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His delicious scent lingers, one that Dara appears oblivious to. My nose twitches, and a strange lethargy wraps me up like a warm blanket.
“Are you sure you’re not an omega in hiding?” Dara says with a smirk. “You’ve near swooned, and your nose was twitching like a rabbit finding fresh clover to feast on.”
The wordfeasttakes my wayward thoughts in highly inappropriate directions, courtesy of the many tales Dara filled my mind with regarding alphas and the wicked things they like to do. Lor has done an admirable job of adding a face to those fantasies over the last couple of months while he has been in service to my mother. “The man is too full of himself and presumptuous,” I say, trying to steady the telltale rise in my heartbeat. “My mother would send him away, except he works for us for free.”
My mother thinks Lor is wonderful. I feel shame in my harsh words and further shame of our situation anew. Dara’s face softens.
“Oh, love,” she says, squeezing me in another hug. “He is a little rough around the edges. He hails from a distant clan razed by an orc attack.”
“I never realized.” I feel insensitive for never asking him now.
“Thank the Goddess the green bastards have been pushed back now. He wandered for a long time before he came here.” Her expression turns wry. “Papa said they were all surly behemoths where Lor comes from. Also, he’s an alpha, and they do not make good handymen regardless of where they are from. Aston mentioned that your father saved Lor’s life, and it’s surely a blessing that he pays this debt in helping however he can.”
“We are lucky to have him, even if he is a little abrasive.”
Dara laughs and, slipping her arm through mine again, walks me to the door. “He is also very handsome.”
“And a barbarian shifter,” I point out. As we reach the front door, Dara hands me a round slab encased in a wax cloth—honey cake, I’m guessing. One I may share with my mother tonight. It will be sure to cheer her up.
I collect my cloak from the hook behind the door and rest it over my forearm.
“Well,” she says, smirking. “There is that. You know, I always dreamed you would marry Aston one day so we might be friends forever. He has left the army service and intends to make the clan his home.”
“Aston?” I nearly swallow my tongue as an involuntary shiver races through my body at the mention of the handsome alpha who has starred in many of my dreams. Only it feels like every time I see him, he has changed, and we have grown farther apart from the children we once were and who played together. “Is he here?”
“Out seeing to some business,” she says. “But I’m sure he will be here next time you visit.”
Next time. There will not be a next time.
He is probably visiting another clan… or a lass, who is doubtless swooning and batting their lashes at the handsome alpha. What might have happened if he stayed last time?
Then I smile because our adventures are part of me, and no wedding to a stuffy lord can take that away. “He was wicked and merciless with me as a child. I still have nightmares about that time he put stinging nettles down my gown!”
“He has a mischievous streak,” she admits.
I raise a brow.
“We all knew he would be an alpha even before he revealed. Just as we all thought you would become an omega,” she says. “For you definitely have the look. If you were an omega, it wouldn’t matter that you were poor.”
“If I were an omega, the king would suddenly love my mother and shower her with gold,” I say dryly.
“Well,” she says sourly. “The king ought to do that anyway.”
“For fuck’s sake, get your ass in the damn carriage,” Lor growls.
It’s only now that I realize he is standing, hands on hips glaring at us.
Goodness, has he been listening all this time? My cheeks fill with heat.
Dara only giggles. “Come on, the beast is getting impatient. But he does speak the truth. The sky is dark and heavy. We may well get snowed in if you linger.”
“Oh, I hope not,” I say to cover how enticing that scenario sounds. A whole month, maybe more, trapped with Aston, and where he might feel compelled to woo me with a mind to making me his mate.
Only Aston is away, and I’d be trapped instead with Lor… Which wouldn’t be so bad, either.
“Me too,” she agrees and, leaning in, kisses my cheek. “Do come and visit me again as soon as you can.”
A muttered curse reminds me Lor is waiting. I turn and make my way to the carriage that stands, door open, with the stern alpha beside it. My heated cheeks cool under his censorious glare. Maybe he hates the carriage my mother insists I use—no one uses a carriage in the clans.
