hope so.”
Cydney smiled. “I guess I’ll give Maggie a call and see how she’s feeling.”
Dolf watched her walk away. With his sensitive hearing, he heard the sound of Petra crying upstairs. He left the living room and headed for the staircase. Having a little snuggle with the baby might be just what he needed right now.
* * *
Maggie read the email Chris had sent her for a second time. She sat on her bed with her laptop balanced on her thighs. In a way, she wasn’t surprised he’d been in contact with her so quickly after she’d encountered him the night before. It’d been a long time since she’d last seen him. Besides Carol and Ali, she’d emailed Chris on a regular basis while she’d been in school in Toronto. The only thing she had a problem with was whether or not she wanted to accept his offer to go somewhere for coffee.
She hadn’t gone out much to anywhere since “the incident,” as she liked to refer to it. As long as she didn’t think of it beyond that, it kept her from feeling as if she’d have a panic attack. Maggie had told herself she’d no longer hide, would not let her fear control her, but it was easier said than done.
With a deep breath, she clicked reply on the email and sent Chris a message back, saying she’d meet with him this afternoon, before she could talk herself out of it. That done, she closed her laptop and placed it next to her on the bed.
The new mobile phone her father had bought for her rang. Maggie snatched it off the bedside table and saw it was Cydney calling. She answered it, and said, “Calling to check in on me again, Cyd?”
Her friend laughed. “Maybe I am.”
“You did that last night. Nothing has changed since then.”
“I thought I’d see if you were still okay, with having seen Dolf, I mean.”
Maggie stiffened at his name, but forced herself to relax. “I managed, all right?”
“Will you still be able to do that if you see him again?”
“Probably, I guess. But does it matter? It’s not as if I’m going to go out of my way to be around him.”
Cydney sighed. “You’re not going to get rid of Dolf that easily. He will not give up.”
Maggie closed her eyes as an image of Dolf’s handsome face rose inside her mind. Just as quickly as it had formed, she pushed it away. “He has to.”
“I won’t push,” her friend said, “but don’t discount him entirely. He’s waited hundreds of years to find you, Maggie. The man is in love with you, and he’d never do anything to hurt you. Ever.”
She bit back her gut reaction to tell Cydney she had to be lying. Instead, she said, “Be that as it may, it won’t work.”
“I’m going to let it go for now, mostly because I know you aren’t going to change your mind at this point about Dolf. So for a new topic, you have anything planned for today?”
“Actually, I do. I’m going out for coffee with someone.”
“Does that someone happen to go by the name of Chris?”
Maggie scowled, even though Cydney wouldn’t be able to see it through the phone. “How did you know?”
“Dolf. He told me he was with Chris when he saw you last night.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m trying to forget Dolf was there. The only thing I’d like to know is how those two met. Chris doesn’t exactly have a lot in common with Dolf.”
“You’d be surprised,” Cydney said. “Anyway, I’m glad to hear you’re going out with him. It’ll be good for you.”
“Whatever you do, Cyd, don’t tell Dolf.”
“Why?”
“Because I have a feeling if he knew, he’d try to find me.”
“Ah…I—”
“I mean it, Cydney. Not a word. And don’t say anything to Wulfric, either. I know how close he is to Dolf.”
Her best friend sighed. “Since you’ve now told me not to, I won’t. Okay?”
“Good.”
“I’ll let you go. Try to have a good time with Chris. Getting out into the world again is just what you need.”
“Talk to you later.” Maggie ended the call. Even though she felt a bit of uneasiness about seeing Chris, she knew she had to take this step. And Chris was the best person—other than Cydney—to do it with. He was safe. She didn’t have to worry about him shifting into a creature that made her blood run cold.
Her mum had been overjoyed when Maggie had told her she’d be going out with Chris. When the time had come for her to leave, her mother had told her not to hurry back. Then, she’d been practically shoved out the door with a set of car keys dropped into her hand.
Now parked in front of the coffee shop, Maggie tried to calm her skittish nerves. “It’s only Chris,” she told herself. He was nothing like Dolf. They’d catch up on each other’s lives and have a few laughs. Nothing scary about that at all.
Finished with her pep talk to herself, she got out of the car and headed inside the building. A quick look around the not overly large, open concept room, she spotted Chris sitting at one of the tables. He must’ve seen her at the same time, because he suddenly smiled and waved. She wound her way through the room to where he was seated.
“You made it,” Chris said.
“I wouldn’t stand you up.”
Once she’d taken a seat in the chair across from him, he asked, “What would you like? It’s my treat.”
“Surprise me.”
Chris nodded, then stood. “Okay. I’ll be right back.”
Maggie watched him walk toward the counter near the front of the shop. After he slipped into the end of the line of customers waiting to be served, she turned back around in her chair. She did a quick scan, looking at the faces closest to her—searching for the werewolf who’d abducted her. Not that she wished to see it. That would be a nightmare if she did. No, she merely never wanted to be caught off-guard again.
Chris soon returned with two cups of steaming coffee. Maggie took a deep breath in as she accepted one from him. “Mmm, I smell vanilla.”
“I got us French Vanilla, to be exact. And yours has double cream and no sugar.”
“Just the way I like it.” She took a small sip, enjoying the taste of the hot beverage.
“So,” Chris began, “are you back in the UK for good, or are you returning to Canada?”
Maggie took another drink before she met Chris’ gaze. “I reckon I’m going to stay here. For now, anyway. I doubt I’ll live abroad again.”
“I guess that means you’ll be looking for a job.”
She nodded. “Yeah. I need to. I can’t stay with my parents forever. Besides, I was basically living on my own in the university dorm. What about you? What have you been up to lately?”
Chris shrugged. “Not much. I’m what you would call in-between jobs right now.”
Maggie scanned the room again before she returned her attention to Chris. “What about a girlfriend?”
He chuckled. “I’m in-between those as well. Would you like to apply for the position?”
She rolled her eyes and laughed. “We tried that, remember? We probably wouldn’t make it past a week.”
“You’re more than likely right,” Chris said with a chuckle.
The conversation turned to other things, and Maggie felt herself relax more and more. If she didn’t think about it, it was almost as if “the incident” had never happened. Chris had her laughing with his good sense of humor. The time flew by, their coffees long since drunk.
As they stood to leave, Maggie said, “We should do this again real soon. I always have a good time with you, Chris.”
“Definitely. I missed you while you were in school in Toronto.”
Walking toward the door with Chris at her side, Maggie happened to glance out the front window of the shop. What she saw, more like who she saw, outside looking in, had her coming to a sudden standstill. She had a split second of fear skittering down her spine before it turned into her becoming ticked off.
“Goddamn him,” she said as she hurried out of the coffee shop, leaving Chris behind.
Outside, Maggie’s gaze latched onto Dolf’s retreating back. She walked faster as he ducked into the alley between the shop and the building next to it. She didn’t hesitate to follow.
“Dolf!” she called, bringing him to a stop. He slowly turned around to face her as she closed some of the distance between them. “Were you spying on me?”
“I wouldn’t call it that…more like…watching over you.”
“Well, stop it. I don’t need you doing that.”
“I have to make sure you’re safe.”
“I was with Chris. He’s harmless, and I doubt he’ll bring the kind of trouble you will.”
Dolf shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I protect what’s mine.”
That last part had Maggie seeing red. She stomped toward him until they were toe-to-toe. Forgetting about the fear she felt toward this man, she poked him in the chest. “This will stop
now.
Do you understand me? I’m not yours, nor will I ever be. Get that through your thick head. You might feel as though I’m your mate, but I’m not attracted to you in the slightest.”