Read Online The Forgotten by Marly Mathews - Free Book Online Page A

standing in front of him did believe all of those widely inflated tales as he was quite literally shaking in his boots.
    Lucan took one step closer to him, and the man ran out of the Tavern without a backward glance.
    He moved back to his barstool and sat down.
    “What did you do?” Neri’s sweet voice filled the large room.
    “I set things to rights. That man didn’t belong here. So I sent him packing.”
    “Oh, may the Gods give me strength when it comes to dealing with you. Now he’ll bring the Pack back with him. You don’t think you got rid of him for good, did you?”
    He glanced over at her trying not to be captivated by the stunning vision she created. He wanted so very badly to hold her close, sweep her up in his arms and carry her back to the bedchambers on the second level.
    “If you’re so scared of the Pack why do stay here? A woman like you should be able to find work anywhere. In fact, your beauty alone would get you wherever you wanted—or needed to go.”
    Her heavy sigh touched his heart. Emotion cradled that small sound in such a vibrant way that a pain stole through his heart.
    “I made an oath to a woman on her deathbed and I don’t break my vows. In case you were wondering that woman was your mother. She begged me to stay here and wait for your return. She wanted me to keep the Tavern safe for you should you ever want to come home. She said she wanted you to have a home to come back to.”
    His throat tightened, and he struggled to control his feelings from betraying him. He wasn’t a frail creature, feeling like this and displaying that emotion to her would only make him seem weak—and someone like him could never appear weak.
    “I spoke in haste. Forgive me, kind maiden.” He gallantly bowed to her, as Algernon had trained him to do so long ago.
    He’d told him that all women deserved to be treated like the ladies they were. Only then would they truly be men, worthy of their love. He wondered how old Neri was. She had to be over fifty for his mother had been dead for half a century.
    “Ah, I see the question in your eyes. You want to ask that one question that men should never ask ladies. I am a changeling, we have extended lives when compared to you shifters, though I hear your lifespans far outreach most in Shardizar. The Hunter blood inside of me is quite diluted, the changeling blood is far stronger.”
    “It is true—we shifters tend to have expanded lifespans. I haven’t tested that theory yet myself, as I spent one hundred and fifty years suspended in a curse where I could not age, be maimed, or die.”
    His mind went back to those dark days, and after a morose moment, he snapped himself out of it. The present was infinitely better than his past, even if the present had a few rough patches.
    “What else did my mother want you to do?” he asked softly.
    She looked at him long and hard. Her eyes were sparkling with life as he could see memories flooding over her.
    “She wanted me to—“ She seemed unwilling to voice the last few words, so he prompted her.
    “What did she want you to do, Neri?”
    Neri cleared her throat, as redness coloured her cheeks. “She wanted me to love you.”

Chapter Six

    “That’s my mom for you,” Lucan said cheekily, a wide roguish grins spreading across his face. “She was looking out for me till the bitter end. She used to tell me I looked for love in all of the wrong places,” he chuckled again, and then sobered.
    Something skipped against her heart, making a shiver go up her spine and tingle the back of her skull. Just being near him sent swirls of longing throughout her. She could not abstain from giving herself to him much longer. The vow she’d made so long ago was about to be shattered.
    “Your mother was the wisest woman I knew. She told me you were a good man, and since I trusted her with my life, I will view you as she regarded you. However, you have brought nothing but trouble to our doorstep. Those bastards will come