When we’d first met, I had thought Tara a fierce hell wolf, in need of taming. But as I watched her go wild on top of me, near paralyzed by the intensity of my own release, I realized Tara was the one who had tamed me.
We weren’t like my parents at all, I understood in that moment.
We were our own distinct thing. And just like that, after years of bitterness, I let the dire “lessons” of my father’s pain go and vowed to write a new story. A true legend that would end happily with this she-wolf by my side.
I lay contented with her afterward in the simple, beautifully carved bed. And though her stomach was only slightly pooched, my hand rested there, an umbrella of safety for the life growing within.
I’d always thought my Highland kingdom village to be peaceful at night. But her childhood home was a quiet like none I’d ever known.
But then a new series of sounds cut through all the peaceful quiet. Soft whimpers, accompanied by low feral grunts and the fast creaks of a handcrafted bed being put to strenuous use.
Tara raised up on her elbow to look over her shoulder at me. “Is that …?”
As if in answer to her question, my mother’s voice cried out, “Si, Lachlan, si! I’m … I’m …”
Whatever Tara was about to say was lost in a sea of Italian that despite having grown up with the sensuous romance language, I steadfastly refused to comprehend.
“Wow,” Tara whispered, turning to face me when the noise finally died down.
“Aye, wow is correct,” I answered. “This pack town of yours seems to be a magical potion that dispenses with history and pride.”
Tara snickered. “Or your parents were bored and really horny. My own parents are probably going at it right now. Seriously, sex is all mated couples have to do at night around here. My parents are just way … way quieter about it. How did I not guess your mom would be a screamer?”
I chuckled along with her, but then I sobered, thinking of the string of petty arguments that had torn my parents apart. Because neither of them would bend …
No, I wouldn’t be like that, I decided. I thought of her parents at the dinner table downstairs…the way her da’s story had perfectly encapsulated how it felt when I first met Tara. As if Tara were the first wolf I’d ever scented…and that I should do whatever it took, change however I needed to change, to make her mine.
“I am your king, but you could rule me if you wished,” I said, my voice resonating in the dark with the absolute truth of what I’d said.
“I don’t want to rule you,” Tara said, her voice just as fierce as mine. “I never wanted that.”
“But you could, if you wished,” I insisted. “Demand I move to the city and give up my throne, even though I have this vision of us. How good we could be if we compromised and split our time between the city and the country. But I ken now why living as ye used to might not hold any more appeal to you than an early morning jump in our loch. So, if the city is how it needs to be, we can live in Edinburgh.”
I let out a long breath. “I’m the king of Scotland, but you’re my banrigh. And I will humble myself in whatever way you wish so long as you’re by my side.”
I waited. But no answer came. For so long I feared she’d fallen asleep in the middle of my impassioned speech.
But when I looked over to check, I found her staring at me as if she’d merely been waiting for me to turn my head so we could have this moment.
“Magnus, do you know how long I worked at building that wall around me? But you tore it down in less than a week. I came back here for you. Isn’t it obvious I feel the same?”
She regarded me with a soft look. “You could rule me, too, if you wished. Command me back to the country and I’d follow you, dutiful like how I’d been raised. Why do you think I was trying so hard to get away from you? Because I knew. I knew from the start that you could overpower me. Physically, emotionally, in every way that counted.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you,” I said in the quiet dark. “I’m sorry I was such an eejit that ye had to come back here alone.”
“It just felt so obvious to me. But I didn’t know if you’d go for it. And when I tried to explain it to you …”
“I was too caught up in my own ego to give your sensational idea a proper listen. That is not something I will be forgiving myself for anytime soon,” I vowed to her.
Her voice became soft again. “There’s … there’s nothing to forgive. I was scared of what was developing between us, and I think you were, too. I think maybe we scared each other.”
“Aye,” I answered. “I suspect that’s because I’m in love with ye.”
Tara went stiff in my arms, and I waited for her to say something rude or sarky like, Magnus, you great eejit. We barely know each other. What kind of git says something so daft within four weeks of heating a lass?
“Wow, you’re an idiot,” Tara said, shaking her head at me. “We barely know each other and the first time we met, you were holding a gun on me and Milly. Plus, we’ve only been wolf-mated for four weeks.”
Almost word for word what I’d thought she’d say. But then Tara smiled and said, “So I guess that makes me an idiot, too. Because I love you right back.”
A grin spread across my face.
“Say it again.”
“I love you right back, you arrogant Scottish asshole.”
“Swearing at a king. That is most definitely against our laws …”
“We’re not in Scotland,” Tara reminded me, sticking out her tongue.
Nae, we weren’t. This was Canada. But as it turned out, my leaf hadn’t quite fully turned over to a new page.
I lowered myself between her legs and punished her dearly for her unlawful action in ways neither of us were ever likely to forget.