Free On The Prowl by Catherine Vale

weight of her question. Griffin lay still, trying to untangle the raw emotions the question had brought to the surface.
    “I have…had a mate. A long time ago.”
    Addison was quiet, but he could tell by the tension in her body she was far from sleep, and when she drew a breath to speak, he spoke first. This was not the time to let her have control. Not this time.
    “I will tell you the story, only once. You will listen and not ask questions. Do you understand?”
    She let out the breath, then nodded.
    “She was chosen for me, an arrangement. But from the first time we saw each other, at our marriage ceremony…we knew it was more than an arranged marriage. She was the other half of my soul, and I hers.”
    “What was her name?”
    “I said not to ask questions. And I will not say her name, not to anyone, ever. And not to you, now.”
    Addison struggled to face him, but he wrapped an arm around her, holding her tightly against his chest. She struggled briefly, but then lay still. He lifted his head, rose over her, his lips close to her ear.
    “She was killed by humans. By the people who came from the same place you come from, humans who plunder and steal from the ruins. They killed her for no other reason than they could.”
    She turned her head, and his lips brushed her cheek before he pulled away. “But it wasn’t the people from the Museum who killed her. The people from the Museum were killed, too. I lost friends, colleagues.”
    “But not your family. Not your wife. Not your unborn child.” His voice was stern, a deep rumble of pain hooked on the heels of every word.
    This time she struggled hard enough to turn and face him. The moonlight caught her eyes and he saw pain, and compassion. It tugged at his heart but he fought the emotions welling up inside. She’d opened a door he’d closed and sealed a long time ago. He wanted that door closed again, to never revisit those memories. He did not want to feel what was growing inside him. It was weak and this was not the time or place for this.
    She reached out, setting her hand on his face. Instinctively he pulled away, but she pressed her hand forward.
    “Griffin. I’m sorry. You’ve suffered a loss beyond words. But you have to know it wasn’t the people from the Museum who killed your wife. It was tomb raiders or shifter hunters, the same raiders and hunters who killed my friends. We both lost people close to us.”
    “Does it matter? She is dead and I cannot bring her back. She did not die an honorable death in battle, or of old age. Or in giving me a son. She died for no reason. It was senseless. And it was at the hands of humans.”
    Her hand slid down, resting on his chest, over his thudding heart. “Griffin, I can’t imagine what you feel…I wouldn’t even pretend to understand. But you can’t wall that part of your heart off and pretend it never happened.”
    “What I do with my heart is my business…” He wanted to be angry; she’d intruded in his past, in his memories. She’d dragged to the surface emotions and memories he never wanted to think about again.
    But with her in his arms, her gentle touch on his skin, he was undone. Roughly he pulled her against him, cradling her head against his chest. She went quiet in his arms and he remained silent. If he spoke he’d lose control, and his beast was close to the surface, pacing and anxious, and he keenly felt the loss…hers, and his own. The loss of the only woman he’d loved.
    And even to himself, he refused to say her name.

Chapter Seven
     
    Addison stumbled against Griffin, the rain pelting her face. He took her hand, pulling her up the last few stairs into the ruins. The sudden relief of being out of the rain was immense, and she sagged against him. The rain had started before they’d been awake and she’d been soaked to the skin for hours. Her boots squelched with each step and she cringed, wondering what damage her feet were suffering.
    “We made it.” She looked up at him,