Tate was not that way though, he was the prince of the pack and he did understand how important it was to keep the royal blood line pure but he wanted nothing to do with this woman. Accalia also treated the werewolves that were not pure as if they were not as good as she was as well.
There were several different types of werewolves, those that were born of two werewolves that were born of two werewolves and so on until the lineage could be traced back to the father. Then there were werewolves who had been born of a werewolf and a human. Then there were those who were changed by another werewolf. Accalia was the type of werewolf whose lineage went back thousands of years all the way to the beginning. There had never been a human brought into her family nor a half bred werewolf.
Tate could also trace his ancestry back thousands of years and he understood why his family wanted to keep it pure, but to him a werewolf was a werewolf just as a human was a human. He had seen the looks that were given when a werewolf tried to bring a human into the pack, when they asked for permission to change them. It was if they were degrading themselves, but what Accalia did was far worse than looks. She was as mean as she could be to the members of the pack that were not pure blood and then the way she treated humans was inexcusable.
They all had the choice to live in human form or to live in wolf form, part of the pack stayed in the woods while the other part lived in the city with people. Accalia and her family lived in the city. They were not cut out for life in the wilderness. Tate could not remember the last time that he had actually seen Accalia shift and didn’t even know what she looked like as a werewolf. The only thing that ever reminded others that she was a werewolf was the wild look that she got in her eyes when she was angry and the groan that came from deep within her stomach.
Tate could see the anger in his father’s eyes. In all of his life he had never been disrespectful to him. He had never questioned his authority, but today he refused to follow an order. Tate’s father had told him that it had already been arranged with Accalia’s family and that she had accepted the offer. Of course she accepted Tate thought to himself, she wouldn’t just have to say she was a princess anymore.
Tate turned and walked out of his father’s house, jumped into his car and headed down the road. Now would be the time that he would have loved to have been off in the forest where he would be able to shift, run and even hunt something down taking all of his anger out on it.
As Tate drove through the city he saw Accalia walking down the sidewalk with Sheldandra following as closely behind as she could. Accalia was a tall woman and slim while Sheldandra was just taller than five feet and was a very curvy woman. Accalia had a bad habit of calling her fat, eating in front of her and not allowing her to have breaks for her own meals.
Accalia always told Sheldandra that it was for her own good and that one day when she was thin she would thank her, but Tate had seen Sheldandra on the verge of tears because of the words that Accalia spoke.
As Tate watched the two women from afar he could tell that Accalia was talking down to Sheldandra. Accalia’s mouth was going non-stop and she was making the ugliest faces that Tate had ever seen, all while Sheldandra struggled to keep up, carried all of Accalia’s bags and looked as if she were on the verge of tears. It took everything that Tate had within him not to walk up to Accalia and tell her how much he did not like her. He wanted her to know that she would never be his mate.
As he watched Sheldandra he wished that his father had been generous enough to find for him a mate like her. Yes, she was human, but Tate did not care. To him she was beautiful. She had a nice round butt with thick thighs. Her breasts jiggled and bounced as she struggled to keep up with Accalia. Tate could think of nothing else but getting his hands onto her body as he sat watching her.
He had never found himself attracted to a human before and he did not know if it was pure lust or if it was because he did not like the way Accalia was treating the woman or if it was simply out of defiance for his father but he knew that there was a part of him that needed that human woman more than he could express.
He decided that he did not care what his father or anyone else had to say Sheldandra would be his and then she could have all the revenge that she wanted on Accalia. As the thought passed through his mind, he smiled. He didn’t care what it was that was attracting him to Sheldandra but he could not help but to smile at the idea of Sheldandra bossing Accalia around. Maybe he would hire her to be Sheldandra’s assistant. He knew that Sheldandra did not have a mean bone in her body and that she would never treat Accalia the way that she had been treated.
He had met Sheldandra on several different occasions when his family and Accalia’s family got together or when he was out socializing. He was amazed that no matter where Accalia was she had to have Sheldandra with her. She had forced her to rent the apartment that was next to her own, Sheldandra accompanied her wherever she went shopping, getting her hair and nails done and even out to the club. Tate had often wondered if Sheldandra was in fact the only ‘friend’ that Accalia had.
He had never seen Accalia out with human or werewolf females. He assumed it was because they would not put up with the way that Accalia insisted on treating them, but often wondered exactly what she could do that would make everyone stay away from her.
He had watched her often as they grew up together and she had always been this way. When she would miss treat others while her parents were around they would laugh it off and say something like “cubs will be cubs.” It was always the same thing, never taking any responsibility for their daughter's actions.
Now, Tate was going to make sure that she knew it was her actions that was going to cost her the title of princess. Tate decided that he was going to follow the two women until he could get Sheldandra alone, he wanted to talk to her, but wanted to make sure that Accalia was not around. He was a smart man and understood how angry his family as well as Accalia’s would be when they found out that he wanted to mate Sheldandra. He did not want them to find out until it was done and there was nothing more they could do about it.
It took a while, but Accalia finally went to her own apartment and allow Sheldandra to go to hers. It was not before Sheldandra carried all of Accalia’s bags into her apartment and put everything away. Then she cleaned up Accalia’s apartment before starting her dinner for her. It occurred the Tate that Accalia already saw herself as royalty and that Sheldandra was nothing more than a servant to her.
Tate wondered how Sheldandra would react if she knew that Accalia was a werewolf. He wondered how she would react when she found out that he was a werewolf. He had all the anxiety that anyone else would ever feel. He knew he was an attractive man and he knew that Sheldandra was attracted to him, but there was always the fear of rejection. It was even worse now that he knew his entire future depended on what this one woman would say.
If he could not make Sheldandra understand what he was and make her love him, he would be forced to spend the rest of his life with Accalia. That was not a future that Tate was looking forward to. Once he was sure that Accalia was not going to call Sheldandra back over to her apartment, he made his way to the door and knocked gently.
He could hear Sheldandra walking to the door quickly. He assumed it was because she thought that he was Accalia wanting to demand more from her. As she opened the door the look of stress turned to surprise.
“Oh,” Sheldandra said, looking at Tate, “Mr. Tate, Accalia is not here, her apartment is the next one over.”
Tate smiled down at Sheldandra. She had not even had time to change out of her work clothes and she looked completely exhausted. “I’m not here to see Accalia,” Tate said gently, “I wanted to talk to you.”
“Oh,” Sheldandra said, opening the door allowing Tate into her apartment, “I assume you want to talk about the wedding?”
Tate spun around and looked at Sheldandra stunned. She blushed and looked down at the floor as she closed the door behind him. “It’s just that you know, that is all Accalia
has talked about all day. I didn’t know there was still anyone who practiced, arranged marriages,” she stammered.
Tate could tell that she was already uncomfortable, but he needed to make her understand that he did not want to marry Accalia.
“What would you do if I told you I was not going to marry Accalia,” he asked staring straight at Sheldandra. Mating with Accalia was so much more than just marrying her, but he knew that he could not explain that to Sheldandra. At least not yet.
Sheldandra looked at Tate with nothing less than confusion. He reached out and took her hand, as he led her into her living room, he said, “I am not here to make you work anymore, you have done enough of that. I am here because I do not want Accalia.”
Sheldandra interrupted, “Please do not ask me to tell her that. She will kill me.”
Sheldandra had no idea just how true that was but Tate thought it best that he keep his opinions to himself. Tate sat down on Sheldandra’s sofa and patted the cushion next to him. Sheldandra slowly sat down next to him.
“I would never ask you to do such a thing,” Tate began. He looked deep into Sheldandra’s dark brown eyes and he could see the fear that was within her. Seeing that type of fear caused the animal within him to begin to claw at the surface trying to break through.
“I am glad to hear you do not want to marry her,” Sheldandra said, blushing, “She is an awful woman, but I don’t see what any of this has to do with me.” Sheldandra was looking down at the floor. It was something that she did quite often now that she worked for Accalia.
Tate had not known Sheldandra before that time, but he remembered that when he had first met her she was full of joy and always held her head up. He could tell that Accalia and her words had taken a huge toll on Sheldandra.
“I know the way you feel about me,” Tate began. Sheldandra lifted her head, looking at Tate with her eyebrow raised. “It is okay,” he continued, “I am not going to say anything to Accalia about it. I feel the same way about you and I can’t go on hiding it.”
Sheldandra stood not willing to cause a problem for herself and began walking to the front door. “I think that it is best if you leave,” she struggled to tell him, “If this is some kind of test that Accalia has for me, you can tell her that I passed, but I will be looking for new employment, I can’t work like this anymore.”
Tate quickly rose and rushed toward Sheldandra. He grabbed her waist from behind and turned her to face him before she could open the door. She stared up at him, taking in all of his beauty. He was a man that was like none she had ever known before. He had beautiful white skin, he was not pale, but he did not look as if he had spent too much time in the sun either. His dark black hair was sleek and straight. She smiled as she watched a strand of it fall down on his forehead. It was one of the things that Accalia loved to complain about. She did not like his messy hair, but Sheldandra loved it. He had the most beautiful blue eyes that Sheldandra had ever seen and even though she had always preferred brown eyes there was something in Tate’s that mesmerized her. His lips were a beautiful shade of light pink and clearly defined just as his jaw bone was. He was a very muscular man and Sheldandra knew that he must have worked hard for that body.
As she thought about Tate’s body she was forced back into reality. She knew that a man who worked that hard on his own body would not want a woman like her. She was clearly more than a few pounds overweight and Accalia had made it very clear that no man would ever want her the way she was.
Sheldandra could feel tears welling up in her eyes as Tate held her against her front door. It was not from fear, though it was from knowing that she would never be good enough for the man that she loved and there would never be another man like him in her life. When Accalia had announced to Sheldandra that she was going to marry Tate, it felt as if she had ripped Sheldandra’s heart out of her chest and stomped all over it. For the rest of the day that was all she could think about.
Now here was the man that she wanted more than anything in the world, standing in her apartment with his hands on her waist. Sheldandra could not allow herself to think that it was anything more than a trick set up by Accalia.
Sheldandra was pulled from her thoughts as she felt Tate’s lips land hard on her own. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. Tate flicked at Sheldandra’s lips begging for entrance and even though she was unsure of what she should do she parted them. His tongue slowly entered her mouth and began to explore and as he kissed her so gently she wrapped her arms around his neck.
She knew that even if it cost her everything this moment in her life was going to be worth it. It would be something that she would never forget. Tate began kissing her harder as his hands slid up and down her back. Never in her life had she been kissed by a man like him. He was successful and his family was well known. Accalia was the type of woman that these men went after but here he was in her apartment kissing her.
Sheldandra felt as if she were melting into Tate as he kissed her and held her close. When he pulled his head back she whimpered slightly not wanting it to end, but was glad that he did not let go of her. “This is not a test from Accalia,” he said, smiling down at her, “this is me telling you that you don’t have to let her yell at you anymore. She is never going to put you down again and your days of working for her are over.”
Sheldandra wished that what he was saying was true, but in her life she had learned that she could not trust people, especially ones that made big promises like the one Tate had just made.
“How can you say that,” Sheldandra asked, “Your families have arranged for the two of you to marry. What are you doing here?”
Sheldandra was still confused and was becoming more and more confused as each minute passed.
“Let’s go for a walk,” Tate said, as he released Sheldandra from his grip, “then we can talk and I can explain everything. You never knew if Accalia is next door with her ear to the wall.”
Tate smiled as he talked, but Sheldandra could tell that there was a bit of truth in what he was saying. She was not going to give up the chance to be with the man of her dreams so she quickly grabbed her things and they headed out the door. The two of them were quiet as they passed Accalia’s apartment door. Tate did not want her running to her father just yet. He knew that as soon as he had mated with Sheldandra nothing less than war would break loose in his family and he wanting to enjoy the little bit of time he had before that happened.
Tate had thought a lot about the consequences of his actions. He knew that there was a huge chance that his father would excommunicate him. He would lose his title as prince and he would be on his own in the world. What gave him hope was the fact that he knew he would become the king of his own pack. He knew that some of the werewolves of his pack, the ones who were not purebred would follow him and that he and Sheldandra would be able to start a pack of their own. That was if she was willing and did not freak out when he told her what he was.
They headed out of the apartment building and into the night air. It was already dark outside and the town was lit up with life. Tate missed seeing the stars the way he had when he was just a cub and lived in the forest. He missed that life and wanted to go back, but his family had not allowed him. They told him that his responsibilities were in the world of the humans. It bothered him that he could no longer tell the difference between members of his pack and humans. This was not how it was supposed to be and Tate knew it.
Tate took Sheldandra’s hand and led her through the city and into the park. It was the closest that he could get to the forest and he wanted to feel at home when he opened up to her.
“Why have you brought me here,” she said. Her voice was teasing, but the smile on her face was unmistakable. Tate had never seen her so happy in all of the times that he had seen her with Accalia.
“I want to be alone with you,” Tate replied quietly. He was unsure how to begin telling her about himself and began to question his entire plan.
“We could h
ave been alone at my apartment,” Sheldandra teased him.
“With Accalia next door,” Tate growled and made an ugly face that caused Sheldandra to laugh.
“You really can’t stand her can you,” Sheldandra asked.
“Do you have to ask,” Tate laughed, “she is a terrible excuse for a were… Person.” Tate bit his tongue knowing that he almost slipped and that was not acceptable. Sheldandra looked up at him confused.
“What were you going to say a were what,” she asked.
“Oh, nothing,” Tate stammered, “I just got lost in my own thoughts.”
The two of them were walking along the path in the part, it was dark and he held Sheldandra close to him. He could feel that she was shaking and felt bad that she was cold.
“Come here,” he said, pulling her closer, “You are shaking.”
“Yeah,” she replied, snuggling into his chest, “I do that sometimes.” The smile never left her face as they talked and walked through the park. When they reached a bench at the edge of the park Tate asked her if she wanted to sit. He knew she had been walking all day and that she had to be tired.
“There are some things that you do not know about Accalia and myself,” he said as they sat down. Sheldandra looked at him curiously. “Did the two of you have something going on,” she asked quietly.
“No,” Tate quickly answered, “Nothing like that. It is what keeps our families so close together. We are not like other people. In fact, we have an entire group that is like a large tight knit family.”
Sheldandra leaned back away from Tate, “I don’t understand what you are telling me,” she stated, “Are you part of a cult?”
Tate let out a loud laugh, “No, not a cult,” he said, trying to compose himself, “I don’t think I am doing a very good job of explaining myself.”
SCOTTISH ROMANCE: My Sinful Surrender to a Highlander Werewolf (Scottish Werewolf Pregnancy Romance) (Historical Medieval Shape Shifter Paranormal Science Fiction Short Stories) Page 44
