“Your pack sounds pretty fantastic, Michael.”
He nodded. “I’m not going to lie to you ever. It was fantastic and then it wasn’t and now it’s struggling but it will be again.”
“Something happened with your dad?”
Michael stood up and pulled the covers back on the bed, removing the top bedspread.
She had no idea what he was doing. Did he not like to sleep with sheets? Without realizing it, she must have given him a questioning look and he smiled.
His grin made her heart stutter. Michael had one dimple in his left cheek. Gods, she was so pathetic. There was no question he was dreamy, but there was no point in her fluttering around about him especially because she did not want his hands on her.
“The bedspreads in hotel rooms are always infested with bacteria. I’m removing it from the bed.” That being said, he dumped the floral monstrosity on the floor.
“Are you a hypochondriac?” As soon as she asked the question, she shut her mouth in horror. You didn’t ask Michael Kane that. She dropped her eyes down. Now she had done it. Now he would flip out.
“Not at all. I’ve slept in horrendous circumstances much worse than this. But, I’m thinking of your open wounds. I don’t want anything happening to you.”
He climbed up on the bed next to her again, this time lying down with his head on the pillow. Scarlett’s heart pounded hard. Where was the attack? She waited and waited, but he lay silent next to her.
Finally, she lifted her eyes to look at him. His head slightly turned, he regarded her with one eyebrow raised. “To answer your question from earlier, my father got drunk with power. His objectives changed. He no longer cared about being a good Alpha, he wanted more. He wanted to make more of us. So he got involved with a very bad man, and between the two of them, they found a witch who cursed all the mated men in my pack to kill their mates.”
She gasped, a vision of that night filled her eyes even as Michael kept talking. She could almost see them as it happened. Michael had been there, he’d tried to stop things, he’d tried to help, and he’d been attacked on all sides. Ten different wolves, all shifters he’d grown up respecting and caring about, they’d tried to kill him too…
“You okay?”
She nodded, coming back to herself. “Sometimes I have this weird thing happen where I can see what people see when they tell me stories.”
“Ah.” He smiled and reached out to stroke her hair. She had to admit, she really liked when he did that. She didn’t want his hands on her body; her hair was a different story.
“You’re a vision-seeker.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s part of the female magic line. Men may be the stronger shifters, but the female pack members hold all the magic, keep the pack right with the universe. Yours is an old ability, very rare these days.”
Wait a minute. That wasn’t even possible. “Michael, I’m latent.”
“Doesn’t matter. Just because you can’t shift doesn’t mean you can’t do anything else. You have the sense of smell, you have the magic. Surely, even here, someone explained it to you.”
Scarlett was beginning to suspect that nothing that had ever been explained to her was ever true. “No.” She cleared her throat. “Please continue.”
“Oh, well after that night, we struggled. My mother had hidden away all the unmated females when she got wind of my father’s plan. Then he killed her. We spent thirty years floundering around in agony before Tristan found Ashlee, his mate. After that, he took his place as Alpha of the pack.”
She wasn’t sure why exactly, but Scarlett heard something in Michael’s voice that told her he was holding back something from this story. Something personal. Maybe it was the way he’d rushed through the backend of it. More likely it was because she couldn’t see what he talked about. He must be holding something back, something that made the story incomplete.
“And Angel came to live with us because your mother hid her from her father.”
That much she was aware of. Scarlett had been five. She could still remember the day the beautiful infant had arrived. Dark hair, dark eyes, and a smile that made everyone in the pack grin back.
“Yes, that’s when Angel got sent away. We all forgot about her. It was part of the magic my mother did to protect the women. Only recently did we become aware of her existence again.” He rolled over and turned off the light before turning on his side to face her. “But we aren’t going to talk about Angel Kane any more tonight. Cole told you not to and you don’t trust me enough yet to know that I would never let anyone so much as speak harshly to you let alone punish you for disobeying an order.”
She leaned back, wincing at the pain the slight movement caused her. The darkness usually scared her. With only her smell and no ability to defend herself, she always felt the most vulnerable in the dark. Tonight, however, was a different story.
Michael had made no move to touch her in an unwanted manner and she had to admit lying next to him did make her feel less alone. She knew if anyone showed up, they wouldn’t get to her without him trying to kill them first.
She opened her eyes wide at the thought. It was an odd thing for her to think and she wasn’t sure how she knew it but it was true. Michael wasn’t going to let anyone hurt her tonight.
Exhaling, her shoulders sagged and tears fell from her eyes. Gods, when was the last time she could lie in a bed and know she’d been fine?
“Hey.” He pulled her against him in a gentle hug. His stomach pushed against her back. “What are these tears?”
“I think, if you want to know the truth, they’re relief.”
“Scarlett, I don’t want to frighten you, ever. But I have to tell you this and I want desperately for you to believe me. Whatever you’ve gone through, and I hope someday you’ll trust me enough to tell me about it, no one will ever harm you again.” He kissed the back of her head and she shivered, her core getting warm and tingly. “You’re my mate. I’ve waited two hundred and ten years for you.”
Now that was some interesting information. “Two hundred and ten?” No one in her pack ever made it that long. They all died from something long before then.
“Today actually. I am two hundred and ten years old today.”
“It’s your birthday?”
“For about two more hours.”
She sighed, feeling warm. “Happy Birthday, Michael.”
“Thank you. I got the best gift imaginable.”
“What?”
He laughed, low in his throat. The sound brought chills up her back. “You, Scarlett, I got you.”
“I might prove to be more of a curse.”
“No.” His voice was firm, unrelenting. It was easier to speak to him in the dark facing away from him. She didn’t feel like looking down this way. “I know curses. I’ve lived under one. You’re a gift from the gods.”
Tears pooled in her eyes again. She was like a weeping machine. He patted her hair, pushing his head up against hers on the pillow. “Go to sleep.”
“I never sleep very much or for very long.”
“You will tonight.”
As if on command, she yawned. “I am really exhausted.”
“I know. I can feel it. My wolf is pacing around like he’s caged because he’s so worried about your level of tiredness.”
She would love to know what that felt like. What did it mean to have two entities inside of you?
“Scarlett?”
“Yes, Michael.” She could feel her eyelids drooping down.
“What is your last name?”
“Knoll. Scarlett Knoll.”
The heaviness of sleep beckoned her and she wanted to roll around in it like a warm blanket, but she also didn’t want to give up this feeling of being held by this Hollywood handsome man. Of course, if he were to be believed they’d have lots of time to do this again.