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Wilder shrugged. “I’d be outnumbered, but I’m an alpha. I could easily get one more wolf to even the odds.”
She giggled despite the serious moment. “Two wolves for ten lions?”
“Sure. That seems like a fair fight. Lions are cats,” he said with played-up derision. “Pussies.”
Amelia joined in on his laughter. It was nice to imagine those big lions that had threatened her every waking moment into nothing more than prissy little kittens that wouldn’t want to get their paws wet.
“Thanks for that,” she said.
“Go on,” Wilder nudged his chin to the small car waiting for them.
Amelia descended the stairs to the vehicle on the tarmac. She didn’t recognize the brand, but it looked too small to fit Wilder. She watched in astonishment as the big and tall man folded himself into the driver’s seat.
“The roads are narrow and winding. This is the safest thing to drive out here.”
“Does that thing even have airbags?” she joked.
He nodded. “We won’t need them. I learned to drive on these roads.”
She snorted and took her seat next to him. “We’ve had very different lives.”
He chuckled. “Did we?”
“I don’t knowhowto drive. At first, I didn’t learn because there was no reason for agirlto learn how to drive. That was my father. Then it was just inconvenient. London is too busy for that. I’d rather take the tube.”
“And I seriously doubt Greg wanted you to learn.”
“Exactly. Just another thing that made it easier for him to control everything about my life.”
“Well, if you want, I can teach you how to drive,” he offered. “I’m not claiming to be a good teacher or even qualified, but I willneverdo anything that limits your freedom.”
Amelia was shocked by the intensity and the sincerity of his words. Though she didn’t know him well, she knew he believed his words. Wholeheartedly.
“I would love to learn how to drive,” she replied. “But maybe not right now. Not in these hills. I’d be scared of going off the edge.”
He grinned. “That’s fair but wait until you see my manor before you make that decision.”
Amelia laughed again, but she didn’t much feel like laughing anymore when Wilder finally drove them to his getaway.
It was actually a castle. A full-blown castle older than she dared to guess. It rose out of the forest with stately importance. The white and gray stones were weathered but clearly cared for. The surrounding grounds were out of some romance novel or period drama.
It was all so overwhelming that Amelia was speechless.
“This has been in our family for a long time. My great-grandfather bought it from a dragon friend of his. Actually, you might meet her one day.”
“She’s still alive?”
“Dragons live for a very long time. How else do you think they accumulate all that wealth? It’s the age.”
“And how long do wolves live?”
He chuckled. “Not that long. Like I said, my family bought this from a friend. That most likely means that it was given for services rendered or something.”
“Huh. And here I thought that wolves and dragons couldn’t be friends.”
Wilder frowned. “Why?”
“Because one of those creatures is fictional,” she stated.
