Lucy Monroe - Moon Awakening

"Drustan," Lachlan said.

The first-in-command came out of the trees on silent feet. It should not have surprised Emily to see him, but it did. Of course, she'd had no idea Lachlan was there until he showed himself either. These Highland men were sneaky as thieves in their movements.

"Escort our women back to the keep."

Drustan nodded and went to grab Cait's arm, but she evaded his touch. "I'm returning to the Sinclair hold," she said, her voice filled with pain. "I do not belong with the Balmorals."

Drustan flinched as if struck.

Emily opened her mouth to deny her friend's words but then snapped it shut again. First, because she thought that was something Drustan should do, and second, because she thought he might already be doing it. He and Cait were looking at each other as if communicating without words.

Were they mindspeaking? What was that like? Did it sound just like a voice, or were there simply thoughts… images like a dream? But a dream wasn't necessarily speaking, was it? And Cait had said it was talking in another person's head. How very curious.

Talorc swore, his startling blue eyes lit with amusement if Emily could allow herself to believe it. "He's bloody well true-mated my sister, hasn't he?"

"Yes," Emily answered because it looked like no one else was going to.

Cait was crying now and shaking her head at Drustan. "You don't love me. You called me a murderer."

"I was wrong," he said out loud. "Please don't leave me."

Cait gasped. "You would plead with me?"

"I will do whatever it takes to keep you. You're my sacred mate, you're my wife… you're everything to me."

Emily smiled mistily, but both Lachlan and Talorc appeared pained. Cait, however, was looking at Drustan as if he were the sun, the moon and the stars all rolled into one magnificent male.

She gave him a blinding smile through her tears. "I do love you."

"I love you as well. Never doubt it again," he said, sounding quite harsh, but Cait didn't seem to mind.

Whatever she said in his head made him smile, and his reply had her looking all dreamy-eyed. Emily sighed contentedly. She was very glad to see her friend so happy and things finally settled between the married couple. It was as plain as the nose on her face that those two belonged together, no matter how providence had chosen to make that happen.

Drustan nodded as if accepting something Cait had said, though of course… she hadn't said anything. "Now, we return to the keep."

"Not yet," Talorc said. "There are things that need to be discussed. As my sister's mate and Susannah's brother, you need to hear them as well."

Drustan looked to Lachlan for permission to stay and it was granted with a slight nod.

That gesture seemed to signal something between all three men because the tension surrounding them all decreased considerably. Lachlan even looked bored, though Emily could not believe it of him. He was being tricky again, she would swear it, but she was equally certain the threat of imminent violence had passed.

His feet planted firmly apart, Talorc crossed his arms over his chest, which was not exactly a conciliatory stance, but it was not a fighting one either. "In my desire to discover my sister's circumstances, I have trespassed on your island without permission, but my soldier did not. Magnus did not kidnap Susannah from Balmoral land."

The fact that he wore no plaid did not minimize his commanding presence one tiny bit. Perhaps because the man showed absolutely no concern that he was naked. Despite the seriousness of the matter at hand, Emily found such a lack of self-consciousness fascinating.

"Magnus?" Lachlan clarified, clearly as unbothered by the other laird's lack of clothes as he was.

She wished she could be so unaffected, but she had only ever seen one other nude man before. Lachlan. Emily chewed her lip, trying to look at Talorc unobtrusively, but she was too curious to ignore his lack of clothing altogether.

"The laird's brother, Ulf, told Susannah that she had permission to hunt on the mainland at the last full moon," he was saying, "but he did not bother to tell her that it was hunting ground for another pack."

" Ulf told her this?" Drustan asked, his arm dropping around Cait's shoulder since she had sidled close to him. "But he had no such authority."

"Susannah was not aware of that. She believed he spoke for your laird."

"When did she tell you this?" Drustan demanded.

"She did not. Magnus reported the details of what led to her hunting on our lands when he informed me he had taken a mate in the fur. Susannah was in heat. Ulf had to know she would end up mated to a Sinclair. He withheld the truth that he was the one who had sent her to our lands, did he not?"

"Yes."

"I think he wanted your laird to believe we had insulted the Balmorals so he would try to exact a personal revenge. I have experience with the cunning betrayal of power-hungry humans. I suspect he planned to betray the Balmoral to me so that he would be killed."

"As he believes he betrayed our laird now?" Drustan asked.

"Yes. He told me to wait here and that he would see to it that the Balmoral came after me alone."

"Emily," Lachlan barked.

She jerked and blushed as everyone's attention first went to him and then to her. She met Lachlan's gaze. "Yes?"

He was not smiling. "Come here."

His tone did not suggest she argue and, for once, she didn't. When she was less than a foot from him, he tilted her chin up with his hand. "You belong to me."

"Is this a discussion we need to have now?" she asked.

Rather than answer, he asked, "Do you want me to challenge Talorc?"

They had just gotten past that, hadn't they? " No ."

"Then look only at me."

He knew she'd been peeking.

Her blush heated and went to the roots of her hair. "I was merely curious."

"I will satisfy your curiosity another time." He pushed her behind him and then looked at Talorc. "I have only your word that my brother is a betrayer."

"And the evidence of your own logic. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it when I saw you in the water with the Englishwoman. You had no other guards with you. I did. She would have been easy enough to dispose of."

The coldness of those words made Emily shiver. She moved closer to Lachlan until she was almost touching him, and the heat of his body reached out to wrap around her comfortingly.

"You would have had to kill me first."

For no reason she could discern, her throat tightened with tears. She knew he meant it. No matter what he had accused her of earlier, Lachlan would not have let Talorc harm her that day at the lake. He would have protected her with his life. What did that mean? Perhaps it was part of his warrior's honor.

"The point is," Talorc drawled out, "I did not try."

Lachlan shrugged.

"As I said, I came to your island to discover my sister's circumstances."

"The Sinclair guard we left behind when we took the women would have told you she was to wed Drustan," Lachlan said.

"He told me, and I know enough of you to know that if you said that was your plan, it would come to pass, but I had to make sure Cait was not mistreated, that she was not a prisoner."

"And she told you she was content with her marriage," Drustan said, revealing that he must have allowed Cait to tell him at least that much of her exchange with his brother during their initial confrontation.

"Yes," Talorc said. "Just as your sister is."

Drustan nodded and Cait smiled up at him.

"But Ulf told me she was not. He said that Cait had been forced to mate with Drustan against her will." Talorc's voice vibrated with the rage such a thought evoked in him, even knowing it was not true. "He said that she wanted to return to our clan, but that she was being kept here as a prisoner."