“You demand?” He smiled, and she fell silent. “I suggest that you rephrase your request, Rowena.”
“You are a tyrant,” she whispered. “Very well, I request that you ask that woman to leave as soon as possible. She is no fit guest in this house. She must have fooled Cassidy as she did the rest of us.”
Yes, Isabelle Smith had fooled them all. She had broken all the rules of decent society, and she was Cassidy’s companion…
The library door swung open. Cassidy strode into the room, stretching her skirts to their widest limits in her haste.
“Braden, you’re—” She checked when she saw Rowena. “Braden, I have to talk to you. It’s about Isabelle…”
Braden lost the thread of her words as he labored to compose himself, struggled not to breathe in Cassidy’s scent or let her nearness remind him of their sharing in the wood.
“I do not believe I requested your presence, Cassidy,” he said, interrupting her.
“I had to see you—”
“If you are to remain, please sit down and be quiet.”
“Whatever Rowena’s told you—”
“Sit… down. ”
Skirts rustled and hissed contentiously. She sat down hard.
“Rowena has told me everything,” he said grimly. “Did you know about Isabelle Smith’s past?”
“I didn’t know until today,” she said. “It doesn’t matter to me. Isabelle is my friend.” She lifted her chin. “You can’t make her leave. She’s had enough trouble—”
“My dear cousin,” Rowena said. “Surely you realize that such a woman is no fit companion for any respectable lady. She corrupted a man about to be married, brought embarrassment upon a good family, and was quite rightly cast out of society—”
“Enough,” Braden said. “I have already made my decision. As soon as it can be arranged, a carriage will take Mrs. Smith to the train station, and accommodations will be made for her elsewhere until she can make plans to leave the country.”
Cassidy stood up. “Why? You aren’t even giving her a chance. I thought you would—” Her voice turned toward Rowena. “Why do you hate her so much? You hate being a werewolf. You judge Isabelle the way you think other people would judge you if they knew what you were. Does that really make you happy?”
Rowena’s stunned silence was the only answer she made before she swept from the room. The door shut with an angry thump.
“You speak very freely, Cassidy,” Braden said coldly. “I believe Mrs. Smith has already done you harm by her presence here. She’s proven herself unworthy—”
“Because she broke the rules of your society?” Cassidy said. “Isabelle explained all about those rules. You told me that humans aren’t as good as we are, but even you follow the rules they make. And you… in the woods, we broke the rules, too, didn’t we?”
She caught him without a ready answer, springing her trap with neat ingenuity. His first instinct was to subdue her with his greater size and stronger will, dominate her with his body in the ancient manner wolf and werewolf shared alike.
But he didn’t dare get so close to her. “We obey the rules that preserve our people,” he said. “Humans are flawed even in their mating. We mate for life, Cassidy. That, too, makes us superior.”
Even as he spoke, he knew he lied. Milena taunted him from the grave—Milena, who was the true equal of Isabelle Smith.
“Then werewolves are never wrong,” Cassidy said. “They never make mistakes.”
Did even Cassidy dare to mock him? “I will not justify myself or my decisions to you.”
“But you won’t tell me anything,” she said. He could hear her, feel her coming toward him. “Isabelle hasn’t done you any harm.” Suddenly she was touching him; coldness turned to blazing heat, resentment to hunger. She overwhelmed his every thought, every intention.
“Why are you so angry, Braden?” she asked. “You want everyone to believe you don’t care about hurting people, but all the time you’re hurting, too.”
He grabbed her arms. “You know nothing of me,” he snapped. “You’re an ignorant, half-human child. You can’t even Change—”
“You haven’t given me the chance. Just like you won’t give Isabelle the chance.” She pulled away. “It isn’t fair.”