Tuesday Teaser 6/23/15: Daughter of the Wolf Clan

You know, we’re far enough along with this story that I should start thinking about an actual title. I like Daughter of the Wolf Clan, but I wonder if there is a better title. What do you think?

This next bit is mostly dialogue. When I do revisions, I might condense this a bit.  I know a lot of you are waiting to read the scene where Tracker catches up with his daughter, then again, I want the readers to get to know Kit and his feelings, and also explain a little of how the Pride works. We’ll see. Here is the middle of Chapter 5:

Kit leaned to press a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Tell me, my mate, what love is.”

“Love,” she said slowly, thinking about her mom dad and how they acted toward each other, “is when a person cares more about another person than they do about themselves. They want the other person to be safe and happy.” She frowned. “I think.”

A smile curved his lips, making him startlingly handsome. “I love you,” he said.

She leaned away from him. “No, you don’t! You don’t even know me.”

A shade of hurt crossed Kit’s face, dissolving the smile into a tiny frown. “If love is caring about another person more than I care about myself, then I love you. I want you to be safe and happy. You said that’s what love is. I love you, Olivia.”

She swallowed hard. “We haven’t known each other for very long. It takes time to fall in love.”

Inwardly she flinched. It hadn’t taken her dad any time at all to fall in love with her mom. He said he’d fallen in love with his mate before he’d ever laid eyes on her. But that was different. She blinked back the urge to cry. Just thinking of her parents made her ache to be home with them.  She missed Parker and Taylor, as bossy and overprotective as they were, because even though they teased her, they loved her.

“Why does it take time? You’re my mate. I knew it as soon as I saw you.” Kit hauled her tightly against his side. “I love you. Do you love me?”

Olivia took a deep breath and let it out in a shaky sigh. “How can I? I don’t even know you.” A low growl rattled in his throat and her lips trembled. “So we should talk to get to know one another. Um, do you have brothers?”

*   *   *   *

Kit stared at his mate, trying to keep his frustration back. Why didn’t she love him? He loved her. Why didn’t she want him to give her sex? He would act whichever way she preferred. Fast, aggressive, slow, tender. All she had to do was instruct him and he would obey. But she was rejecting him. He examined her carefully for any hints of her feelings. Her face was composed except for the tiny shaking of her lips. Her breathing was too fast and too shallow for calmness, but she pretended well. Was she angry? Or frightened? She wanted to talk, so he would talk. What had she asked? Were brothers the same in the human world as they were in the Pride?

“There are nineteen mature males in the pride. They are my brothers.”

She flashed him a quick glance out of her eerie, pale blue eyes. “No, I mean your siblings. The sons of your mother and father.”

Kit had an idea of what she meant by mother and father, but those were human terms. “The queen who bore me died. I don’t know which male fathered me. The Queens accept any male they wish to have sex with. Their children are all brothers and sisters.”

“Oh my God!” Olivia slapped her hand over her mouth. Her eyes were huge. “Do you mean that you and Maria and Juanita and Patricia might be literally brother and sisters? And you have sex with them?”

She looked utterly horrified. Kit sighed. “Humans don’t do that?” He didn’t need to hear her emphatic denial to know his guess was right. “I won’t do it anymore. I have a mate now.”

“Are any of those … children yours?”

His mate seemed very concerned about which male fathered which children. “All of them are mine. They are part of the Pride, and I am a mature male of the Pride.” When her horror didn’t diminish he quickly went on. “But only I will be the father of your children.” He frowned, troubled by another thought. Unless Patricia forced Olivia to have sex with other males as she had threatened. He caught his mate’s chin in his fingers and turned her face so she had to look at him. “I will not give you sex without your permission, but if you make me wait too long the Queens could take your choice away from you. Then I would have to fight my brothers. I won’t be able to win against them. If I am killed, I can’t bear to think what will become of you. If I’m not killed I could be banished from the Pride. Please, please don’t make me wait too long.”

Fear joined the horror in her eyes before she shuttered her emotions behind her closed lids. “Oh, God.”

Her moan stabbed him like a knife. Her face was so beautiful. He couldn’t help himself. He lowered his head and put his lips on hers.