“I love my dogs,” Matias said dryly, his voice muffled by the blankets. Both Dobermans immediately shifted their excited attention to his face, trying to get to the parts he’d buried in the blankets.
“They are sweet,” Beth said with amusement.
“Hmm.” He didn’t sound convinced. Pushing first one away and then the other, he struggled to get upright. The minute he was standing again and they were unable to reach his face, Chico and Piper turned to her. Squealing, Beth immediately pulled the blanket defensively over her head to avoid the wet kisses. That just seemed to excite the dogs even more, and they began to try to nose their way under the blanket with her.
Giving up, Beth tossed the blanket aside, grabbed the first dog by the ears and began to rub them while kissing the top of his head and murmuring, “Now I’ve got you. You’re all mine. I’ve got you now.”
“He likes you,” Matias said with amusement as Chico calmed down and enjoyed the ear massage. “They both do,” he added as Piper settled next to her on the bed and laid her head in her lap.
Smiling, Beth released one of Chico’s ears and reached out to scratch behind one of Piper’s. When Chico lay down next to her too, she continued to pet them, but glanced to Matias and asked, “Why were you checking on me? You knew my arm would heal well enough.”
“Hmm.” Matias grinned and settled on the bed next to her. Absently petting Piper, he said, “Well, I feared you were being attacked again.”
“Attacked?” she asked with surprise.
“Hmm.” Grinning, he explained, “You were moaning, groaning, grunting, and crying out. It was most alarming. I was sure you were either being tortured to death, or you were making the mad, passionate love to someone. But since Donny is up and about, Scotty was in his own bed making the same sounds, and I can now see there was no one in your room let alone your bed with you, I can only assume it was a dream . . . a shared sex dream,” Matias added with a wicked grin.
“What?” Beth squawked, sitting up straight.
“Sí. I knew there was something between you and Scotty—” he added with satisfaction and then asked, “How was it? Is it as hot as they say? It sounded hot.”
“There’s nothing between Scotty and me,” Beth protested, ignoring his other questions.
“Oh, chica, how stupid do you think I am?” he asked with disbelief.
“Apparently really stupid since there’s nothing between Scotty and me,” she insisted.
“Really?” Matias raised his eyebrows superciliously. “And yet he was worried sick about you last night after you were injured.”
Beth snorted at the claim. “He probably worries about everyone that way. The man runs the Rogue Hunters in the UK. It’s his job to worry about the hunters.”
“Beth, seriously,” Matias said with a frown. “I beseech you. You must know he is your life mate? He is showing all the signs,” he told her and then counted off, “One, I can read his mind. He’s much older than me and I shouldn’t be able to, but I can. Two, he is eating. He ate an entire pizza last night by himself. And he is drinking too. I gave him a soda to have with his pizza and he drank the whole thing.”
“Yes, he’s eating and drinking and he probably can be easily read,” she allowed. “And yes, he’s met his life mate. But it isn’t me, cousin.”
“Why are you bothering to lie to me?” Matias asked with exasperation. “You were in here having the shared dream with him. You were moaning and groaning and crying out, ‘Scotty, oh, Scotty.’” He mimicked what she guessed was supposed to be her voice with a ridiculous falsetto. “And Scotty was down the hall doing the same thing, but shouting, ‘Beth! Oh my God, Beth!’”
“He was?” she asked with surprise.
“Sí,” Matias said firmly.
Beth frowned over that, but shook her head. “He can’t have been. He has a life mate already. He just hasn’t claimed her.”
“Sí . . . you,” Matias said with satisfaction.
“No. Scotty told Donny—”
“And I am telling you I can read his mind. Did I not mention that?” he asked with irritation, and then continued, “And last night when you were in pain, his thoughts were in an uproar. He was in a panic to ease it for you. He was also most concerned that we must guard you well because he would not lose his life mate. Those were his thoughts. ‘I will not lose my life mate,’” Matias said with emphasis and then smiled smugly. “You. You are this life mate.”
“But how can that be?” she asked with confusion. “I mean, I met the man over a hundred years ago. How could he not be my life mate back then and then suddenly be my life mate now? Wouldn’t he have had to be my life mate all along?”
Matias pursed his lips and considered the question. “Perhaps he was.”
“What?” Beth glanced at him with surprise.
“Well, he has expended a lot of energy over the years trying to keep you from being a hunter and then trying to keep you off dangerous hunts,” he pointed out. “And I read in his mind last night that he’s had someone watching over you since shortly after he saved you from Jamieson.”
“What?” she repeated, outraged.
Matias nodded. “Sí, he was thinking of that last night. It was someone named Magnus, and he recalled him back to England when he decided to fly out here to Canada, but he was thinking he should put him back on you after last night’s attack.”
“Son of a—I can’t believe he had someone watching me all this time,” Beth said grimly. “How did I not notice?”
“You are missing the point, chica,” Matias said with exasperation. “Why would he do that? Why did he have someone watching you even way back then?” he asked, and then answered, “He must have known all along that you were his life mate.”
Beth stared at her cousin blankly as everything he’d said circled slowly inside her head. Scotty had set a bodyguard on her. He’d been looking out for her. He was eating and easily read because he’d found his life mate. And the dreams . . . Beth frowned. Were they shared dreams? Life mates were said to have them when in the vicinity of each other . . . but Scotty had played in most of her wet dreams since she’d met him. Even the ones she had when they were on different continents.
Although, she thought suddenly, they had always been more powerful when he’d popped up in Spain, and now here. Beth had just assumed it was because he was on the scene and big as life. Now she realized he’d often stayed in either a house or hotel near wherever she lived. Then the dreams had been much more powerful, more real. She’d been able to smell him, and touching him in her dreams had felt like she was touching him in real life . . . like the dream tonight, she thought with a frown.
“Frankly, I am surprised that you did not realize it yourself,” Matias added.
Beth scowled at him. “How was I supposed to know? I was a new turn when I met him. It had only been two weeks since I was turned. I couldn’t read anyone, so not being able to read him meant nothing to me. And I was still eating back then. And . . . well, he’s a good-looking man. I just assumed I was dreaming about him because he was a hottie.”
“All true,” Matias decided after a moment’s consideration. “So I will accept that you did not know, but he definitely must have known.”
Beth bit her lip, unwilling to believe that Scotty had known all this time and not claimed her. How much did you have to hate someone that you would bypass claiming them as a possible life mate? The one thing all immortals yearned for and were seeking? And why would they even be life mates when he hated her?
“Maybe he wasn’t sure,” she suggested hopefully.
“Beth,” Matias said heavily. “Scotty is not an idiot. He knows the signs of meeting a life mate. His not being able to read you by itself would have told him that is what you are.”
“He can’t read me?” she asked curiously. “How do you know that?”
“Because he didn’t know that you knew about his interfering in your becoming a hunter and some of the jobs you’ve been on,” Matias explained. “If he could read you, he’d know that. But he didn’t and was surprised and even dismayed when I told him that you do know.”