Chapter Ten
Stepping into the living room, Roan found Ansley on the couch. She stared off into space lost in thought. He had no idea if that boded well for him or not. Cautiously, not wanting to startle her, he crossed over to where she sat and took the space next to her.
“I’m so sorry, Ansley. I never planned to spring it on you like this. I wanted to take things slow.”
Ansley kept her gaze fixed straight ahead of her. “I don’t know what to think, Roan. What Roxie told me … it’s an awful lot to digest all at once.”
“I know. Roxie told me to be upfront with you right from the start. You have to understand when a male werewolf finds his mate the mating urge sinks its claws into him and doesn’t let go until he has claimed his mate. It’s hard to ignore when the wolf inside is howling for you to take what belongs to you.” When Ansley didn’t say anything or look at him, Roan sighed. “I know it doesn’t excuse what I did, but can you at least try to forgive me?”
“Do you love me, Roan?” Ansley’s voice sounded flat, emotionless. Roan blinked at the sudden change in topic. “What?”
“I asked if you love me.”
No longer able to stand the distance Ansley had put between them physically and mentally, he pulled her onto his lap. He put a hand under chin and forced her to look at him. “Of course I love you, Ansley. You’re my mate.”
“Are you sure it’s love and not lust? Are you sure it isn’t this mating urge forcing you to feel what you think is love?”
Roan scowled. “It isn’t just the mating urge. I love you. The mating urge never would have kicked in if you weren’t the one meant for me. Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to find my mate?”
“Roxie told me you were over a thousand years old. She also told me about the spell.”
“And?” Roan held his breath, waiting to hear what Ansley’s answer would be.
“I’m not ready for that, Roan. I don’t know if I’ll ever be.”
He released the breath he had been holding. “What are you saying, Ansley?”
“You say you love me, but I don’t know if what I feel for you is love or not. I’ve never been in love before. I have no idea what love is. I didn’t exactly grow up knowing the love of a mother or father. I don’t know if I’m even capable of it. I’m just so confused right now.”
Roan pulled Ansley’s head down to his shoulder and rubbed her back. “I won’t ask anything from you that you aren’t ready to give. Just know that I’m not going anywhere, ever. You’re mine. For now, that’s enough for me. We’ll work out the rest as we go along.”
Some of the tension he felt left his body when Ansley snuggled closer into his embrace. At least she hadn’t rejected him outright. The way she had reacted when he had gone wolf, Roan had been pretty worried she would want nothing to do with him. At that moment, Jager popped his head into the living room. “Sorry, never mind me.” He walked over to the couch and picked up his sword where Roxie had left it on the floor.
Much to Roan’s surprise, Ansley lifted her head and shook her head in Jager’s direction. “You better not let Roxie catch you with that. She may kick your butt instead of just taking it from you the next time. And given how big she looked in her half wolf/half human form, I would say she would have no problem kicking your butt if she wanted to.”
Jager shrugged. “She can always try,” he said with a smile. He had just stepped into the hallway when Roan and Ansley heard him say, “Oh, shit.”
The next voice they heard was Roxie’s. “I thought I took that from you already.”
Jager replied, “Well, I took it back.”
“You know how I feel about it,” Roxie said. “Now hand it over.” Jager obviously didn’t do as Roxie had asked, because she then said, “Give me that damn sword, Jager.”
The next thing Roan and Ansley heard were the sounds of heavy footfalls taking off at a run and another much lighter set following behind them. Roxie’s voice drifted to them as she chased after Jager. “You can run, but I’m still going to take that sword away from you.”
Roan and Ansley looked at each other then burst out laughing. Ansley was the first to recover. “Are they always like this?”
“Not all the time. The sword just happens to be a bone of contention between them. Roxie’s just afraid Jager will hurt somebody with it.”
“Would he?”
Roan shook his head. “No. Jager can handle a sword better than most of us. He doesn’t make mistakes like that. As you may have guessed, he’s so attached to the thing you would swear he had been born with it in his hand.”
Ansley’s face grew serious. “You have a sword too, don’t you?”
“Yes. All my brothers have one. Same with Saskia. That’s our weapon of choice.”
“I think I would like to see your sword, Roan,” Ansley said softly. “I have to admit Jager looked pretty hot standing there with his sword raised like that. It made me think about other raised swords.”
Roan growled low in his throat. “You had better be thinking about my sword and not Jager’s. I would hate to beat the crap out of my own brother.”
Ansley smiled. “It most definitely was your sword I thought about since you know how to use it so well.”
With another growl, Roan kissed Ansley until she grew pliant against him. He then urged her head on his shoulder and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. He knew she would still need some time to come to terms with everything that she had learned today, but he felt more than pleased that the distance she had tried to put between no longer existed. Later he would show Ansley how much he loved her. And, if she made the decision to stay a mortal, he would show her that he would stand by it and wouldn’t force her into becoming a werewolf. He had already taken one choice away from her. He wouldn’t take this one away from her too.
Ansley watched Roan cross swords with Jager down in the training area in the basement. After they had left Roxie and Beowulf’s place, they had gone back to Roan’s house, actually her house now too. She and Roan had had a long talk. He had told her everything about him, even what it was like to be a werewolf. It had helped her to be more accepting of what he had done. And it helped her to understand the whole mated business. She knew she had strong feelings for him, the strongest she had ever felt for a man, but she still didn’t know if she would call it love. She wished she could tell him she loved him in return when he told her he loved her, but Ansley wouldn’t just say the words because he wanted to hear them.
During their talk, Roan had also explained why he and his family had trained so hard to protect Roxie, the foretold one. According to Roan, Roxie was more than just special. She could do things no other werewolf could, much more than just being able to shift into a half wolf/half human form and use a spell to turn mortals into werewolves. Since she also ruled over all the packs, it made her vulnerable. If another werewolf somehow managed to get control of her, they could use Roxie as a figurehead to rule instead. Roan had also told her about Miles, Saskia’s true brother, who at one time had been trained to protect the foretold one alongside his sister. But that was before he decided to switch sides and covet the foretold one for his own.