Ice Claimed by Marisa Chenery Page B

be so few as Taylor had said.
    After watching her pace back and forth a couple more times,
Durlach asked, “Won’t you come sit with me?”
    Meadow didn’t stop. “I think better when I’m moving.”
    “Well, I find it very distracting.” Durlach stood and caught
her around the waist to halt her pacing once she was within reach. “You said
you wanted to talk with me in private but so far you’ve been lost inside your
head. It makes me wonder what you’re thinking.”
    She gave him a small smile. “Sorry. It’s all so much to take
in.”
    “I know. Talk to me, ask me questions so I can help you
understand.”
    “There are so many I don’t know where to start, but okay.
You sound so certain I’m your mate. How would you know that already? We just
met yesterday.”
    “Actually, it was the day before that.”
    Meadow remembered her first meeting with the “wolf hybrid”.
“That’s true.”
    “Even in dire wolf form I knew the instant I smelled your
scent that you were the one for me. You set my mating urge off and only a mate
can do that.”
    “So it can be set off even if you don’t love me?”
    Durlach kissed her forehead. “Why would you think that? I
fell in love with you almost from the time I set eyes on you. When werewolves
find their mates we tend to fall in love at first sight.”
    “You love me?”
    “Of course. I know mortals usually take longer, but I hope
your feelings for me run deep enough that you will be able to.”
    Had she already fallen for Durlach? Meadow was almost
certain she had. The thought of turning down what he offered her and never
seeing him again made her stomach clench, and not in a good way. Plus, he was
literally offering her an eternity. And once he claimed her and their souls
joined, he would never leave her, even if she spent months on a dig and she got
caught up in her work. Hell, he could be part of her work.
    “Can you shift for me again?” she asked. “This time I won’t
be afraid.”
    “Okay.”
    Durlach took a step back. Meadow watched with fascination as
his body blurred and shimmered before the familiar black dire wolf took his
place. He closed the small distance between them and nudged her hand with his
wet nose. She squatted and scratched the top of his head. This was Kèitel. The
“wolf hybrid” she saw on the trail when Durlach had supposedly come looking for
his pet had to have been one of his wolf brothers.
    “Who was the other wolf who came running up the trail
yesterday?”
    She heard Durlach chuckle in her mind. That was my wolf
brother, Capac. Carson, our newest sentinel, thought it would help with my
story about looking for my wolf hybrid if we actually found one. He didn’t
think you’d notice the differences between Capac and me in dire wolf form.
    “Well, he wouldn’t have known I can be very observant. And
now that I know what kind of wolf you are, there is no way I would ever be able
to see you as a hybrid. You are a dire wolf. I’ve studied so much about the ice
age I’ll have no problem spotting the difference. And you know I’ll be pumping
you for information about your former life, you and your wolf brothers.”
    I’ll be more than happy to tell you whatever you want to
know.
    She ran her hand down his back. “And once you turn me, will
I be the same type of werewolf like you?”
    Yes. You’ll be the fifth mate to be turned. So if you
need any help adjusting, you can always look to Cassidy, Eryn, Haven and Jaren.
They’ve been through it.
    “You said that when you claim me our souls will join. Will I
be able to feel that?”
    Only when the mating bond forms. But once we’re mated we
won’t be able to stand to be apart from one another. Our minds will play tricks
on us, making us think something has happened to the other. We call that
separation anxiety. I’ll do everything in my power to keep us from ever
experiencing it.
    “So I would have to take you with me on digs because I don’t
think I could ever give up what