And I hadn't. Caelan blew up my phone the first three weeks of his imprisonment, and Rowan had to get his tech people involved to forward those numbers elsewhere. Whether to him or someone else in the Pack, I didn't ask, but Caelan's calls had abruptly stopped.
But my guilt hadn't.
Rowan rose and held out his hand, gently helping me up. But instead of heading inside, he closed his arms around me and brought me close. “He's fine,” he said quietly. “Angry and stir crazy, but fine. I feel your guilt deep within me, Evie, but you had every right to do what you did. If you think he's learned his lesson or feel like you should release his land, then do so, but don't do it out of a misplaced sense of guilt. Caelan was horrific to you and tried to take me away from you. Killing a mate…” His voice trailed off. “The other Lords, no matter how they feel about us together or separately, would have put him to death for his actions. You may not feel this is so, but you saved his life that night.”
“I'll go visit in a few days.” I tilted my head up to study him, still surprised this handsome, wonderful, powerful man was mine. My husband. My mate.
“I'll come with you.” He bent and brushed a kiss over my lips, soft and warm.
We didn't have a courtship. The mating call had been too powerful between us, both the shifter and the fae magic pulling us together so forcefully we were both helpless to deny each other. While most of my guilt at how quickly everything had happened was fading, I still had moments where I had to sit with my feelings and remember that everything was real and true.
Rowan was mine, and I was his, and we were forever joined by love and magic more powerful than either of us possessed.
He stepped away and intertwined our fingers. “If we don't hurry, we'll never hear the end of it from Moira.”
I let him tug me along. “I think we can spare five minutes.”
Rowan looked back at me, one dark eyebrow rising, a familiar glitter in his eyes. “Yeah?”
My smile grew. “Yeah.” The ever-present link between us warmed and stretched like honey, and I felt his desire and need for me in the spot where that bond lived.
This was real. True. Rowan's love for me bowled me over most days, snatching my breath away even in the most innocent of moments.
He scooped me into his arms and loped into the house. “We only need three.”
Chapter
Two
Sunday mornings in Emberwood were rarely quiet. Even less so when their Lord and Lady made a surprise appearance. Even so, I couldn't help comparing Rowan's people to Caelan's. I'd never met most of Caelan's people. They preferred staying away or staring from a distance.
Rowan's people, my people now, were the opposite. Everyone here loved him, and by extension, me too. Before we'd made it to the restaurant's door, he'd been stopped no less than half a dozen times by people with well-wishes or those wanting to make small talk. Moira and the others, expecting this exact scenario, had saved us seats, but actually getting inside was proving more difficult than I anticipated.
When Rowan finally broke away and we managed to get inside, the same thing happened with the restaurant staff.
“You're a regular celebrity,” I teased.
Rowan snorted. “You actually think they're here for me?”
I blinked and looked up at him. “They're barely speaking to me!”
His lips twitched. “Because you're barely speaking to them.”
I stared at him for a moment. “Well shit,” I whispered under my breath.
Fortunately, the restaurant was loud, and no one could overhear our conversation or hear the way my heart lurched at Rowan's teasing words. “I never thought of it that way.”
Rowan shrugged and led me through a maze of tables, conversation beginning to fall silent when everyone realized who walked among them.
“We'll talk once things settle,” Rowan murmured, smiling and nodding at everyone.
I tried to do the same but never possessed the easy charm Rowan could conjure in an instant. I admired that about him. While I was full of awkward smiles and stilted small talk, Rowan commanded any room he walked into by virtue of an easy smile and an offhand comment.
I took a long time to warm up to people, so long that most people walked away before scratching the surface of who I was. Emberwood had proved different for me, especially because not too long ago, Moira and I had gotten sloshed on some magical booze, and I ended up arm-wrestling a veteran shifter.
If I had ever wondered about winning over a bunch of burly shifters, engaging one in a contest of strength was a sure bet. I won the contest, and Moira ended up slung over the back of a Shifter Lord and carried out of the bar to the hoots and hollers of everyone inside. Overall, it was a good night with far-reaching consequences.
I'd ended up married, and Moira was left with a raging crush on an emotionally unavailable man. Fifty percent success rate wasn't bad.
