by Lydia Dare
"You haven't been much of a beast this week. To be honest, I found you to be much more beastly before we married," Prisca admitted.
"I'll show you beastly," he growled playfully as he leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Tomorrow night."
Thirty-Five
Will slowly awoke as the sun streamed through the window. He'd neglected to draw the drapes the night before, preferring to watch the moonlight filter across his sleeping bride. Truly the most wondrous of all sights.
Prisca softly groaned and snuggled against his chest, shielding her eyes from the invading light. He wrapped his arm more securely around her and breathed in her lilac scent, which he'd finally realized was the balm for his tortured soul. Her mere presence never failed to calm the beast within him.
Even still, anticipation for the coming evening began to build inside Will. He'd never claimed a mate before, and the idea of being connected to Prisca for the rest of his days thrilled him beyond compare. It was something that, until recently, he'd never even dared to hope for.
Prisca's hand trailed up his chest, lighting him on fire, and he bit back a groan. Tonight. He'd claim her tonight. Keeping himself from her the last few days had been a special sort of torture, one he'd never have to endure again.
"Will," her soft voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Yes, love?"
"Morning." She yawned and pushed up on his chest, looking into his eyes.
"Good morning."
She leaned forward and brushed her soft lips against his jaw. "Haven't been awake too long, have you?"
He shook his head as his hand roamed up her side. "Just thinking how I love waking up with you in my arms."
Her violet eyes sparkled in the sunlight. "Me, too," she admitted. Then she bit her bottom lip as though she was going to say something else but thought the better of it. Who knew what went on in that mind of hers?
"What is it, Priss?"
She shook her head. "I was just wondering about tomorrow morning. Do you think this will feel different somehow?"
Will grinned at her. "I was thinking something similar before you woke."
"Really?"
He tucked her against him and kissed her brow. "I talked to Ben about it, shortly after he claimed Elspeth."
"And?" she asked anxiously.
Will chuckled. "He said that everything was the same, only better."
"What is that supposed to mean? It's not helpful at all."
"It's Benjamin… what do you expect?" Will closed his eyes and breathed her in. "Today is going to be the longest day I've ever suffered through."
***
It was the longest day Prisca had ever suffered through. She'd spent the day with her sisters-in-law, trying to wheedle any information about being claimed from them. To keep the men in the house from overhearing, she'd invited them down to the dower house. Not that such precautions mattered. Neither Lily nor Elspeth were forthcoming with information. They'd both smiled wistfully and said she'd understand soon enough.
But she wanted to understand now.
She couldn't bring herself to ask Alice either. There were some things one shouldn't discuss with her mother-in-law, no matter how inquisitive one was.
After needlepoint, pounding out one Vivaldi song after another on the pianoforte, and sending a note to her father, Prisca was quite ready for the day to be over.
She suffered through a very uninteresting dinner at Westfield Hall, during which no one spoke. The duke's eyes were glued to Lily, while Ben's gaze never left Elspeth. It was clear everyone else was just as anxious for the full moon as she was, which, in a way, was a comfort. If Elspeth and Lily were eagerly awaiting this night and had been through other full moons with their husbands, there was certainly no reason for Prisca to be worried, was there?
Just as the lemon tortes were placed before them, a raucous noise came from the hallway. It sounded as though a pack of wild animals had somehow gotten loose inside Westfield Hall. Crashes and stomping rang out.
Before Prisca could even gasp, Will, his brothers, and even the young Earl of Maberley all leapt from their chairs.
"What the devil is he doing here?" Blackmoor grumbled.
"Language, Simon," the dowager duchess reprimanded him.
The duke paid his mother very little attention as he stalked off toward the corridor, Will and Ben flanking him and Oliver following behind. Prisca glanced around the table from Alice to Lily to Elspeth and back again. "What do you think that is?"
The dowager duchess pushed her torte away. "It seems as though Desmond has returned."
Elspeth nodded. "It does sound like Papa."
They all appeared so calm, as though it was commonplace for a grown man—a major in Wellington's army, no less—to destroy everything in his reach. Prisca scoffed. "Aren't you even the least bit curious?"
Alice shook her head. "I'm certain we'll know in due time. Besides, when a man is that angry, it's best to stay out of his path until he's had a chance to calm down a bit."
Her appetite gone and her stomach tied up in knots, Prisca pushed her untouched torte to the side.
Elspeth caught her eye from across the table, just as her fiery-haired sister-in-law's stomach rumbled. "Are ye no' hungry, Prisca?"
She gestured to one of the footman to remove her torte. "Please give this to Lady Elspeth."
The Scottish witch's green eyes widened in surprise. "I couldna possibly—"
"Nonsense," Prisca muttered, glancing over her shoulder toward the doorway the four men had departed through. "I believe your daughter has a craving for lemon tortes. She might as well enjoy mine."
"There's no need to worry, Prisca." Lily sent her a reassuring smile. "It's just a full moon. They always behave a bit differently when the moonful is upon us."
Prisca refocused on her dinner companions and noticed Elspeth and Alice nodding in agreement. "This is normal?" she asked. "Stalking out of the dining room as a rabid group, without a word to the rest of us?"
Lily shrugged. "It's only one night a month, and the benefits far outweigh the detriments, dear. Trust me."
Benefits? It was on the tip of her tongue to find out what Lily meant when the young Earl of Maberley rejoined them. Oliver York slumped down into his seat next to his Aunt Lily, his bottom lip jutted out in a pout.
"Why are you sulking, dear?" the duchess asked her nephew.
He scowled, focusing on the door. "They wouldn't let me stay. Which doesn't make a bit of sense, as I can hear it all anyway."
Prisca focused on the boy, her curiosity piqued. "You can hear what they're saying?" she whispered.
Oliver nodded. "They're in an uproar because Major Forster lost Brimsworth."
Lost Brimsworth
? Prisca hadn't known the major had the earl to begin with. What else didn't she know? She glanced around at the identical looks of worry on Alice, Lily, and Elspeth's faces. "Why did he have Lord Brimsworth?"
The Westfield women all exchanged glances with each other, which annoyed Prisca to no end. Did everyone know about this except her?
Oliver winced. "Now I'm in for it."
"Oliver," Lily warned.
He looked down at his abandoned dessert. "Too late. He already knows I told you. Right now, he's threatening to take me back to Harrow tomorrow instead of next week." He paused a moment. "But now he's back to barking at the major again."
"Enough," his aunt advised softly. "I'd like to keep you the rest of the week. Don't provoke Simon unnecessarily."
Well, if she wasn't going to get any more information from Oliver, Prisca wasn't going to remain in the dining hall. Her chair legs scraped along the floor as she rose from her place.
"Prisca," Lily began.
She waved the duchess off. "I have never been afraid of provoking His Grace, unnecessarily or otherwise." Besides, everyone else seemed to know what was going on. She was a Westfield now, too; they shouldn't keep things from her.
Prisca left the rest of her husband's family in her wake as she start
ed down the corridor toward the duke's study. Loud bursts of anger could be heard right up to the moment she reached the study door. Then the noise suddenly stopped.
Blast them! They could hear her approach. It was quite unfair that they could hear everything in the house and were able to eavesdrop on her conversations yet they worked so diligently to keep her from
learning anything useful at all.
The door to the study flew open, and the duke and Ben barreled into the corridor. They both glanced briefly at Prisca before stalking past her in the direction she'd come from. She tiptoed the rest of the way and peeked her head inside the study.
Sitting in one of the duke's chairs, Major Forster raked a hand through his hair in frustration, while Will, standing sentry at the imposing desk, pinned her with his gaze. "I do wish you wouldn't
try
to irritate Simon. It just makes things more difficult for the rest of us."
She gulped, suddenly not certain if she would ever get accustomed to Will and the others overhearing every breath she took, every word she uttered. Wasn't one entitled to a little privacy? Prisca tipped her nose haughtily in the air. "And I wish he wasn't such a bully. Now are you going to tell me why Major Forster
had
Lord Brimsworth?"
The major's head shot up, and he waited for Will's reply, right along with Prisca.
"I told you he was dangerous, Priss. Promise me you won't go near him."
She had no desire to see Brimsworth. It would have been an easy promise to make, but she didn't appreciate him dictating the fact to her. "You didn't answer my question, William."
He sighed and crossed the room to her side. "It's going to be a long night, love. I don't know when I'll be back. Can we continue this conversation in the morning?"
He was leaving? But it was the full moon. He was supposed to transform in front of her eyes. He was supposed to claim her this evening, become a part of her. Prisca's mouth fell open. "But the moon—"
"Another full moon will come around next month." He brushed his knuckles across her cheek. "God willing, we'll have many more after that."
"But, Will—" she began as he stepped around her into the doorway.
"Major Forster has promised to keep an eye on you for me."
None of this made any sense at all, and Prisca's heart began to race with fear. "William! Tell me where you're going."
"To keep you safe," he replied quietly. Then he touched his lips to her brow.
Thirty-Six
Prisca stepped through the garden gate behind The Hall and looked up at the full moon. Evidently, all that Will had told her of the moonful had turned out to be a lie. She should have known.
At that very moment, instead of claiming her as his Lycan mate, he was off with his brothers, scouring the woods for the Earl of Brimsworth. Truly, what damage could a lone Lycan do? He seemed fairly innocuous, all things considered.
Now Lily and Elspeth were irritated with her, presumably because she'd cut into their time during the moonful by occupying their husbands, or perhaps because she'd successfully sent His Grace into a snit and everyone had to deal with him.
And still, she'd yet to find out what it meant to claim one's mate. But the very thought of Will laying claim to any part of her made a quick shiver dance through her belly. If just thinking about it made her toes tingle, she could just imagine why the other ladies of the house were so put out by her.
It wasn't her fault Brimsworth had slipped away from the major. Elspeth's father stood inside the house and watched her through the window, even now. Will had handed her leading strings right over to the old officer. And he'd begrudgingly accepted them.
He'd growled and snapped and snarled at everyone who came near him, ever since he'd returned from his trip with the unfortunate news about Brimsworth's disappearance. As the moon rose in the sky, it got even worse. Lily and Elspeth had retired to their rooms, and he'd growled almost continually. The only one who seemed to calm him was Alice. When Alice came into the room, the major hovered over her like a hummingbird over a blooming flower.
Alice did nothing more than touch the side of the man's face, and Prisca could almost see the tension leave his body. But the hungry look never left his eyes. He looked at Alice like she was the counter-measure to every ounce of pent-up energy within him. And she responded with coy looks over her shoulder that made the man growl. Evidently, passion didn't fade with age.
Finally, the major had pulled Alice down into his lap, and Prisca had fled the sitting room. She'd wandered the halls until the light of the full moon caught her attention and she'd sought sanctuary in the garden.
For years, Will had come to her on the night of the full moon. She longed to sink her fingers into his shaggy brown hair and look into his eyes, which would certainly appear as dark as sapphires under the light of the night.
Prisca glanced up at the full moon and absently fingered the locket she wore around her neck. Of course, now she knew Will and her wolf were one in the same. She loved them equally. But she wasn't sure if Will was aware she'd put the pieces of the puzzle together. Would he stop coming to her in wolf form now? Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest at the thought of never seeing her wolf again. Would Will try to put her off with every full moon?
Prisca stood and shook out her skirts, already damp from the dew of the night. She glanced once toward the window where the major had stood. But he was gone. A small smile tipped her lips as she imagined him stalking Alice.
It was her turn to stalk Will. Prisca stepped into the woods. It was time to seduce her husband.
***
Will lurked in the woods that surrounded Westfield Hall. Unlike his brothers, he'd chosen to stay close to The Hall in case Brimsworth somehow evaded them all.
He heard a howl in the distance, which he instantly recognized as Simon. Then, from a greater distance, Ben answered. They'd all picked up vague scents of the beast, each trailing off in a different direction. It was as though the wild Lycan had sent them out on a merry chase. Only none of them were feeling very jovial. Simon had nearly taken the major's head off when he'd returned with the news that Brimsworth was nowhere to be found. Until the old man raised his hackles and stared Simon down. Evidently, even the pack leader paid respect to his elder.
Will put his nose to the ground, looking for a trail that might indicate the golden wolf stalked the occupants of Westfield Hall. Or, more specifically, one occupant of Westfield Hall. His brothers could take care of themselves. And their wives had already been claimed. Brimsworth would have no desire to take them. Not finding any sign of the earl, Will turned to sweep the grounds again. He ran, enjoying the freedom that came with being in his Lycan form.
He stopped in his tracks, his claws digging into the soft earth as he stood up straight and tall. Brimsworth's scent. There it was, dark and dangerous. He'd been here recently, within the last few moments, actually.
Will searched the ground for tracks, but little could be seen in the mossy earth of the forest floor. He turned, putting his nose back to the ground to follow the scent.
***
"Don't hurt me," Prisca whispered to the golden wolf that blocked her path, her words choked by the fear in her chest. Before she could take two steps, the hulking beast knocked her to the ground where he loomed over her.
Prisca covered her face with her arm, certain the beast who'd knocked her down would take a piece of it at any second. Limned by the light of the full moon, the Earl of Brimsworth was a snarling shadow above her. His lips were raised to show his sharp teeth, and a drop of thick saliva dripped from his mouth onto the bodice of her gown.
Prisca extended her arms behind her and used her arms and legs to walk backward on her hands, slowly trying to slide from below the feral beast.
The growl intensified. She stopped moving. Her gaze searched the forest floor, looking for a weapon. A large rock would do. A stick might help. But she had nothing close enough to touch. The only thing within her r
each was this golden-haired wild dog who looked ready to devour her. Very little of Brimsworth, or what she knew to be Brimsworth, was present in the wolf. He was completely unlike Will, who carried his human traits into his Lycan body.
The beast placed his paws upon her body and growled sharply in her ear as he snapped his teeth so forcefully she could feel the breeze the action stirred. He pushed her back, but she refused to lie beneath the creature. He could kill her, but she would die fighting. She lifted a hand to grab a hunk of the animal's hair.
But from her right, she heard a menacing growl and her glance swung at the same time as the beast caught the sound as well. Joy flooded her heart while fear encompassed her.