She laughed. “You have enemies? What was that lion tessera that just left? Who were they after?” She cupped his face in her hands. “You and I should have had a lifetime together already. I allowed my stupidity to rob us of four hundred years. I don’t want to lose another minute of being with you.”

“You didn’t feel that way twenty-four hours ago.”

“You’re right. But you’ve opened my eyes. What Dare is trying to do is wrong. I can’t believe I’ve ruined that poor lion’s life. God, how I wish I could go back and shove Dare when he fired the gun so that he’d miss.”

Fury’s face went stark white. “Dare killed an unarmed lion?”

“No, that was the jackal. Dare shot the one who lived.”

“And your part in all this?”

“Stupid onlooker who thought she was going to make the world safe for other little girls so that they wouldn’t have to watch their family get eaten. I didn’t realize that I was fighting for the monsters and not against them.”

Fury sighed. “Dare’s not a monster. He’s just an insecure asshole who wanted his mother to love him.”

“And what about you?”

“I was an insecure asshole who knew he could never get too close to his mother for fear she’d smell the wolf on him and kill him.”

She pulled him into her arms to kiss his lips. “Mate with me, Fury.”

“You’re a bossy thing, aren’t you?”

“Only when there’s something I want.” She looked at the bed. “Shouldn’t we get naked?”

He put his hands on her arms and held her back. “We have to settle this first. I want to make sure that you’re mating with me out of choice and not out of fear.”

“Don’t you think I’m smart enough to know the difference?”

“I’m the one who has to be sure of your motivation.”

Because he still didn’t trust her. The sad thing was, she couldn’t blame him. “Very well then. How do we end this?”

“I think I have an idea.”

*   *   *

Angelia sat downstairs with Fang sniffing at her hand.

“No wonder he was acting so weird. The bastard’s mated.”

“Fang!” Bride snapped at him. “Leave the poor woman alone, or at least congratulate her.”

“On what? Being mated to Fury seems like a nightmare to me.”

There was a time Angelia would have agreed. Strange how she no longer did. “Your brother is a wonderful wolf.”

Bride smiled approvingly.

“So where is lover-wolf, anyway?”

“He said he was going to see a friend about getting the lions off my trail.”

Fang’s face blanched.

“What?” Angelia asked, immediately scared by his reaction.

“Fury doesn’t have any friends.”

Why would he have lied to her? Dear gods, what was he doing? “Then where is he?”