Warrior's Moon

Chapter 14

The battle was bloody, but Vegar and Caelis were amazing warriors, tossing the giant wolves away with one hand each and slashing at them with swords in the other. They drew blood but made no deep wounds. It was clear Caelis and Vegar were actually trying not to kill the wolves, but the MacLeods had no such compunction.

One managed a deep claw strike to Caelis’s chest as another three attacked Vegar at once, bowling him down under them.

Audrey screamed, the horror she felt testament to the mate bond already forming between her and the eagle shifter.

One of the wolves scratched at Vegar’s thigh, drawing blood.

Audrey broke away from their defensive triangle and ran toward the pile of wolves and warrior. She stabbed with her dagger at one of the wolves. He turned on her with a snarl and took a swipe at her, sending her stumbling back with blood soaking her dress from gashes in her shoulder and arm.

An inch over and the wolf would have cut her artery. Shona’s dearest friend would have bled out, Chrechte or not.

Fury-tinged horror washed through her, but unlike Audrey, Shona would not move from her position of protector to her children. She could not.

One swipe of any of the wolves’ lethal claws and her children would be dead.

That would happen over her own dead and bloodied body, and not one second before.

Audrey shifted into her wolf, a beautiful white creature about half the size of the ones trying to kill them.

Her dress fell away from her and despite the difference in their sizes, she attacked the wolf again, this time with teeth and claws.

Vegar erupted from the pile of wolves, a battle cry resounding in the air around them. One went flying. The other rolled in the opposite direction. His sword came down and straight into the heart of the wolf still fighting with Audrey. So much bigger, and obviously with greater experience, the now dead MacLeod wolf could have killed her in a moment, but hadn’t.

Shona could not make sense of it.

Despite the chaos of the battle around them, Vegar pushed Audrey gently away. “Return to your heart-sister. I thank you for your help.”

The uncouth man rose just slightly in Shona’s estimation in that moment.

Audrey the wolf obediently trotted back, the blood on her fur attesting to the fact that shifting had not immediately healed her wounds. That was a question Shona would have to save for another day. It was clear, however, that her injuries were not bleeding near as profusely.

Still in wolf form, Audrey again took up her position as protector to Shona’s children.

Vegar had returned to battle already, the glint of death in his eyes for those who might go near his mate again. The two wolves he had tossed away now fought for their lives, rather than trying to take his.

Caelis had been fighting with the other three, but his obvious desire not to kill them was doing him no favors. There were small nicks all over his body from fang and claw, but nothing grievous. Shona’s heart rejoiced and she did her best to convince herself ’twas because he stood between her children and the wolves that would harm them.

While two kept him occupied, the other came running toward Shona, its sharp, drooling fangs bared.

The young Sinclair soldier moved in front of her just as the wolf reached them, taking the first bite to his forearm. He grappled with the wolf valiantly, but Shona knew he would not hold the beast off for long.

She readied her dagger. She could not send her children running, though the temptation was great.

There was no way little legs could outrun those intent on doing them harm. Eadan and Marjory had grown quiet. Their eyes round with shock, they clung to each other and huddled near Audrey.

They should have been terrified, but they seemed more dazed and clearly held no fear of the woman who had become a wolf.

Though Shona’s son had been seeing such things in his dreams, for goodness knew how long.

Audrey moved closer to the children, standing over them protectively. Her own teeth bared, growls sounded from her throat that were suspiciously similar to those Audrey used to make when she was angry with the baron.

It put a new light on claims she had made that she was angry enough to scratch the man’s eyes out.

Shona shifted her stance, prepared to enter the fray between the wolf and the soldier trying so valiantly to protect her.

An unholy roar sounded, and a second later the wolf fighting the young soldier went flying, landing in a broken heap nearly fifty feet away. The great beast had snapped its neck and tossed the giant wolf as if he weighed no more than a ball of yarn sniffed toward Shona, his eyes the same gentian blue as Caelis.

And she realized this, this…man-wolf was her former beloved.

She could hardly believe what her eyes told her to be true. This creature was nothing like the wolf Caelis had shown her and yet there could be no doubt in her heart they were one in the same.

Shock coursed through her, leaving her lungs empty of breath and her heart racing.

Standing over seven feet tall and twice as wide as even the biggest warrior…like Caelis as a man, hair covered his face and body, his features that of a cross between wolf and man. His hands had five fingers, like a man’s, but each digit ended in a daggerlike claw. His feet were the same: five toes tipped with sharp-pointed nails that would gouge a hole in man or beast with brutal efficiency.

He stood upright, like a man, his torso, arms and legs shaped much as they were when in his human form but bigger. A lot bigger.

The long canines that showed when he growled toward one of the wolves inching forward on its belly were like his canine counterpart, but his snout was only slightly protruding, the man behind the beast there to see if one was looking.

And Shona was looking.

She wanted to reach out and touch him. Badly.

This wondrous beast was the father of her child. Children, if she believed his intention to claim Marjory.

The young soldier beside her crossed himself with his good arm before cradling the other close to his chest and starting to mutter fervent Hail Marys.

The wolves had stopped their attack, three of the four surviving Chrechte approaching Caelis on their bellies. The last one—she thought mayhap it was Maon—stood off at a distance, his hackles raised, his low growl at once fear-filled and menacing.

Caelis ignored them all as he moved within a breath of Shona. He did not touch her, but she could sense his desire to do so.

She reached out and took one of his great hands into hers and brought it to her face, laying the claw-tipped fingers against her cheek.

The huge body stilled completely, air barely moving his chest in and out. “Mate?”

The guttural voice was not quite human, but the word was understandable. What he was asking was not.

She did not know what he needed, so she gave him what she wanted. She stood on her toes and reached up to touch the light hair covering his face. It was soft to her touch, his jaw beneath strong and firm.

She trailed her fingers down his neck to his enormous, muscular chest, covered in the same soft short brown hair. “’Tis a wondrous monster you are.”

“Monster?” he asked in that growly voice.

“Wondrous.”

“You do not fear.”

“I have naught to fear.”

The sound of vicious snarling made Caelis tense.

“He challenges you,” Vegar said.

Caelis nodded, though his attention remained on Shona.

She stepped back. “You have things to attend.”

His gaze finally moved from hers, but not to where Maon was making his continued anger clear. No, Caelis looked down at Marjory and Eadan.

Their son was looking up at him with awe and a deep happiness Shona was not sure she understood. Marjory didn’t look any more worried than Shona felt.

’Twas as if her small daughter sensed that the great beast was their ally and seemed comforted by it.

Caelis dropped to one knee and Shona had to stifle the urge to laugh. Did he think that made him less intimidating? He still towered over her, much less the children.

Marjory didn’t seem to care. She let go of her brother and approached Caelis with no sign of trepidation.

The Sinclair soldier made as if to grab her back, but a growl from Caelis had him scurrying away. His courage showed, however, in the fact that he did not keep going but remained nearby.

“He doesn’t know you are nice,” Marjory declared with a frown for the soldier.

“I am not always nice, little princess.” The words came out a little garbled in Caelis’s guttural tones, but Marjory didn’t seem to have any difficulty understanding.

“You are nice to me.”

“Always,” he vowed.

She nodded, popping her thumb in her mouth and reaching for one of his pinkies. He let her wrap her hand around it, giving Shona a bemused look.

It was a strange expression on such a fearsome countenance to be sure.

Eadan approached. “I will be like you one day, Da.”

Shona whipped her head around to stare at Caelis. “Is that true?”

“I dinna ken.”

“I do,” Eadan said as he sidled right up to his father and climbed onto the bent knee. “My dreams said so.”

“Then it will come to pass.”

“I have to save the Paindeal celi di,” Eadan said matter-of-factly.

“What?” Shona asked, her voice going faint.

Eadan smiled reassuringly at her from his perch that made him almost of a height with his grown mother. “Not for a long time yet, Mum. Do not worry.”

She nodded, inexplicably glad her son was only five years old. Whatever destiny called to him, she had years yet to love and live with him as her own dear boy.

The snarls had not stopped the entire time Caelis interacted with the children and now they grew louder, the challenge in them obvious even to Shona.

Caelis lifted both children into his great arms and turned to face the one remaining defiant wolf.

“Submit,” he barked in unmistakable command.

Maon shook his wolf’s head, hackles raised, his fangs bared in threat.

The stupid Chrechte stared Caelis in the eye until Shona’s man-wolf let out a bone-chilling growl. The other wolves, including Audrey, whimpered, but the big one just turned and ran away.

Caelis lowered the children to the ground and ordered Vegar, “Watch over them.”

“Aye.” The Éan did not appear offended at the other man’s imperious tone.

Caelis turned to the three cowering wolves and pointed to the ground. “Stay.”

None so much as raised a head in inquiry, but all dropped to their bellies completely and…stayed.

Caelis gave chase after the retreating Chrechte, running faster than she’d ever seen man or beast. Even after the head start Caelis putting the children down had given Maon, he easily caught up with the big wolf. Caelis grabbed the ginger wolf by the scruff of its neck and shook the animal.

Maon went limp and Caelis carried him back to the group, where the other three wolves had not moved the breadth of a single canine hair from their position of submission.

Caelis threw Maon to the ground and then barked, “Shift!”

All four wolves transformed to their human forms. The transition was no less magical for her having seen it before.

Shona recognized two of the warriors, one of an age to her and the other younger. Maon, the self-proclaimed leader, was three or four years younger. She had not immediately recognized the youth she had known six years ago in the angry man he had become.

A fearsome warrior to be sure, he stood leader over men both older and younger than him. Only one man appeared a complete stranger to her.

He looked younger, too, but Shona knew from Caelis that could be deceiving.

All stared at Caelis with varying degrees of respect—even Maon, though his was tempered by that unbanked fury he’d displayed from the moment of his arrival in the clearing in his wolf form.

“You are conriocht. It is not possible,” Maon snarled, his defiance barely tempered.

Vegar’s brow rose mockingly. “And yet here he stands.”

“There is no sacred stone for the Faol anymore. The Éan stole our Faolchú Chridhe.” Maon looked at Vegar with loathing, his disgust with the situation clear. “And you are this one’s friend.”

Caelis backhanded the man, knocking him back several paces. “He is my friend and you’d do well to remember that.”

“Wait until Uven hears about this. He’ll find a way to stop you. I could have, if these fools had not submitted.” Maon glared at his fellow Chrechte.

“He’s conriocht, guardian of the Faol chosen by the Faolchú Chridhe, our own sacred stone, to be our protector and leader,” said the older man Shona had recognized. She thought his name was Sean.

“If he was chosen, it was with a purpose to do the Fearghall’s bidding, but he’s living here among the Sinclairs and the Éan. He’s a disgrace.”

This time, Caelis kicked the stupidly stubborn man, his roar of fury even giving Shona pause. Not that she feared him, but he was an impressive beast. And he was definitely angry.

“What is a conriocht?” Audrey asked, her voice uneven.

Shona had not even noticed her friend had shifted back to her human form.

“It is an ancient term for werewolf…man and wolf combined,” Vegar said, his big body blocking Audrey’s naked one from anyone else’s view.

Interesting. Considering both Caelis’s reaction earlier that day and Audrey’s response to being seen naked in the loch by Vegar in his eagle form, Shona assumed the Chrechte were less concerned with nudity than their human counterparts.

Audrey pulled her shift back on and spoke with the sheer white fabric over her head. She looked equally skittish and fascinated by Caelis’s savage form. “I have never heard of such a thing.”

“Before yesterday, I had never heard of…” What had Caelis called himself? Oh yes. “Shape-changers.”

Audrey replied, “But none have three forms.”

“That is not true,” Vegar said. “Chrechte with parents of two races can sometimes shift into two animals, both wolf and bird. It is rare, but it does happen.”

“Truly?” Shona’s blond friend had managed to get the shift settled into place.

But honestly, it did little for her modesty as see-through as it was.

Vegar didn’t seem impressed with its covering properties, either, glaring at one of the MacLeod Chrechte whose gaze had strayed from Caelis to Audrey.

Vegar nodded in response to Audrey’s question, doing his best to bind her wounds even as he helped Audrey cover herself with her dress.

Caelis stood to his full seven feet and spare inches tall, towering over them all. “I am conriocht and I claim my right as alpha to the MacLeod. Follow me.”

Sean and the other two MacLeod soldiers who had submitted in wolf form immediately dropped to one knee with right fists pressed to their hearts and heads bowed toward Caelis.

Maon remained standing, his stance defiant, though he kept his distance from Caelis.

“Or what?” Maon asked with only a marginally less antagonistic tone.

“Or you die. My conriocht nature will be revealed at my choosing and no other’s.”

Shona wanted to protest. Not the killing of the odious man. Maon would have killed Caelis without a qualm, and Shona as well. Worse, he would have killed or stolen her children. Either was not a fate she would ever wish on them.

Nay, she wanted to protest the opportunity to live. “How can you trust his vow of fidelity? Or any of theirs, for that matter?”

What was the submission of a wolf worth when he had the deceitful heart of a man?

Caelis looked at her, his gentian blue eyes the one familiar thing in his conriocht face. “I can smell a lie.”

“You did not smell them approaching. They masked their scent,” Audrey pointed out, awe for the feat lacing her tone.

“In my human form, I may not smell the masked scent. In my wolf form, that almost never happens. As a conriocht, they cannot lie to me, or mask their scents at all.”

“Impossible!” Maon looked impressed despite his denial. “None can smell our passing when we do not will it.”

Caelis ignored him and looked at Shona. “You will have to trust me.”

He wanted her to believe in him when she’d learned six years ago to do so was to set herself up for untold pain. “My children’s lives are in your hands.”

“Our children.” The ferocity of his tone brooked no denial.

She did not give him one.

“Do not risk them then.”

“You would have me kill them without mercy?”

She spun away before words that would condemn her more than the MacLeod wolves could pass her lips. But when had anyone shown her mercy?

Caelis hadn’t. Her parents hadn’t. Certainly the baron had not, using her body when he saw fit despite knowing how little she wanted it. And the current baron would take what he wanted without remorse if she allowed herself to be within his grasp.

“You are stronger than all of us.” The words were in Caelis voice, but they had not been spoken aloud.

She heard them in her head.

Fear that had not taken hold during or after all the strange revelations of the past days rose now over her like a spectre. She could withstand much, but what would happen to her children if she lost her reason?

A hairy, oversized hand landed on her shoulder. “’Tis the mate bond.”

“What, what’s the mate bond?” Audrey asked.

“He…I…no…” She shook her head beyond the ability to accept one more unbelievable thing, particularly one so very intimate and invasive.

If Caelis had access to her mind, he had known exactly how much he had hurt her six years ago. And still he had repudiated her.

He had known her desperation, her hopes, her fears and he had rejected her despite them all.

“No,” he barked, the giant beast’s expression pained in a way she could not comprehend. “I do not read your thoughts.”

“You are reading them now!” she accused.

He shook his head, a sound that was no human word she’d ever heard coming out of his mouth.

She looked around her, wondering for one terrible moment if any of it was real. Or was she living in some twisted dream?

The impossible did not happen. She had believed because she had seen. But what if all she had seen were fevered imaginings of a mind lost to reality? She must be mad. Mayhap that explained all of it, this new world that was too wondrous for the mundane life she led.

She had never thought to see Caelis again. He hadn’t wanted her. How could she believe he was really here, laying claim to her, Eadan and another man’s child?

’Twas beyond imagination.

But she had imagined it. She must have.

“I am dreaming. You are not here at all.” She could not help that her words came out more accusation than statement.

Her fantastical warrior had made her believe.

“Och, lass, stop this. I am here. You are here. ’Tis no dream.”

“But…”

He shook his great head, tenderness she had not seen in those gentian blue depths for more than six years. “You are not dreaming.”

“You—”

A claw pressed against her lips with the softness of a butterfly. “Shh…”