Before Midnight by Jennifer Blackstream Page A

fool,” he growled at himself. “What woman wants to be thrown down on the forest floor and taken like a beast?”
     
    He punched the tree in a surge of self-loathing, cursing when the bark bit into his flesh. Blood flew from his wounds and he absentmindedly put his knuckles to his mouth and licked the blood off. The coppery flavor reminded him of just how long it’d been since he’d had a proper, fresh dinner. He licked at his knuckle again.
     
    Catching what he’d just done, he dropped his hand in disgust. If Loupe would have looked back at just the right moment, that would have been the perfect image to scare her away from him for good.
     
    But isn’t that what you want? To scare her away from you for good? To send her into the arms of a man who can be the sort of husband she deserves? A HUMAN husband?
     
    Forcing himself to wait until she’d had enough time to get into her cart and start for home, Etienne couldn’t get away from his thoughts. He might be human soon. As horrible as the thought was, what if Loupe was the silver lining? And what if he did find a loup garou in time? Did that really bar him so completely from taking Loupe for his wife?
     
    Sinking down to sit at the foot of the tree, Etienne frowned. Somehow, somewhere, he had started to think of Loupe as a possible mate. When had it happened? And why?
     
    He tapped a finger against his knee. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t always intended to marry someday. A human and a powerful pure-blooded werewolf like himself would produce a werewolf child, so he could have his pick of any willing young woman in his kingdom. Actually, he had always planned to marry, to settle down and have children. It was not just something he wanted for himself, it was something that would be expected of him as a ruler when his father passed on the crown. So why was he shying away from Loupe?
     
    Because she’s sweet, and innocent, and if you were ever to reveal your true nature, you would frighten her away just as surely as you did today. Etienne sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. As much as he wanted Loupe, and he could admit now that he did want her, he couldn’t drag her into his world. He let his hand fall to the ground. A maiden as soft as Loupe would not adapt to a werewolf husband.
     
    A cold little wet nose poked at his hand. Etienne looked down to find one of the wolf pups doing its best to squirm under his hand. Images of Loupe on the floor trying to teach the pups how to defend themselves from eagles flew into his head and he couldn’t help but smile.
     
    “You are probably very spoiled,” he observed, relenting and petting the little furball. He sighed in resignation. “I hope for both our sakes she comes back to visit.”
     
    He looked up, unable to stop himself from searching for some sign of Loupe. She was nowhere to be seen. He sighed. “I scared her off,” he murmured to the pup. “I talked of blood and violence and then I attempted to…” he trailed off glancing down at the pup. “Well, I behaved more like a wolf than a gentleman.”
     
    He dropped his hand from petting the pup and stood. Sitting out here moping would do no one any good. He had a loup garou to find and he’d wasted enough time mourning Loupe.
     
    He’d only taken a few steps toward the castle when he had an unsettling thought. He glanced back at the three pups, rolling around in the leaves just inside the forest.
     
    These woods used to be the safest place in the kingdom. The creatures and societies beyond humans knew that the royal family of Sanguenay were werewolves and the villagers of this land had been afraid of loup garous long before they’d come. Outlawing the killing of wolves had let the population thrive, though Etienne’s family assured their numbers did not grow to become a problem. The presence of so many wolves, who may or not be just wolves, had kept many enemies at bay.
     
    Not anymore. The attack last night had proven that. Word about