Part 30 (1/2)
She gulped it down in one swallow. It burned all the way down then knocked the breath out of her.
”What-what was that?” she gasped as tears rolled down her cheeks.
”Four-hundred-year-old Scotch,” Rhys answered. ”Do you want some more?”
She dropped the gla.s.s to the floor. ”No! That was enough.”
”Good, now tell me why you are here instead of with Bleddyn.” His tone was imperious.
She gritted her teeth. Arrogant, insufferable man. ”Not that it's any of your business, but Bleddyn left.”
A stunned expression appeared on Rhys' face. ”Not here? But the full moon, the ceremony. He's been waiting centuries.”
When her fists. .h.i.t the arms of the chair, dust billowed. ”What ceremony? Would someone please tell what the h.e.l.l is going on!”
”Didn't Bleddyn explain-” began Rhys.
”d.a.m.n it! After mind-blowing s.e.x, all Bleddyn did was b.i.t.c.h because I wasn't a virgin then turn into a wolf and run away.”
Man, wolf and cat stared at her.
Meredythe snapped her mouth shut. That might have been more information than she wanted to share with a total stranger. There she went, letting her temper run away with her again.
Rhys sank onto a wooden stool. ”You weren't a virgin? But that means the entire ceremony was useless.”
Meredythe leaped to her feet, ignoring Methuselah's indignant yowl as he tumbled to the floor. In a few steps, she was standing in front of Rhys, trembling with anger. Jabbing her finger into his chest, she snarled, ”Today I have been drugged, tied up, threatened by a nut with a knife, been caught in a fire, almost raped, accused of infidelity and then dragged up here by two animals who can talk in my head. If you don 't tell me what is going on, I'll bite you too.”
Keri's head snapped up.
She bit him. That explains that then.
Rhys had been shrinking away from her finger but he jerked upright at her threat.
”Bite me too? Did you bite Bleddyn?”
She paused in her tirade. ”He was trying to rape me. What was I supposed to do?”
”Did you swallow any of his blood?”
Meredythe's stomach dropped. ”Yes, a little, I think.”
Rhys stared at her.
She swallowed. ”What does that mean? Will I... am I going to turn into a werewolf too?”
Rhys indicated the chair she had vacated. ”Sit down, Meredythe, and let me explain. First, you will not become a werewolf. But swallowing Bleddyn's blood has obviously brought some small changes to your physiology.”
She stared at him. ”Bleddyn's blood. That's why I can understand Keri and Methuselah, isn't it?”
”Undoubtedly.”
”And I won't become a werewolf?”
”No.”
”How can you be sure?”
”Swallowing a werewolf's blood will not transform a person into a werewolf.”
Not bothering to hide her relief, Meredythe leaned back and closed her eyes. She opened them almost immediately. ”But according to everything I've read, that's how werewolves are created.”
Rhys rose and poured himself a drink. ”Everything you've read is wrong.”
She opened her mouth, but Rhys held up his hand. ”Let me explain.”
Meredythe sniffed. ”It's about time somebody did.”
”Approximately fourteen hundred years ago-”
”Fourteen hundred years!”
He sipped some Scotch. ”Please, Meredythe, don't interrupt.”
Methuselah jumped back into her lap.
Sighing, she stroked him. ”Okay, start talking.”
She continued to stroke the cat as Rhys explained how Bleddyn had waited almost fourteen hundred years for her, how Rhys had tried to bring them together four different times over the centuries only to be stymied time and time again. She shook her head as Rhys explained how he'd taken her dying body into fire to save her life so that she could be reborn sometime in the future.
When he finally finished, she shook her head in disbelief.
Easing Methuselah from her lap, she stood and began to pace, pondering everything Rhys had told her.
”No way,” she finally said. ”No way is this possible. Okay, Bleddyn is a werewolf. I saw him change with my own eyes, so I believe you. But having s.e.x with a virgin-me- will stop him from being evil. Come on. And me, living in fire. No way. That's just not possible.”
She paced to the fireplace and turned, sidestepping a bit so as not to step on Keri. Her foot came down on a stack of Rhys' books, which immediately toppled to the floor. One large tome landed on Keri's tail. With a howl, she leaped up, her shoulder catching Meredythe's hip which caused her to lose her balance. Throwing her hands out to brace her fall, Meredythe tumbled into the fireplace. The flames roared and rose to meet her.
A small corner of Meredythe's brain registered everything that was happening. As she fell forward, it seemed as if time slowed and she was standing outside her body, watching. She was going to be burned-badly.
As she watched, flames leaped toward her hands and arms. She managed to keep her legs out of the flames, landing on her knees on the lip of the fireplace. Her hands, however, landed among the burning logs.
”Tanau!” she cried.
The flames roared higher and embraced her upper body.
Jerking herself out of the fireplace, she knelt and stared at her hands. Flames danced along her arms and leaped from one hand to the other without burning her skin. She didn't even feel any heat.
”How... ” She swallowed. ”How do I make it stop?”
Rhys' voice was gentle. ”Say peidio.”