Legend (A Wolf Lake Novella) (10 page)

And Nafarius wasn't the only one. Natasha's eyes repeatedly strayed to the one she considered the most fascinating man in the room. A silent sentinel, Roland stood guard, towering over his alpha. Everyone knew Roland with his dark good looks and wicked scar. He was beautiful, she thought, his scar adding a dimension to him that others probably missed.

Without warning, Roland's eyes snapped to her face, catching her staring. Feeling herself blush, Natasha refused to look away. Instead, she took the opportunity to search his face, noting the gold in his eyes and the shape of his lips. There were details there that got lost because of the scar and she thought it a shame. He was beautiful, she thought and let that knowledge flow into her eyes.

Roland caught her staring at him and wasn't surprised. People responded to him, to his scar in one of two ways. They either flinched and turned away as if his ugliness was catching, or they stared, morbid fascination freezing them in place.
 

Natasha was the first to look at him with genuine feminine appreciation in a very long time. He never lacked for female company but most of them acted as if they were doing him a favor by sleeping with him. The rest seemed to find some sort of sexual excitement from his disfigurement. None of that had been there in this female's eyes, just a clear invitation.

Roland looked her up and down. She was short, the top of her head barely reaching his chin. Red hair accented creamy skin and green eyes. She was, he reminded himself, a perfect match for his alpha. That fact alone was enough to turn Roland away with an unfamiliar sense of regret.
 

 
Natasha felt her face flame with shame. What was she doing? She knew better than to risk her father's negotiations with Nafarius for a few minutes of pleasure.
 

Werewolves coupled freely, taking a new lover whenever the mood struck. Nothing was taboo and Natasha rarely spent a night alone. Over the years she had enjoyed the company of several of her pack's males and females alike - sometimes more than one.
 

But no male would stand by while his intended mate bedded another. And she suspected that Nafarius, more than others, would object and use the situation to his advantage with her father. Something Dimitri would never forgive.
 

Hours later, Nafarius collapsed onto a cushion beside Roland, breathing a sigh of relief. "God, I'm glad that's over." They had spent the day negotiating with Craig. It was a time consuming, delicate process. With no way for two alpha's to meet, all negotiations had to go through one or both of the beta's. Roland, too close to an alpha himself, lacked the necessary patience. While Nafarius trusted his beta unquestioningly, there was no way he could comfortably send him into the territory of another werewolf and expect a peaceful result. That left Nafarius to negotiate with Craig.
 

Craig understood the implications of every gesture and word, spoken and unspoken. He knew how to turn a phrase so as to make a politician weep with envy. It was enough to give Nafarius hives.

"It didn't go well?" Roland asked. Half way through negotiations, he'd been called away to deal with a dispute between two young males. The idiots were fighting over a female, never noticing that she wasn't interested in either of them nearly as much as she enjoyed being the center of their attention.

"About what we expected." Nafarius took a bowl of soup from Maddie, looking around for Sam.
 

"And the female?" Roland asked, trying to sound casual.
 

"Again, as we expected. Dimitri has made her part of the deal." The meal was well underway, everyone eating and talking quietly, but still no sign of Sam. "Where's Sam?"

Maddie settled into her spot with her soup. "She went to lay down."

Nafarius frowned. "Is she okay?"

"Said she had a headache." Maddie balanced her bowl in one hand, a magazine on her lap.

Beside him, Roland stirred. "You do not care for Dimitri's daughter?"

Nafarius shrugged. "Craig assured me that she has the qualities I require in a mate," he said, standing. "I'm going to go check on Sam."

"You would spend yourself with
her
, your intended mate barely gone an hour?"
 

Nafarius turned, met Roland's angry stare. "It's a political mating," he said, not needing to explain himself but for their friendship. "I barely know her and I suspect that she comes to me as much out of duty as I go to her."

Roland didn't flinch, didn't back down. "That doesn't make it right."

Nafarius' eyes hardened. "What I do between now and taking a mate is my business."

"Not if it puts the pack at risk," Roland said. "Dimitri will see you sleeping with anyone else as a slight against his daughter. The fact that she's human just adds insult."

"How would Dimitri know?" Nafarius asked, his voice holding a dangerous edge.

"People talk," Roland said.

"My people know what would happen if they did," Nafarius assured.

Roland shrugged. "True, but not everyone is happy with her being here, or that you're fucking her."

"Be careful how you talk about her," Nafarius growled. "Now, if you'll excuse me..."

"Why don't you like her?" Maddie asked.

Roland looked down at Maddie. Always so quiet except for when Sam was near. "She's dangerous."

"No," Maddie said softly. "She's not, and if you took the time to get to know her, you would realize that."

Roland stood, stared down into a face made all the more beautiful for its lack of guile. "She has the power to destroy us. That makes her dangerous," he added before turning and walking away.

Nafarius approached the alcove, his mind turning to recent nights spent there with Sam. "Sam?"

"I'm here," her voice was quiet in the dim light of the alcove.

"Are you alright?" Slipping inside, he found her sitting on the floor. "Maddie said you had a headache."

Sam looked up at Nafarius. He looked tired, concern for her pulling at his brows. She felt bad for having worried him. "I needed to be alone."

"Did something happen? Trouble with Rose?" Nafarius felt his hackles starting to rise.

"No...I just..." Sam rubbed at her forehead. The earlier lie of a headache quickly becoming true. "Can we talk?"

Nafarius nodded, dread settling in the pit of his stomach. Nothing good ever came with such words.
 

Stepping further inside, he circled the alcove, noted the little touches that had been added over the past few weeks. The place had quickly become hers, reflecting bits of her personality.
 

Sam watched Nafarius as he paced about the alcove. It was a small space, made smaller with his presence, but she had made it comfortable. She wondered what he thought about it, wondered how it compared to his space.
 

"You wanted to talk?" Nafarius urged.

"Yeah," she started. "It's time for me to go home."

"No." Nafarius growled, before she had even finished her statement.

"Please, hear me out." Sam spoke slowly, choosing her words with care. "I've been here for a few weeks. Long enough for you to know that no matter what happens, I wouldn't say anything about you, the pack or Wolf Lake. I'd like to think that you can trust me."

Reluctantly, Nafarius nodded. He did trust her, but he wasn't ready to let her go.
 

She's ours!
his wolf insisted.
 

"I will make whatever promises, reassurances, you need. If you want, you can send someone back with me to collect the rest of my research. There isn't much more that pertains to Wolf Lake. Most of what I had was in my notebook." Sam paused, the thought of her lost book still bringing with it a moment of sadness. "But what there is is yours."

"Why?" Nafarius asked.

"What?"

"Why do you want to go home? Why now?"
 

Sam looked away. "I don't belong here," she whispered.

"That never seemed to bother you before."
 

Sam knew her mouth had fallen open. How could he not know, not see? "I can't live like this. In fact," she said, her voice hardening, "this isn't living. I won't stay here. I won't stay where I'm not wanted, not welcome and where there is the constant threat of
death
. You can't expect me to."

Nafarius stood silent. "I can't let you leave."

"Oh! For fuck's sake, you're like a dog with a bone!" Sam scowled at him. "I am
not
going to tell anyone. And not just to protect you and yours but because if I did they would lock me away!" She was shouting now. "No one would believe me. How could they? I don't have any proof and you destroyed any notes I had. Not to mention years of personal memories."

"You can't go," Nafarius said.

"I can't stay," she insisted.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't fucking belong here! No one talks to me or spends time with me. I don't dare ask questions about you or anything else for fear that you think I'm doing more research." Sam was on her feet, fists clenched at her sides. "I sit in the center of that goddamn den surrounded by people and am more alone now than I have ever been in my life."

Nafarius stood tense. "What about me?"

"What about you?"

"I thought we were enjoying each other," he hedged, still unwilling to look too closely.

Ours, ours, OUUURRSSS!
 

Sam crossed her arms over her chest. "You're the worst one of all."

Nafarius jerked back as if slapped.

"I'm nothing more than your dirty little secret."

"Trust me, it's no secret," Nafarius ground out.

"No, but you go out of your way to avoid rubbing the pack's collective noses in the fact that you're fucking the human." Sam tasted her bitterness, knew that it could turn things ugly.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Nafarius wanted to shake her.

"It means that you're happy to slip in here in the middle of the night so long as you're gone before morning or come find me outside alone for a quick tumble in the bushes. But otherwise you keep your distance. You don't touch me when anyone else is around and you sure as hell never invite me into your bed."

"I can't...there is no way the pack..." Nafarius sputtered to think what the pack's response would be to an outsider in their private quarters.

"I know," she said quieter now. "I'm not pack, not welcome."

Nafarius heard it then, the pain laced words getting through. "I never meant to hurt you," he said.

"I know and I never expected much." Sam laughed bitterly. "The story of my life."

"Look, give me a day or two to think about it," Nafarius offered. "Maybe we can come up with something that works for everyone."

"This is non-negotiable. I'm leaving tomorrow."

"I can't just let you walk..."

"I saw Natasha," Sam said. "Maddie told me about the mating and the joining of the two packs."

"Son of a bitch." Nafarius' eyes narrowed in thought. "Is that what this is all about? You're jealous..."

"Get out." Sam bit off, gesturing to the alcove's entrance. "I'm done talking to you."

"Sam, wait." Nafarius reached for her, found nothing but air when she stepped out of reach. "Look, my relationship with Natasha is political. Her father has made mating with her part of the deal. But even if it wasn't, as alpha there is no way I could mate with a human."
 

"What if I wasn't human?" Sam asked. A flicker of some emotion passed over Nafarius' face and was gone before she could name it. "Not all werewolves are born, some are made, right?" she asked.

Yes!
Nafarius' wolf stopped pacing.
Ours!
 

Nafarius ignored it. "It's rare," he answered carefully. "Even a bite doesn't guarantee infection and it's a hard life to adjust to, especially out here. But even if you were made, it wouldn't chang things as far as Natasha goes. The peace with Dimitri's pack is too important."

No, no, no!
For the first time in his considerably long life Nafarius got the sense that his wolf wanted to turn on him.

"I understand." Sam brushed at her cheeks, surprised to find them wet with tears. She hadn't realized the lengths she'd been willing to go to find a way into the pack, to finally belong somewhere.

"Would you stay?" Nafarius asked. "If you were made pack, would you stay?"

Sam searched his eyes, saw a sadness there to match her own. "No. It's just...I don't think I could stay here and watch. Even if there was never going to be anything more between us, it's still more than I've had with anyone else. To lose that and then watch as you live a life with someone else..." she shook her head.
 

"I understand," Nafarius swallowed his disappointment.
 

"You'll let me go?" she whispered.

"It appears I have no choice." Inside, Nafarius could hear his wolf howling, slamming up against his inner barriers.

Sam gave him a sad smile.

"Will you spend tonight with me?" he asked. He wanted one more night with her. A final chance to imprint her on his senses. Werewolves lived long lives; he had years ahead of him with a mate not of his heart. The memories of this time together would be something to carry him through.

Sam nodded, slipping her hand in his she allowed Nafarius to pull her close. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he lowered his head and captured her mouth in a kiss. Softly, slowly, he swept the depths of her mouth. It was a sweet kiss, a tender kiss designed to say all the things he couldn't.

Nafarius released her mouth, stood passively as she stripped him, watched as she pulled her dress over her head.
 

"So beautiful," Nafarius whispered at the sight of her naked and bare. Reaching out, he cupped her breasts, enjoying the feel of them filling his hands, her nipples pebbling under his heated gaze.

Sam sighed, her breath catching when Nafarius brushed his thumbs back and forth across the tender nubs. She wanted to feel his hands on her, his mouth everywhere, but first there was something she'd been wanting to do. Slowly, she lowered herself to her knees and took him into her mouth.