Chapter 4

Elizabeth woke up feeling confused about where she was. She felt sore and achy, but she was glad to see that her fever had passed. Was she still at Darcy House? She was no longer in Darcy's bedroom, to her relief.

"Lizzy?"

Elizabeth looked over in surprise to see Jane at her bedside. "Jane! How glad I am to see you!"

"Are you feeling all right, Lizzy? I have been so worried."

"I think I had a fever," said Elizabeth uncertainly. "Where am I?"

"You are in a guest room at Darcy House," said Jane, looking concerned. "Lady Anne said you had fallen ill, so I came at once. Aunt Gardiner wanted to accompany me, but she could not leave the children."

"How long have I been ill?"

"It's the middle of the night," said Jane. "You have been unconscious for hours."

Elizabeth looked down at herself to see that she was wearing a shift that was too large for her. She guessed it was one of Lady Anne's.

"Are you thirsty? Hungry?" asked Jane.

"Thirsty," Elizabeth replied.

As Jane helped Elizabeth to sit up to drink, Elizabeth's shoulder twinged with pain. "Is the bite on my neck healing?" she asked before she could think.

"Bite?" asked Jane in surprise.

"Yes. The wounds on my neck. I can feel them."

Jane looked at her neck and then at Elizabeth's face in concern. "There is no wound on your neck, Lizzy."

Elizabeth paused. Jane could not see the wound? She brushed her fingers over it, and could feel the places where Darcy's teeth had punctured the skin. "Please bring me a mirror, Jane."

Looking puzzled, Jane went to call a servant while Elizabeth sipped a glass of water. A few minutes later, Jane returned with a hand mirror. Elizabeth took it and then angled it to see if she could see the bite marks. Sure enough, there they were. Was it something that only wolves could see? And if so, then why could she, Elizabeth, see it?

Elizabeth desperately wanted to tell her sister and confidant everything: Lady Anne's transformation into a wolf, her revelation about the mate bond with Darcy, the abrupt and rough way that he had taken her, the bite, the odd swelling in his shaft when he ejaculated. But she knew she could tell Jane none of this. Jane would think her mad.

"I suppose I must have dreamed it," said Elizabeth, handing the mirror back to Jane, who looked relieved at Elizabeth's words.

"Can you eat something, Lizzy? Or do you want to just sleep?"

"Just sleep," said Elizabeth, her lids already drooping with her fatigue. She felt wrung out as she had never felt before.

"Then rest, Lizzy," said Jane, taking her sister's hand. "I will be here."

With that, Elizabeth slipped into sleep.

When Elizabeth woke the next time, Darcy and Lady Anne were in the room, talking quietly.

"Where is Jane?" she asked.

Both Darcys turned to look at her. Darcy's face especially lit up in joy to see her. It surprised Elizabeth to see that. She had never seen that look on his usually-dour face before, and the fact that it was directed at her was astonishing. She could not stop herself from giving a small smile back.

"Your sister has gone to get some rest," Lady Anne said. "We insisted. She stayed up with you all night." She stood. "I will leave you two alone to speak for a moment."

Elizabeth watched apprehensively as the lady left the room. When she looked back at Darcy she felt a wave of guilt suffuse her. That was strange. What did she have to feel guilty about?

"Miss Elizabeth," Darcy said awkwardly. "I know we have done things rather backwardly, but I am hoping you will give me another chance. I did not behave well when I was in Hertfordshire, but I beg that you will allow me to show you my true character. Will you do me the honour of accepting my hand in marriage?"

Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief. He had proposed. And he wanted to show her that he could be better. She supposed she could not ask for more at the moment. "Yes, I will be your wife, Mr. Darcy," she said. "And I will give you another chance."

She felt a wave of relief inside her. Before she could wonder at that, Darcy had taken her hand. "Thank you, Elizabeth. I will see that you do not regret it."

She simply nodded, not knowing what to say.

"I need to speak to your father for permission. Unless you are of age?"

"I am not," she said. "I will not be of age until July."

He nodded. "We need to think of what we will tell him. Obviously the truth is not an option."

Now that Elizabeth had a chance to really look at Darcy, she was astonished to see the change in him. Whereas before he had been pale and emaciated, with dark circles under his eyes, he appeared to have gained all the weight back. He was robust and healthy, lean and muscular, his skin tanned.

"You are feeling better?" she asked.

He looked at her in surprise. "Yes, I am completely recovered," he said with a blush. "I have you to thank you that, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth felt uncomfortable, both at the reminder of their rough coupling and at the ardent look on his face. She supposed if she were going to marry him she would have to get used to experiencing both things frequently, however. "I am glad," she said only.

For a few minutes they discussed plans for the wedding and returning to Hertfordshire. "Bingley will allow me to stay in Netherfield, I am certain," said Darcy. "I was thinking we might share a wedding date with him and your sister, if you do not object?"

Elizabeth liked the idea. "That would be lovely," Elizabeth said. "That would give us time for the banns to be read."

"I must return to Pemberley soon," said Darcy. "I am afraid we will have to be apart for some of the engagement, but I have things I must accomplish there. The last time I was there, I had put my affairs in order, because I thought, well…" He trailed off.

"But there is much to do," he continued. "I also want to get the house ready for you. Do you have any preferences for the ordering of your rooms?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I shall have to see the place first."

"Very well." He opened his mouth to speak again, but just then Lady Anne entered.

"Your sister is awake and ready to go home," she said. "Are you feeling well enough to go back to your aunt and uncle's, Elizabeth?"

"Yes, I am feeling much better. Thank you."

"I had the maids wash and press your dress," said Lady Anne. "Would you like help dressing?"

"No thank you."

"Very well." Darcy stood to leave the room, and Lady Anne came toward Elizabeth to hand her a blue volume. "I thought you might be interested in this book. It is a treatise about wolf shifters and their habits and customs. You can borrow it for as long as you like. I know you had questions for me and I am sorry I did not have time to answer them."

"Thank you very much," Elizabeth said, taking the book with interest. "I did have one question for you. Jane said she could not see the bite marks on my neck, but I can. Can you see them too?"

"Yes," Lady Anne said. She pushed her golden hair to the side and Elizabeth saw a similar mark on the lady's neck. "Only wolves can see the mating marks on others. Because you have bonded with my son, you can see them now too."

Elizabeth nodded. "And what if a wolf remarries? Does the woman get two bites then?"

Lady Anne shook her head. "There is no remarrying for wolf shifters. They mate for life. If one dies, the other remains alone."

Elizabeth gulped to hear that. Darcy had truly pinned all his hopes of love on her. Even if she died, he would never marry or bond with another. She felt a curious sense of responsibility toward him.

"Why did you not tell me about the bite beforehand?" she asked accusingly.

"I did not want you to worry about it or balk," Lady Anne replied.

Elizabeth nodded. She could understand that. The lady had been determined to save her son no matter what. And Elizabeth would indeed have balked had she known that she would be bitten in such an agonizing manner.

"I will leave you to get dressed," said Lady Anne.

Jane and Elizabeth were sharing a room at the Gardiner residence, so Elizabeth did not have a chance to look at the book Lady Anne gave her until Jane was asleep that night. Elizabeth had taken a nap once they had arrived in Gracechurch Street. Her body seemed completely wrung out.

She spent the next few days recovering. She and Darcy had decided not to tell anyone about their engagement until he could speak to Mr. Bennet. In the meantime, he visited Elizabeth often at Gracechurch Street, and Elizabeth could see Jane and Mrs. Gardiner's knowing looks at Darcy's apparent courtship. They had planned to make it obvious so that their engagement would not be such a shock to her family. And Mr. Darcy's behaviour was so much more agreeable than it had been in Hertfordshire. It was almost as if he were a different person.

The book on wolf shifters was fascinating. Elizabeth learned a lot in only a few days. Shifters had lived hidden alongside humans for thousands of years. Before they had gone into hiding, they had been hunted by humans and almost exterminated. There were other kinds of shifters besides wolves, but this particular volume did not speak of them.

Wolf shifters were immune to most diseases, and lived longer than humans, although if they formed a mate bond with a human, the mate would adopt some of their traits, including longevity.

Wolf shifters did, indeed, mate for life, as Lady Anne had said; but they had strong and voracious sexual appetites. Even if their mate was gone they were required to sate their libido with some other partner. While their mate was alive, however, they were rigidly faithful. They could not be otherwise. They were designed to want only their mates.

Other wolves would be able to smell their mate on them, Elizabeth learned. Wolf shifters had a keen sense of sight, hearing, and smell, and after the claiming bite, their scents mingled so that any other wolf would be able to tell who they were mated to. The scent only faded if one of the mates died. Wolves would find the scent of someone other than their mate unappealing.

Elizabeth was relieved to hear this. Darcy would be required to be faithful. She did quail, however, at the thought of all his supposedly considerable sexual desires being focused on her. She remembered the rough and abrupt way he had taken her and did not look forward to repeating it frequently.

Wolf reproduction was different from human reproduction. Female wolves went into heat only a few times in their lives, and their pregnancies were few and far between. Because of their low numbers, wolves had begun mating with humans, who were far more prolific.

Moon fated mates, Elizabeth learned, were very rare, only one among thousands. They were most often between wolves of great power and strength, usually alphas. It had never been heard of that a wolf would find a fated mate with a human.

The fated mate bond was always guaranteed to produce many strong children, unlike chosen mates. Also unique to fated mate bonds was the ability to feel their mate's emotions. This explained why Elizabeth had been experiencing seemingly unrelated emotions when in Darcy's presence. She resolved to pay more attention to it when near him, so she could start to distinguish whether she was feeling his emotions or her own. Another thing unique to fated mates was that they were infused with power and strength every time they had intercourse with each other. For alpha wolves especially, their power was increased, and if they did not lie with their mate often, their strength would eventually fade away altogether. Moon fated mates could also mind link and share each other's thoughts when they were in wolf form. This did not apply to Elizabeth and Darcy, however, since she could not shift.

Chosen mates, which comprised most wolf unions, were sealed with a claiming bite, like fated mate bonds. The bite was supposed to induce intense orgasms in both partners. Elizabeth shuddered as she thought back to the agonizing pain of when Darcy had bitten her. Maybe it was different with humans. She certainly had not felt any pleasure.

At the same time as the claiming bite, the base of the male shifter's shaft would swell in what the author called a knot. Knotting was an insemination process designed to ensure that the shifter's seed would stay in his female's womb for as long as possible. The knot usually lasted anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour before shrinking again.

That certainly explained the strange thing she had felt when Darcy had ejaculated. She had been certain at the time that that was not a normal phenomenon. According to the book, it would happen every time a male released his seed once he was bonded.

She was pondering all these things when Bingley arrived at Gracechurch to see Jane. Bingley had been at Netherfield, but apparently had needed to come to town for some business (although Elizabeth secretly thought with some glee that he had just been pining for Jane).

When the ladies came forward to greet him, Bingley bowed at Elizabeth's curtsey, and then stiffened, clearly smelling the air. His eyes darted down to the base of Elizabeth's neck and his eyes widened. He went to sit by both ladies, and made conversation, but seemed distracted. Elizabeth wondered what he was about. He couldn't have any idea about her and Darcy's bond, could he?

Bingley finally found a chance to speak to Elizabeth in semi-privacy, which he had apparently been endeavouring to do the whole visit.

"Miss Elizabeth," he said, looking her square in the eye, "why do you smell like Darcy?"

Author's Note: I just wanted to clarify your questions about shifter mates. When I say that shifters mate for life, it means they only deliver their claiming bite to one person, their chosen or fated mate. They can have sex with whoever they want before mating or after their mate dies, but they do not bite any of those partners. They only bite their mate. I hope that clarifies things a little.