Lots of noise then, because even though they knew Keir was powerful—the display moments before had illustrated that—they didn’t know why until the explanation was given.
“I present to you Keir of the fain of Segh. He bids you send your emissaries to meet with him and receive his blessing, as he has chosen to bide in this place and care for and protect any and all who would find shelter here.”
“All?” Luco asked. “Not only those of the glen?”
“All,” Linus reiterated, his voice strong and deep. “His mate is a jackal with ties to Quade Danas, who owns this caim, this sanctuary, and Keir will dwell on L’Ange and stand with those who call it home, and so bids you make that decision known to all of the glen.”
Luco opened his mouth, probably to argue, but Keir lifted his hand and gestured for the king’s son to come to him.
I could see Luco trying to fight the pull, to not rise and take lurching steps toward Keir, but it wasn’t possible, and he ended up in front of him.
Everyone waited to see what would happen, but Keir only smiled kindly and reached his hand toward the younger man. In that moment, I understood what it really meant.
Keir was offering Luco, as well as all those who made the pilgrimage to L’Ange, both prey and predator, a place of shelter and warmth, restored direction and hope. It was a brand-new day for both the sanctuary and the world beyond.
I watched Luco take a deep breath, as though breathing for the first time, before he grasped the offered wrist, the lifeline Keir was throwing him, and took the final step into the open arms of the last black deer shifter in the world.
The collective sigh of relief was a most welcome sound.
Five
I thought everyone would sit down for a meal then, because of course they would all want to talk to Keir. From the way everyone was looking at him, I had no doubt I was right. Luco didn’t want to let go once Keir had hugged him, and the other princes, one after another, had come to embrace him. Each entourage was introduced, and members were basically salivating just looking at him. I understood their fascination and focus.
I felt that I needed to allow those of the glen near him. It was hardwired in their DNA to forge a connection with him, and getting in the way of that because I wanted to be marked by my mate, wasn’t fair. The right thing to do was to make way for them, so I moved back, retreated. Yielding my physical place beside him, even momentarily, created an instant vacuum that others stepped into. In moments I was outside the circle, many people between us, helped along by being continually bumped and crowded out.
Moving over to the arch, I leaned against it and watched him until someone stepped in front of me.
“This has got to be one of the most interesting places I’ve ever visited with my prince,” the man who offered me a flute of champagne told me.
“Thank you,” I replied, taking the glass from him, realizing my mistake when he took a step closer.
“And you’re the deigh’s intended. How extraordinary.”
“Is it?” I asked him, unsure why.
“Most certainly. I’ve never heard of a prey animal and a predator mating.”
“Then I should introduce you to Linus Hobbes, the caretaker here on L’Ange, and his mate, Arman de Soto, who’s a hyena.”
“Really,” he murmured, stepping even closer, watching me as I sipped my champagne. “I’ve never met a hyena. That would be thrilling.”
I understood then, and smiled. I had a lovely deer shifter in front of me who was infatuated with the idea of taking a dangerous—like life-and-death kind of dangerous—lover to bed.
“Let me see if I can find him,” I suggested, ready to leave, to find another alcove where I could wait alone for my mate.
“No, not right now,” he murmured, reaching a hand toward me. “I’d love to chat with you first. I’m dying to know if you and the deigh will actually exchange blood or––”
The thunderous roar felt like it shook the room, and even though I knew that wasn’t possible, the reverberation of the sound made it seem that way.
It was like the wail of a dying animal caught in a trap, both terrified and enraged at the same time. Everyone froze, even Quade and Kelvin, I noticed, before all those near Keir stepped back from him, a quick recoil, which allowed him to walk out of the circle he’d been ensconced in without knocking anyone aside. He would have flung people away if he’d had to; the look on his face, in his eyes, in the bristling rage rolling off of him, spoke to that truth. He was utterly furious and, in that moment, entirely uncivilized, completely feral.
He was across the room in seconds, moving at a clip that caused my admirer to shrink away from me, bent over in supplication as my mate stopped in front of me. When he turned his head slowly, glaring murderously at the other man, I put a hand on his chest and patted him gently until he returned his gaze to me.
Taking the glass from me, he drained it in a gulp and would have flung the piece of antique crystal across the room if Linus wasn’t immediately at his elbow to take it from him.
His voice was an icy growl when he spoke to me, with Linus translating.
Linus cleared his throat. “Your mate wants you to leave with him now, and I am to let everyone know, once you retire, how they will be expected to behave in your presence going forward.”
“And how is that?” I asked, holding his heated gaze, smiling as he slipped his hand around the side of my neck.
“Respectfully,” Linus informed me. “And only those he gives permission to will ever be permitted to touch you.”
I nodded and then took a step back, only to have him come forward, not wanting any space between us.
“We’ll say good night now,” I told Linus, lacing my fingers with Keir’s, loving the way he glanced down at our clasped hands and how his breath caught when I pulled gently to get him to follow me.
I led him to the side door where I’d left my parka, and once I had it on, I took his hand again as we went back out into the arctic night.
The blast of cold air made me gasp as I stepped out into the snow that crunched under my boot. “Holy shit,” I whimpered, shivering, and he draped an arm around my shoulders, clutching me against his big, hard body as I showed him the way home.
When my teeth started chattering, he laughed, and I shot him a look that should have killed him but only made him smile in delight.
This was going to be fun, us getting to know each other, and I was so looking forward to it, all of it, everything, with this man.
“I’ve never had a mate before,” I told him as we walked. “And the amazing thing is you haven’t either. So even though you’re this scary-powerful shifter, the last of an ancient line, we’re still going through the exact same thing together, only us, me and you.”
When I turned to look at him, the way he was staring at me, utterly charmed, bewitched, made me smile and reach for him, stopping in the snow to caress his face and then ease him down to me.
The man completely devastated me, and his sexy, sweet, sinful mouth was just the tip of the iceberg. When I kissed him I got lost in his taste so quickly, whimpering loudly as I ravaged him, and he returned every drop of passion.
Normally, I wasn’t so confident. In the heat of the moment, I’d thought other men had wanted me, had hoped, but I could never say it with absolute conviction. It was crazy that with this man, who I had known for less than a day, I could say it with complete certainty. This was far more than simple want. He was desperate to make me his. And yes, it would take time for us to become friends, for the seed of love to grow into the garden I hoped for, but now there was the claiming and joining, the marking that would begin our journey together. Never in my life had I wanted anything more.