Dead After Dark (Companion #6.5)(25)

“That’s why you don’t smell like a Katagari!”

He inclined his head to her in a sarcastic salute.

But that raised another question in her mind. “So how is it Dare found out about your base form if he couldn’t smell it?”

Fury looked away as pain swept through him. To this day, the betrayal of it shredded his soul.

Angelia placed her hand on his cheek where he had his teeth clenched tight. “Tell me.”

He didn’t know why he confided in her when it went against his nature. But before he could stop himself, the truth came pouring out. “We were attacked by a group of outlaw humans in the forest. They shot an arrow. Dare didn’t see it, but I did. I shoved him out of the way and took it for him.”

She winced as she understood what had happened. “The pain made you change forms.”

Fury nodded. “He knew as soon as I fell down. I tried to stop him before he reached the village, but by the time I got there, my mother had already been told.”

The rest she remembered with crystal clarity. She’d heard the shouting and had gone to the main hall where they’d all gathered. Fury had been bleeding, but he was still in human form.

Dare had shoved him at their mother. “He’s a f*cking Wolf, Mum. I saw it.”

Bryani had grabbed Fury by the hair. “Tell me the truth. Are you a Katagari?”

Fury’s gaze had gone to Angelia’s. Pain, shame and torment had shone deep in his eyes. But it was the pleading look there that had taken her breath. He’d silently begged her to stand with him.

“Answer me!” His mother had demanded.

“I’m a wolf.”

They’d set on him with a vengeance so fierce that she found it hard to believe that she’d ever taken part in it. But there, in that moment . . .

She was such a fool.

“Will you ever trust me again?” she asked him.

He took her marked palm into his hand. “Do I have a choice?”

“Yes, you do. This only means I can bear your children. It has nothing to do with our hearts.”

Fury sighed. No, it didn’t. His parents hated one another. Even now all they did was plot each other’s murders.

“If you can lay aside your hatred of my kind, I’m willing to forget the past.”

Angelia looked around the room. “I will have to live here in your time, won’t I?”

“Do you really think you can go home wearing the mark of a Katagari?”

He was right. They’d destroy her.

Fury stepped away from her. “You have three weeks to decide if you can live with me.”

“I don’t need three weeks, Fury. I agreed to den down with you, and so I have. I will even bond with you.”

Anger sparked in his eyes at her suggestion. “No, you won’t. I have too many enemies who want me dead. I won’t bond your life force to mine. It’s too dangerous.”

She laughed. “You have enemies? What was that lion tessera that just left? Who were they after?” She cupped his face in her hands. “You and I should have had a lifetime together already. I allowed my stupidity to rob us of four hundred years. I don’t want to lose another minute of being with you.”

“You didn’t feel that way twenty-four hours ago.”

“You’re right. But you’ve opened my eyes. What Dare is trying to do is wrong. I can’t believe I’ve ruined that poor lion’s life. God, how I wish I could go back and shove Dare when he fired the gun so that he’d miss.”

Fury’s face went stark white. “Dare killed an unarmed lion?”

“No, that was the jackal. Dare shot the one who lived.”

“And your part in all this?”

“Stupid onlooker who thought she was going to make the world safe for other little girls so that they wouldn’t have to watch their family get eaten. I didn’t realize that I was fighting for the monsters and not against them.”

Fury sighed. “Dare’s not a monster. He’s just an insecure * who wanted his mother to love him.”

“And what about you?”

“I was an insecure * who knew he could never get too close to his mother for fear she’d smell the wolf on him and kill him.”

She pulled him into her arms to kiss his lips. “Mate with me, Fury.”

“You’re a bossy thing, aren’t you?”

“Only when there’s something I want.” She looked at the bed. “Shouldn’t we get naked?”

He put his hands on her arms and held her back. “We have to settle this first. I want to make sure that you’re mating with me out of choice and not out of fear.”

“Don’t you think I’m smart enough to know the difference?”

“I’m the one who has to be sure of your motivation.”

Because he still didn’t trust her. The sad thing was, she couldn’t blame him. “Very well then. How do we end this?”

“I think I have an idea.”



Angelia sat downstairs with Fang sniffing at her hand.

“No wonder he was acting so weird. The bastard’s mated.”

“Fang!” Bride snapped at him. “Leave the poor woman alone, or at least congratulate her.”