Imprisoned at Werewolf Keep (Werewolf Keep Trilogy) Read Online Free

himself that way when he had a lovely young wife at home waiting to keep him warm?’
    Jasper considered this question closely. What would drive a man into the icy outdoors to pursue a fox , weak from poor pickings over the cold months? It was certainly the done thing by the gentry, and anyone who was anyone did so to be seen. But from all that he’d heard of Montgomery, he had been a slave to the pastime, putting aside all other activities for the pleasure of pursuing the outnumbered, unwitting victim.
    He and all those at the Keep had more of an affinity with the fox than the hunters. Maybe Howard’s death was fair payment for his bloodthirsty predilections. But it did seem unfair that a young wife should have to pay for them, too, and because of her, that their Phil should have to suffer additional sadness.
    ‘A fox’s winter pelt is the prize, ’ Jasper informed his friend, almost forgetting where their conversation had started.
    ‘Poor sport in my eyes . I am off to do my husbandly duties. I wonder if I will ever tire of them. It sometimes feels quite impossible that I was alone for so long. Now that Phil is here, it almost feels as if she has always been here.’
    ‘And yet the last nine months have flown by like the blink of an eye. I am happy for you, ‘Ron, you do know that, don’t you?’ Jas rose to put a hand on the other man’s shoulder.
    A look of surprise and then guarded pleasure crossed Byron’s face. He cleared his throat and gave a brief nod. ‘I know. Thank you.’
    B efore the emotions flowing between them became more than either could comfortably handle, Byron turned on his heel and strode from the library. Jasper watched him depart with bemused envy. He knew what his friend and his wife would be doing for the next few hours.
    Trying to turn his mind from such amorous thoughts, he sat down at the desk again. But his concentration was gone. Images of a welcoming female body filled his mind. Not Phil. He would never let his mind conjure such a picture. But an anonymous female, like so many he’d known in his younger years, all pretty and willing, providing the kind of pleasure that only fine whisky could equal.
    He had known no such pleasures of the flesh for two and a half years. Not because he didn’t still have the urge. He did, more so than ever. But they knew so little about the condition. What if he could pass on his disease to a woman during sex? Who knew if he might lose all control of his wild side during the act and break her skin? They still didn’t know if the contagion could be passed at other times of the month. And because of that unknown, and because he didn’t believe he deserved the pleasures to be found in a willing female’s arms, he kept to a celibate life.
    And as far as he knew, all the denizens of the Keep kept to that strict regime. They didn’t even form bonds amongst themselves beyond the superficial friendships based on shared interests. It was as if they each lived within their own lonely, isolated prison while sharing the physical space of their greater prison with each other
    It was yet another way that he paid for his crime. And he imagined it was how the others saw it, too. He accepted it as his lot, just as he accepted all the rest.
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
     
    It was mid-February, and just a little over a week since Phil had left her in Hertfordshire, when Fidelia arrived at the ancient ruin of Breckenhill Keep to pay a morning call. It was common etiquette to send notification of her imminent arrival, but she had wanted to surprise her friend. And Fidelia had a niggling sense that, given notice, Phil might have found a way to circumvent her visit.
    Fidelia didn't know why she would do such a thing, but after their two weeks together, when she’d learned nothing additional about Phil’s new life and the mystery had seemed to only grow deeper with each passing day, it felt more and more like Phil was trying to protect her from something. There was a