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Joy and regret clashed, but they couldn’t override my confusion. Shouldn’t I be dead? Callen had been worked into a rage. Yes? Had Sorcha calmed him? Or had I?
I must have. Why else would I be alive? A miracle! Except, he couldn’t have known where the calm had come from. From his viewpoint, I’d attempted to murder his fated. The surest way to provoke a berserker to deliver your end.
I yanked at the chain, but it held steady.
“You can’t free yourself. The metal is rasensteel, which is reinforced to hold a sentinel lost in rage.”
Callen’s rich baritone hit my ears, and I threw my gaze across the room. He stood in the open doorway, so beautiful he made my eyes water. In an off-white cable-knit sweater and slacks, he appeared warm and relaxed. But his icy blue eyes told a different story. Had he taken the gelu root?
He strode into the room. Thora ran in behind him just before a guard shut the door, sealing us inside. She made a beeline for me, jumping onto the bed as if she knew who I was despite my new face. Overcome with gratitude, I scooped her into my arms, burying my face in her soft fur. A familiar tickle erupted in my nose, and I sneezed. Then I sneezed again. And again.
No, no, no. I’d missed the precious canine too much and longed to cuddle. If I maintained contact, however, I would break out in welts and stop breathing.
“I love you, baby girl, but I can’t hold you right now,” I rasped, releasing her on the floor. She perched at my feet. Good enough for now.
Callen eased into the chair with the grace of a manassured of his power. “I will ask you questions, and you’ll answer truthfully. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I said with a tremor in my voice. He didn’t know me, butI knew him and comprehended his ruthlessness with those who weren’t Isobel Bruce.
“You snuck into my home and tried to murder my wife. Why?”
I swiped my tongue over my lips. “I didn’t.” Azure rings appeared and crackled in hisirises, but I continued anyway. “Isobel switched places with me, then Sorcha, who was Mackenzie, who switched places with Isobel before switching places with me.” What a tangle! “Give me a chance to prove it.” There were memories only I knew.
He worked his jaw, but there was no ring twisting, dang it. The bottom dropped out of my stomach when he stood, picked up the chair, and carried it closer to me. As he sat, his legs caged mine. My breath hitched, his incredible scent enveloping me, reminding me of sweeter moments we’d shared.
“Prove it then,” he offered coldly.
Okay. “At your office, I sat on your lap, and we spoke about–”
“I found the bug under my desk. Next.”
Come on! Seriously? “In the privacy of our bedroom–”
“I found the bug in the light fixture. Next.”
Sweet goodness. Sorcha really had planned for everything. “Nothing I say is going to convince you of the truth, is it?”
“No. So let’s try this again.” He shoved the words past clenched teeth. “And do not lie to me. You won’t like what happens.”
Trepidation blistered my nape, but I didn’t back down. “I’m your wife. The one you vowed to love and protect. Thewoman you marked. But I’m not Isobel. I’m Elizabeth Darcy, exactly as I tried to tell you. An American special ed teacher. Innocent of all wrongdoing. Well, most wrongdoing. I’m also extremely disappointed in you. How can you not see the truth?”
His knees squeezed mine. “The answer is so obvious I shouldn’t have to state it. Since you’re pretending not to understand, I’ll explain. Tavish sent you on a suicide mission. Convince me of a soul switch, so I kill you as well as my wife. What else would ensure my eternal misery?”
Argh! Like Sorcha, Callen had an answer for everything. “There’s a way to settle this. Kiss me,” I grated. “I doubt Sorcha can fake being me. Or rather, fake being me while I faked being Isobel. Whatever. Just kiss me. If you dare.”
A muscle ticked beneath his eye. “Kiss you, so I betray my wife and dishonor my vows, becoming someone I despise?”
He’d told me something similar when he denied having a mistress. I’d gotten my first glimpse of berserker honor that day. Yes, I admired him for it. No, I wouldn’t back down. “Kissing me isn’t a betrayal of her, you stubborn man, but kissing her will be a betrayal of me.”
He scowled with anger so sharp I felt the cut soul deep.
Let’s try this a new way. “Why didn’t you kill me in or even out of a rage already? I thought you didn’t converse with wolves and their minions.”
The muscle beneath his eye ticked harder. “Exceptions are sometimes made.”
“Yes, but why make this one?” My pulse leapt. Sorcha had accused me of not seeing the big picture. WasIpossibly…
I almost didn’t dare think it, but new hope swelled in my chest anyway. Was I, Elizabeth Darcy, Callen Bruce’sfated all along? He’d sensed the bond with Isobel, yes, feeling as if he floated on a sea of calm, but maybe he’d only felt that way because I would one day take her place. What if the mate bond ignited forme?
