Page 89 of Moon Awakening

"What about me?"

"What about you?"

"Do you want me to be happy, too?"

His happiness should not matter to her. She had not wed him by choice or by duty, but because of coercion. That was why she found it so peculiar that he wanted her to be content in their marriage. Her feelings did matter to him, if only just a little, but she did not understand why.

Unless it was his duty as a husband prompting him to be solicitous.

Regardless of why he felt as he did, she, too, cared if he was satisfied with her as his mate. Very much. "Yes, I want you to be happy."

"Then we will be."

"I will not be happy if you kill my brother," she warned.

His glare was ferocious enough to make her flinch. "Do not try to use our bond to manipulate me. I will do what I must do as a warrior."

"So, you lied?" she asked, trying to get away from the circle of his arms without success. "You only want me to be happy if it means you doing what you want?"

"A warrior does not always have the luxury of doing what he wants… he does what he must."

"But if you would just talk to Talorc, instead of fighting him… you would find out that there is no reason for war between our clans."

"I do not think he would agree."

"The babe is not born yet. God willing, we will have arrived at an agreement that will not tear my heart out before that, but that is not the immediate issue."

Drustan sighed and rolled onto his back. "Lachlan would never have given Susannah leave to hunt alone and my sister would not lie. Ever."

Perversely, she missed his surrounding warmth, but the implication of his words was even more chilling. "So, you are saying I am lying?" I'm not, she cried into his mind.

He rolled back toward her and pulled her close. "I do not wish to discuss this now."

She avoided his lips while her own ached for the contact. But this was too important to dismiss with physical need. "Because you don't want to admit that you are wrong, but just stop and think. What if Susannah went across the water believing it was her best hope for making it through the full moon unmated? Then she ends up mated to Magnus and she doesn't want him to think she is disloyal or disobedient, so she…"

"Lied? My sister is not such a weak woman."

"Please, Drustan, just consider the possibility."

He shook his head and kissed her, but she refused to respond. It was hard. Harder than anything she'd ever done, but she could not give herself to a man who thought she was a liar.

"What is the matter?" he demanded, lifting his head.

"You think I'm a liar."

He took a deep breath, his chest filling up and hard muscles pressing against her side. "I do not think you are a liar."

"But you do. Either Susannah is lying, or I am." Or Lachlan, but she thought Emily's point of view on that was sound. The man was too arrogant to think he needed to lie.

"I have known Susannah her whole life. She does not lie."

"And you have only known me two days and one night, but I don't lie either." Her heart was cracking in her chest and she didn't know why. She should be offended by his lack of trust, not hurt. What was the matter with her?

"Perhaps Magnus convinced my sister to tell the story."

"For what purpose? He is not so shy he would have balked at asking for her hand and since chances were she was pregnant, that request would have been granted… no matter how she came to be in his keeping."

"But if he took her, Lachlan might still have declared war."