“For one, they don’t live as long. They have normal human lives as far as that goes. They feel themselves to be royal I suppose, and resent not just our existence, but the fact that we honor the bloodline by protecting it. If they had their way, every last one of your bloodline, along with any werewolf like me, would be extinguished.”
“Oh my,” escaped me as a chill formed under the skin of my shoulders. I felt like I’d stepped into a storybook.
I shuttered. He squeezed my leg.
“I don’t mean to scare you. I’ve protected you all of these years. You’re safe, so I don’t want you to start worrying now. I’ve done what I had to when they’ve come around, and would again in the blink of an eye,” he offered in a stern voice. “They haven’t been a match for me yet, even three on one, odds in their favor. That fact only rubs salt in a very sore and festering wound, as you can imagine.”
“I just had no idea that there were people out there, or wolves, werewolves, that hated me. All these centuries, generation after generation, if they only live a normal human lifespan, this hate has lived? How often does the wolf come knocking at my door? Once a year? Once a week? How often do you have to truly protect me?”
“It ebbs and flows, the amount of times they come, that is. Sometimes we hear nothing for months, or even, a few times, years. But, that only means they are formulating some new plan to get at you and those like you. I swear they are taught to hate your bloodline from the moment they can understand the concept. And, the way we live, the protectors like me, the ease of it, it is a constant slap in their faces. I’ve heard rumors before, though, and more so with this current generation of true werewolves, that they have plans to kidnap one of you females left, to mate with you in hopes of getting some of the magic into their line.”
“But I have no magic,” I responded with a shaky breath.
I appreciated his confidence in protecting me, but still, my stomach knotted to think of being taken to be mated with. I thought I’d rather be killed. I tried to mentally shake off the dread that had begun to wash away my solid attempt at rational thought, as not to offend him, make him think that I didn’t trust him to protect me. The thing was, I just had to adjust to the idea that such an enemy lurked out there and was after me. Ignorance is pure bliss.
“You do have magic in you. You feel it on your leg. Our powers are stronger when mixed together. It’s easier to feel, of course, when not in the midst of some heated, passionate moment,” he stated with a wink.
“Anyway, the potential to tap into it without instruction seems to dwindle with each generation, just as your werewolf tendencies do. I’m not sure you could ever be brought to the point of turning into a werewolf, though who knows? No one I am aware of has broken the rules, gotten close to their charge in human form, enough to teach the human how to tap into the power that lies very dormant inside them. They believe the potential exists, though, with the right training to bring it out in you.”
“You honestly think that, over all of these generations, no other werewolf like you, spelled to protect, has fallen in love with the person they were to protect? Or, even if not in love, hasn’t met them at some point in human form and told them the truth?”
“If it ever happened, I wasn’t told about it or made aware,” he sighed. “Gotta believe that we are the first. Though, yeah, it is hard to believe. And that scares me even more. If any relationship ever occurred, who knows what happened to them, because I haven’t even heard such a thing. Not so much as a rumor.”
“So, where does all of this leave us? I want to be with you, as a man, as well as have you protect me as a wolf. You said they don’t watch you, right? So, do they check up on you?”
“I wouldn’t call it checking up on, exactly,” he said with a tip of his head to the side again.
His eyes looked me over again. He stopped to stare at the shake of my crossed leg. Running his hand from my thigh to my calf, the corners of his mouth turned up, broke that so stiff and serious expression he’d had going. In an instant, he pulled his hand back and tucked it under his thigh. Where he’d been turned on the couch with his body facing me, he pushed his back against the back cushions. His head flew back as he expelled a huff of air.