Elsa stiffened. That night when she’d been sixteen came rushing back. It had been the first time she’d ever been drunk. She’d vaguely remembered someone making sure she arrived home all right. Now that she thought back to that time, she remembered it had been Brand. That was part of the reason why she’d thought he looked so familiar yesterday. He hadn’t aged at all in the last seven years. He was exactly the same now as he’d been then. She’d also spotted him a few times out on the street. The thought of him following her around for that many years didn’t sit well with her.
She yanked her hands out of his as she gave him a hard stare. “So basically what you’re saying is that you’ve stalked me for seven years.”
“No, watched over you. Protected you.”
“Bullshit. You’re a stalker. People get arrested for that. You obviously already knew about Teddy. How much more of my life do you know? Christ, you already knew where I lived. You were stalking me yesterday. That’s why you were there when Teddy was being an ass.”
“Yes, I was already there. You are my mate. It’s my right to protect you. I’ve watched over you every day since the night I met you.”
Feeling a bit violated, Elsa lifted her foot and kicked Brand in the chest, shoving him onto his arse. She stood and looked down at him. “No matter what I am to you, you don’t have the right to stalk me.” She walked past him. “I’m getting the hell out of here.”
Before she reached the entrance to the living room, a man who looked around her age came rushing in. He didn’t pay any notice to her as he walked over to the men. The look of anxiousness he wore had Elsa stopping. She had a feeling this was Chris, the last member of the household she had yet to meet.
“Ah, guys,” he said, “we have a slight problem.”
“What happened, Chris?” Raed asked.
“We have werewolves at the front and back edges of the property.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. You’re their pack leader. They have to obey you without question.”
“Well, these ones are different. They’re from the pack when Stephen was leader. They’ve decided one of them should take my place. He’s challenged me.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Wulfric said. “Chris has to stay leader, no matter what.”
Raed nodded. “I guess that means we’ll all go out to confront them. Algar, Garrick, and I will take the ones at the back. Wulfric, Dolf, and Brand, you’ll stay with Chris. Keep him covered. He’ll have to fight, or we’ll have more of the beasts challenging his leadership.”
Elsa did not like the news Chris had brought. From the sound of things, she was trapped inside the manor, unable to get away from Brand as she wanted.
Chapter Seven
Brand turned his gaze to Elsa. She still stood at the entrance to the room, looking ready to bolt at any minute. He closed the distance between them and couldn’t help noticing how she stiffened or how her eyes slightly widened while fear lurked in their depths.
He sighed. “You’re going to have to stay inside the house until we’ve taken care of the werewolves. It’s not safe outside right now.”
She gave a curt nod. “Fine, but once everything is clear, I’m leaving. So don’t even try to stop me.”
“All right.”
He stared at her, drinking in her beautiful face. He’d fucked up. Badly. Not only was she afraid of what he was, Elsa was also pissed off with him because he’d watched over her for years. She didn’t understand that it went against everything he was to have left her without his protection. Plus, at least being able to see her every day had kept him from going crazy. If he hadn’t, Brand was sure he would have lost it as the need to claim her as his rode him. Watching over her had given him a small connection to her.
Now he was going to have the big job of winning her over. He should have learned from how his fellow warriors’ mates had reacted when they’d found out. But when Elsa had found Tiw’s mark on her back, he’d gone with his gut instinct and shifted. He was not known as a man who could be subtle. He liked to lay all his cards out on the table, no matter how they affected the people around him.
Brand met Elsa’s gaze. “Before I go out, I have to say one thing, even though you won’t want to hear it. I love you. I have for years. I’ve only ever thought about you as mine. I would never hurt you. All I’ve ever wanted is to protect you, to ensure your happiness. You might think I’m a stalker, but I think of it as showing how much you mean to me. You own my heart and always will. There hasn’t been another since I met you seven years ago, and there never will be. No matter how you feel about me.”
He took a step back and shifted into his werewolf form. He stared at Elsa, letting the love he felt for her show in his eyes. She didn’t move, didn’t make a sound. Brand looked over his shoulder at the others. “Wulfric, Dolf, Chris, let’s go put down Fenris’s get so my mate can go home.”
Without looking at Elsa, he left the room and headed for the front door. The werewolves outside were about to get a nasty surprise. Brand was in need of a good fight.
Elsa silently watched Brand in his werewolf form exit the living room. Dolf, Wulfric, and Chris followed him. She felt as if Brand had just run her down with a lorry. He loved her. Even though he’d said the words, she’d been able to see it in his werewolf eyes before he’d walked away. Then there was the fact that he’d stayed true to her for so long without her even being aware of him. And that if she decided to leave him, he wouldn’t go to another woman. No man had ever loved her that much.
Raed, Algar, and Garrick left the room and then headed to the back of the house. Their mates went with them. The sound of a long, drawn-out howl caused goose bumps to break out all over her skin. She wrapped her arms around her middle and hugged herself. She really didn’t know if she could handle this strange new world that had been thrust on her. Elsa really didn’t understand it, and it scared her. She’d been given too much information too fast. She needed time to assimilate it all.
Another howl could be heard. Elsa jumped when Maggie came up beside her and touched her arm. “Come sit down, Elsa. You’ll be more comfortable.”
Elsa went with the other woman and sat on the couch. She noticed Cydney stood at the large picture window, staring outside. “Things are starting to heat up out there,” Cydney said.
“How is Dolf doing?” Maggie asked as she joined the other woman at the window.
“Our guys are whipping those werewolves’ asses.”
Maggie sucked in a loud breath. “Oh, Brand took a nasty hit.”
Elsa found herself on her feet and crossing to the window before she could think about it. The sight that met her eyes had her biting her bottom lip to hold back a whimpered moan. The scene looked like chaos. There were so many werewolves out there she couldn’t tell the good ones from the bad.”
As if she’d read Elsa’s mind, Cydney said, “Our guys are the ones with the swords.”
That’s when Elsa noticed that some of them did indeed fight with swords. She didn’t know who was who, except for Brand. She soon spotted him. His fur was the same color as his hair—pure black.
Despite the anger and fear she felt toward him, Elsa couldn’t stop herself from watching Brand. A part of her didn’t want to see him get hurt. She’d spent two days making love to him, and they’d become close. It wasn’t something she could totally forget.
Soon darkness closed in, and it was harder to see. The only light was from the almost full moon and the manor’s outside lights. Where the warriors and werewolves fought was at the end of the drive, which was a fair bit of distance away. It made it harder for Elsa to follow everything.