Moon Awakening

Cait's way of thinking, that was giving in too fully to their wolf natures.

But she wasn't about to get into a morality argument with her new husband and mother-in-law right now. But woe betide any werewolf who mated a daughter of hers without promising a lifetime commitment. She would rip his throat out and Drustan would have to learn to live with it.

She wasn't going to allow any barbaric custom like that to hurt a child of hers.

'Why was Susannah encouraged to hunt on Sinclair land?' Cait asked, still confused on that point.

It made no sense in light of what Susannah had been trying to do… remain unmarried. Whether the wolf was Sinclair or Balmoral, the femwolf was going to end up mated once her scent in heat was caught. Which was exactly what had happened.

'She wasn't,' Drustan said harshly.

She turned to her new husband, unsure how to take this change in his demeanor, but not about to back down. 'Your sister told Magnus she was instructed where to hunt during the full moon. She did not know it was Sinclair hunting ground, but you cannot tell me the males of your pack were as ignorant. It is a thing the lairds take care to learn about each other.'

It was supposed to be a secret, but the packs spied on each other and knew much more than they admitted about one another. There had been a time when all Chrechte were one pack under a common king, but that was not the way they lived now. Not since MacAlpin's betrayal. Even so, they did not war as much with each other as they did with the wholly human clans or with those to the south. There were unspoken laws they all lived by, and those governing mating with a femwolf from another pack were some of the most sacred. But they had not been breached for the reasons Drustan thought.

Cait's brother respected ancient tradition, very much. He would never have allowed Magnus to keep Susannah without a formal request of the Balmoral laird. If the request was denied, he would not have ordered his blacksmith to return her to her former clan. That was governed by the even more ancient law of true-bond matings, but none of that mattered.

Talorc had not made the formal request because he considered Susannah's presence on Sinclair hunting lands the result of shameful neglect for the femwolf's safety by her laird and family. Soldiers as adept at hiding their scent as the Balmoral werewolves would know more than most. They would have known the land they sent Susannah to was hunting ground for the pack within the Sinclair clan. It was inconceivable that they would not.

'Of course we know where the Sinclair pack hunts,' Drustan growled, confirming her thoughts. 'Neither Lachlan nor I would have instructed her to hunt there alone, or otherwise.'

'But she said you did.'

'Susannah did not say I gave her these instructions,' Drustan said in a voice that dared her to disagree… at her peril.

'I don't know who she claimed instructed her in this matter. I never asked. I just assumed it was your laird.'

'Your assumption would have been right… if she had spoken to anyone. She would have sought permission for such a thing from me or from Lachlan.' Anger sizzled in the air around Drustan, and Cait would never have known they had spent so many hours locked together in passion from the way he looked at her now if she did not have her own memories to go by. 'She came to neither of us and if she had, we damn well would not have instructed her to hunt where she was likely to end up mated against her will.'

Cait laid her hand on his forearm in entreaty. 'She did not mate against her will. It doesn't work that way and you know it.'

He shook off her touch, wounding her. 'But she did not want to mate yet,' he gritted out.

'But she is happy to be married to Magnus now. Truly. She is. You say you heard her… you know she is content to be his wife. They are good together. He's very tender with her,' she said wistfully, thinking how gentle- spoken Magnus was with Susannah, while Drustan was practically yelling at her. 'They love each other now.'

'Is she pregnant?' Moira asked.

'Yes. And they are both very happy about the coming baby.' She rubbed her own protruding tummy as her babe kicked. 'It is a blessed event.'

Moira's eyes filled with tears. 'I will never see my grandchild.'

'Talorc will give you permission to visit. I'm certain he will. But if you are worried, I could ask him for you.'

'You will not be seeing your brother.'

She tried to dismiss the biting tone of her husband's voice, but it was hard. He was obviously not as content as Magnus in their marriage born of the disaster of Susannah hunting alone during the last full moon.

'You must see that there is a misunderstanding that needs to be addressed. My brother did not dismiss ancient law on a whim. He and Magnus believed your clan had failed in its duty to protect Susannah. That is why the formal request for het hand was never made to you or Lachlan. I'm sure if I talk to him and explain, the situation can be resolved.'

'You are going nowhere near Sinclair land.'

Cait had known he would take that stand, but it still hurt. He didn't even act like he believed she'd told the truth about Susannah, and she didn't know how to convince him. Presumably, Susannah was not known as a liar and thus, he thought Cait was lying about what his sister had said.

After the night and morning they had spent together, she needed him to trust her. She had given him more of herself than she had ever done with Sean, but apparently that was not enough to merit belief in her integrity. What had been cataclysmically emotional for her had been nothing but physical lust for Drustan… and perhaps the fulfillment of his duty to his clan.

She was his wife by edict of his laird. He had not chosen her and she had best remember that before giving her heart away to be trampled. She was nothing more than the captive he had married, not a wife he valued or trusted.

She stood up. 'Would you like some refreshment?' she asked Moira. 'A cup of water, some wine?' Her eyes took inventory of what was on the shelves by the table as she spoke.

'No, thank you, child.'

Cait nodded. 'Drustan?'

'Water.'

She poured him a cup and one for herself. She handed him his before sitting at the table and taking a long drink of her own. Her throat was suddenly very dry and tight. 'I would like to see Emily.'

He frowned. 'She is in confinement in the tower. I do not know if Lachlan will permit her to have visitors.'

'I do not think our laird considers her a prisoner,' Moira offered, a worried expression on her kind features as she looked at Cait, but she spoke to her son.

'Why?' Drustan asked.

'He took her swimming in the loch and personally escorted her back to her room not thirty minutes past.'

'He took her swimming?' Cait demanded, fear for her friend clawing at her insides. Emily was terrified of water. Had the laird been torturing her?

She had not thought Lachlan that cruel, but Emily would never have willingly gone swimming. After the boat crossing the day before, Cait was absolutely certain of that. Then another thought hit her with the force of an anvil. Emily could not have gone into the water in her gown.

She jumped up from the table as the implication of that truth seared her mind. 'I am going to see Emily right now.'

She rushed out the door and was halfway down the stairs to the great hall, using one of the few wolf strengths left to her in her pregnancy (her speed), when Drustan's big hand clamped onto her elbow.

He dragged her to a halt. 'What do you think you are doing?'

'I told you. I am going to see my friend.' She yanked her arm, but there was no give in his hold.

'You did not ask my permission, nor did you even have the courtesy to say good-bye to my mother or thank her for her visit. On top of that, you are running at speeds guaranteed to harm you or the babe if you were to fall. Have you no sense at all?'