I lay beside Haakon, my whole body flushed as if I’d stayed too close to the fire. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.”
“’Tis natural. ‘Tis your heat.”
“Why am I like this? Why do you want me?”
“Shhh, you’re perfect. The beast requires an anchor. Someone to love. Someone to master. Someone to control. A mate.”
I licked my lips so I could speak. “You think I’m your mate.”
“I know you are. Soon we will bond. You will join with me and Ulf, and our minds will link. We will be as one.”
I almost cried out. The emptiness in my body, the longing—I knew now what would sate it.
“Haakon, I cannot. I have nothing. I am nothing. How can I be your mate?”
“When we came to the abbey, we scented you from afar. As soon as we found you, we knew. From the first pot you threw.”
“I am afraid.”
“You’
