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heir.”
    Phillipa studied him closely, hoping to see if he spoke the truth or whether he was being flippant. “You could have courted me and asked for marriage. I don’t believe I would have told you no. You are pleasant to look upon and you pleased me greatly last night.”
    His eyes raked down her body until he reached the sheet that still covered her breasts. He pulled it away slowly, the soft cotton scraping across her sensitized skin.
    “I cannot marry,” he said. “Marriage is a holy sacrament. A blessed union that your people feel the need to hold in a church and in front of a priest. And as you must realize, I cannot step foot on sacred ground. Once I spawn an heir on you, papers will be forged declaring our marriage and we will return to England to take our place in society. You are a very powerful young lady. If I don’t claim you, then your grandmother will marry you off to whomever she deems the best match.”
    “I’m the daughter of a baron. No one will care who I marry.”
    “Yes, you are the daughter of a baron, but you are also the great-granddaughter of a duke. Your mother’s grandfather held the last title, but only daughters have been born since his death. You are the last of your line, so any son you have will inherit that title. And with it wealth, land and a position of great power. I need all of those things.”
    Phillipa began to laugh before she could control herself. The bed shook with her mirth and tears leaked from her eyes.
    “You can’t possibly think that I hold the key to a dukedom. King Henry would have paid heed to my family all this time, trying to win favor for whoever might inherit the title.”
    “King Henry has been busy with his own problems. He would have found you eventually. He might have even married you himself.”
    Her laughter died down when she realized he was deadly serious. “I must get to my grandmother. She needs to know I am unharmed. I am the last family she has.”
    “I’ve already sent some of my wolves to protect her,” he said. “She will be taken care of until you are with child. Then we will travel to Scotland so she may know you are well and happy.”
    “And will I be happy? What of the child you expect to create? Will he be normal?”
    “He will be the most important child born to this world. There will be no others great enough to defeat him, and the world will have no choice but to bow before him.”
    “What if someone finds me? And what if I don’t conceive?”
    “This cottage is protected from trespassers. We are completely alone, and I will be here to act as your stud however, whenever, and wherever I see fit. If you don’t conceive within the next year, then you will die. And I will continue in my search for a strong mate of value who can reproduce.”
    His voice was hard and there was coldness in his eyes. She didn’t understand how he could have such passion for her one moment and such disinterest in her well being the next. He reached out and palmed her breast, pinching her nipple hard between his fingers.
    She gasped at the instant pleasure it brought to her, even as she recoiled at the thought of being a prisoner for the next year. She couldn’t bring a child into such existence. There had to be a way to seek help.
    The heat infused her body like it had before and she couldn’t help but lean into him. “What’s happening to me?”
    “When one of the wolves scratched your arm, you were infected with a type of poison. If I hadn’t mated with you as I did, then you would have become one of us. I need you to be human to procreate. My wolves do not have that ability. But now your body belongs to me. I can call the heat and you have no choice but to answer. The only way to soothe it is to release my seed inside your body. Or to kill me. But I am not so easily defeated.”
    “You read my thoughts earlier,” Phillipa said, trying to keep her mind blank of the plans she would have to see through to survive. “How did you do