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“I have a few words to exchange with Lady Coleman,” he grumbled. “Those novels are nothing but trouble for us, near to undoing all the good we have done in keeping our secrets.”
“They are foul creatures, werewolves,” she agreed. “It seemed as though the Change was painful. And accompanied by pain and blood and the sound of cracking bones. And copious amounts of saliva.”
“While not as dramatic, the Shift is not without its physical challenges,” he allowed. “The bones and sinews undergo a complete transformation. Matthias’s father helped us through our first Change, and it was difficult, as it must be seen in the mind before the body can conform to the wolfskin. And until one has achieved it at least once, it can be almost impossible to form a picture. It makes sense, somewhere in the psyche, but the initial mental effort is unlike anything I’d ever known. Or known since. So, no, if we waited until every full moon, then we would not take on the speed we achieve with practice. The strongest among us can change in a finger snap. Matthias has yet to beat me.”
She thought of their children. “And yet you are born with this need. How do you know when it is time?”
“We trust our instincts.” He rubbed himself against her. “You are already acquainted with another benefit we enjoy…”
She felt said benefit growing hard against her back. “This did not feature in any of the stories.”
“We attract the interest of more than one predatory human woman,” he murmured. “Did they know what our abilities entailed…”
“Hmmmm.” Her wandering fingers threatened another round of tickles, but she could tell he was becoming inured to her teasing touch. “There was a moment inThe Beastly Baron Bardolph—”
“Good Goddess, woman. Do not torture me with such foolishness.”
“It wasn’t foolish,” she said as she stroked his now quiescent ribs. “He controlled the lovely Ethelinda—”
“Ethelinda!” He howled into her neck.
“With his mind,” she continued. “He made her do the most dreadful things to herself.”
“Did he?” Alfred drew Felicity onto her back.
“Have you the power to make me do dreadful things?” She lowered her eyes. “Baron Bardolph compelled Ethelinda to use his hands to touch her body as though it was her will.”
“I have already caused you to touch yourself,” he said. “Was it against your will?”
“It was not,” she sighed. “But it was lonely, in that great bath, with only the sound of the splashing water and my breath.” She took his hands and ran them over her shoulders and down to her breasts.
“I am amazed,” he said, as she encouraged him to plump her silken flesh and then flow over her ribs to her hips, “that the author ofThe Beastly Baron Bardolphwas so explicit as to pollute the minds of young ladies.”
“Oh,” she sighed as his fingers found her honeypot. “Mrs. Anchoretta Asquith did not express the corrupting coercion—oh—” They found an especially sensitive spot. “Ahhhh, in plain speech, but the hints were rather broad in an effort to warn young ladies against such sin.” His breath expelled in a rush as she turned eyes lambent with pleasure up to his. “It was only a matter of reading between the lines and following one’s, uh, instincts.”
He reclined next to her, and one hand caressed the mark he’d made on her skin. The heat of their bodies reached out to one another as Felicity’s skin turned rosy, her lips parted, her legs fell away from one another, and her head dropped back, eyes closed. “Open your eyes,” he ordered, and she obeyed. “Watch me watch you.”
“Say please,” she demanded.
“Please,” he whispered in her ear. “Oh, please, don’t stop.”
“In this instance,” she managed, “I am all that is obedient, Your Grace.”
* * *
The rings of the bed-curtains sang as Alfred whipped them open; he stood in all his glory, hands on his hips as Felicity buried her face in a pillow. “You are grumpy of a morning, for a horsewoman.” It was the third day of their mating retreat, and sadly the last. He set a piping hot cup of tea on the bedside table, which garnered her interest, as did the plate of eggs and toast.
“Have you made me tea?”
“Our desire to break our fast has once again been anticipated.”
“To what degree does the pack anticipate all our desires?” Felicity lifted her head from the pillow, alarmed.
“Not to that degree.” He handed her cup and saucer. “Although…”
“Oh, no.”
“No. But our bond serves to strengthen our connection to the pack and within the pack.”
