Kresley Cole - MacRieve

He was horrified. He would rather die than harm her. “I’m so sorry! Have I hurt you? The babe?”

Her hands went to her belly as if to protect the wee girl. Protect Isla from me?

But then Mam’s tears dried. Her inner beast began to rise, her eyes turning ice blue. Never, never, a good sign. Shite!

“You’ve no’ hurt me, boy,” she growled, her fangs lengthening. “Best worry for your own hide.”

Just as Da and Munro made the doorway, she snapped to Will, “Hie your arse inside. Now!”

Da helped Mam to her feet, glancing from her to his son with his jaw slackened. “Have you lost your bluidy mind, Will?”

Aye! Will glanced over his shoulder toward the Woods of Murk, imagining the relief, the end of this pain. He whimpered—

Da’s massive hand clamped Will’s neck. “In you go!” He squired Will to a seat before Conall’s great hearth fire. After getting a better look at his son’s face, he added another log to the flames.

With his tall form outlined by the flickering light, Da looked even more intimidating than usual. Will swallowed, darting a glance at his twin.

Munro’s slow nod and steady gaze seemed to say, We’ll get through this. Keep your head. It helped.

Their mother crossed to sit close by her mate. Mam and Da were always near each other, as if their beasts were tethered with an invisible leash.

Her ire was clearly fading as she stared at Will’s sweating face. “Dugh, we need to send for a physic.”

“I fear I know what’s wrong with him.” Da turned to him. “Where were you going, son?” He seemed to hold his breath.

Will couldn’t lie to his face. And more, he had to trust what he knew of his father’s character—and Lykae law—over Ruelle’s overwrought predictions. No Lykae will harm another’s mate. “I was going to see my female, a woman who lives in the Woods.”

Silence reigned. His words seemed to hang in the air.

When Da exhaled a stunned breath and Mam looked stricken, a marked unease stole over Will.

Ruelle had predicted that they wouldn’t understand; she’d never mentioned that they’d be disgusted.

Turning to Da, Mam muttered, “Too young, ah gods, he’s too young.” She rose unsteadily to gather a blanket. Wrapping it around Will’s shoulders, she said, “Warm yourself, lad. You’ve a long night ahead of you.” He noticed with dread that her eyes watered once more.

“ Why am I too young? Humans wed when they’re no’ much older than I.” Of course, he’d prepared these arguments, fashioning them from those he’d heard Ruelle say.

“Humans must!” Da began to pace. “In these harsh lands, they scarcely live longer than your age! But you, Will, you can potentially live forever. In any case, you’re far too young to be in the clutches of one like her.”

This was his mate they spoke of! Surely she was.

“Do you no’ know what she is?” Da spat the words: “She’s a succubus. ”

“Ruelle told me this, right off.”

“Aye, but do you understand what the word means, what her kind do?”

Will’s eyes darted. “It means that we are so connected we’ll suffer without each other.” After three nights of mating a succubus, a male would take on her essence, her mystical venom, binding himself to her until death.

Mam said, “It means she’s a parasite.” Her tears fell. “One who sank her claws into my lad.” He’d never seen his mother cry before this eve. “She’s envenomed you. ’Tis why you have sickness.”

“Then I need to reach her. It’s been three days. If I’m feeling this way, then so is she.”

Da shook his head. “Unlike you, she can take another. I’d be shocked if she does no’ have a stable of lovers. Even in the Woods, she could lure others.”

Impossible. Ruelle loved Will alone.

Da finally sank down beside Mam. “How long have you been seeing her?”

Will hesitated.

In a tone brooking no disobedience, Da snapped, “How—long?”

Forcing his shoulders back, Will answered, “I first went to her cottage four years ago.”

Da shot back to his feet. His mother pressed the back of her hand against her mouth to stifle a retching sound. Had there been a glimmer of rage in Da’s eyes? A glimpse of his beast? Never had Da unleashed it before them.

Should Will be denied his mate just because he and Ruelle were born in differing times? How could his parents react so violently to something that was natural? They were not usually judgmental.

Will hugged the blanket tighter, struggling to hide his shudders. Pain was like a drum inside him, beating him, breaking him. His bones . . .

“My precious lad,” Mam choked out, rising to her feet. “ ’Tis a vile perversion,” she told Da. “I doona understand how he survived her hungers when so young! He’s far from his immortality.”

Survived? Could he have died ? All Will had done was bed a beautiful woman.

“His beast is stronger than most, a pure alpha,” Da said. “Like Munro’s. I’ve spoken of this before.”

Will remembered. Da had sounded both proud yet fearful at the same time. The beast could be a blessing and a curse, lending strength but robbing reason.

“Did your beast rise up when you were with her?”

Will absently nodded.

“Otherwise, she would’ve killed you—a fact she well knew, son.”

Nay, ’twas not true. Nothing could make him believe Ruelle had ever jeopardized his life. She could be demanding, pushing him to his limits, but only because he was strong and could take it. He was strong for his age. She’d repeatedly said so.

“Look how our son shakes even now. Her venom’s work. This must be answered!” Mam declared.

“It will be, love. I set out for the Woods at dawn. I’ll petition for entry. The Elders will grant it before they let a pup suffer.”

Answered? Will still didn’t quite comprehend their crime. His older cousins were forever tumbling females, and they’d started when they were not much older than Will was now.

But I started earlier still. He glanced at Munro, seeking an ally. Munro cast him a baffled look.

“Nay, Dùghlas!” Mam’s own beast was rising once more. “I know her kind! She’ll be winsome and manipulative, and she’ll twist you too. The men of this pack have said for ages they would run her out of the forest, and naught comes of it.”

“They’re no’ our woods to patrol!” Da ran his hand over his face. “And she’s never targeted our young before! She’s never envenomed any of our males. Our lad will be free of this by tomorrow eve. The day after at the latest. I vow it.”

“Free of this?” The only way out was Ruelle’s death. “I-I need to see her. Just tonight.” He and his mate could run.

Leave behind my family?

A lifetime of drowning . . . ?

“Nay!” Mam bared her fangs. “Over my dead body! You will never see her again!”

Da wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Take a moment, love. Just . . . take a moment. Collect yourself. Think of the babe.”

“If I canna protect the bairns I have, I doona deserve the gods to give me more!”

“Whisht, love! I will talk to him, and tomorrow we will end this. Go take your tea and calm yourself.”

She lurched from the room, casting a look over her shoulder. The rage in her expression changed to something like . . . pity when she met Will’s eyes. “Never one like her , my Uilleam.” Then she was gone.

Pity? Realization struck. I’ve done wrong. I’ve hurt Mam.

Before, he’d wanted to tell the world about Ruelle; now he felt shame, even though he didn’t quite understand why he should. He’d been mating a beautiful female, his female, so why did his skin feel like it was crawling?