Page 48 of Clash of Storms
A horrible thought slammed through her. What had she yelled at him?"Is there any particular reason you're hovering over me like a bloody mated male?"
Thedrekimale was generally a passionate, dangerous beast, fuelled by desire, honor and protective urges, but they were also driven by instinct. By urges she couldn't even comprehend, though she'd seen them play out at court a million times.
"I can't leave you."
He'd risked his own life to come after her, reckless of his mortal body. He'd been torn by the instinct to attack and the instinct to protect, but the latter had been the instinct that won out.
"Why can you not simply accept I have no wish to mate with the princess?"
Because there was no good reason for him to defy his father's orders and let Árdís go, except for one.
If she put it all together, then there was only one possible conclusion. Sirius was acting like a mated male.
The heat drained from Malin's face.
"What is it?" Sirius's voice lowered, and he took a step toward her.
She scrambled back, and he froze, one hand pausing in midair. "What is it, Malin? Damn it, what's wrong?"
"Are you mating with me?" she whispered.
She might as well have taken a battle-axe and swept his feet out from under him.
"What?"He laughed, but there was an edge of brittleness to it. "Did you hit your head today? You're a...."
It looked as though he couldn't say the words.
"A nobody?" she demanded, tipping her chin up and drawing his cloak safely around her. "A nobody who would be the very last woman you'd ever mate with?"
"No, I was going to say...."
"What?"Malin's heart started beating fast enough to punch through her ribs.
They stared at each other, the seconds dragging out as a dozen emotions fought for dominance on his face.
He was barely breathing.
Her heartbeat raged out of control.
"You are not a nobody. And you would be worthy of any male's attention as a mate. Don't sell yourself short, Malin."
"Then why—"
"I gave my word," he insisted. "I promised I would protect you, and I meant it. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression I was acting like a mated male. And I apologize for the outburst." Sirius scrubbed a hand over his face. "You startled me. I wasn't expecting... that."
No wonder he'd almost choked on his tongue.
Not mating with her.
Malin's stomach turned itself in knots. It wasn't as if she'd desired such a thing, but there'd been a sudden, breathtaking moment of... not quite hope, but something she couldn't identify.
"Don't look so relieved," Sirius drawled.
Days ago, she might have laughed in his face.The Blackfrost keeping his word?But it wasn't the first time he'd mentioned it. "Keeping your word means a great deal to you, doesn't it?"
"You seem surprised." Sirius squatted by the fire, holding his hands out to warm them.
Still shaking with the sudden shock of thinking him her mate, Malin sat opposite him, draped in the cloak. All the fight had gone out of her. Good heavens. What a conceit. She almost laughed at herself. Small, drab drekling Malin attracting the attention of a mightydrekiwarrior like the Blackfrost? Inconceivable.
