Fire Wolf: CINAED (New Scotia Pack Book 3) by Victoria Danann Page A

emotionally invested in Ken and a little confused about the fact that he’d said they were ‘dating’.
    He let go of her hand to open the door. It creaked badly as it swung inward. Neither of them had seen the interior of the guesthouse, but Star was sure it was kept in immaculate condition, because New Elk Mountain would always want to make a nice impression on guests, regardless of the creaky hinge.
    Ken struck a match, and located the oil lamp sitting on a table next to a large vase of fresh wildflowers. He lit the lamp and hissed as the match burned down to his fingers. He waved it through the air quickly to put it out the rest of the way and smiled at Star.
    “I’ll start a fire. May be spring, but ‘tis a little cool and I still have the chill of the mountains in my bones.” He stalked toward her slowly and stood so close that barely a breath of air existed in the space between their bodies. His voice seemed to drop an octave lower when he said, “Besides. I want enough light to see what I’m doin’.”
    Starfire shivered at that, which delighted Ken, but he suppressed a chuckle. He didn’t want to take the chance that she might think he was laughing at her.
    While he went about starting a fire and looked around the cabin, she stood in the same place with questions bouncing back and forth inside her head. When the blaze began to crackle the wind caught the smoke from the chimney above and made an inconstant sound almost like the rhythm of ocean waves.
    Firelight made the room feel warmer and friendlier as well. Ken filled a kettle with water and set it on the hearth by the fire. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out two small burlap bags tied with twine.
    “Mulled wine,” he said. “Snagged it from the kitchen.”
    “What changed?” she asked, still standing in the same spot by the door.
    He frowned at her question. “Come and sit with me by the fire.” When Star didn’t move, he said, “Ye’re no’ afraid of me, surely?”
    “Of course not.”
    “Well then?” He raised both eyebrows in a challenge then sat on the rug in front of the fire with his back resting against a daybed that could potentially double as a couch.
    “I’ll sit, but I still want an answer to my question.”
    As she eased down next to him, he rested his elbow on the daybed mattress behind her head and began playing with strands of her hair, like he was fascinated by the texture.
    “What question was that?”
    “What. Changed?” She enunciated clearly enough to make the point that she meant business.
    He debated playing dumb, but concluded that she was too smart for that. With a sigh he turned to face the fire.
    “Nothin’ changed other than my willingness to show ye how I feel. You affected me greatly from the beginning.”
    “You did a really good job of disguising that.”
    “Thank you.”
    She meant that in a sarcastic way, but she could tell that he took it as a compliment and that was a little exasperating. “Let’s come at this from another angle. Why did you change your mind?”
    He took that opportunity to get up and set the kettle closer to the fire, partly because he thought they could use some mulled wine and partly because it gave him a moment’s reprieve from an uncomfortable scenario.
    Starfire waited patiently until he returned to his place next to her on the floor.
    “I do no’ suppose ye’ve forgotten where we were.”
    She shook her head. “Not a chance. I had just asked you why you changed your mind?”
    “Fear.”
    “Fear?”
    “Fear,” he said again. “I feared findin’ and losin’ you more than I feared causin’ a kerfuffle for our families if things did no’ work out between us.”
    “I see,” she said thoughtfully.
    “When I woke up, halfway back to New Elk Mountain and learned that the bloody cowards had left ye behind, I believed I might go mad with fear and worry. I knew instantly that I’d been an ass. No’ claimin’ a mate does no’ guarantee anythin’ but