Page 70 of Wolf's Prize

Would Farren not get to the point? Kathryn waited… His nostrils flared, and his gaze darted to the darkened doorway. Kathryn waited, not in her bedchamber, but in the corridor, hovering beyond sight of the doorway. So close, and yet so far away. He bit back a growl.

“Do your parents know what you are? Your brother? Or did the d’Louncrais turn them, too?”

Aimon turned his attention back to Farren.Is this what this is about? Does he want to be a werewolf, too? Like his daughter?Gaharet would not sanction Farren’s turning.

“My family does not know. Turning someone is not something we would inflict on another unless it was necessary. Jacques made the same determination regarding your sister, Elise.”

Aimon’s attention wavered, the scent of Kathryn’s impatience tickling his nose.

Farren grunted. “Turning Elise got her killed.”

Aimon’s focus snapped back to Farren.Is that what Farren believes?

“Why did Jacques not simply marry her? If he loved her and she him, and I am convinced she did, I do not think it would have mattered to her what he was. You were dying. Gaharet saved your life. One of your kind attacked Kathryn. Elise…well…there was noneedto turn her, and perhaps if Jacques had not, she might be alive today.”

Aimon took a gulp of wine, then another, unsure what words would bring comfort, if any. Or if Farren expected him to answer or not.

“Why did Jacques do it? Why did he turn her? Why could he not have left her human?” Farren’s anguish was writ clear across his face. “Is there some werewolfcodethat forbids taking a human wife?”

Aimon squirmed in his seat. “Werewolves age differently,” he said. “Werewolf blood extends our lives and prevents many illnesses.”

“But is that enough to risk a turning? On a woman? By far more delicate of constitution than any man.”

Aimon’s chest tightened, and he dropped his gaze to the table.L’enfer.The expectant silence and the steady beat of her heart told him Kathryn still listened, hanging on his every word. He pinched the bridge of his nose. There was no help for it. Farren would find no peace with his sister’s death, and would continue to blame the d’Louncrais, until he understood. And Farren deserved to know the truth.

“There was another reason to turn Elise.” His gaze slid in Kathryn’s direction. His mouth went dry, and he licked his lips. “Werewolves can only… We can only procreate with other werewolves.” He released a long sigh, raised his goblet to his lips, drained it, and put it down on the table with a loud thunk. “Without your sister being turned, Jacques and Elise would have remained childless.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Kathryn clasped her hand across her mouth, smothering a gasp.

“Kathryn,” Aimon called out to her.

A chair scraped and footsteps moved toward the doorway. Pushing herself away from the wall, she darted up the stairs, along the corridor and into her bedchamber, slamming the door behind her. Tears smarted in her eyes.

Oh, what a fool I have been.To think, to believe, Aimon would want her because he might love her.

“There has not been a female among us for quite some time.”That is what he had said. Her first day of training. The only female werewolf, and encumbered with the wealth of the d’Louncrais estate, what a prize she must seem.A prize fool. The chances of finding women who would consent to be turned into werewolves would be few.Anyof Gaharet’s men would want her if they knew her secret.

She clenched her fists and stamped her foot. She. Would. Not. Cry.

“Kathryn.”

She stiffened. Aimon’s musky scent filtered through the door. Her nipples tightened and her thighs clenched, her body immune to her anger and her sense of betrayal. His concern and regret battered her senses from beyond the door. She took a step toward him.

“Kathryn, talk to me.” He thumped on the door. “Kathryn.”

Not so long ago, she had resigned herself to marrying without love, had hoped only for a man she did not loathe. A good, kind, respectful man who would be willing to ignore some of her peculiarities. Did it matter if Aimon did not love her? If his attraction to her came from his biological imperative to breed? It was no different to him marrying her for the d’Louncrais estate. Yet, now, as she had begun to hope for a marriage based on love, could she accept anything less?

“Kathryn, open the door.”

She stared at the barrier between them. Anne and her father all believed Aimon to have feelings for her. Gaharet and Erin thought Aimon might be her mate. But what of this new information? How much of Aimon’s actions was it responsible for?

Inhaling a shaky breath, she opened the door. Aimon stood with his fist raised to pound on the door again. His arm dropping to his side, he took a step back, breathing as though he had run up every stair in the keep.

“I am sorry, Kathryn. I should have told you.”

The sounds of the keep settling for the night echoed up the stairwell.

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