Viking's Moon (Children of the Moon Book 6)

by Lucy Monroe

  "I will join our souls."

  Artair nodded, no question in his mind or heart that was true.

  Einar pressed forward and Artair's body stretched.

  "Push out, astin min, it will make it easier."

  Artair followed his mate's earthy advice and suddenly Einar breached the opening to his body. Pain and pleasure washed over Artair in chills that shook him.

  "Are you all right?" Einar asked, his neck chorded with strain.

  "I don't know, but you have to move."

  Einar pressed further forward and then pulled back, the drag of his flesh inside Artair bringing another level of pleasure.

  Einar tilted Artair's body up and pressed forward again, this time managing to touch that amazing pleasure spot inside him. The careful thrusts continued until something inside Artair's body gave way and the burn turned to pure pleasure.

  It was as if Einar knew because his movements changed, his thrusts going faster and harder, his body demanding a response from Artair he'd never given.

  "You are mine, now and forever," Einar said in a harsh voice that touched Artair deep inside.

  "And you are mine."

  Einar nodded. "Forever."

  The vows they spoke then were in the language of their ancients, the words coming from somewhere deep inside of Artair.

  Einar leaned down and suddenly his mouth was on the place where Artair's shoulder and neck met. The bite that followed sent amazing sparks of pleasure arcing through him so big, he could do nothing but follow his own instincts to reach up and bit his mate in the way of claiming.

  The moment his teeth drew blood from his mate, their climaxes washed over them, sending them both into a pleasure so intense Artair felt his heart could not withstand the pressure.

  My mate. Astin min.

  Artair heard the words inside his head.

  Forever and always. He said in his own head, speaking to Einar in the way of soul-bound mates, tears burning his eyes.

  He let them fall, feeling no shame in the profundity of this moment.

  Einar brushed the moisture from Artair's temple. "You are so precious to me, mate."

  "I know."

  Einar was still hard inside him though they had climaxed and Artair knew their lovemaking was not finished.

  "My one true mate," he said aloud. Mo chridhe, he said in his mind.

  They spent the rest of the night making love and affirming the connection of their souls. Artair could not believe how he experienced his mate's feelings, not just the words they shared in their minds. Their connection was so strong, he had no doubts that Einar was the Chrechte destiny had truly intended to be his mate.

  He was so grateful to Gart for the years of rejection and told Einar so.

  "You truly feel this?" Einar demanded as they held one another in the early hours of the morning they were to return to the longhouse.

  "I think meeting you would have broken the bond between Gart and me, even if we'd claimed each other." Artair's connection with Einar was that powerful.

  "It is supposed to be impossible, but I believe that as well."

  Later, Artair felt no grief at all when he packed away his plaid and donned the clothes Einar had gifted him with. The wool tunic under the leather jerkin and the leather breaches were warmer, but more importantly, they marked Artair as part of Einar's people, a Scottish clansman no longer.

  "You look very handsome in those clothes," Einar said, the heat in his blue gaze giving truth to the claim.

  "They feel right."

  Einar's smile was breathtaking.

  "Now, you look like my pa," their son said to Artair, as he and his younger sister came into the cavern.

  Artair smiled. "That is a good thing since you are my son." He turned to Marie. "And you are my daughter."

  She giggled, the sound so good to hear from the quiet child. "My fadir and my pa," she said with clear possession for Einar and Artair.

  And their little family stayed close together on the return journey to their village.

  ***

  Neilina ran in her human form with Dionach, weighted down with her weapons, she pushed her body to its limits, knowing the very safety of the Chrechte she had met since leaving her island could depend on Neilina's fighting stamina.

  She had lost those who depended on her once because she had not been ready. That would never happen again.

  Nay, not even an asmundr would be able to defeat Neilina now.

  Though if she were to believe him, her mate would be on her side in the battles ahead.

  Not that he treated her like a mate. Oh, he claimed their daughter, Freya as his and had insisted on spending time training the younger woman as his right as her father. But he did not seek any level of intimacy with Neilina.

  While the Balmorals and Sinclairs searched the island for any hiding Fearghall, Neilina and Haakon trained with their soldiers, pushing both Chrechte and human to their best for the war to come.

  Their styles of training and fighting were surprisingly complimentary, but Haakon never tried to leverage that rapport into something more.

  There was no longer a sword in the ground between them, but the divide was there all the same. In her deepest heart, Neilina knew that if she needed him, Haakon would be there, to help her, to protect her, she who never needed another's protection.

  Hadn't he already proven that?

  But it was as if he had given up finally and forever on her mating.

  And it was only now, that he had done so, Neilina realized that was not what she wanted. Her feelings for his father were still bordering on hatred, but Haakon's very presence here on Balmoral Island was proof he was not like the asmundr who had trained him.

  Haakon had pledged his full allegiance to the drago ri just as Neilina had done. He had also acknowledged to Freya, when she had asked, that Haakon did not anticipate ever seeing his homeland again.

  His murdering father would never have done as much.

  As if her thoughts had conjured him, the scent of Haakon approaching came to her on the wind. She looked back over her shoulder and saw him running, his powerful legs straining the leather of his breeches.

  Now there was a man who would look good in a kilt, if there ever was one.

  Neilina nearly stumbled in her sure strides at such a thought. Aye, she'd softened toward him, but this sensual awareness was something so outside her experience, she did not know what to do with it.

  She wanted to touch and be touched. She wanted him to want her.

  Of their own volition, her legs first slowed and then she stopped entirely.

  Waiting for Haakon to reach her.

  Dionach ran on for only a few steps before growling in inquiry.

  "All is well, dear friend," she told the bear, knowing the animal would understand her intent, if not the words.

  A gift of the stone after she'd bonded the bear to her.

  Haakon reached them and stopped a respectful distance away, but it felt more like a deliberate attempt to maintain their divide between them.

  "Where is Freya?" Neilina asked him, trying very hard to ignore the arousal that burned inside her.

  "She wanted to visit with the celi di."

  "By visit you mean ask a hundred questions." Neilina smiled wryly.

  Haakon shrugged his broad shoulders. "Ciara does not seem to mind."

  "Nay." She stepped closer to him, needing nearness more than she needed air. "Is there need of me back at the keep?"

  His blue gaze widened, but he did not move back. "Not that I am aware of."

  "What are you doing chasing me down?" She asked, so confused by the feelings he elicited in her, she was cranky with it.

  "I thought we could run together."

  "Oh."

  "That is all. Oh? No, I'd rather run with pigs, or similar?" he asked sardonically.

  She wanted to say so many things, wanted to reach out and touch him, but forced herself to hold it all in and simply asked, "If you thought I would rea
ct in that fashion, why come after me?"

  His eyes narrowed in unmistakable censure. "Can you really ask me that?"

  "But I thought…" She let her voice trail off, not sure she wanted to admit she'd been thinking about their mating.

  About their joining. About joining again. About not being alone in this world, but for a daughter who would die too soon, no matter what old age she reached.

  "What did you think? That my beast does not crave you every second of every day," he demanded, moving so close the energy from their bodies mingled. "I know we will never be mates, but neither am I willing to drive my beast to madness if I can help it."

  Wonder filled Neilina. "Your beast craves me."

  She'd thought he no longer wanted her.

  And it had hurt.

  Even more because she knew she'd brought his disinterest on herself by refusing to separate him from the actions of his father.

  "As yours does me," Haakon said with no doubt in his voice.

  She inclined her head, in no mood to deny it. "So, you want to run with me and Dionach?"

  "I do." Haakon nodded to the bear, giving her due respect.

  "I would like that."

  His brows rose in surprise at her admission, but he said nothing.

  They ran for nearly an hour, his pace pushing her own as no other had since she shifted to conriocht for the first time.

  They were a distance from the keep, when Neilina and Haakon both slowed to a walk in natural accord. "The search for possible enemies goes slowly," Haakon said.

  "I wish we could help."

  "But we do not know these people. How would we know who belongs on this island, and who does not? Besides, with the Balmoral and his second joining in the search, we are needed for training the soldiers as they come off their shifts of searching."

  She nodded. "I have never trained anyone besides Freya. I enjoy it." And that surprised her.

  "You are a natural teacher."

  She laughed in disbelief. Because as much as she might find unexpected pleasure in the company of her fellow Chrechte and sharing her abilities with them, she had a hard time believing the soldiers she trained liked her methods. "I put them on their backs over and over again. How is that naturally teaching?"

  Amusement flickered in his clear blue eyes. "Humility is part of learning to protect others."

  "Is it?" She hadn't noticed Haakon being all that humble.

  "You do not think I am modest?" he asked, proving once again their minds traveled the same paths more often than not.

  "I hadn't noticed as such no."

  "Trust me, a decade of rejection from the mate ordained to be mine by destiny is enough to humble any man. Even asmundr."

  She laid her hand on his arm. "I am sorry."

  He stopped walking, the shock coming off him a stringent scent to her nostrils.

  She wrinkled her nose. "You need not be so surprised. Surely you realized that our meeting under the circumstances we have would change things between us."

  Okay, maybe even she hadn't realized that, but he seemed to understand male-female relationships better than she did.

  "You are saying that things between us have changed?" he asked, his tone filled with disbelief.

  "Aye."

  "In what way, Neilina, have they changed?" he demanded, his tone harsh.

  "I do not hate you." I want you. I don't want to lose my mate.

  The stone-like cast of his features softened by the tiniest degree. "I'm not sure you ever did, but of a certainty you hated the idea of being my mate."

  "You are an honorable Chrechte." She met his gaze letting him see in her own just how much she believed that.

  There were other messages there if he wanted to read them too.

  "You mean that?"

  She nodded, unable to the do the one thing she wanted more than anything in that moment.

  Kiss him.

  She craved such intimacy with him like she'd never craved anything else in this hundreds years long life.

  "That is a gift I never expected to receive from you."

  She stared at him in incomprehension.

  "Your respect."

  She swallowed. "I do respect you."

  "I respect you as well, conriocht."

  "How can you? You know my failure."

  "Do you not realize yet that even the best trained conriocht could not defeat an asmundr? Even in blood lust."

  "I could. Now." She was sure of it.

  "Perhaps you could at that, kelle."

  "Don't!"

  "Don't what?"

  "Be kind to me."

  "You are my mate. It is not in me to hurt you."

  "But I have rejected you." Over and over again.

  "Ja. And as much as that has hurt, I understand your reasons for doing so. Had your father destroyed my family and all those I had sworn to protect, I do not know I would have done any differently."

  "You do not mean that." How could he be so understanding? So forgiving, when she had been anything but?

  "I do not lie and your senses tell you that even if you do not believe my words alone."

  "No, you do not lie."

  Haakon turned and started toward the keep again, feeling that it would be greedy to want more than she had already given him. Two boons she had denied him for ten years.

  Her respect and her trust, at least in his honesty. It was a crack in the wall around her heart he'd believed impenetrable.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Later, both Haakon and Neilina joined Lachlan and Talorc in interrogating Drustin's cousin, Cleland, the young wolf who had given his allegiance to the Fearghall before returning to live with his family on Balmoral Island.

  But it soon became apparent that the wolf would rather die than betray his cohorts.

  Neilina stepped forward. "If you will permit me?" she asked the Balmoral laird.

  He jerked his head in an angry nod and stepped back.

  The young soldier laughed and spat at Neilina, his spittle landing on the floor by her feet. "As if a woman could intimidate me."

  Her laughter was chilling. "You think not?"

  Suddenly claws sprouted from her fingers and she wrapped them around his throat, drawing blood with the sharp points. "Listen to me carefully, you foolish child." She moved her hold on him until her claws dug into his shoulder, breaking skin and more blood flowing. "I could cut that which holds your arms to your shoulders without killing you, but the pain? Will be unimaginable."

  He went pale as limestone.

  But she was not done.

  Neilina reached under his kilt and the pain on his face said her touch to his nether regions was anything but pleasurable. "I could castrate you with a single twist of my wrist."

  She tilted her head back, sniffing the air. "Do you smell that blood? It is yours, but so little of it. I could make much more."

  The smell of piss mixed with blood and Neilina's expression twisted with disgust as she withdrew her hand, wiping the moisture on the man's tunic.

  "Let me loose of these shackles and we'll see what you can do to me, unnatural bitch! Demoness!"

  Neilina's smile was all fierce, warrior's glee. "Remove his shackles. It is time this stupid boy learned to fear."

  Though he was well past the age of being considered a man, he was nothing but a boy to one who had lived as long as she had.

  The Balmoral and the Sinclair were looking at Neilina with a mix of awe and concern, but all Haakon felt was a healthy dose of lust and pride.

  She turned to him, rolling her eyes. "Truly? You are aroused right now."

  "My mate is stronger than other Chrechte, male, or female." He shrugged away any judgment of that fact. "My beast finds that unbearably exciting."

  Haakon grabbed the keys and let loose the young Chrechte male from his shackles. "You will rue asking her for this," he promised the soldier who had betrayed not only his people, but his family.

  Cleland tried to dive for Neilina, but she had him
subdued so quickly, her movements were a blur. Then she did the unexpected, at least it was to everyone else in the room, if the scent of fear mixed with shock was anything to go by.

  Neilina grabbed the boys balls and twisted, her nails once again imbedded in his flesh. He howled, but could not shift in his pain.

  "You can die with your balls, like a man, or as a eunuch, but you will tell me what you know about the plans to murder so many of your brethren."

  She must have let up the pressure with her hand because the disloyal soldier started to sob babbling that he did not know anything. She tightened her hand again and he screamed, the sound painful to hear. "Do not lie to me."

  "Bring Eirik. He cannot lie in the dragon's presence," the Balmoral said.

  "Nay," Neilina barked, anger sparking the air around her like a fire built with pitchy wood. "Our king has enough to contend with. This betrayer will tell us what he knows."

  "You're supposed to try to convert me," Cleland sobbed. "If we are found out, you are supposed to try to convert us. The lairds are too weak to kill without remorse."

  "Like your leaders, who have lost their souls to their hatred?" Lachlan demanded, fury filling his voice.

  "I am conriocht," Neilina informed the ignorant soldier. "My life is forfeit to the protection of the Chrechte. You are a threat to that protection."

  "I am too young to die."

  The fool, who could betray those he'd promised his allegiance, should have considered how many more years of life he wanted before doing so. "Old enough to pledge false allegiance once. Why should we give you another chance?"

  Haakon did not have the compassionate desire to save Chrechte who had forfeited their honor already.

  "There will be no chances," Neilina decreed before Cleland could answer. "The only question is how much pain you will endure before you die."

  Talorc looked like he was going to interfere and Haakon growled at him, allowing the full power of his asmundr nature to fill the air around them.

  The two lairds and their seconds took defensive stances and Haakon wanted to bang their heads together.

  Incredibly, Neilina laughed. "They do not understand yet, just how far you will go to protect them."

  "But you do?"

  "We are the same. Guardians."

  "So are they."