The Wolf Lord's Mate

Chapter Twenty-Five

"How come I've never noticed you sleepwalking?" Isa sat perched on the edge of my workbench, legs swinging back and forth, "Surely I would have heard you moving around."

"You're a heavy sleeper," I said, pulling a stitch tight on a pair of breeches, "I think an earthquake could crack open the ground beneath the Manor, and you would still sleep through it."

"Slander," Isa rolled her eyes, "I'm a perfectly normal sleeper. I don't even snore." I raised an eyebrow in her direction, but said nothing in response. "I don't snore," Isa insisted, "Do I?"

"They're very cute snores," I said, laughing as Isa flicked me, "Like a little puppy having a pleasant dream."

"There's nothing cute about snoring," Isa crossed her arms over her chest, "I don't want to scare away any future male I have in my bed. It's not exactly an attractive quality, you know."

"If he leaves you for snoring, then he's not worth you in the first place." I tied off the row of stitches, snipping the thread with a pair of large sewing shears. My work was providing a great distraction to the Wolf Lord who had been consuming my thoughts, and Isa's chatter had been helping too. For a time, at least, until she brought up the fact that Samuel had told her about finding me in the Lord's study.

Nathaniel was right, Isa was a gossip, but it turned out that Samuel might have been just as bad. At least Isa was honest about the fact that she found pleasure in nosing through other people's business. Samuel, however, seemed to have been spreading my business with a shameless level of feigned innocence.

"It's a wonder that you didn't wander into the Lord's bedroom," Isa offered me a sly smile, "What a terrible accident that would have been."

"Yes, it would have been. I don't want to talk about anyone wandering into his bed, least of all me." My voice was stern, and I shot Isa a warning glare.

"I'm just teasing," Isa's smile fell, "You really shouldn't feel embarrassed about it. It's out of your control, it's not like you can stop it from happening. Like my apparent snoring."

That was certainly true. Not about the sleepwalking, obviously that was a lie, but the mate bond was beyond my control, and I couldn't stop what it made me feel. What I could control were my reactions to it. And my reactions to him. I did not have to act on my instincts, especially when they were not mine to begin with. The mate bond came from Nathaniel, from the fact that he was a Wolf, and as a human, I would have no mate bond without him.

Destined.

The word shot into the forefront of my mind. Fate was a fickle mistress indeed.

Isa said goodbye before hurrying off to finish her work for the afternoon, leaving me to the quiet solace of my work. Though it wasn't quiet for long, and hardly an hour flew by before Nathaniel made his presence known in the hall.

He was moving especially loudly, and I assume it was so that he would not surprise me, but I was almost insulted by how unaware he thought I must be for him to think he had to stomp around for me to hear him coming. I was a human, not deaf.

I shot him a questioning look as he stopped in the doorway. Dark blue was an especially good color on him, and his vest matched the overcoat he was wearing perfectly.

"Going somewhere?" I asked.

"We're going somewhere," Nathaniel stated, picking a bit of lint off of his overcoat, "Can you be ready in a few minutes?"

"Going where?" I said, not yet agreeing to anything, though I supposed that he just assumed that I would do what he said.

"Out."

"How descriptive."

"Ten minutes," Nathaniel rapped his knuckles on the doorframe twice, "Then I want to see you by the front door."

"I think you've missed a step here," I said, setting down the breeches I'd been working on, "You know, the part where you ask me if I'd like to go."

"I don't need to ask you," Nathaniel glanced behind him down the hall before stepping into the room and lowering his voice, "For the time being, you have chosen to continue to act as my employee rather than my Lady. Fine, that's your choice—but if you are my employee, than you must still act under my direction, mustn't you?"

I huffed, opening my mouth to speak, but Nathaniel cut me off before I could.

"Of course," He continued, "You could disobey, and I would not punish you for it, but wouldn't the others wonder? Wouldn't they be so curious as to why you were getting special treatment? And I of course would have no problem telling them or letting them figure it out for themselves. You're the one who wants to keep it a secret, sweetness. So? What will it be?" Nathaniel smiled, so much satisfaction in his gaze as he looked at me.

"Will you at least tell me where we're going?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"No." Nathaniel clasped his hands together, already turning towards the door. "Ten minutes, Mira, and then I want to see you by the front door."

THE WOLF LORD'S MATE updates every Friday for free on Wattpad

OR you can read ahead on Patreon and get twice weekly updates on Monday & Thursday

patreon.com/CassidySmoke