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“The Huntsman did that to your hand.” Anger wove its way through my voice.
“I deserved it.”
“Did you?” My nose wrinkled. “Because he was going to hurt me. Hedidhurt me. You just stopped him.”
Kaleb looked up at me from behind his long lashes as if noticing my swollen cheek for the first time. “Where did you go this afternoon?”
“Dean and Mitchell took me to the market.”
“Dean?”
I nodded, and Kaleb crouched down until his face leveled with mine. He reached out, his palm still scented with the salve. Before I could ask what he was doing, he placed a hand on my cheek, ignoring my instinctual flinch as he cupped his wounded palm to my face. I closed my eyes. My cheek heated, and a moment later, the throbbing disappeared. I couldn’t tell if it was from the balm or skin contact. His face was close to mine, his eyes distracted as he watched his hand on my cheek. My lips burned with the need to kiss him. I jerked back, unused to the feeling. Shame filled me.
When Kaleb pulled his hand away, his palm was red but no longer blistered.
“The perks of being a wolf.” I joked; my laughter was thready.
Kaleb hummed. “Dean has bitten you. Marked you.”
“He didn’t know I was a wolf.”
“I doubt that would have changed much,” Kaleb said, turning his hand over and studying the unblemished skin. “Do you know what a Shíorghra is?”
“Dean and I aren’t mates.” My brow furrowed. “I’d know. I can see magic. I’d see the bond. Only true mates can have children, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
I brushed my hair away from my face. “Grandmother used to say that the Sídhe have aknowing. You look at your mate, and suddenly, there is no one else.”
“There are many ways.” Kaleb shrugged. “It’s been said the Sídhe can see markings on their Shíorghra that other people can’t see.”
I sat back. “How would you even know if you can see a mark no one else can see?” I asked myself.
“Wolves have many ways. Scent is one of them.” Kaleb continued; his gaze was far away. “But a wolf always knows.”
“What if I don’t have a mate?” I pushed my fingers through my hair, wincing at the tangles. “I thought Joel hung the moon and stars when I was young. I clung to that for much longer than I should have. I’m not very good at choosing men.”
Kaleb smiled to himself, but he didn’t answer my question. “Dean is taken with you. I’d say he’s a rather fine man.”
“I thought there was something betweenus,” I admitted. “Then this Dean thing happened, and I’m left all kinds of confused.”
“Sometimes sex is easier.” Kaleb’s orange eyes crinkled at the corner as his gaze met mine. “Whatever you have with Dean doesn’t affect whatever you have with me. I am an old wolf, Mallory. I have seen females with a dozen male Shíorghra. Us wolves are so few, and our females even less.”
I pondered his words, wondering if they were an admission that he felt whatever was brewing between us.
“Sex is simple; it’s everything else that’s hard,” I murmured, ignoring the way my core clenched, wondering what sex with Kaleb would be like.
“I’d argue that if sex isn’thard, you’re having it with the wrong people.” Kaleb grinned.
I rolled my eyes and nudged him. “Did you just make a joke?”
“I did, didn’t I?” Kaleb seemed awfully proud of himself.
What I had with Dean was passionate, desperate, and filled with emotion I didn’t understand.
Kaleb wasn’t that person. Aloof, detached, and entirely at ease with himself. Did he fuck the same way he approached life? Rolling with the punches, with a dreamlike aplomb?
I reached up, brushing my hair away from my neck, suddenly feeling much hotter than I had a moment ago. I fanned myself and let out a loose breath as I stood up and began to excuse myself.
