Warrior's Moon by Lucy Monroe Read Free Book Online Page A

take
my
son. Eadan and Marjory will be safe under the protection of you and Thomas.”
    The young man’s loyalty had no equal in that room, but he was an untried youth of nineteen. No true match for the hardened warrior Caelis had become.
    “I would not,” Caelis claimed, trying to make it sound like a promise.
    But his promises were long past being trusted by her. So, Shona ignored him, demanding with the fierceness of her expression that Niall give her
his
vow.
    The scarred warrior nodded. “Aye. You have my word.”
    “Let us pray it has more value than the last time a Scotsman gave me his pledge.”
    Niall placed his fist over his heart and bowed his head to her. “On my honor and that of my clan, I will keep those you hold dear safe.”
    A small and genuine smile touched her lips at that promise. He was assuring her he would keep Thomas safe as well and she was grateful to the point of tears. A weak and foolish reaction to be sure, but she
was
tired.
    With a nod of acknowledgment, she turned away before anyone could see the evidence of her emotions.
    Eadan, Marjory, Thomas and Audrey were all that was dear left to Shona in the entire world.
    She would not only die to protect them but kill as well. And so that blackguard Percival, new Baron of Heronshire, would discover if he had the impudence and stupidity to pursue her and her own into the Highlands of Scotland.

Chapter 4

    There is no colder bed than the one without your mate.
    —B ARR OF THE D ONEGAL
    C aelis watched his sacred mate leaving the great hall
, his wolf howling with the need to follow the petite female form, his body itching with the desire to shift.
    But like he’d done so many times in the past six years, Caelis forced his beast to heel.
    Their beautiful mate wanted nothing of them.
    Shona’s scent used to be the most delectable of fragrances to both him and his wolf, though she’d never met the beast. All wild heather and summer rain, he would sit outside her parent’s hut in his wolf form, inhaling it for hours.
    Now the acrid scent of bitterness came off her in waves when he was near.
    ’Twas no easy thing to accept, that change in his mate’s regard, no matter that his own actions had brought it on.
    He’d survived the last six years holding her promises of eternal love inside where none could see, question or condemn. He’d known he didn’t deserve her love after letting her down as he had, but he’d been without choices.
    Though she did not know it, he’d taken the blame on himself. He hadn’t wanted to add to her resentment of their laird, realizing too late what a mistake that had been. Not least because when her parents decided to move away from the clan, showing no hesitation, Shona had gone with them.
    Caelis had never considered she might leave their people,
or him
. He’d thought he would have time to change his alpha’s mind about the mating, to make up to Shona the hurt he’d caused her.
    Caelis had believed in their future even as he told her they had none. Her father’s leaving the clan had been an unforeseen circumstance. The fact that Shona went with him had shocked Caelis to the core. She had a life among her clan, friends if no family left.
    The clan was her family. It was what they’d been taught since infancy.
    And Caelis had believed her love stronger than even his alpha’s will.
    There was no love in her pretty green eyes
now
when they fell on Caelis. At worst they swam with pain filled fury, at best with distrust so sharp it cut him to the core of his soul.
    Not even the briefest flicker of joy had shown in the emerald depths since he’d first spied her in the courtyard, none of the relief or happiness
he
felt at this chance reunion. She did not share his delight that they had made a child together.
    She would deny Eadan’s paternity if she could. Caelis had seen it in her eyes, but the boy looked too much like Caelis to be mistaken for anything but his own.
    In Shona, Caelis could sense only