Page 43 of Ravenous

“Aye. Highlander diplomacy. Step one: whiskey.” He winked. Fucking winked at her.

She found her lips curling.Damn him.“You’re impossible.”

Lowell leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees, eyes half lidded. “And yet,” he murmured, “you’re still sitting here.”

Meera didn’t answer. The words she wanted to say—because I’m so tired of being alone—lodged behind her teeth.

Instead, she met his gaze, held it, and finished her drink. The whiskey flamed down her throat, sweet and final.

But when she lowered her glass, he smoothly repoured, watching her like a man memorizing a sin he meant to commit again.

Chapter 18Lowell

Gods, the witch is a comely thing.

His gaze roamed over her, from her sensual smile to her bonnie brown eyes to her thick black mane. He craved to loosen her hair so that it spilled over a pillow as he pounded between her soft thighs. He pictured her full breasts bouncing—

“Right then,” she interrupted his thought, sharp as a snapped wand. “Let’s brainstorm. You start.”

Huh?He dragged his focus from her mouthwatering chest. “Ah, aye. Been thinking we’ve got to get your leader and mine to meet again.”

Meera arched a winged brow. “Easier said. I’ve never seen King Thane so cold. He hates Ditch, doesn’t he?”

“He…harbors strong feelings about her,” Lowell said carefully. “But cold? I thought he handled it rather well with her. Why would she be so antagonistic to him?”

Meera’s tone went defensive. “Maybe Ditch should have smiled more? We are enemies. She treated him as one.”

“That’s what I’m telling you—we doonahaveto be enemies.”

“Yet here our factions are.” She swirled her whiskey, the liquid catching the firelight. “From what I can tell over these last few days working with Ditch, she truly wants power. Can Thane concede an inch?”

“Rewarding thefts with concessions?” He shook his head. “He’d lose thepack’s faith and signal a weakness to them.” They would understand if he announced that his mate was a witch—fate is never wrong—but Thane had kept her connection secret, lest word get back to Ditch. “Does your coven need food so badly? Thane has no interest in your people starving. Mayhap we can help.”

“A few weeks ago, I would have said we were fine. But lately the market’s been bare. I intend to find out more.”

He nodded. “Several of Umber’s crops failed this harvest. Winter will be lean for all unless we help each other.”

“How? Ditch and Thane’s hatred seems intractable. Unless…” She finished her second glass, looking lost in thought.

He smoothly refilled her, eager to hear her mind at work. “Unless what?” He was tempted to drink his own—he’d brought a bloody splendid bottle—but wouldn’t hasten his time with this female. As suspected, she wanted him in return. He perceived her skin warming as she relaxed and scented the sweetest beginnings of her arousal.

“We might get movement if either leader found a mate,” she said. “Ditch would negotiate with a queen more than she would with Thane. And it is an Accession. Fated pairs are appearing everywhere across the Skein. Why not Thane? He’s well overdue.”

Waaaay overdue.“Fifteen hundred years he’s waited.” Born a prince, raised as a future king, he believed he was due all good things. So to be denied the best thing for so long?

Infuriating. To that male, unbearable.

“Has he never encountered a hint of a mate?” Meera asked.

Lowell wasn’t a liar by nature, but he was loyal to the bone, so he hedged. “Once a Lykae finds his fated one, few things can prevent him from reaching her on the night of the full moon. So, nay, he’s never experienced that pull before.”But in weeks, he will.

For now the king paced his study, staring at the growing moon as he considered and rejected ideas to deal with his thorn-in-paw mate:

Propose another official meeting. Reave her like the Highlanders of old. Or the most impossible—relinquish her.

“Your mood has shifted,” Meera observed, her gaze assessing him.

“Kingdom cares. ’Tis naught, lass.” He had many. Aside from all his other duties, he would oversee the containment oftworoyal Lykae during this month’sfull moon—one newly mated and one truly mad. The prospect was fraught with danger. For Thane and for any of his men. Once risen, a Lykae’s inner beast became a maelstrom of force and brutality. “I’ll think more on what concessions we might be able to offer, and you’ll find out about the food situation.”