Page 88 of Wolves’ Witch
She reached for the linen, but he held it out of her reach and gestured for her foot. Again she hesitated, then placed her foot in his hand. He dipped the linen into the water and swiped at the mud.
“They told me…that is, your descendant Gabriel told me, if I were to take on this mission I would not only survive, I would thrive.”
Aubert kept his emotions locked down. His descendant had sent her back through time knowing she was dying? If he ever had the opportunity to meet him, this Gabriel, he would knock his head through a wall. What had he been thinking? Though given they would not have their mate had Gabriel not sent her, and the Montagne lineage may have well ended with him and his brother without her, he would grant his descendant this one reprieve.
“They wouldn’t tell me how, or what I was supposed to do, but… There was only one thing that could cure my disease.”
He glanced up. Isobella was watching him intently. Gauging his reaction? “A turning.”
She bit her lip and nodded. “I won’t lie to you, Aubert. I wanted it. Badly. But I know your pack laws. I know the alpha must sanction a turning, and it’s rare. Unless a Langeais wolf finds a mate who’s human. Gabriel himself refused to turn me, even though my sister, his mate, begged him to.”
He let go of her clean foot and gestured for the other. She gave it to him without a thought.
“But Gabriel vowed I would survive. That had to mean a Langeais wolf would turn me. At least, that’s what I figured.”
Her brown eyes begged for his understanding. She had it. She had had it from the moment he had come to his senses on the Langeais Keep ramparts. He rinsed the linen and started washing her other foot.
“Stef, Gaharet and Erin’s descendant, had told me about Aimon. So I knew there was a chance, if I proved my worth to your pack, Gaharet might turn me, but…”
The thought of Gaharet turning her, biting her, brought a growl to the back of his throat. It had his canines pressing against his gums, threatening to drop so he might bite her, claim her. He wanted that more than he had ever wanted anything in his life. He forced his hands to remain gentle, to not snatch her up and toss her on the bed.
She ducked her head, letting her curls hide her face. “I had hoped… I’d seen the way Gabriel was with my sister. The way he treated her and the way he looked at her. The same way Gaharet does with Erin. And Aimon with Kathryn, and all the mated Langeais wolves. After Douglas…” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I confess, I wanted that, too.”
