“You’re welcome.” Cyrus always seemed so genuinely grateful for small niceties. All she’d done was ask if he was fine. Her mother had always cared about her, in the only ways her mother could show affection. Someone had at least cared, most of the time. “Thank you for the necklace. Would you help me put it on?”
“Ah…sure.” He sat up. “How do I do that?”
She raised her hair off her neck. “Just attach it for me.”
“Okay.” His scent altered slightly, becoming sweeter.
Had she made him nervous? When he’d come home and not instantly made a beeline for her, she hadn’t known exactly what to do about it. She’d watched the minutes tick by on the clock. It had taken more than seven minutes for him to come to her. An eternity. What was the purpose of hiding in her room if he wasn’t going to seek?
Cyrus finished fumbling with the necklace, and she dropped her hair back down before turning to look at him. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
She stretched sideways until they were face to face. Stifling a yawn, she forced herself to stay awake. She had questions, and he was being quiet and accommodating. It was too good an opportunity to let slip away. Who knew if she’d ever see him this free from tasks again?
“Why is this starting to feel okay? I liked when you said that the wolves killed her attackers, and earlier tonight, I…wanted something that seems really silly now.”
He took her hand in his and stared at their joined fingers as though they were the most interesting things in the world. “The violence attracted you because it was a justified kill. Don’t misunderstand me. It is not okay as a werewolf to kill indiscriminately. One of my jobs as Alpha of New York is to hunt down and destroy those types of werewolves if they enter my territory. Not only is that kind of murder immoral, it is also one of the ways we get discovered, and we can’t allow that to happen. I can’t know for sure, but I’d hasten to guess that Nathan, your captor who is caged for the foreseeable future, or someone connected to him, came into contact with an out-of-control wolf in the past. Discovery can almost always be traced to something like that.”
“So the fact that it made my mouth water doesn’t mean I’m sociopathic?”
He grinned, meeting her gaze. The heat in his eyes left her mouth dry. “No. You’re not sociopathic, Betsy. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.” Anything to get her eyes off his mouth. Maybe talking was a bad idea. A very, very bad idea.
“Is Betsy short for Elizabeth?”
She shook her head. “You’d think so, but I’m just Betsy. I’ve never been, that I know of, Elizabeth.”
“Betsy suits you. It’s…sweet and sexy at the same time.”
She blinked rapidly. He thought she was sexy? “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He lifted their joined hands and kissed her knuckles and she forgot to breathe. “What was the second thing you mentioned, the thing you wanted but were so vague about?”
He would remember she had mentioned a second thing. Why had she? Why couldn’t she keep her mouth closed when she needed to?
“I don’t want to tell you.” There, she’s said it. He could be a gentleman and leave it alone.
“Why not?” Shit.
“Because it’s embarrassing.”
He tugged her against him until her head rested on his chest. She could hear his heart beating beneath her ear. The urge to snuggle deeper overwhelmed her, and she gave into the urge. When had she last been held? As a baby?
“I’m sure it’s not embarrassing. It’s probably a wolf thing.”
He was warm, like heat from the sun on her cold skin. “Do you promise not to laugh or think less of me for it?”
“I promise not to think less of you. I can’t promise not to laugh if it’s funny.”
Fair enough. At least he seemed to never lie. “When I was hiding in here, I was kind of hoping that you’d come home and chase me.”
He didn’t say anything, and she wondered if he hadn’t heard her or if she had actually stunned him into silence. His scent changed. The dull aroma of cinnamon roared back to full blast. Cyrus no longer smelled tired.
Well…all right… Her words had certainly garnered some attention. Even if he had yet to answer.
Cyrus sat up and moved away from her. Oh hell. She hadn’t considered that he’d be so turned off by her odd thought that he wouldn’t even want to touch her. She felt bereft of his warmth. Why hadn’t she made something up? Oh, Cyrus, I don’t know. I was thinking that I really wanted to eat raw meat. Is that a wolf thing?