Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 36641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
“I am grateful she taught you how to cook,” he said with a chuckle as he glanced down at his empty plate.
“She would be pleased to hear that. My brothers are pleased as well since when I visit them and their partners, they beg me to cook. I jokingly said that their future children would have to rely on their aunt to teach them the art of cooking. They told me I didn’t have to worry about that. They had no intention of having children. Their lives are fulfilled enough with their work.”
“Do you feel that way?”
“No,” Olivia said, shaking her head. “There were several times my parents and brothers didn’t make it home for Christmas, and I rarely saw them on my birthday. It made me want to have children, have a family, do family things together. How about you? You must have fathered many children through the years?”
“I did, but that was far in the past. I’ve been too busy with the preserve and making sure it prospers, survives, and thrives in different ways in the future. I will mate again soon, and I hope to have many children. Children who will take over the running of the preserve and the care of the pack.” He glanced at a clock on the wall. “I need to go.”
She wrinkled her brow. “How can you have a virtual meeting if there is no Internet?”
He smiled as he stood. “You are observant. I have a satellite link in the preserve’s office, so we are never completely isolated since emergencies do happen. If you feel the need to use it for anything just let me know. There is also a phone in the small den not far from the intimate dining room you dined alone in on your first day here. It connects to my office in the preserve if you should need me.” He walked around the table to her, took hold of her chin, and kissed her soundly. “Until later, mo ghràdh.”
She was not surprised when he grabbed both their dishes and deposited them in the sink. He might be the alpha of the pack, but he was a considerate one. She finished in the kitchen and was about to head to the library when for some reason she recalled the tapestry in the armory that she never got to see last night. She was not sure if she could find her way there again, but she wanted to see the tapestry bad enough to give it a try.
It wasn’t as difficult as she thought it might be to find her way there and she was even more impressed and intrigued when she entered the armory once again, except for the chill in the room. She was glad she wore her bulky sweater over her knit top and extra warm leggings, as well as her thick slipper socks over her regular socks. She was shielded against the chill, though not against the shock that had her gasping when she stood in front of the tapestry.
It depicted a battle scene. Victorious warriors stood over fallen ones and in the middle stood a younger Tiernan, his dark hair long with braids on each side of his head, holding a sword. At the top of the tapestry was a forest scene, and spotted among the trees were wolves, looking as victorious as the warriors. Were they all werewolves sharing in the victory?
Olivia took a step back, realizing how old Tiernan was and the battles he must have fought to protect his kind. She wasn’t his kind though, she was human. What would that mean for them?
The question haunted her as she made her way to the library with only a couple of wrong turns. She added more logs to the fire that burned in the fireplace, then sat on the couch, tucking her feet beneath her.
How could she have any kind of normal life working here on the preserve, especially after being intimate with Tiernan? He told her he would never have sex with an employee, so once she accepted the position that would end. He said he would mate again, meaning he would take a partner, and he said himself that he wanted many children. Considering all that, what would life be like for her here alone with werewolves? And yet, she had feelings for Tiernan, strong feelings, so much so that the thought of leaving him upset her which, of course, reminded her of what she had thought, now possibly feared, that she had fallen in love with him.
She needed to be sensible about it. Life would be too difficult, and she would be far too isolated to accept a job here, even though it appealed to her. She only saw her parents or brothers if she traveled to see them. They never traveled to see her, and they only called occasionally, all of them far too busy with their lives or at least that was their excuse. It was like she didn’t even have a family, at least not since losing her grandparents. She had no close friends, though she did stay in touch with some coworkers after leaving jobs, something many in the field did, to keep connections and for networking. So, what would she be returning to when here she could study a different wolf species that has been around for who knew how long?