“I am so mad at you right now. You put your life on the line for mine and you shouldnae have.” Never had fear and fury clashed within her so fiercely. Father and her entire clan would soon know exactly what had happened and of how she’d destroyed their longstanding relationship with their allied clan. Tor hadn’t helped in making certain all had gone well either, his usually level head having flown right out the window from the moment he’d arrived and taken Donnan to the ground. So much for having a civil conversation about ending her betrothal with the man she’d been set to wed. Her frustration doubled, her fear for Tor now tripling after hearing Donnan’s threat about ending her mate’s life and having his head. This was all her fault. Tor could have been so easily killed this day because of her.
Madder at herself than Tor, she stormed along the curve of the bay toward the encampment, the setting sun dropping below the horizon and sending a last flare of red spearing through the darkening sky.
She passed a large group of shirtless warriors battling hard on the grassy shoreline, while near a small island in the middle of the bay, one holding a copse of trees and a wooden shack, a good thirty men swam in then jogged out of the water and swapped out with the battling warriors.
“I’ll catch up with you two later. I’d like to join in with the training before the evening meal.” Tavish left them, headed toward the makeshift corral of beams hammered between the trees, stripped off his shirt and weapons then bounded into the loch.
“Layla, wait up.”
“Leave me be, Tor. I’m in no mood to talk right now.” She brushed him off as she hurried past the central fire and the camp cook in her brown woolen kirtle. The elderly woman stirred stew in a blackened pot bubbling over the sizzling flames. “Which is the ladies’ tent?” she asked the cook. “I would like to rest.”
“’Tis the one right at the end and ’tis all yours if you wish it.” The cook wiped one hand on her apron as she tipped her head in the direction Layla needed to go. “Cherub used it last, but she remains at the castle now.”
“Thank you.” She stalked to the tent near the forest’s edge and past another group of warriors who aimed their arrows at a white ribbon tied around a wide trunk a hundred feet distant. Each warrior stepped forward to take his turn with the bow. With impressive accuracy, arrow after arrow thunked into the thin strip of silk.
“We need to talk, Layla, and it can’t wait.” Tor swept past her, lifted the tent flap and motioned for her to go in. “I won’t permit you to brush me off.”
“I’m too mad right now to talk to anyone. ’Tis best if you allow me some time to calm down.” She ducked inside and paced the tent, from canvas wall to wall, Tor remaining solidly in the center, hands planted on his hips as he eyed her.
“You should never have snuck away from the keep. You made damn certain you would be nearly impossible to find, and that’s totally unacceptable to me.” With a low growl, he shrugged his war coat off and tossed it on top of the wooden crate next to a lamp. “You’re my mate, mine to protect and care for.”
“I snuck away for a very good reason.”
“Explain your reasoning to me.” He struck flint with his dagger and lit the lamp, its flame flickering within the darkening tent and casting its soft glow over the canvas walls.
“To speak to Donnan, to break the betrothal I agreed to. So too I would have had the conversation under control if you had no’ have stormed in.”
“Like hell you would have.” He caught her around the waist as she made her next pass and dragged her up against his heaving chest. “I don’t even want to think about the fact that Donnan could have forced a consummation of your betrothal vows and made you his wife in truth this very day. No one would have gainsaid his decision with the signed agreement in place if he’d done so. I could have lost you, forever.”
“I would never have allowed Donnan to touch me, or to sway me to his way of thinking. I fully intended to explain things to him, to ensure he understood my position and to have him release me from our agreement.”
“You’re my mate, and I would give my life to ensure your protection.”
“Donnan may have repudiated our betrothal, but only under duress. He will return, seek retribution, make his demands known. ’Tis just a matter of time.”
“Let him. Next time I’ll not issue a reprieve as I did this day.” He walked her backward until the backs of her knees hit the corner pile of brown fur pelts and she toppled back onto them. Swiftly, he sank down on top of her, tipped her head to the side and bared her neck. He licked her flesh, right over his mark then looked deep into her eyes. “We need to complete the bond. Once we do, we’ll have a merged link of the mind, one that is inherent in my shifter blood. We’ll be able to speak to each other at will along a pathway known only to us, mind to mind, and that connection will ensure I can always remain in touch with you. Only then will both me and my bear ever be at peace.”
“The last thing I wish for is such a merged link.” A complete lie. She would adore it, not that she was telling him that right now. Mayhap not ever.
“I never want you to leave my side again.” He dipped his head once more, razzed his teeth over the mark, and damn it, she shivered with need.
“Dinnae you dare bite me, Tor Matheson.”
“I won’t apologize for coming to your rescue, and I will be biting you.” His low rumble vibrated against her heaving chest, his gaze imploring. “Say aye, my challenging mate. I need your permission before I do.”
“Nay, and we are in the middle of an argument if you have no’ noticed.”
“You’re so beautiful when you get mad. I haven’t told you that yet, but I should have.” He grinned, actually grinned and she wanted to slap him. Clearly her mate had no self-preservation.
“Release me.” She pushed against his rock hard chest, except he moved not an inch.
“Layla, when you went missing”—his tone gentled, his golden gaze heating as he rubbed the tip of his nose against hers—“I realized something very important, that there isn’t a chance I can ever live without you. I nearly went insane when I couldn’t find you. Let me bite you. You must allow it.”
“You are far too forceful for my liking.”
“And kiss you. You must allow me a kiss as well.” He slid one hand around the back of her head and seized her hip with the other. Rubbing his body against hers, he embedded his deliciously earthly fresh scent into her. “My bear is rampaging inside me. I’ll have to shift soon, and the last thing I want to do is leave you like this, when both of us have been fighting. Grant me a kiss, please.”
She truly shouldn’t allow him to have his way like this, only the need lacing his tone sent that thought flittering from her head. She touched her lips to his, their kiss brief and almost over before it had even begun, but a kiss all the same. “Now leave.”
“Huh.” He snorted under his breath. “I clearly should have stipulated how long that kiss should have been, but still I thank you for it all the same.” He groaned then rolled off her onto his back on the pelts, his gaze on the tented ceiling above. He squeezed his eyes shut then opened them again and slowly sat up. He removed his weapons, shucked his boots and hauled his loose-sleeved black tunic over his head before standing in his faded brown rawhide pants. “Turn around if you wish. I need to fully disrobe.”
“How long will you be gone?” She lifted the circlet headband of silk flowers from her hair and set it on top of the crate next to his war coat, kicked off her slippers and unknotted the tasseled blue ties of her leather girdle then tossed the belt on top of her belongings. “Will you be back this eve, or sleeping elsewhere?”
“I’ll sleep here. You can take one side of the tent and I’ll take the other, if that’s what you desire.”
“I certainly do.” She fidgeted with the white lace edging her gown’s long sleeves, not wanting him to leave at all, or for him to sleep so far away from her. This bond was completely impossible, her need for him roaring to full force now he was so
close to leaving her. She didn’t want him to shift, or go. Argh, so frustrating.
“Then that is what it shall be.” He hauled a couple of pelts off the pile and spread them on the other side of the tent then loosened the ties of his pants at his waist. “Last chance to turn around.”
Her throat clogged and she tried to push away the fear rising within her. Fighting with him felt so very wrong and instinct took over. She needed to keep him here with her, apologize in some way. Her temper had risen fast, but also fallen just as swiftly away. With no more thought, she shoved her sleeves down her arms and shimmied the royal blue velvet down over her hips until it fell in a soft swish to the floor. In her shift, she scooped up her gown and hung it on the hook protruding from the center pole then stepped in front of him. “Disrobe as you wish.”
Tor watched her, his gaze moving over her body then he nodded, pushed his pants down and kicked them off. In the flickering light from the lamp, every inch of his heavily muscled body gleamed, from his wide chest and trim hips to his manhood lengthening and rising from a thatch of dark curls at the apex of his groin.
“My turn.” No turning back. No more would they fight. Life was too short for arguments. She gripped her shift’s hem, lifted the cotton up and over her head then hooked it over top of her gown on the pole. Heat flushed her cheeks, but she wouldn’t allow any further embarrassment to take her. He was her mate and he held the other half of her soul. He’d also battled Donnan and made him repudiate their betrothal. She couldn’t deny she was now free to be with him. “I wish you an enjoyable romp in the woods,” she murmured, her body on full display for him alone.
“Thank you,” he whispered, his words ragged as he trailed a finger down her neck then gently, carefully, he scooped her breasts up and dipped his head. He licked one nipple and the hot rasp of his tongue across her sensitive flesh doubled the flurry of need pulsing through her.
She cupped the back of his head, scraped her nails lightly over his scalp. More need rushed through her and she guided his mouth to hers and kissed him, with all the longing she held deep within her heart. ’Twas time to set all her fears aside and trust only the man to whom she truly desired. Having his warm lips moving over hers and the hard length of his body pressed against her, fueled her need for even more.
With one thought from her mind, she lifted them both up and laid them down on the pelts, her underneath him and her mate on top, his hot shaft pressed firmly against her belly and every inch of him a delicious weight she wanted more of. “Grant me one more kiss afore you shift and leave,” she breathed against his lips. “And I wish to stipulate that it be a long one.”
“One long kiss coming up.” He captured her mouth with his and kissed her, the heat of his body wrapped around hers making her cling to him for more.
Breasts pressed against the wicked heat of his chest, she stroked her thumb over the mark she’d given him on his neck. Her mouth watered with the desire to bite him again, to have him bite her in return and lay claim to her in every single way. She leaned in, sucked his skin deep into her mouth then bit down, hard and fast.
He lifted his head and roared, his bear so close to the surface. Fur rippled across his chest and down his arms, a soft padding of silk there one moment and gone the next.
“Shh.” She giggled and clamped a hand over his mouth. “These canvas walls are thin.”
A tap sounded on the wooden pole out front. “Is everything all right in there?”
“Aye, all is fine,” she called back to one of her kinsmen. She giggled again then nipped along Tor’s jaw and sucked on his ear. “Do you still need to shift?”
“Not if you’re going to keep laving attention on me like this. I promise to keep my bear at bay.”
“May I touch you?”
“Any part of me you wish. My body is yours, as is my heart and soul if you choose to accept me.”
“I accept you, every single infuriating inch of you. I hope you can handle a fiercely strong woman.” She caressed his shoulders and arms, so thick and strong then fluttered her fingers over the firm planes of his wide chest. His abs rippled, layer upon firm layer and she swished down the rigid center, along the delicious tease of dark hair narrowing down his belly and along his waist. With her skill, she lifted him up a touch until he floated an inch or two above her. Sweet heaven. The head of his shaft had thickened further and now flushed a bright and delectable cherry color.
She needed all the kisses he could give her, every mark of claim and anything else he was willing to offer. She ran her thumb across his warm lips and a whole lot breathless, murmured, “’Tis time.”
“Show me it’s time.” He caught her hands, pressed them high over her head and against the pelts she lay on. As her fingertips brushed the canvas wall behind her, she arched into his touch, spread her legs and lowered him back down on top of her.
She closed her eyes as a sizzle of sensation rippled through her then opened them again. Having his flesh against her flesh and naught else separating them made every inch of her crave him all the more. “Touch me wherever and however you please, Tor. I need to feel your hands on me.”
“I hold the same need but if you want me to stop at any time, then tell me.” He licked her lower lip. “I’ll understand.”
“There’s no stopping the completion of our bond.”
“Then we’ll take it slow. You’ll tell me what you like, what you don’t like, what you want more of, or what you don’t want more of. I’ve no wish to hurt you, to take from you what you’re not yet ready to give.”
“I want to be with you, in every possible way.” Time is of the essence. Nessa’s prophetic warning rang in her ears. “Be mine.”
“In order to complete the bond, we’ll need to be skin on skin. Which means there’ll be a chance you could conceive.” He released her hands and shuffled down, his warm breath feathering across the flatness of her belly. He pressed his palm there, then dropped a gentle kiss on her skin. “Is that acceptable?”
“I dinnae fear having a babe, no’ when I long for children.” She sank her fingers into his shoulders and gasped as he licked around her belly button.
“I’d love nothing more than to give you a child, my child.” He brushed his nose along the underside of her breasts, nipped in a circle around each mound then cupped them both and smoothed his thumbs over the peaking tips. “In the future, very few women die in childbirth since medically speaking, we’re far more advanced. I’ll never lose you as your father lost your mother.”
“Promise?”
“I give you my word. I’ve waited so long to find you, and there isn’t a chance I’ll ever lose you, not now. I’ll make certain of it.” He sucked her nipple deep into his mouth then moved to the other and drew it between his lips. He played the tip to perfection and heat rippled through her. Her body undulated under his, all on its own accord and she couldn’t halt her need or contain it.
“Layla, there’s one more thing we need to speak of before we go any further.” Gently, he caught her hand, brought it to his mouth and kissed her palm. His gaze heated, burning an even richer golden hue. “Marry me this night. Be my wife.”
“You wish to wed me, now?” Her heartbeat raced.
“I do.” He suctioned his mouth over her nipple again and she moaned as he devoured her, sucking and licking her.
“Aye,” she gasped. Tears filled her eyes and slid down her cheeks as sheer happiness overflowed her. “I want you as my husband.”
“We’ll speak handfast vows since I’ve no intention of finding a clergyman at this time of the night, or leaving this tent for that matter. Bind yourself to me now, for the next year and a day and the moment I can get you before a priest, I will.” He reached out, nabbed his pants from the floor, pulled her hair ribbon out and grinning, clasped her right hand with his right hand and wrapped the red silk around both their wrists.
“You are a very clever mate.”
“And determined. I’ll go first.” He breathed deep, h
is gaze locked tight with hers. “Layla, I offer you my full protection, that of my body, my clan, my family, and all that I am. I give myself to you freely. Give yourself to me freely in return.”
“I will.”
“Thank you.” He brought their joined hands to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. “I, Tor David Matheson, of Ivanson Castle, pledge my troth to Layla, of the House of Clan Matheson. With this handfast, I take her as my wife for the next year and a day, and as my soul bound mate for all time.” He tightened his grip on her hand. “Be mine, in every single way.”
With her fingers twined with his, she nodded. There could be no other way. He had stolen her heart and would hold it for the rest of their lives. “I, Layla, of the House of Clan Matheson, pledge my troth to Tor David Matheson. With this handfast, I take him as my husband for the next year and a day, and as my soul bound mate for all time.” She touched the silk bound around their wrists and smiled. “Glad I am that you are mine.”
“Now we seal the vows with a kiss, or I should say, many kisses.” He kissed the tips of her breasts, making them all wet and shiny before he fondled the hard nubs and kissed his way up and along her neck.
She couldn’t halt her hips from pushing against his. He’d awakened her body, opened her heart and soul and taken full and complete possession of every single inch of her. She craved his touch. Her warrior shifter was beyond beautiful, and this bond which tied them together, was one she would never relinquish. Every hard and defined inch of him was now hers for the taking.
Needing to touch him, she released the ribbon and it fluttered to the fur. She tickled her fingers down his sides and swept one hand around his thick shaft. It throbbed hot and heavy in her hand.
“Layla.” He groaned into her neck, brushed his hand over her entrance, his intimate touch a sweet caress she wanted more of. Then he drove one finger inside her and stroked deep, curling his finger into a spot that had her straining for more. “Does this feel all right?”
Highlander's Heart (Clan Matheson Book 2) Page 10