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BRIAN
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SEVERAL LONG HOURS later, I walked our dinner guests out, glad that now I could have Elizabeth to myself.
She’d been tense at the beginning of dinner, but Rowena and Ahmed soon put her at ease chatting with her about her parents, her job, Rosenthal, Lottie. The ice was completely broken when Rowena asked Elizabeth to hold Aydan. Elizabeth was glowing—an image I wouldn’t be able to forget soon—and the little charmer was smiling at her all the time. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
She’d chosen to wear a cobalt blue dress, formal of color and length, yet snugged tightly around her every curve, giving her an elegant yet sexy look. She was a bit overdressed for an unceremonious family dinner, but after I’d seen her dressed for work this morning, I wasn’t surprised. I too had dressed more formally: shirt, jacket, slacks, a small gesture of my support.
As I kissed Rowena goodbye, she whispered into my ear that she and Ahmed liked Elizabeth very much.
Elizabeth seemed to feel the same about them.
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THE TABLE IN THE DINING room was already cleared when I returned. I could hear Harriet and Jason talking in the kitchen. Azem and Lily were probably already in their rooms. Or in one of their rooms.
Elizabeth was standing in front of the fireplace, hands outstretched toward the fire. She was waiting for me.
She turned when she heard my steps and moved her hands behind her back.
She was so beautiful: delicate, sexy and refined. My body’s response was instant. I was glad I wore pants with some extra space for my constant erection. No more jeans, otherwise she might think I was some horny beast. It wasn’t far from the truth, but it wasn’t my fault. Twenty-six years without a woman, and then fate sent me this goddess. The temptation was too great and there was only so much a man could take.
I felt an urge to take off that tight, sexy dress and make love to her, here, in front of the fireplace. I’d only leave her shoes on.
“Are you cold?” I asked, forcing myself to move my eyes away from her large, round breasts before she noticed I was trying to undress her with my mental powers.
“Oh, no. I like a fire, that’s it.” She took a deep breath. “Khalid, I have to explain my reaction to your tattoo question.”
I walked to her and took her small, soft hands between mine. “I should apologize. I should’ve been more tactful.”
She looked at me, silent for a moment. “The dream that I mentioned earlier,” she said after a moment of silence. “It was about you. In it, you looked like Edmond Dantes from the cover of the book that you’re reading. I have the same edition. You asked me the same question.”
I blinked. “We shared the same dream?”
“Some elements of it. Enough that it gave me goosebumps. Can you explain it?”
I wish I could. I didn’t believe in destiny; I believed in logic and physical laws. It had to be something to do with her being a vardanni. If she was a vardanni. “A mental connection between us? That’s my guess.”
“Apparently, but why? How? A few months ago, I didn’t know you existed.”
I brought her hand to my lips and kissed it. “Some say that everything happens for a reason, Elizabeth. Even if we don’t see the connections.”
She didn’t look convinced with my clichéd explanation. “I have questions, Khalid, and I need answers.”
The last sentence was in Arabic.
“I know. Ask me. I’ll try to answer them,” I answered, also in Arabic.
She smiled. “Syrian dialect,” she said, switching back to English. “Are you married?” she asked looking straight into my eyes.
I rubbed my forehead and told her another lie by omission. “My ex-wife is happily married to another man. They have two children together.”
“So I’ve heard. And people here don’t practice polygamy, do they?”
I laughed. “We don’t like that kind of sharing, rest assured. How about you?”
“Ménage à trois? An interesting concept, but not my cup of tea.”
“Glad to hear that.”
And then once more she changed the line of questioning. “Now tell me about your son. Is he okay? I mean is he healthy? Normal?”
“He is. I love my son, Elizabeth. I’d never hide my child, no matter who he was. He might be older than you would expect him to be, that’s all.”
“Oh, you were a teenage parent, is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
She’d offered me a temporary solution to my problem, and I grabbed it with both hands. “Yes, we were quite young. Jack is twenty-two now.”
She nodded. “Ah. That explains a lot. And you are?”
Clever little fox. My age was mentioned in my online profile. “Thirty-eight.”
She nodded. “Where does he live?”
I’d anticipated this question, so I had the answer ready. “My son? In Houston.” At least, Jack did have an apartment there.
We often had to lie, but this time it didn’t come easy. Everything inside me rebelled against deceiving Elizabeth. I kept lying to her: big lies, small lies, bluffing, covering up and half-truths. Once she knew about us, I would never lie to her again.
“Early parenthood has its benefits, I guess,” she said. “You have a chance to be a very young grandfather. My parents were relatively old when I was born. It also had its advantages, but they’ll never see my children if I happen to have any. Are you close to your son? That is the only thing that matters.”
I was grateful I could tell her the truth. “We’re very close. Here, let me show you his picture when he was young.”
It was a risky move, but I doubted she’d connect a photo from 1899 with the man she’d meet tomorrow. “When Jack was young, I experimented with some old cameras and made a series of pictures. Here,” I said, and I pulled out my wallet, “this is Jack when he was five. We even found clothing from that time. Look, he had freckles.”
“What a beautiful boy,” she said, smiling. “Reminds me of Jacob Wakefield, my little friend from Rosenthal. The photo looks so authentic. Amazing.”
“Well, the equipment was authentic. I have more from this series on my desk in the office.”
“One more question.” She tilted her head and looked up at me. “Or maybe not. You want me to connect the dots, on my own, don’t you?”
“Are you afraid of what you will find?”
She kept her beautiful gilded gaze on me, shaking her head. “No. I’m curious. Speaking of curiosity, why were you so shocked when I said that quote—I don’t remember who’d said it—that only the curious had something to find?”
“Because you’d already said it. In my dream.”
There was a long silence. She turned her eyes toward the fire, lost in her thoughts.
“There must be a logical answer to this,” she said after a long silence. “It’s so frustrating I can’t see it ... I’m tired. I think I’m going to sleep now.”
I walked her to the bottom of the staircase. She turned to face me. I tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, then pretended to examine her sapphire earring.
“Lovely,” I said, thinking about her small, delicate ear.
“My grandmother’s,” she said, thinking about the earring.
I wasn’t ready to let her go. “Your hair, Elizabeth. It was straight before and now it’s all curly,” I said. “Is this its natural look?”
She shrugged as if apologizing. “Well, nobody’s perfect.”
“It is perfect.”
“I disagree, but thanks anyway.”
“Elizabeth?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for coming.” For trusting me enough to come. I took her hand and kissed it.
Her heart skipped a beat, then another one. “Now I’ll bid you goodnight, Elizabeth. Sweet dreams.”
She turned, and firmly grabbing the banister, went up to her room.
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SHE WAS GOING TO BE a fingertip from me, I thought, watching her climb the stairs with that small, sexy sway of her hips. But she could’ve been in Boston, or Rosenthal for all the good it did me. She’d fall asleep, or she’d lay in the dark maybe thinking of me. Or more likely, thinking of all these oddities she had started noticing and didn’t know how to explain.
I wished I could call it a day, go to bed and dream about the beautiful woman in the room next to mine. Instead, I had to turn into my other self and run myself to exhaustion.
It was a quarter to eleven. I went to the library, poured myself a glass of scotch and sat in the armchair beside the fireplace where Elizabeth had been sitting earlier. The delicate tendrils of orange blossom lingered in the air. But not her natural scent. So strange.
Why couldn’t I trace it? Why couldn’t I see her outline? Why couldn’t she be my bond mate? It would be the easiest solution for both of us. Something like a marriage arranged by a higher power. You wouldn’t question if you wanted it or not, you wouldn’t fight it, you’d simply accept it. Love and happiness served on a silver platter, and wouldn’t that be sweet? And as my bond mate, she’d accept my wolf without question. Why couldn’t it happen to me? I deserved it, didn’t I? Hadn’t I suffered enough?
For a while, I was wallowing in self-pity, and then I remembered Eve and James, and their bond that had taken twenty-odd years to develop. I also recollected a few other cases when the bond didn’t work perfectly, as well as countless unbonded, yet happy couples.
Bonding was overrated. One way or another, Elizabeth would be mine.
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I HEARD AZEM’S STEPS coming toward the library. He knocked and stepped in.
“Do you have a minute?” he said. “I know you’re about to change.”
“Sure. What’s up?”
He poured himself a drink and sat across from me. “Did you talk to Rob and Anwen?”
“I did,” I said, taking a sip of my drink. My parents were in Winston, visiting Azem’s parents. “They’re coming back in a few days. We have to keep them away until Elizabeth’s ready to meet them. How would I explain why my mother looks my age?”
“It’ll be over soon. Elizabeth’s smart; she’ll figure it out in no time,” Azem said.
“Let’s hope.”
“They’re bringing Zana here for spring break. I hope you’re okay with that.”
“I invited her myself, don’t you remember? I hoped your sister would come too.”
Azem put his glass on the desk and rubbed his chin. “It’s been more than two years since her husband died. She’s still depressed, she doesn’t want to talk to anybody and refuses any help.”
“Such wounds don’t heal overnight. Nabila needs a change. A big one. I’ve been thinking ... She should move here. She’s a teacher. Copper Ridge Elementary has several open positions.”
“I don’t think she will.”
“Leave it to me and Rowena.”
Azem smiled. “As if Rowena doesn’t already have enough on her plate.”
“A part of being an alpha is to solve the unsolvable. Rowena’s great at that.”
As a female, she had a different leadership style. And it worked. A male alpha’s primary concerns were social and economic development, peace, living standards. He works for the benefit of his clan. If the clan was prosperous, its individual members would be too. Rowena saw individuals first, believing that happy and satisfied individuals would create a thriving society. The results were similar, only her methods were more compassionate.
“No wonder Copper Ridge loves her so much,” Azem said.
“Copper Ridge is fortunate to have her. They’re proud of Rowena like Red Cliffs is proud of Astrid and Winston of Ellida Ariel. They are symbols of their clans.”
“Copper Ridge is going to be thrilled with Elizabeth.”
I smiled. “Oh, yeah. Elizabeth enchants people. It’s impossible to resist her.”
“She is a remarkable person. Lily talks about her all the time. Harriet and Jason are delighted with her. And I, too, like her.”
“Even my dog loved her more than she loved me,” I said with a chuckle, recollecting Luna’s absolute adoration. “Elizabeth is like light, she penetrates everywhere.”
Azem made a motion toward my glass. “One more?”
The longcase Comtoise clock chimed quarter to midnight. I didn’t feel the usual signs of my upcoming change, so I figured I had time for another drink. Besides, I had a hunch Azem had something to tell me.
I was right. He refilled our glasses and, with a sigh, sat back in the armchair. “It’s about your ex-wife. She and James have returned from Europe. She was ready to sign the annulment of her marriage to James, but then she heard about Elizabeth’s arrival and changed her mind.”
I looked at him in amusement. “Why would Elizabeth’s arrival change Eve’s mind? She’s fighting to stay married to her current husband, not to me.”
“Legally, she’s still married to you, as you know. James can request the annulment, but he won’t do anything against her will.”
“Can the High Council do it? They pronounced me dead; it’s only fair they fix it now.”
“They can, but they won’t do it unless somebody requests it.”
“Hell, I’ll do it!”
“You’re the only one who can’t. Conflict of interest. You’re her husband. You can request the annulment of your marriage, but not hers.”
“This is bullshit, Azem, and you know that! What about Astrid? Can she do anything?”
“The Council will try to dump it on her before they get involved. She can step in at any moment, but she won’t unless all other options are exhausted. It’s a delicate situation; you three are her in-laws. As the clan’s Einhamir, Jack can annul any marriage, but in this case, Eve or James can challenge his decision because they’re his parents.”
“Azem, you’re my lawyer. I’d appreciate it very much if you could help me out of this mess.”
“There’s no legal precedent for such a case. Gottfried and I are baffled.”
A wave of panic rose inside me. “If Gottfried and you are baffled, then I’m going to stay married to Eve forever.”
For a while Azem silently looked at the fire, swirling the glass in his hand. “You won’t, don’t worry, even if we have to pass a new law,” he finally said. “Rowena can do it. But Eve will come to her senses. She is a bit upset about Elizabeth, that’s all. She is jealous. And James is hurt.”
“This is ridiculous! James and Eve are bond mates. I am supposed to be jealous, not Eve.”
“It’s not that simple,” Azem said.
“Well, it should be!” My voice got louder. I stood up. “Fucking bonds! What are they good for, then? She’s bonded to another man, and I’m still hurting her. Doesn’t make a bit of sense! She’s been hurting me for the last two and a half decades, and now when I’m ready to turn a new page, she won’t let me. And here is James, too. He’s been in love with her since the first time he laid eyes upon her. I knew it, I wasn’t blind! He would’ve died rather than admit it, but he couldn’t fool me. And she knew it, too. Women always know!”
“I understand you’re upset.”
“Now she’s finally his, so he’d better find a damn way to keep her! I lost her.”
If there’d been the smallest chance for me to have her back, I’d have taken it. A part of me would never stop loving her, but fuck, she belonged to James, not to me anymore. What a mess.
“We’ll find a solution,” Azem said in his calm voice.
“You have to.” For the sake of all of us, including the woman sleeping in the room above. If Eve didn’t change her mind, my relationship with Elizabeth might end before it started. “Elizabeth would accept more easily the complexity of my nature than the complexity of my marital status.”
Azem shook his head. “No, Brian. She’d understand it. She’s an open-minded person. She doesn’t have double standards.”
“She’s honest and compassionate, and she hates lies. And I lie to her. Everybody lies to her. She isn’t going to like it.”
“She’ll understand.”
I grabbed the opportunity to remove myself from the spotlight. “We’ll see. Now, what’s going on with Lily and you?”
Azem scratched his head. “I like her. A lot. I told her so.”
“And?”
“She says she needs proof, not words. And she’s going to have another date with Adam Mackenzie. How on earth am I going to prove it to her? Turn into a wolf and fight with the bloody Scot?”
“You’re overreacting. They’re friends.”
“‘Friendship’ between two young people of the opposite sex? I don’t think so. Unless he’s gay, which I doubt.”
“Me, too, but I still think they’re just friends. Like your sister and me.”
Azem relaxed. “So, you think he lets her use him to drive me crazy?”
“Hard to say. Women are far more complex than men.”
“And more complicated.”
“Agreed. It’s sometimes hard for us to understand the reasons behind their actions.”
“That’s what I figured, too. But what should I do? You’re older than me, you must have lots of experience with women. Tell me.”
“I love them; I don’t say I always understand them. I’m trying, though. That’s all we can do. Don’t ask me, ask women, they’ll know better. Talk to Rowena or Astrid. Or Nabila.”
Azem rubbed his neck. “I really care for Lily.”
“I hope you didn’t say that to her.”
“Why not?”
“I like you and I care for you? Uh-uh. Doesn’t work. Use words. Women like that.”
“Words! ‘I’m crazy about you, Lily! I can’t sleep and I’ve lost my appetite!’ Is that what I should tell her?”
“That actually might work,” I said and stood up. “My wolf is about to pop up. Want to join me? Let’s burn off some energy.”
“Hell, yes. I haven’t changed in a year,” Azem said and eagerly pushed to his feet.
We went to the stable, undressed and transformed. The night was cold, the sky clear, promising a sunny day tomorrow.
I glanced toward the house where my Beauty was sleeping.
Was she dreaming about her man or her beast?