Warrior's Moon

They had prepared her son when no parent had been around to do so.

“Told him of his true nature, yes.”

“It’s incomprehensible.”

“Is it truly?”

After she’d witnessed Caelis’s transformation? No, but this was her son. “He’ll be stronger.”

“And faster.”

“Safer.”

“Aye.” Though he’d met his fair share of humans among both the Balmoral and Sinclair clans that were strong enough.

“This thing between us, it’s because of our son.” It had to be.

Otherwise, how could she want Caelis so much? They had not even kissed.

“Nay. Rather, he exists because of the bond between us.”

A bond that was like a living thing. It was as if Caelis’s naked body drew hers with inexorable power she could not deny.

Mesmerized by the sight of his sex hard for her and pulsing with power, once again her hand moved without thought. Her fingers slid against the hardened flesh they were curled around. The tender skin warmed her own, evoking memories much more pleasant than those found in her marriage bed.

“It hurt to have my husband touch me, every caress making my skin crawl and burn most unpleasantly. Was that because I am your mate?” She looked up, wanting to see the truth in his eyes.

Caelis met the look, his expression far too pleased for the words she’d spoken. “I do not know. We had no human-wolf pairings in the clan, and I know little of Abigail and Talorc’s mating.”

She yanked her hand from him, moving away and staring at Caelis in shock. “The Sinclair laird is a shape- changer like you?”

“He is.”

“And Abigail…” Caelis’s words played over again in her head. “She is human, like me?”

“Yes. Their children are the first evidence I have seen to prove that humans and wolves could be sacred mates.”

“Eadan is further proof?”

“He is all the proof between us.”

She nodded, accepting that at least as truth. “There is much I still do not understand.”

He put his big warm hands against her face, peering down at her with such hunger, there could be no question that whatever beset her body affected his as well. “Later, I will answer every question.”

“I—”

“Please, Shona, mo toilichte. Give me this gift and I will never allow you to regret it again.”

The words were so similar to the ones he’d spoken six years ago that she nearly let a bitter laugh tumble from her lips.

The hunger for his touch was stronger now though. She’d thought it near impossible to resist back then. And ultimately, she’d given in to it.

In this moment though? She had no hope to deny the potent need controlling her.

It should be easy now. She no longer loved him. He was not the center of her world, as he’d been to her younger self. To deny him should have been the simplest of things, but Shona did not find it so.

Everything inside her wanted to give herself to this man, though he’d proven himself unworthy of the gift. It had to be part of being mated to a Chrechte.

Would her own body betray her because of it?

The answer seemed to be yes as she swayed toward the giant warrior who shared his nature with a beast.

Caelis’s head dipped and his lips pressed reverently to hers. Despite the undeniable hunger raging between them, the caress of his mouth was gentle. Not tentative, but not demanding, either.

The sensation was both so familiar and so far removed from what Shona knew in her present life that she found herself incapable of responding to the kiss in any way. She did not open her lips to give him entrance to her mouth, nor did she repudiate him.

Paralyzed by conflicting emotions, she allowed him to kiss her, his own passions and desires fully in evidence. They called to her, insisting she acknowledge them as well as her own physical need.

He pulled her close, wrapping her in his strong embrace and lifting so their mouths might align more easily.

She remembered how he used to do this, compensating for the great difference in their heights. The way he made her feel both safe and cosseted as he used his strength to protect her and increase her enjoyment of their moments together.

Her husband had never made any accommodations for Shona, though his sexual needs had not been overly onerous. Just very unpleasant.

Henry had not treated her with the tender care or even respect Caelis had. She’d learned to be grateful for the sporadic sexual appetites of an old man.

Caelis growled and broke the kiss. “You will think only of me.”

She did not question how he’d known she was thinking of Henry. It did not matter. She had no more desire to dwell on her life in England with the baron than to return to do Percival’s bidding.

“Make me.” If the order came out sounding more like a plea, neither she nor Caelis remarked on it.

With another primitive, animalistic sound, he kissed her again, this time unquestioningly demanding entrance to her mouth with his tongue. She gave it, letting him wash away unhappy memories and revive good ones.

He tasted like he’d had at least one draught of usquebagh before taking up his sentry duty outside her door. Mixed with his own natural flavor, ’twas a heady combination.

The kiss fulfilled one hunger while fueling another. The craving that had beset her so deeply to have his touch became less acute, though it did not disappear, while the need to have him inside her grew.

Caelis’s hand roamed over her body, pulling at her dress as if the English clothing annoyed him.

She helped him undress her, her instincts and desires in full control now.

At the first touch of his hand on her naked flesh, she cried out with the satisfaction of a long abandoned need. Her body had craved him the entire time they had been apart, though she only now realized it. She was certain she would have continued to do so until the end of her days, even if she had never seen him again.

No other man’s touch would have satisfied, or even come close to pleasing her.

At least now, she understood why. He’d done this to her with the wolf mating thing.

Hands that had once known her body better than any other, learned her anew, big fingers so gentle the caresses brought tears of emotion to her eyes.

And not sadness.

Only he could do this to her. And she let him. They tumbled to the bed, her body trembling with the need to be claimed by his, his strong warrior’s muscles tense with the need to claim.

They touched one another as lovers who had never parted, with sure hands and knowing caresses meant to evoke further passions. He teased her nipples, sending pleasure throughout her body, making her ache and writhe even while her own fingers caressed bulging muscles and traced battle scars.

Her heart cried out in possession, mine, with each pass of her hand over his body. She neither denied nor acknowledged that heart’s cry, but made no effort to hold back on her desire to touch either.

Neither did she try to stop him when his hand delved between her legs to touch her intimately, pushing the pleasure to a higher, almost unbearable level.

But when she spread her thighs for him, he did not enter her.

Instead, Caelis arranged their bodies so that when he pressed down with his pelvis, his shaft rubbed between her swollen folds, his manhood trapped between their bodies so penetration could not occur. This position also ensured that the hard flesh rubbed back and forth over the sweet spot so filled with pleasure for her.