“Yes, of course. I have no secrets from you. We are true mates. Not that I could keep anything from you anyway,” he said grinning and tapping the side of his head.
“Okay,” she said finally. “I’ll come with you to talk.”
It took everything he had not to throw his arm up in victory. He held out his hand to her, needing to touch her. After a long pause, she slipped her small hand in his. Wadim turned so that she couldn’t see his face. His eyes closed and he focused on the incredible sensation of her skin against his.Mine,his wolf growled.Indeed, he thought,she is ours.
He led her to the stairs, and then down into what all the other pack members liked to callthe dungeon. It didn’t look like a dungeon, of course. It looked much more like the library of…well…an ancient supernatural being. The walls were lined with ancient leather bound books, and plush worn leather armchairs were scattered throughout the room. After a few awkward moments, he reluctantly released her hand and let her roam the room, looking at the books and then the tables with their intricate carvings. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He had to make himself stand still because his wolf wanted to follow her around like a puppy and attempt to lick any part of her he could reach.Good grief, man, pull it together, he growled at himself.
He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, hoping that would keep him from grabbing her and sitting her in his lap, where her neck would be positioned very close to his mouth. He felt his canines lengthen at the thought of marking her. He snapped his mouth closed and willed them to go back to normal.
Zara pulled out a chair at one of the tables and looked up at him. “Okay, so the mind link thingy is one way that you say that you know we aretruemates. I assume this means no other wolf will be able to hear my thoughts.”
Wadim growled. “No, you’re mine.”
“Okay, so that was a little weird and caveman-ish,” she said and he could tell she was relaxing a bit.
“Sorry,” he grumbled.
“What are the other signs?”
“You have a scent only I can smell.” She blushed, causing her skin to heat and intensifying that smell. Wadim closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “And it’s mouthwatering.”
“Again, weird. Even a little weirder, actually. But out of curiosity, what do I smell like?”
His eyes opened and landed on her. He knew they were glowing by the way her mouth dropped open. “Caramel and toffee,” he practically moaned.
She looked a little afraid, which he didn’t like.
“Forgive me, Zara. I know this is all new to you. I’m fighting instinct and it makes my wolf edgy.”
“And no one else can smell me?”
“Well they can smellyou,” Wadim responded, “but they can’t smell whatIsmell. Like if you stunk like body odor, then obviously they could smell that, but they couldn’t smell the toffee…I mean, not that you would ever stink…I’m just saying…it’s different…never mind.” His voice faded and he growled something to himself that Zara didn’t catch.
“What’s the other thing that confirms we’re mates?” she asked, putting the poor wolf out of his misery.
Wadim hesitated briefly before pulling his shirt over his head. Taking it on faith that his markings had indeed grown, he turned so that she could see him. He wasn’t a full dominant so his markings didn’t come all the way to the front. They ran across his back, and now, he hoped, up to the back of his neck.
“These are mate markings,” he said pointing behind him. “Every male has them. When a werewolf meets his true mate, they change. Do they go all the way up to my neck?”
“Yes,” she said a little breathlessly.
“They weren’t up to my neck this morning. They changed. These markings will match the ones on your body.”
“I don’t have any markings on my body.”
Wadim turned back around and put his shirt back on. “Maybe you didn’t yesterday, but I’d bet every priceless book in this room that somewhere on your beautiful body, you wear my markings.”
Her face fell and her eyes filled with sorrow. “You wouldn’t think my body was beautiful if you’d seen it.”
Wadim felt as if she’d kicked him in the gut. She didn’t get it, but then, why would she? She wasn’t raised with her own kind. He scooted his chair closer until his feet were nearly touching hers. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He was less than a foot from her kissable lips. “Zara, you don’t understand exactly how powerful the true mate bond is. And you shouldn’t, I guess, because you didn’t grow up learning our customs. But somehow, I will prove to you that there is nothing about you that could ever make me not want you. Nothing.”
Zara felt as though she’d been holding her breath from the moment she’d heard his voice in her mind. Minutes before she’d run into him, literally, she’d been despairing over the thought that she would never have a mate. Now, here he sat, claiming he was it. She didn’t really doubt him. The evidence was pretty irrefutable. But she was so scared she’d be a disappointment to him. Inside, she was terrified. She was good at putting up a front to survive. She could appear tough when she needed to. But in reality, she was a kidnap victim. She was nothing more than food. She’d been used and fed upon until there was nothing left inside. Desperately, she wanted to be worthy of someone’s love. She wanted so badly to have a man look at her the way Decebel looked at Jen, to have a man touch her the way Fane touched Jacque, to have a man need her the way Costin needed Sally. Now she sat across from Wadim, terrified to hope that maybe he would be those things to her.
Suddenly, he was on his knees in front of her. He was so tall that even on his knees his face was level with hers. He looked tortured. His hands came up and rested on her thighs, giving them a gentle squeeze.
“Iamlooking at you that way. Iamtouching you that way.” His hands slid up her thighs and around to either side of her waist. “And Idoneed you more than you can possibly understand. Costin is a pup compared to me. I have lived centuries. I have waited so much longer for you than he did for Sally. Feel it,” he told her and then she felt the bond in their mind open and his emotions mixed with her own. She felt his desperation, as if he couldn’t breathe without her.
She looked at him, staring back at her with a longing that took her breath away. Wadim was handsome; his dark, wavy hair begged her fingers to run themselves through it. His gold eyes were intense and knowledgeable. He seemed to wear a perpetual smirk that was incredibly sexy and he looked like someone who loved to laugh. He was tall, but not wide and huge like Decebel or Fane. Wadim was solid, but built more like a swimmer than a football player. He was perfect. And she was so far from it.
