“This is your fault,” he accused.
“I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“You best get in touch with your parents and warn them I’m coming. Why doesn’t she know about me? About this town?” he demanded to know.
“Mom and Dad thought it best she wasn’t plagued by the wolves—”
“You mean they already had one daughter acting the slut for us so they didn’t want the second,” he interrupted her. Micah heard a moan from behind him. Cade stood over the woman who would one day become his queen.
“It hurts,” she mumbled without opening her eyes. Her hands moved to her neck where he’d bitten her.
“You’ll be okay, kitten. Settle down.” Micah spoke calmly and placed a hand on her shoulder. Charlotte eased back into sleep, his voice and touches already having the desired mating effect.
“She’s truly your mate then? That wasn’t just some show to Brandon?” Kim asked.
“I think you’d better get out of my office and find your parents. I’ve got to chat with them.”
Kim scurried off.
“What are you going to do about her, Micah?” Cade asked.
Forcing himself to turn from his mate, Micah focused on Cade. “You know what I must do.”
“But the town may see this as an act of—”
“The town will see that we punish those who put the lives of our people in danger.”#p#分页标题#e#
Chapter Three
Micah traveled with Cade and a few others of his best men. Charlotte lay in his arms with a slight fever but nothing to concern himself with. Only an hour had passed since the mating call, and already, he felt the effects on his body. The pull of his attention. Every second he had to resist gazing down at her. He wanted to reach out and touch her.
Closing his eyes, he glared at Kim Griffin. This was all her fault. Her greed had caused him to act without reason.
In truth, he couldn’t blame anyone but himself. The car came to a halt outside a small house. The light on the porch and the tiny vehicle in the driveway made him aware her parents were home.
A woman, slightly taller than Charlotte, stood in the doorway, an arm wrapped around her middle.
Cade took Kim by the elbow and forced her up the short drive. Micah went next, carrying Charlotte, and the other men brought up the rear.
“What happened?” a man in his forties asked.
“I’ll explain everything but please let me put my m—Charlotte down to rest.” Her father showed him to her room.
The instant he walked into her bedroom, Micah was at home. The honey scent of his mate filled every corner.
Books, drawings, and sketches filled the walls, and three small bookshelves filled the remaining wall space.
Resting her on her bed, he pulled her shoes off and settled her down before following the father downstairs.
Mrs. Griffin sat at the kitchen table sobbing while his men guarded the property. Kim sat next to her mother, sporting a red cheek.
“How is she? How is my baby?” the mother asked.
It grieved Micah that he didn’t know their names.
“She’s alive. Tomorrow she may ache and have flu-like symptoms, but after that, she’ll be well and taken care of.”
“Thank god,” the mother whispered.
“I regret to inform you I don’t know either of your names.”
“I’m Frank, and this is my wife, Doreen. I guess you know Kim.” The father made it more a statement of fact than a question.
“Yes, I do.”
“Tonight a member from the Eagle pack came into my town at your oldest daughter’s behest, claiming I’d hand over some of my pack women. I take it you know about the laws of the town and who and what we are?” Micah questioned the two oldest.
Both nodded.
“Good. When I learned about this, the leader grabbed Charlotte and threatened to take her. She doesn’t know who we are and, by our very laws, was unprotected.”
Doreen sobbed and leaned on her husband’s shoulder. “I told you we should have said something. We shouldn’t have kept her in the dark.”
“Right you are. Because of the situation I was placed in, I’ve now mated with your daughter.” Silence met his statement.
“What do you mean?”
“Charlotte Griffin is now my queen and, as such, is the female leader of the Rock Wood pack.”
“That’s not possible. She’s human, and she’s only twenty. Too young to be a queen,” Frank argued.
Micah held up his hand. “I’m more than willing to give her time, as much as I can, to grow accustomed to what has happened to her. But I must warn you, when the time comes, I will take her and make her my own.”