He didn't like his wife. He never had. At first the girl had been fascinating to him, but he wasn't the marrying type. He didn't want any of the women in his village, wolves and wolf-like that they were. He preferred his nighttime trysts with girls who lifted their skirts for him. The woman he had now, the one who gave him a daughter and his parents had forced him to marry, was not his problem. Alexia though, oh she was his whole world. And after a fight like the one he'd had with his wife, finding his daughter up at this time of night was welcome to him.

        "And what has you up so late, little dove?" he asked softly, even though they were alone in the cottage. He leaned down to scoop her into his arms, her blonde hair matted to one side from sleep. Kol brushed it from her face gently, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Mummy and I didn't wake you, did we?"

" — I don't understand...            how she could love someone like him..."