Warrior's Moon

by Lucy Monroe

  Caelis had said he loved her and she thought she might well believe him.

  Taking to the sky was like nothing she’d ever experienced, shocking and frightening and exhilarating all at once. A scant quarter of an hour into the ride and she was very glad indeed that Caelis had insisted she and the children wrap up in furs.

  Eirik flew with dizzying speed, causing a steady stream of cold wind to wash over his passengers.

  Ciara appeared to love the flight, petting and talking to her dragon mate constantly as they flew.

  Whenever she went silent, Shona was sure the other woman was using the mate bond to communicate with the Éan prince.

  As the moon began to wane in the night sky, they landed in a valley Shona vaguely remembered from her childhood.

  The clan had been discouraged from visiting the place though it was situated between a clear stream and hills, which blocked the high winds that often plagued the Highlands, even this far south. An idyllic location, but one she now realized Uven and the lairds before him had kept apurpose for the express use of the Chrechte.

  Ciara dismounted first and then put her hands up for first Marjory and then Eadan. Shona waited until both her children were safe on the ground before she slid off the dragon’s back.

  Once she had dismounted, Shona turned away from the dragon to give Eirik privacy to shift back to a man. Her attention was immediately snagged by Ciara as the other woman pulled a dagger forth and pressed the stone from the handle into an impression on the rock wall.

  While moonlight gave some illumination to the area, it was not bright enough to see the rock face in any detail. The sound of stone sliding against stone came and then the side of the hill opened to reveal the dark entrance to a cave.

  Shona could not have stifled her gasp of surprise had she wanted to. The children made to rush forth in excited wonder, but she held their hands tightly.

  “We follow Ciara,” she admonished them.

  Eadan frowned, but nodded. Marjory just yawned. The poor tyke had gotten no sleep this night and even the excitement would not keep her from somnolence much longer.

  Ciara lifted a torch and fire whooshed past Shona to light it.

  She jumped back and looked over her shoulder to see that Eirik had not yet shifted.

  “He won’t return to his warrior form until we are safely inside the cave,” Ciara said to Shona.

  That made perfect sense, but the fire trick had still been quite startling and so she said.

  Ciara laughed and Shona got the feeling Eirik was amused as well.

  “He finds it charming you referred to his gift as a trick. Others have been far more impressed,” Ciara explained.

  Shona smiled around a yawn. “Well, of course I am impressed. The man shifts into a mythical beast and breathes fire, after all, but in truth, my capacity for shock and awe is diminished of late.”

  Ciara nodded, looking very serious all of the sudden. “Yes, I imagine it has.”

  Ciara led them into the cave and down a long, narrow passageway, which opened into an underground cavern. The celi di immediately began lighting wall torches she must have known were there. But then, she’d been here before, hadn’t she?

  As each new torch was lit, it revealed more of the cavern in which they stood. The space was huge, bigger than any great hall Shona had ever been in, including that of the Balmoral’s keep. Stone benches and seats were interspersed along the walls and a dais of marble graced the center of the room.

  Other dark openings indicated passageways that led away from what had to have been a room of meeting sometime in the past.

  Shona did not know if it was her imagination, or if the great cavern felt both welcoming and like it had waited for them. She only knew she felt safe here, with a sense of peace she’d never before experienced.

  The tranquillity of the cave had affected her children as well. Both Eadan and Marjory looked ready to fall asleep on their feet.

  Shona asked Ciara, “Is there a chamber I should prepare the furs for their sleep?”

  “That way.” Ciara pointed to her left. “There are several smaller chambers I’m positive were once used as sleeping rooms for the celi di who lived here.”

  “Did only celi di live here?” Shona wondered.

  “I have always assumed so, though my mentor did not say that specifically.”

  “Hmm…” It was something to contemplate.

  Later. Right now, she needed to get her children to a place of resting.

  Shona found a likely room with what appeared to be a raised stone bed jutting out from the wall. A shallow basin, which had been carved out of the top, would make a good place to pile heather for comfort’s sake. Shona had no heather, but she did have the furs. She laid that which had been wrapped around the children down and then helped Marjory and Eadan to get situated on top before covering them with her and Caelis’s mating fur.

  Despite the excitement of being in a strange and wondrous place, both her children were asleep before she’d reached the doorway of the chamber.

  She retraced her steps to find Eirik and Ciara in the main chamber, now lit with numerous torches. He was still in his dragon form.

  Shona looked questioningly at Ciara.

  “I will sleep better if he remains dragon tonight.”

  “Oh.”

  “The others will most likely not arrive until after sunrise. You would be best served by getting some rest yourself,” Ciara added with a smile.

  Shona yawned again and thought the celi di had a very good idea. She returned to the chamber with her children and snuggled into the furs with them, that strange sense of peace making it easy to drop off to sleep.

  Shona woke sometime later as she was lifted into strong arms.

  “Mmm…hmm…” she mumbled against the thick column of Caelis’s neck.

  “Shhh, mo toilichte. I am just taking you to our bed.”

  She didn’t ask him what he meant, but let him carry her a short distance to another pile of furs he’d arranged on the floor. He settled her into them before curling his big body around hers, providing both warmth and protection.

  Shona did not wake fully again, but was aware when Caelis’s warmth disappeared some hours later and then Marjory was placed into Shona’s arms and another fur settled over both of them for added warmth.

  Chapter 24

  We cannot burn all our enemies to a crisp, no matter how great the desire or provocation.

  —EIRIK, PRINCE OF THE ÉAN

  While Eirik and his mate explored the sacred caves, Caelis and Vegar planned their challenge. The other four MacLeod soldiers had come with them as well as Thomas.

  All were prepared to fight by Caelis’s side for the right to rule the pack and the clan.

  “Today is a Chrechte feast day,” Maon offered. “The entire pack will be gathered at the keep with Uven tonight. The humans who remain in the clan know to stay away from his special gatherings.”

  Caelis knew this to be true. “Then that is when I must make my challenge.”

  “It will not be easy.” Maon sighed. “Believing a lie is less work that fighting to follow the truth.”

  “Mayhap for some, but not all.”

  Thomas added, “And they will have the evidence of Shona and the children staring them in the face.”

  Caelis did not like that part of the plan and let his scowl say so.

  “There is no other way,” Vegar said firmly.

  Maon nodded. “She must stand by your side—not only to prove Uven’s lies, but to show that humans are not beneath the Chrechte and that her strength is greater than Uven’s threats and machinations.”

  The statement was a huge change in thinking for the powerful Faol, and Caelis was glad he hadn’t killed the man in their battle.

  He could also grudgingly concede that Maon had a point, but he did not have to like it.

  “Mum is strong,” Eadan added, his little boy trust in his mother absolute. “She got us out of the barony when Perciv
al wanted to kill me and keep her for his company. And she is supposed to be there.”

  The very thought of what kind of company Percival had in mind had Caelis growling. He pulled his son to him. “No one will harm either of you now.”

  “I know, Da.”

  Caelis knew there was no choice but to live up to the trust his son placed in him as well.

  * * *

  The sound and scents of multiple Chrechte came from within the keep, even from the distance Caelis and his followers stood in the forest.

  He could not believe they had not been challenged as they approached the laird’s home though. The MacLeod keep was not a fortress like the Sinclair or Balmoral holdings with high walls, towers and a bailey, but Uven had always maintained a posting of perimeter guards.

  Usually paranoid, the Faol laird had grown so arrogantly complacent. According to Maon, the man had made it a practice in the last year to pull his perimeter guards into the feast. After the death of his second a year ago and the loss of the soldiers he sent north to fetch his daughter, Caelis would have thought Uven would want to increase security, not loosen it.

  But apparently the laird believed showing disdain for his enemies was some kind of protection in itself.

  He would learn differently this night.

  There was only a single guard at the door and two who walked the grounds immediately outside the rough keep.

  Vegar took out the two sentries with little effort, swooping in as an eagle and shifting to his human form to incapacitate without killing. He left each one unconscious and tied up behind the keep before returning to the others in the forest.

  Uven was so confident the Éan lived in fear of the Faol, he had not trained his guards in defensive warfare against a foe who could fly. They didn’t even watch the sky for the approach of a possible enemy.

  “Good work.” Caelis bumped shoulders with Vegar before turning to face Shona. “Remember the plan.”

  She nodded, a small smile forming on her too kissable lips. “Stay out of sight with Thomas and the MacLeod soldiers until you give the signal.”

  He bent down and kissed her. “Stay safe.”

  “I will.” The dazed look in her eyes from the kiss was more comforting than her promise.

  And Caelis took the memory of it with him as he approached the door sentry openly and alone.

  Excluded from the revelry inside, the young Faol soldier had no doubt been assigned his position because Uven was angry with him. It was the way the laird ran his pack.

  “Caelis?” the man standing guard at the foot of the steps leading up to the keep’s entrance asked, recognition warring with surprise on his youthful features.

  “Aye, it is me.”

  “Uven said the Sinclair had killed you.”

  “Nay.”

  “But…” The young soldier didn’t seem to know what to say.

  “I will speak to Uven.”

  The younger man nodded and then seemed to realize he should mayhap challenge Caelis’s assertion. “Do you have permission to be here?”

  “I am MacLeod. I am Chrechte. What more permission do I need? Will you challenge my right to be here?”

  “I…” The youth swallowed convulsively. “Where were you? If the Sinclair did not kill you, why have you not returned to your pack until now?”

  “I had much to learn. The Sinclair, a great Chrechte leader, did not kill me. He trained me to be a true Chrechte of honor.”

  “What does that mean?” the youth asked, sounding confused and strangely hopeful.

  “It means that Uven has done naught but use this clan and pack for his own purposes. He has manipulated and twisted our sacred laws to serve his perverted goals,” Maon said as he stepped forward.

  The youth’s eyes widened with shock. “Maon! You are on a special assignment for Uven.”

  “I was, until that task killed my brother and revealed to me the truth of Uven’s twisted teachings.”

  “You are going to challenge our alpha?” the young soldier asked with clear disbelief.

  “No,” Caelis said, pushing the sentry aside inexorably but without anger. “I am.”

  He let out a short low whistle and moments later, his other supporters stepped forward. They surrounded Shona, putting themselves between her and danger.

  The gate guard looked around himself, his tension increasing as no other guards stepped forward to back him up.

  “You can stay here, or you can come and see Uven defeated as laird and pack alpha,” Caelis told him before mounting the steps.

  The others followed behind. He was not surprised when the scent of the gatekeeper joined theirs.

  Caelis had a plan for how he intended to handle the challenge, but it would disappear faster than a challenging Chrechte under Eirik’s dragon fire if the safety of his mate was threatened.

  He threw the door to the keep open and stepped inside, his senses on alert in a way those within clearly were not.

  Uven sat at the main table, eating with his hands, laughing in the loud baritone so familiar to Caelis.

  Memories assailed him of this man who had been stand-in father, only for Caelis to learn that his true parent had died at the power-hungry alpha’s hands.

  “He stole much from you, but you are stronger than him. Even if you were not Chrechte, you would be stronger,” Shona said to Caelis over their mating bond.

  He allowed her words to fill his mind and his heart so he could do what needed doing. Uven, pack alpha and laird, had to die.

  The corrupted laird and his inner circle all seemed to realize Caelis was there at the same time, their revelry dying with the speed of a candle blowing out.

  Uven stood, dropping the leg of mutton he’d been chewing on. “So the prodigal son returns.”

  “I am no son of yours.” Caelis did not raise his voice, knowing his fellow Faol could hear his every word even if he whispered.

  He would not whisper, but he would not give the laird the satisfaction of thinking he’d driven Caelis to shouting either.

  “You say that, when I raised you like my own?”

  “After you murdered my parents, you took the place that did not belong to you. But that seems to be your specialty.”

  “You dare accuse me of murder?”

  “You are guilty of it over and over.”

  The mutters around them grew in volume and Caelis was shocked to realize he heard criticisms of Uven from several directions. How blind had he been to both Uven’s perfidy and the number of Chrechte already unhappy with the alpha’s leadership?

  Uven might be oblivious to the risks surrounding his clan, but he was aware of his pack’s displeasure, as the there-and-then-gone-again grimace on his face showed.

  “It is not murder when you kill the disloyal,” he announced with an ugly superciliousness Caelis would never allow himself to be guilty of.

  “Disagreement is not disloyalty. You are alpha, not a god.”

  “What are we but gods among humanity?” Uven countered.

  Caelis did not answer, the scent of his mate coming nearer to distracting him. She would make a terrible warrior. She did not take orders well at all, but she made the perfect mate.

  “You’re an idiot,” Shona said from behind Caelis. “A conceited liar who has no right to lead.”

  Caelis felt a smile take over the fury on his face. His mate was outspoken and fearless despite all she’d been through.

  “You find this human’s disrespect amusing?” Uven demanded, his own fury rising.

  “My sacred mate only speaks the truth.”

  “She is human. She is not your true mate. I told you this.”

  “Oh, yes, you told me. You also told me she died, but both were lies.”

  “Anything I said, I said for your benefit,” Uven claimed, sounding like he believed his own words.

  But then, he’d always been adept at lying. Too adept.

  “It is against Chrechte sacred law to withhold true mates from one another.”
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  Uven slammed his fist down on the table, sending plates rattling to the rushes. “I make the laws for our pack.”

  “You are Chrechte subject to our ancient dictates, just as any other.”

  “She is not your true mate,” Uven repeated.

  A heavy thump sounded on the roof of the keep.

  “What was that?”

  The other Chrechte were staring at the ceiling, questions rising around them in a steadily increasing cacophony.

  “Proof Shona is my true mate.”

  Uven’s glare would have impacted Caelis at one time, but no longer.

  A minute later, Eirik walked through the door to the great hall, Ciara and Audrey behind him, Eadan and Marjory each holding one of the women’s hands.

  “Who is this?” Uven demanded, but the way his nostrils flared said he knew.

  “This is Eirik, Prince of the Éan and protector of his race.” Caelis watched to see if Uven understood the implications of that statement.

  The pack leader paled and said, “Impossible.”

  “Possible,” Caelis disagreed.

  “Kill him.” Uven pointed to Eirik. “He is our enemy.”

  “He is my friend!” Caelis shouted now, not with a loss of control but with an absolute demand to be heard above the din. “The first to try to touch him will face my wrath.”

  Uven tried to look unimpressed, but he could not hide the lines of concern creasing his brow.

  Good. It was time for the selfish leader to face the consequences of his egotism.

  Once again, Caelis let his voice boom throughout the room. “I claim the right to challenge you for leadership of our pack and our clan.”

  “You are not MacLeod anymore.” But even the youngest babe would be able to tell Uven was grasping at a threadbare rope to safety.

  “I wear our colors. I am our clan, just as everyone here is.”

  And everyone in that room was Chrechte. Everyone could smell both Caelis’s and Shona’s scents mixed in Eadan, not to mention his marking scent on Shona. They could also hear and scent the truth because Uven in his conceit had done so little to hide it.

  The man was so blinded by self-interest, he thought he was right.