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“Mr. Bates, how cross you sound.” She resumed their stroll, and she came out all over in gooseflesh when Alfred took her hand and twined his fingers with hers. “And what are your responsibilities, Mr. Gambon?”
“Well, madam, I am the liaison between the souls on this land and the holy trinity.” He laughed and dodged a good-natured blow from Bates. “I handle what I can. What I can’t, I take to Bates or O’Mara, as needed. If there is need of greater recourse, then we take it to the Alpha himself.”
“Surely you would like to know all that is occurring in your domain?” She raised her brows at the duke.
“I needn’t be bothered because the dogs and cats are brawling again or the magpies have gone on a spree,” Alfred replied. “Or that the mourning doves are in bits over Goddess knows what. The former would be under Bates’s remit, and the latter O’Mara’s.”
“He needs to be free to attend to greater matters,” Gambon added. “Our Alpha is our strongest member, but also our greatest servant.”
“Yes, O’Mara implied as much.”
“As only she can imply.” They shared a smile over that. “It is a place of beauty here, Your Grace,” Gambon continued, as they paused before coming upon the village green. “In its aspect and in its heart. The wolves and I are natural enemies, and yet here we bide in as much harmony as different beings can, and with a greater hope for the future now you are among us. And not only for ourselves, but also for our duke.” She looked over at Alfred, who, for the first time in their acquaintance, looked discommoded. “He is a good man and a splendid wolf, and his integrity has been a challenge and an inspiration for us all.”
“I understand you are to offer knowledge of your inner self only of your own volition.” Felicity peeked up at him, and he roared with laughter.
“And I understand that Alfred has met his match.” He bowed and said, “I am a boar, madam. B-O-A-R, not B-O-R-E. It is my lot to be solitary as a male in a matriarchal society such as my kind live in, and I found it not to my liking. I heard tell of an aristocratic wolf that sought a way forward for those who wished to mix and left my sounder. It was the work of the Goddess that he required a Gamma, the third in his personal coterie, and that I fit the bill. So here I am, expanding my nature by leaps and bounds.”
“Your Grace.” Bates smiled down at her. She’d never met so many tall men in all her days. “If you would follow us, you will find a gift from His Grace.” His Grace went from discomfited to tense in the beat of a heart.
The villagers looked even happier to see her than they had before, and she blushed to wonder what exactly was communicated along that web of Alfred’s. As she greeted the artisans and the crafts folk she had met previously, she noticed hammering and shouting drifting from the square.
“Has that empty acreage been put to use, so soon?”
“We have been given permission for the construction of that public house I mentioned,” said Gambon, “and another building with a very special purpose.”
They paused before said structure, the scent of sawdust and fresh paint in the air. It was extraordinary how speedily the workers were moving, smiling as they went, their bucked teeth gleaming as they flung a wall into place.Beavers, Felicity guessed. They’d be well able to build a sturdy property, if so.
“And what shall it be?” The sign for the shop was obscured by a length of canvas.
“Beresford,” Mr. Bates shouted, “let us see the name of this fine establishment.”
“We’ve only just put up that there cloth,” the stocky little man huffed.
“Beresford,” said Alfred, and nothing more; the builder and an equally thickset colleague scurried up ladders with greater ease than might have been expected. They released the cords that held the canvas in place and let it fall to the ground.
Very much opposite to the way Felicity’s heart soared into the boughs. “That…that is a magnificent sign.”
It was hewn from finest oak and simply read:Templeton Stud.
Nineteen
Alfred’s breath left his body as he waited for his mate’s response. His heart pounded, and it was as if his blood had frozen in his veins. His muscles trembled with tension, and his palms—his palms, the palms of the Alpha of the greatest pack in the British Isles—sweat like a pup’s. Was this what was experienced when he exercised thedominatum? It was not comfortable, to say the least.
“These are your premises,” Gambon explained, a hand hovering at Felicity’s elbow. “There will be a show paddock behind. We think. We’re not sure yet as to how your stock will respond to our natures, and frankly you’ll not shift much cattle if they’re glamoured into submission.”
“It is my hope you will look upon this gift with pleasure,” Alfred said.
Felicity nodded, her hands gripping her skirt.
“The sign meets with your approval? You did say it was magnificent, did you not?” She left his side and approached the entrance. He rushed to follow her, his Beta and Gamma close behind. “And should the interior not be up to your standards, then we shall set the beavers to work at once.”
He saw Bates exchange a concerned look with Gambon, who said, “Perhaps if we showed you ’round and explained our Alpha’s thoughts—”
“No.” Felicity looked at Alfred and only at Alfred. “His Grace will take me through. Thank you for your patience with my questions and for your honest answers. That will be all.”
She took his hand and led him into the building.
* * *
