Page 31

Ever a quick learner, Conall backs off and lets her go alone, but I can tell he wants to shift and follow her. I prepare to call out and stop him, but he controls himself. Barely.

With a sigh, I decide to spend the day distracting myself with work. I have a bed in progress in my woodshed. One of the townsfolk ordered it from me for his daughter’s wedding next month.

I’m setting everything up as Conall paces around in the garden, his eyes casting toward where Scarlett walked into the woods every few minutes. Nothing I say or do is going to help right now. If he moves to follow her, I’ll try to stop him, but I know it still has to be his choice.

It takes nearly an hour for me to fall into my rhythm. I’m planing and sanding the wood for the headboard when I sense him closing the distance between us.

When I glance up, he comes to a halt a few feet from where I’m working. My hands pause when I see his golden eyes. The eyes of his wolf.

Damn, maybe he’s not as in control as I thought.

“She’s running away from us,” he growls out.

I shrug. “Scarlett doesn’t do well with change. Especially if it’s change she can’t control.”

His head turns toward the forest again. “I don’t understand why she fears me.”

The discouragement in his tone is painful to hear. I know he doesn’t understand, and I hate her actions are hurting him. I also hate that I can understand her fear. She’s not wrong. The men in Grimdale aren’t the best. Many don’t appreciate what they have in their wives, including her stepfather, Heston. He’s a hard, demanding man. When he courted Johanna, he romanced her with flowers and sweet words, but all the wooing stopped as soon as they married. It was then he revealed the man he truly was.

It was a harsh lesson Scarlett never forgot.

She was just blossoming into a woman when her mother married Heston, and seeing the change in him affected her deeply. I’d watched as she shut down, distancing herself from men. She flirted, even took a lover here and there, but she never gave her heart.

I’d hoped she would eventually realize not every man was like her stepfather. Actually, I’d hoped she would realize I wasn’t like Heston.

But she never did.

Instead, as the years went by, we developed a friendship with a flirtatious bent, one she was careful to never cross.

Things have moved quickly over the past few days. I should have expected her to try and run from us. From this.

I blow out a breath, realizing I’ve not only crossed her lines. I have all but erased them.

“Do you know why she fears me?” Conall asks, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“She doesn’t fear you,” I reply, tossing my planer to the side. “She fears what you might be to her.”

He cocks his head as he studies me. “She fears a mate?”

Goddess, he’s not going to understand this. As a Lycan, it’s in his nature to desire a mate. Not only to desire one, but to cherish them. All he wants is her presence and to take care of her. He won’t understand why she doesn’t want him.

“Do you know anything about human males?” I ask. “Especially married ones?”

He shrugs. “Why should I?”

“Human men aren’t like Lycan males. They expect their wives to take care of them and the children. Not the other way around. Women do the cooking and cleaning. They cater to their husband’s whims, submit to his demands. If not, he can beat them or find other ways to punish them. He can even set them to the side and leave them with nothing.”

As I speak, distaste fills Conall’s expression.

“Human men behave in such a way?” he asks, his tone full of disgust.

“Yes. In the human realms, men are usually in charge, and the women are subservient.”

The Lycan shakes his head. “But mates are partners. And females should be treasured! How can they mistreat them so?”

It’s my turn to shrug. “I don’t know, brother. I don’t understand it either. My thoughts are more like yours.”

“So, she fears we’ll behave like that if she takes us as mates?”