“Of course I’m not lying,” I said briskly. “Why would I lie about something like that?”
“I don’t know—to make me feel better?” He shook his head. “Look, Kira—let’s get down to business. You’re here because you’re pregnant, right? Pregnant with my child? And you want me to either pay for an abortion or set up some child support payments—I’m willing to do either one.”
“What?” I demanded. “How did you jump to that?”
He frowned.
“It’s the only reason I can think of for you to track me down like this.”
“The only reason?” I wanted to shake him—wanted to tell him I still loved him and demand to know if he loved me. But I bit my tongue, afraid to reveal too much of what I was feeling.
“What other reason could there be? So…are you pregnant?” He raised his eyebrows at me.
“No,” I said quietly. “No, I’m not pregnant.”
Nick let out a relieved sounding breath.
“Are you sure? After I saw the size of the, uh, breeding bump my beast had left you with, I was so damn sure it would happen.”
I shook my head.
“Well, you were wrong. I’m not pregnant—but I wouldn’t be upset even if I was.”
He frowned again.
“You don’t know what you’re saying. I told you—if I had gotten you pregnant and the baby was a boy, it would have a fifty percent chance of having a cursed wolf—a beast—just like mine.”
“So?” I said pointedly. “Look, Nick,” I continued, before he could object. “I don’t think you understand—your beast isn’t the monster you and the rest of the Weres have made him out to be.”
“What?” He shook his head. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying he’s kind—he was gentle with me,” I told him. “Well, as gentle as an eight-foot-tall shaggy beast could be, anyway. And not only that, he was protective of me—he carried me through the forest back to your cabin and curled up with me after he bred me that night.” I gave him a level look. “Or should I say you? You did those things for me, Nick, in your Fur Form and I loved you for it.”
He stared at me blankly.
“This is…hard for me to comprehend,” he said at last. “I thought as soon as the Breeding Fever fog lifted you would hate me. Of all the stories told in the pack, the idea of a female being bred by a cursed wolf is the most feared and reviled. It’s considered the worst thing that can happen to a woman.”
“Maybe in the pack,” I said gently. “But it wasn’t the worst thing to ever happen to me—in fact, it was probably the most erotic experience of my life.”
Nick stared at me for a moment.
“You really mean that, don’t you?” he asked at last.
I nodded firmly.
“It was hot,” I said simply. “Being submissive to your beast. Unable to move—tied to the breeding bench with my legs spread and my pussy open and vulnerable to him—to you.”
I could tell I was getting to him. Those bedroom eyes of his were going half-lidded and there was a definite bulge in the jeans he was wearing. But after a moment he shook his head.
“I just can’t believe it. Can’t believe you willingly let yourself be bred by my beast.”
“Believe it,” I told him. “Not only that, I’d let it happen again. I’d happily be bred by your beast—or by you.”
I was really putting myself out there now—letting him know that I wanted him. I could see in his eyes that he wanted me too, but the pack traditions he’d been raised with were holding him back.
“Darlin’, if I bred you—in either form—we’d be breaking—”
“The Unbreakable Laws?” I finished for him. “Okay, fine. So what? You’ve already broken them once and you have to give up your life and move away. What else can they do to you?”
“I told you the penalty for incest is death,” Nick reminded me.
“How is the Council going to know if neither of us tell them?” I demanded. “You’re going to move far away from any Were packs and start a whole new life somewhere—what if we started it together?”
Nick gave me a look that was filled with longing, yet still he hesitated.
“You’d do that? You’d come with me?”
“Only if we can live together as mates,” I said firmly. “As man and wife. I’m not interested in a platonic relationship—I want you to marry me and love me every day and breed me every night and get me pregnant with your babies and raise kids with me and grow old with me.” Leaning forward, I looked earnestly into his eyes. “Nick, I want a life with you—the life we would have had if only our fathers hadn’t made that stupid blood-brother pact that was doomed to fail, right from the start.”
He cupped my cheek in his big, warm hand and leaned forward to kiss me gently. When he drew back, I could tell he was close to saying “yes.”