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“I am aware of the…mechanics of the wedding night.” She thought back to what had almost happened in her old room in Templeton House and turned a bright scarlet. “Is it different for Shapeshifters?Do your kind change skins in, um, this regard?”
“No indeed, mum,” Mrs. Birks said. “There’s laws and all, and you and His Grace meet only in human form.” Her briskness was a much-needed antidote to mortification.
Felicity downed her tea. “Mary mentioned the goddess Diana turning the wives into wolves?”
“She does love that story.” The housekeeper sighed. “You will never become a Shifter, as the ability to turn a human has been bred out of us, but you will only give birth to those able to Change.”
“Mrs. B, I did forget to say about how the babby won’t be a wee pup when it’s born.” Mary bundled up the sheets. “None of us can Change until we be seven years of age,” Mary added.
“It is considered the age of reason for both humans and Shifters,” Mrs. Birks added. She flipped her hands at the little maid to send her on her way, which Felicity forestalled.
“And you can have as many as you like for as long as you like!” Mary hopped up on the bed and kicked her feet.
“My mother…” Felicity began and took a tremulous sip of tea. “I had no brothers or sisters. When I was old enough to understand, I realized my mother had been unable to carry another child to term.”
“You will receive more than one boon as thevera amorisof one of our kind,” Mrs. Birks assured her. “The strength of the Alpha is yours now, ma’am, and will extend to your growing offspring. We are long-lived and hearty, and you will become so yourself—”
“You won’t be getting much older, not in looks, which I am thinking more than one of them fancy society ladies would spit nails if they only knew.” Mary bounced on the bed. “And then Alpha’s aging will quicken, and you’ll both match up at the end.”
“But he has reached one score and ten, at most?” How much she did not know about him, much less his people!
Mary laughed so hard, she was like to fall onto the floor, and Mrs. Birks huffed, sounding rather like Alfie. “He has more than one thing to tell you, I see. That’s not my place now, but it’s only a small thing. When all is said and done, we age well, so we do. As will you.” The housekeeper held up a plate of buttered bread, and the appetite Felicity lost the past few days returned. “Now, as to the bonding ceremony,” she said, and Mary squealed. “On the night of the full moon, we shall meet and Change to show ourselves to you in our native skins—”
“Naked?” Felicity nearly spat out a mouthful of tea.
“Best get used to it, Your Grace,” Mary muttered.
The housekeeper passed Felicity a fresh serviette. “Words are spoken, and not too long-winded, as His Grace has little patience for the formalities. We honor you, then you accept His Grace and all of us.”
“And then! You run, just a wee way, mind, so that our Alpha can chase you as his wolf and then catch you. And then…” Mary trailed off, her eyes shining, hands clasped to her lips.
“And then?” Felicity’s heartbeat thundered, Mary’s excitement contagious.
“And then there’s the bite!” The mouse looked to be in raptures.
“A wee bite, a small one, now, don’t you be thinking he’ll be having your arm off, mum.” Mrs. Birks chuckled, but it sounded more akin to a nervous whine.
Felicity did not consider this humorous in the least. A bite? As in a…bite? “Where?”
“Oh, there’s a cottage up the way from the clearing,” Mrs. Birks assured her, “we’ll have it readied right and tight.”
Felicity found she was able to laugh after all. “Where on my person, Mrs. Birks?”
“That’s up to the wolf, Your Grace,” Mrs. Birks said. She and Mary beamed as if there was nothing to be afraid of and everything to anticipate with joy.
A cursory knock sounded, and Alfred appeared on the threshold. A new awareness thrilled through her, not merely because she knew his secret.He is mine if I so choose, she thought. She took in his hacking jacket, its looseness unable to disguise the robustness of his physique; skipped up to his hair, which her fingers had disarranged to great effect only the day before; and slid down That Chest to regard the placket of his breeches, a regard that was protracted as he playfully bent down to meet her eyes.
“Good day.” His eyes twinkled, and those crinkles appeared. Now that she was to spend the entirety of the day in his company, she wondered if she had the sangfroid to keep her hands to herself. And knowing what he was, and the trust he had placed in her… It was breathtaking.
“Good day,” she replied as Mrs. Birks and Mary Mossett sank into curtsies. She gestured to the women to stand. “I have begun my education almost immediately upon rising.”
“I would expect nothing less from one as curious and open in mind as yourself,” Alfred said, “my dear.”
Mary squeaked, “My deeeeeeear,” and was rushed out of the room by an apologetic Mrs. Birks.
“Well.” Felicity stuffed her hands in the pockets of her skirt.
“Well.” Alfred tilted his head, much like Alfie did when he first appraised her. “Have I mentioned how beautiful you look in that…that…”
