“You can’t expect me to believe any of this?” Kate asserted on a half-delirious laugh as it bubbled up from a distant part of her throat.

          Silver eyes held her firm, unwavering and penetrating in all their sterling intensity. “Kate – “ the solidness of his tone lacked any suggestion of humor and for a moment her heart skipped an altering beat.

          “You’re serious?” the urge to laugh all but diminished at the severity of his expression, and suddenly the room was dwindling, the air thickening.

          When he had said nothing she began to squirm within his vise, her eyes widening incredulously. “Y-you really think you’re a werewolf?”

          Ronan inhaled a deep breath, his nostrils flaring, and he was struck with the odor of fear as he held her immobile. “I don’t want to frighten you.” He said to reassure her.

          “Frighten me?” she blurted, “How do you expect me to react?” she struggled harder, realizing her efforts were in vain as he maintained an unrelenting grip. “Let go.” She demanded with an implication of rising alarm.

          She seemed surprised when he released her all at once and backed a few tentative steps from him. With that he fisted his hands and tightened his jaw. The look of fear reflected in those green eyes all but unsettled him. She was afraid of him, and that knowing did not set well on his awareness.

          The wild cadence of her heart fell discernibly to his ears and it took every bit of his willpower to not gather her against him and assuage the fears he had implanted there.

          Instead, he said, “I am Alpha of the loup-garou belonging to BlackMountain. My pack and my predecessors before me have long since resided within the sanctity of these mountains, for decades on end.”

          Ronan watched her expression carefully but she gave little away, in fact, she met his stare unflinchingly. She was far braver than she credited herself to be.

          She took a breath and he noticed the pulse at her throat, likely fueled by the emotions concealed behind those green depths as they swept over him skeptically.

          “Let’s just say – “ she started, selecting her words, “ – metaphorically speaking, that you are what you say you are – “ she swallowed as if the next word itself was too difficult, inconceivable, to pronounce or disclose with such ease. “ – werewolf.”

          He felt the weight of her impending question as it hovered between them. “Have you – “ she fell silent, swallowing again, struggling with it. “ – killed people?”

          His gaze was steady, “Humans, no.”

          She paled slightly, realizing his answer wasn’t the least bit comforting. “And d-do you hunt?” he could still smell her fear but more so the curiosity as it outweighed the other. “What do you eat?”

          He suddenly resisted the urge to grin, “I’m more so prone to a slab of T-bone.” His attempt at humor had little effect. She merely continued to peer at him through wide, wary, unbelieving eyes. And then he said, on a more serious note, “But it is not uncommon for my kind to prey on the wildlife.”

          “Are you cursed?”

          He almost chuckled aloud but refrained. He had never really looked at it that way. “I really wouldn’t know. I was born this way.”

          Her eyes crinkled slightly, narrowing. “What about wolfs-bane and silver? Can they kill you?”

          “I imagine a good bit of either could do the trick.” This time he grinned, “Do you intend to kill me, Kate?”

          She didn’t return his smile but rather said matter-of-fact, “Maybe I’m considering my outs.”

          Her outs – her weapons of choice.

          He nodded, hiding another smile. “Reasonable enough.” And he proceeded, “Wolfs-bane is extremely poisonous and often fatal to my kind.”

          “And silver?” she pressed.

          Ronan raised his eyes and they glinted amusingly, “Hurts like hellfire.”

          The smell of fear permeated the air a little lighter now, perhaps alleviated some by her intrigue or his playfulness, he wasn’t sure which.

          “That woman is she … yours?” her eyes shifted to a spot in the room as if the very question unnerved her.

          “Lorelei is not mine.”

          Kate raised a brow at this, “She seems to think otherwise.”

          The corner of his mouth lifted as he took a deliberate step toward her, “Is that what you think?”

          She straightened at his sudden advance, her heart all but jolting with his nearness. “It doesn’t matter what I think.”

          She hadn’t realized she’d been retreating until her back came up against the door and Ronan loomed above her; his eyes raking her face, lingering hotly on the poutiness of her lips. “I warned myself, that you and I could never be.” His words fell hushed, sensual. “The moment you walked into my bar, I knew you were mine.” He reached up and was relieved when she didn’t pull away. “I know now that I can never let you go.”

          The maddening flutter of her heart assailed his ears. It reverberated in her chest like a drum as she gaped at him with those beautiful, green eyes.

          “That’s how you found me?” She said suddenly, realization dawning. “In the woods?”

          He cupped her face, running his thumb gently across her lower lip, marveling at the feel of her breath as it fanned his fingers. “The signs would have gone unbeknownst to man. I tracked you.” His countenance darkened and his mouth turned grim. “I will find the man responsible for your suffering and ensure he never hurts you again.”

          Her eyes widened and her mouth parted with a small gasp, “You would kill him?”

          Ronan frowned, startled by her reaction. “Do you care for this man?” he felt a swift and unexpected twinge of jealousy at the mere thought. How could she love a man who beat her senseless? Left her for dead?

          She stiffened, “No, but –“

          “But what?” he demanded, his brow furrowing, his jaw going taut. “Do you find no solace in retribution?”

          “He deserves to be punished for his crimes but death?” she emitted.

          Ronan straightened at this, in awe of this beautiful, resilient woman who protested a man’s life, the same man who sought to snuff the very life from those pretty, green eyes. This man, whose name she kept, would surely suffer at his hands. The temptation to beat every inch of him was far too inviting to simply ignore.

          Kate wasn’t sure what to believe but knew the deadly glint in Ronan’s eyes meant a world of trouble for Danny.         

          Her broken self longed for retaliation. She wanted him to feel every bit as small and helpless – hollow to the world. Why not inflict upon him all the pain and misery she had encountered at his hands? He’d left her with both physical and emotional scars but the most traumatizing, the most unforgiving, was the innocent and precious life he’d taken from her.

          The thought of her child nearly brought a sob to her throat and she realized Ronan watched her concernedly. It was as though he could feel her anguish as it tore at her from the inside. Why not confide in him? Why not unleash every broken, shattered piece of her heart into his callused, gentle hands?

          Even as she stared at this menacing, stalwart man, claiming to be some supernatural beast, she believed strongly in her heart, beast or man, that he would not harm her. And it made her question, which truly between the two, was the monster?

          And yet, what violence was he capable of? Could he control it? Didn’t folklore proclaim werewolves to be temperamental? Hadn’t she been warned of Ronan’s temper?

          So many questions bombarding her brain and yet she was still deciding whether or not he was a nut-job that needed a well padded room, which was becoming increasingly difficult to consider seeing as how the mere proximity of him was affecting her body every type of way.

          Even the effort to draw a breath into her lungs seemed impossible with those silver eyes burning mine.

          It was all too much and overwhelming. “Am I free to go?”

          He was great at masking his emotions but she automatically detected the displeasure of her leaving as his jaw went rigid.

          He stepped away and a draft struck her promptly.

          “Lorelei has likely warned the others.” He said as if to himself, not speaking directly at her.

          Kate frowned and pushed away from the wall, “Tell who what?”

          He peered at her over his shoulder, fixing her with eyes dark as an impending storm. “My pack.”

          Those words for some reason incited a tremor down her spine, “Tell them what?”

          He turned to fully face her and divulged in that sensual baritone, “That I’ve chosen a human as my mate.”

          Kate was certain there had been a tilt in the space continuum – or maybe it had just been the room?

          Did he really just say mate? As in a beastly counterpart? And he meant her? How did one become a mate? When had she agreed to such a commitment?

          She could feel perspiration dotting the valley between her breasts. She felt the blood pumping vigorously through her veins, coursing frenziedly, her heart threatening to burst from her chest cavity at any given moment. She was certain she had just exceeded the average 72 beats per minute as her pulse all but resonated throughout her body, soundly sharply on her eardrum.

          Ronan fell in beside her and gently gripped her forearms, “Kate – “

          She should have been frightened. She should have been running for the high mountaintops. And yet here she was, leaning into him, inhaling that dark, masculine scent of him.

          He ran his fingers through her hair and she felt every stroke deep to the scalp. She didn’t resist when he wrapped an arm about her waist, pulling her firm against the solid length of him.

          “I have said too much.” His voice had softened to a reassuring lilt as he ran a hand over the small of her back. “I know this is difficult to understand.”

          Kate yearned to remain wrapped in his embrace. Though his psyche remained in question and despite all the crazy talk, there was no denying the irresistible pull. She was drawn to him; lured by the burning desire reflected in those silver, gray eyes. Her body responded wantonly, treacherously, so much so that with one simple stroke of those lean, masculine fingers, she feared it would be her unleashing. She would be incapable of resisting him.

          Closing her eyes, she pushed away from him and moved to put a respectable distance between them, just enough to gather her wits and to escape the heat of his sinewy frame.

          She felt his eyes on her as she worried her lower lip with her teeth, turning her thoughts over, weighing the probability of it all. She raised her eyes to brush over Ronan’s impressive stature and wondered peculiarly if a beast lay dormant beneath the surface?

          Kate recalled earlier how the woman had referred to her being human. Were the two of them apart of some secret lunacy society?

          She raised her head and met Ronan’s steady gaze, realizing the silver hadn’t dulled in sharpness, but rather intensified. “Can you prove it to me?” surely if he was capable of shifting into a wolf, he could show her?

          She watched an unpleasant emotion steel over him. Almost immediately his expression blackened. His eyes transformed, darkening to a slate, turbulent gray. The muscles of his body had gone rigid, tensing with an impenetrable resolve deemed frightening.

          Had she been wrong to call his bluff?

          “No.” he growled ominously and the unnatural sound cued a shiver down her spine.

          She narrowed her eyes, suddenly irritated. He claimed to be some supernatural, moon-lured beast, and yet he refused to validate it?

          Planting her hands on her hips, “Why not?” she demanded.

          His nostrils flared as he inhaled a deep breath and she almost felt as though it passed into her lungs.

          And he said, “That feral side desires you just as badly.”

**********