CHAPTER NINE
Vrogul
I didn’t thinkmyKteerwould ever forgive me.
Pulling away from Rowena that day in the hot springs was the most difficult thing I’d ever done, but I knew I had to do it. Because my wee warrior had gifted me an even bigger problem.
Two of them, in fact.
The one most pressing to myKteerwas the realization that, Mate or not, Rowena didn’twantto belong here. She wanted to return home, because she still thought of me as her enemy. I cursed myself for stealing her away, calling her a tribute, tying her…
But if ye didnae, if ye’d left her there in that mining village, ye never would have kenned she was yer Mate.
Aye, a conundrum aright.
Because of my actions, I knew she was my Mate. But because of my actions, shecouldn’tbe my Mate.
So, claiming her that day in the hot springs—stepping forward, sinking my aching cock into her hot tightness—wouldn’t have worked. I couldn’t claim my Mate because she didn’t want tobemy Mate.
Yeah, I was fooked.
Unfortunately, if myKteerand my cock were preoccupied with that problem, ‘twas theotherone which occupied my mind. The problem of Callor and what Rowena had told me.
Not just about her father and her past, although that explained so much about her, but what she’d said about a leader and his people.
Callordidn’tprotect us or any of the other septs he’d claimed. He only demanded sacrifices from us, regardless of how we could pay. Regardless of the fact that we had to go a’raiding innocent humans in order to meet his demands. Regardless of the cost.
He was bleeding us dry, using us…and using those resources to attack other innocents. My loyalty allowed him to do that.
Yer loyalty should be to yer clan, yer family.
Aye, it should be, and ‘twas. I would die for the Battleborn of Islay…but was I killing them for the mainland Battleborn?
These questions kept me awake that night and the night after.
My body—my heart, my cock—ached for Rowena who slept peacefully in my arms. I remembered what she’d said about wanting me…but wondered if she’d been satisfied now that I’d given into the urge to taste her.
Gods below, her taste! Her scent! She was the most exquisite flavor, and I loved that myKteerwas linked to her, knowing where she was and what she was feeling.
Aye, she was my Mate, and the fact I couldn’t claim her…
I took a deep shuddering breath and tightened my hold on her, burying my face in her sweet-smelling hair, which somehow kept wrapping around her neck. How many times had I untangled myself from it in the night? But it didn’t matter, because ‘twasher, and my Mate was perfect the way she?—
I groaned against her.
She’s no’ yer Mate. She calls ye enemy.
But in the night, she turned to me for warmth and protection.
Yer people turn to ye as well. Are ye leading them to disaster, by maintaining yer oath of loyalty to Callor?
But how could I forswear my oath? I’d pledged to him, and to abandon that allegiance?—
What allegiance? He is no’ allied with ye, ye’re his servant!
Aye, and my people deserved better than that. Theyneededbetter than that; needed the freedom to thrive on their own.
But I remembered what Rowena told me had happened to her father, and I was terrified to make such a choice.
