“Humans are not weak like Uven always claimed.”
“But you are not human.”
“And yet as a
One man dropped to his knee, put his hand over his heart and swore fealty to Caelis. Over the next few minutes, every male in the room followed the first Faol’s example. But the women remained standing.
Shona came to stand beside Caelis and looked around them. “I am human. I am your lady. Do you swear fealty to me?”
It took a moment, but one by one, the men bowed their heads to Shona. All but one.
Uven’s nephew glared at Shona. “I swear loyalty to no
Caelis moved so fast that when he reached the man and smacked him to his face on the floor, the other Faol wore a shocked expression. “You will leave this holding if you do not both apologize to my wife, but also promise personal fealty to her.”
He was unsurprised when the man refused. Caelis looked to Vegar. “See him off our land.”
Vegar nodded, grabbing the man by the scruff of his neck.
“You’re Ean,” Uven’s nephew spat.
Vegar grinned. “Good of you to notice, but I cannot claim to be impressed by how long it took you to realize that fact.”
They left the great hall with the stupid Faol still sputtering about inferior Ean, even as Vegar yanked him along like a naughty pup.
Caelis looked around the room at the women and then to Shona. She smiled and nodded, understanding.
She addressed the female Chrechte. “Do you refuse to pledge allegiance to your new laird?”
“Women do not do that. Our pledges are given no value,” an older Chrechte female claimed.
“But a woman’s loyalty is every bit as powerful as a man’s,” Shona argued. “Why would you seek to have a weak clan?”
“We do not,” Uven’s own wife said.
“You don’t,” Shona affirmed, looking surprised and then sickened for a moment. “I know what it is to be wed to a man not your mate. Uven is dead. The man who freed you asks for your fealty. Will you give it?”
The woman nodded and dropped to her knees, bowing her head and swearing a sincere oath of support for Caelis as pack alpha and laird and Shona as his lady. Soon the other women followed and the room echoed with the feminine voices.
“This clan will change. To survive and thrive, we must return to the true ways of the Chrechte. Uven has lied to all of us about what they are, but we will find our way back to honor, to a strong clan that respects and appreciates all of its members.”
A cheer went up that turned into deafening roars as Caelis allowed his
He stood before his people and promised them that life would be different if they would let go of the deceptions of the past.
Filled with joy, Shona surveyed the room until her eyes rested on a man sneaking furtively toward the great hall’s door to the great hall. He had an arrogance about him that she was much too familiar with. “Percy!”
“Where?” Caelis growled.
Shona’s hand did not shake as she pointed to Percival, fear no longer plaguing her in the presence of the vile would-be child murderer.
“Stop and face your accuser, cur!” Caelis ordered.
Percival turned slowly, his expression filled with more disdain than terror. “I have no accuser.”
“You tried to murder my son,” Caelis ground out.
The baron opened his mouth to refute the statement, but Thomas was there, boxing his ears and knocking him to the ground before he could.
“He came here looking for her,” Uven’s wife said, pointing to Shona. “You used to be part of the clan. He believed you would seek refuge among us again. The English baron paid Uven handsomely to find you and bring you back to him.”
“Why didn’t you say anything at first?” Caelis demanded, fury lacing the
“I did not know it was this woman he sought until she recognized him,” Uven’s wife said, pleading in her voice and demeanor.
Shona waited for her husband to prove he valued the women of his clan and pack enough to believe. She knew the truth from the thoughts in the woman’s head, but he needed to believe Uven’s wife without Shona’s interference.
Caelis sniffed the air and then nodded. “Thank you for speaking up now.”
The woman sagged, her relief at being believed visible. The clan had a long way to go to heal, but they would get there with her husband as alpha and laird.
Percival was standing again, showing he had a lot more pride than sense as he glared at them all. “I will leave you to live among these horrors,” he spat at Shona. “I’ll not have a woman who has lain with a dog in my bed.”
Caelis stalked forward until he towered over the man, who only now showed enough intelligence to exhibit fear. “You tried to murder my son. You will die.”
“No, you can’t kill an English baron.”
Suddenly a white wolf was there and Shona knew it was Thomas.
Caelis indicated the man with a single pointing claw. “Kill it.”
Thomas attacked, tearing the man’s throat out and ending his threat to her children once and for all.
Caelis called two of his soldiers forward. “Return the body to the barony. Death by animal misadventure.”
The soldiers nodded and wrapped the body in a cloth before taking him outside. Ciara stepped forward, her expression gentle. “We have a mating ceremony to perform.”
Shona opened her mouth, but no sound came out. A mating ceremony? Now?
“When better?” her mate asked, proving she’d been shouting her thoughts again.
“Four are dead.”
“And because of that, many more will live.”
Hope unfurled inside her. It was true. The reign of terror exercised by Uven was over. Percival’s evil had ended this night as well.
But a mating ceremony?
Looking around at the hopeful faces of the clan, she realized they all needed this symbol of hope, but still Shona hesitated.
Caelis dropped to one knee before Shona, his big body still towering over her as a
“I believe you.” She did. She believed he loved her. Believed he would never again leave her. Incandescent joy sparkled through her, lightening a heart that had seen too much grief. “You do love me. You have always loved me.”
Finally, she understood. His mistakes had not been made out of a lack of love, but a lack of understanding of what the cost of his would be. He would never again ignore the potential cost to his mate for any decision he might make.
“I do. As wolf, as
She nodded, her tears spilling over, her happiness the scent of spring flowers around them. “I will.”
The mating ceremony was all Caelis had ever dreamed it would be, on the many nights he lay in a lonely pile of furs wishing for the mate he thought lost to him. She promised him everything in the language of his people, her emerald gaze fully cognizant of each word’s meaning as he once again used their bond to remind her.
And they shared their joy with the MacLeod pack, accepting their brethren’s oaths to support and protect
