"Aye, and toying with me."
"What are you talking about?" she demanded.
"About leading me to think you were going to 'give it up' then reneging."
"I never led you on!"
"Did you no' jump me?"
"You're trying to distract me again - " Her words ended in a shriek directly in his ear when he leapt from the bridge over the edge.
"There, we're on solid ground again. See, everything's fine." As soon as he'd gotten them back down under the trees, he set her on her feet, holding her shoulders until she was steady enough to stand on her own. But she launched herself right back at him, wrapping her arms around his waist, like she'd hug a tree.
He stared down at her. "Mariketa?"
"Th-thanks for not letting me die."
He dragged her arms up around his neck, then pressed her head to his chest, drawing her close. "I will never let anything happen to you." As she clutched him, he felt needed and strong - finally the protector he'd been born to be.
She whispered, "Bowen, I think you're quite possibly my favorite person in the world right now."
- Yours. -
I know. He did. For weeks he'd thought of her, dreamed of her. Her passion had awed him. Her bravery and beauty amazed him. Now he simply allowed himself to accept what he'd wanted so desperately.
She was his.
Her for him. Period.
"I can't believe you could hold on like that," she said. "You're really, uh, strong."
"I'm supposed to be, to protect you."
They both fell silent.
"Not me, MacRieve."
"I've made a decision, lass." He drew back and cupped her face. "If given the chance I would no' go back. You're mine. And I'm going to do whatever it takes, till I'm yours as well."
She made a frustrated sound. "Typical male! Because of what happened in the cave?"
"Aye, some. But also because of what happened after. We fit, you and me, and could make a life together. And, witch" - his gaze held hers - "we're going to have a bloody good time of it."
Chapter 17
34
As they continued on, MacRieve grew quiet, seeming to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. Mari couldn't read him and had begun to fear he regretted his earlier declaration.
To break the silence, she said, "You must be missing your clan. I've heard you're a tight-knit group."
He shrugged. "I'm no' much part of that - or I have no' been for some time." At her quizzical look, he said, "They question why I have no' found a way to die after my loss. I want to take you among them and say 'This is why I kept going, you sods. And look at my reward.'"
Mari - alert - over your head!
"Have you been around my kind much before?" he asked.
"I've seen a couple of Lykae out on Bourbon Street - twins - but I've never met them."
"Ah, the infamous Uilliam and Munro. I wonder that they weren't all over you. Were you still with your demon?" He grated the word.
"No, we'd stopped seeing each other by then."
"Why did you break things off with him? Did he hurt you?"
"He left me."
"Doona lie - "
"I'm not! He broke up with me."
When MacRieve nodded slowly, she said, "What? You can easily see that?"
"No, I was just thinking about a saying my clan has: 'Enjoy a bounty if one falls in your lap. Savor it if it was lost by a careless man.'"
Over my head. Maybe she was too young to resist. Maybe he was working her over like dough. Because right now, his prediction that he'd take her tonight was spot-on. "You see me as a bounty?"
"Aye." His eyes were so focused and sincere. "One I'm eager to partake of."
She grew flustered, and to break the moment, she said, "So, MacRieve, tell me five things about you that I didn't know."
He seemed strangely uncomfortable with her suggestion and said, "Why do you want this?"
"To break up the time while we're hiking."
"You first, lass."
"Well, I like to spin in office chairs till I'm nearly sick. My best friend thinks "Laissez les bons temps rouler" means "Plastic beads replace attire." I was a cheerleader - I know, the anti-establishment witch cheerleader. But it was the best way for me to get a scholarship." She sighed. "Until the cloak years."
He raised his brows. "A football cheerleader?"
"And some basketball, but mainly football."
"Happens to be my favorite sport."
"Mine, too! So how many is that?"
"Three. Go on, then. This is fascinatin' stuff."
"I like to play poker for cash, and pool-shark naive frat boys. Five things from you now."
"What about your family?" he asked. "Parents? Siblings?"
"Are you stalling?"
"I'm curious about you. Indulge me." He gave her a half grin. "Since I dinna drop you earlier."
Glancing away, she said, "Both my parents abandoned me at different times when I was a kid. Pops was a warlock - he ditched early and died soon after. My mother is a fey druidess - that's where I get the ears. She left me when I was twelve to go off and study druidry, or whatever it's called." Mari gave a self-conscious wince. "Wow. And I was really trying not to sound resentful."
"I'm sorry, Mariketa. I canna understand how any parent could leave a child behind."
For some reason, she didn't want Bowen thinking ill about her parents. "They must have had their reasons. They did care about me when they were with me." That, at least, she knew for certain.