She had to believe him.
She had to give this a shot.
“I trust you,” she whispered and he kissed her again.
He lifted her up from the couch, and with her legs wrapped around his waist, he carried her into the bedroom. He lay her down and she watched him as he pulled off his jacket and vest up over his head. His chest was richly tanned and perfectly chiseled. She had never seen a man so godly before—his entire physique was like something she had only seen in her dreams. He moved forward and climbed on top of her. His chains and jewelry jangled against her and she ran her long fingernails up his back. His tattoos were black and aggressive, and it wasn’t until he sat back and turned his head slightly as he took off some of his chains that she caught sight of the magnificent piece of artwork adorning his entire back.
She gasped and sat forward, holding onto his shoulders and turning his back towards the sunlight.
“Wow,” she breathed. “This is….”
“A lynx,” he said with a smile.
She ran her fingertips over the most wonderful portrait of a wild cat that she had ever seen. Its teeth were bared and its eyes were bright and wide. It looked full of life and vitality, but it was also dangerous and ready to attack.
“I love it,” she beamed. “It’s amazing.”
“Not as amazing as you,” he said as held her neck and traced kisses down to the tops of her breasts.
She lay back and let him remove her clothes, piece by piece, and when she was beneath him fully naked she opened her legs wide and let him see how wet and ready for him she was.
He grunted at the sight of her pussy and pulled at his belt, ripping it off and jerking down his trousers so his thick, engorged cock sprang free. Tammy whimpered. She was in awe of him, and as he towered above her holding his dick in his hands, she knew he was going to fuck her so hard with it. She almost unraveled right there before he even touched her.
He climbed on top of her and she wrapped her legs around him. Rolling with her, he pulled her on top of him and held onto her hips.
Tammy gasped. She was so nervous to have him inside of her, but she also couldn’t wait to feel him in his entirety. He pulled her forward as he pushed the tip of his cock to the opening of her sex and held her there in place. He looked up at her, deep into her eyes, and as she held her breath, he pulled her down onto him, spearing her and filling her up so she felt split in half.
The heat spread through her and she cried with pleasure as she rode him and grinded herself up and down. Lynx grunted and moaned as he held onto her at the waist, but it was only a matter of time before the alpha male in him took over and he had to be in control.
He flipped her onto her back, and as he held onto her neck he pushed himself deep inside of her, burying himself in her folds as he fucked her hard and slow.
Tammy had never experienced anything like it. He was such a man, such a powerful, animalistic man who was full of aggression and lust that it was turning her on even more with each thrust.
She could barely hang on any longer, and as she unraveled beneath him and her orgasm tore through her, Lynx’s thighs tensed and he grunted into her neck as he exploded inside of her. She felt his hot and powerful seed fill her pussy, and her tight muscles gripped onto his shaft as he pumped and emptied himself into her.
He collapsed down next to her and pulled her close to him. Both of their hearts were hammering in their chests, and Tammy could barely hear anything over the rush of blood that was thumping through her whole body.
“That was incredible,” Lynx panted as he kissed her forehead.
Tammy nuzzled into him and breathed him in. In that moment, she realized that she didn’t care what anyone else was saying about him, or even if he had murdered someone ten years ago. All she knew was that she had fallen for him harder and faster than she had ever thought possible.
10.
As the day turned into night and they lay together exploring each other’s bodies, Tammy knew she had found her soul mate. Everything about Lynx fit with her perfectly, and there was nothing she didn’t want to tell him.
She told him of how she longed for a family, and he agreed with her. He explained how he had always felt the same and couldn’t wait to have one of his own. He opened up about his past and his childhood, confiding in her about how he had been treated badly, abused by his guardians, and eventually fled when he was fifteen and found himself in Slate Springs without a penny to his name and not a clue of how to look after himself.
“What happened?” Tammy asked him with eager eyes.
“I met one of The Forsaken Riders,” he smiled as he ran his fingertips through her hair. “They took me in, put a roof over my head, gave me a job… They saved my life.”
Tammy had no idea how it must have felt to be so alone in the world. Even though she missed her mother dearly every day, she had always had the love and support of her father and Dean.
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” she whispered before she gave him a single kiss on his chest.
“I’m not anymore,” he said. “If it hadn’t of happened, I never would have wound up here with you.”
Even though he was right, she still couldn’t help but feel like a lot of his life had been either traumatic or wasted being locked up in jail.
“Who were you protecting, Lynx?” Tammy blurted the words out before she even knew she was going to say them.
He sat up and rested his forearms on the tips of his knees.
“I can’t tell you that, Tam,” he said gently as he turned to look at her.
She felt herself stiffen and she knew that if he ever wanted her to believe a word that came out of his mouth ever again, then he didn’t have the option… He was going to have to tell her.
“All you’ve been saying since the moment we met is that I have to trust you,” she said as she pulled herself up. “Now don’t you think it’s about time you trusted me?”
He looked thoughtful for a moment before he took hold of her hand.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked.
Tammy searched his face for an answer, but she would never be able to guess. She shook her head and he dropped his.
“It was Reid, babe…” he said with a sigh. “I was protecting the only man who ever really took care of me.”
Tammy felt the blood rush into her head, and she felt dizzy. Reid, Lexi’s dad, had murdered someone and Lynx had protected him and done the time.
“But why?” she asked with confusion.
“Reid was the one who took me in when I found myself here at fifteen,” he shrugged. “He’d already been away and done time, and he wasn’t well…” He stopped for a moment and Tammy could see the tears welling up behind his eyes.
“It was my fault he did it in the first place. I botched up a job, we got caught. It was either Reid shot the guy whose shop we were turning over, or we were all going down.”
Tammy shivered.
“I couldn’t let him go back inside,” Lynx said. “It would have finished the old boy off…”
“But he’s sick now?” she said, her confusion mounting.
“The cancer came back,” he nodded. “I’m glad he didn’t spend the last years of his life rotting away in some jail when it was my fault he would have been there in the first place.”
He sniffed and then smiled.
“So now you know everything,” he concluded. “But you can never tell Lexi…or King, for that matter. The code of The Forsaken Riders is one that can never be broken, and King wasn’t around when all of this went down. Okay?”
She nodded and reached out to stroke his arm once more.
For a man who had lived on the wrong side of the tracks since he was a kid, Lynx was wise and full of integrity. When he confessed his darkest secret to her, she knew why she loved him… He was just like her underneath it all. Under all of the muscles, the piercings and tattoos, and the scent of booze and smoke, he was a kind-hearted man, and he had won her over with his honesty.
She looked up at him, and he pulled her close to him. She knew her life was never going to be the same again. She had met the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with. He was going to be the father of her children, and she was never going to be looked at the same in Slate Springs ever again. Less than a week before, Tammy had barely even laid eyes on any of the The Forsaken Riders, but now she and Lexi were in deep, and they were beginning the lives they had always dreamed of in their own unique ways.
She was no longer going to be sweet, innocent good girl Tammy. She was going to be Lynx’s woman, a wild cat just like him. And she was going to make sure that they fought for each other, their family, and their right to their love over and above anything else...
THE END
Mated to the Highland Wolf
Samantha Leal
Copyright ©2015 by Samantha Leal. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Table of Contents
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1.
Muriel looked out across the loch as the sun began to set over the mountains. Even though winter had yet to arrive around Inverness, the air was crisp and the chill seemed to rattle gently through her bones. She wrapped her arms around herself and sighed. She had always loved her home and this moment was no exception. The beauty surrounding Cawdor Castle was incredible, the mountains, the lush greens of the land and the deep loch that was laid out before her always took her breath away.
Behind her, in the distance and coming from deep within the forest, she was aware of the sounds of her brothers and father playing with their swords. They clashed their steel together and laughed as if they didn’t have a care in the world, even though Muriel knew the real reason behind why the boys were being trained was definitely not funny. Clan Calder was at risk like many other of the highland families that were scattered around Scotland. The bigger and more powerful clans were trying to claim them and take over them all. Muriel shuddered at the prospect of a war and bit her bottom lip. The cold had turned it dry and she wet it with the tip of her tongue and felt the icy chill bite at her again.
“Back to the castle,” she whispered to herself as she turned on her heel and wrapped an arm around her horse’s neck before she hoisted herself up and sat astride it. The beast had been a present for her thirteenth birthday and they had grown up side by side over the years, their love and deep bond strengthening with each passing day. She had named him Hugo after the ancestral legend of how their clan had come to be, started by a French knight who had settled there and begun the Thane of Calder. Hugo had grown into a strong and powerful beast, and was one of the finest horses within the entire castle. Muriel was honored to be able to call him hers and each time she climbed up onto his back and dug her heels into his side, she knew that he accepted her and wanted to be her steed.
She kicked her heels against him and he picked up his pace into a gallop. Muriel clutched tightly onto his mane as they approached the forest and the sound of her brothers and father came closer. As Hugo slowed and they trotted slowly into the forest and between the trees she smiled as she saw her youngest brother Hamish standing tall and proud with their father’s sword, a piece so big it dwarfed him in size.
“I think you may need one of your own, Hamish,” she smiled warmly. “Something tells me that will be hard to take into battle.”
Hamish smiled boyishly and tried to lift the huge hunk of steel high over his head, failing with his trembling arms which brought it crashing down into the soft, moist earth.
“But I’m a big lad now,” he said triumphantly. He pushed his hands sturdily into his hips and looked at her challengingly. Her father laughed with a hearty roar and slapped the lad on his back before they both made their way over to Muriel and her horse at the clearing’s edge.
“It’s late,” her father said. “You should have been back at the castle hours ago.”
Muriel nodded sheepishly and shrugged her shoulders.
“No place for women out here at night,” he father said, “It’s not safe.”
“Och, I know pa,” she said. “But I lost track of time.”
“Back now,” he emphasized sternly but without anger. “Your mother will be worried sick.”
Muriel nodded and turned Hugo around, ready to begin their walk back to the castle gates. Her brothers all let out low chuckles and she wanted to turn around, jump down and punch the lot of them, but she knew it was pointless. She could easily be just as good a warrior as them, when the time came… but because of her sex she was destined to be cast aside and married off to a worthy suitor just to keep alliances sweet.
She stuck her tongue out at her brothers before she dug her heels into Hugo’s side and they galloped back out across the valley and towards Castle Cawdor. Muriel, the only female offspring of the Calder’s, had lived a sheltered life up until this point, but she knew in her bones it was all about to change. It wasn’t just her father training the boys, or him insisting she wasn’t beyond the walls of Cawdor after nightfall, there was something hanging in the air. She could tell there was a storm coming. News reached them from the peasant boys every so often, stories of other castles that had fallen, whole families wiped out and the bloody trail that was headed in their direction. And even though her mother, father and any of the other elders would deny it… she could sense something was coming for Cawdor that none of them would be able to prevent without an army.
As Hugo’s hooves clattered across the drawbridge and the guards helped her down before leading him away to his stable for the night, Muriel vowed that she would never be as secretive with her own children. Whoever her husband turned out to be, she would insist that they were a real family, open, honest and full of love. This above all else, is what she craved. And she knew that if she wanted it enough, one day she was sure to get it.
2.
Sounds drifted through the castle of men and women feasting in the Grand Hall and even though Muriel had barely eaten anything for hours, she wasn’t tempted to join them. Her family and she had had a shaky past, and now as she was getting older and becoming a woman of her own, she had found herself disagreeing with them on many occasions.
Muriel smiled pleasantly as she passed the guards and made her way down one of the darkened corridors. She would climb the staircase at the end of it and ascend to the second floor where her bed chamber was waiting. Her nurse and confidant Elizabeth would be waiting for her, with no doubt a lecture and a warm bath. And even though a telling off was the last thing she needed, she would let Elizabeth go ahead and scold her anyway. She didn’t have the energy for a fight.
She pushed open the door to her bed chamber and the flicker of flames from the open fire danced around the room and licked an orange glow lightly up the stone walls. She closed the door silently behind her and Elizabeth startled from her resting place, a chair at the side of the hearth.
“Lady Calder,” she tutted, “The sun fell hours ago.”
Muriel nodded shyly and shrugged.
“Father’s already lectured me Elizabeth,” she said with disdain, “Please don’t make me feel any worse.”
Elizabeth got to her feet and put her hands on her hips.
“What the wild folk without clans wouldn’t do to a maiden like you if they got their hands on you out there,” she said icily, “You have no idea what lurks beyond our castle walls.”
“I know,” Muriel said, “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”
She crossed the room to her bed and lay down across it. Even though Elizabeth could be as tough on her as her parents, she was still glad to have her around and looking out for her. She always returned to a warm room and
a freshly made up bed and she was waited on hand and foot. Muriel stretched her arms up high above her head and then rolled onto her side, propping her head up on her hand.
“They’re preparing for something,” Muriel said suggestively, “Have you heard anything?”
Elizabeth was busy folding linens and she pretended as if she hadn’t caught what Muriel was saying.
“Elizabeth?” Muriel prompted her again, “Do you know what’s coming to Cawdor?”
The maid shook her head as if Muriel was speaking nonsense and laughed.
“There are dangers lurking in every corner of the world,” she said, “Why would you think this place is any different?”
“What do you mean?” Muriel was confused. She was just hoping that for once, someone would give her a straight answer.
“I mean, it’s always been this way,” Elizabeth smiled at her warmly, “It’s just now you are old enough to notice… don’t worry yourself about it. You father has protected this castle since the day he was born and he will continue to until the day he dies.”
Elizabeth moved to the corner of the room and began to fill the bath tub with large urns of water she had warming on the fire.
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Muriel whispered, but she was sure she was the only one to hear.
Muriel loved her mother and father, but they had never been close and their relationship had been tested many times. Muriel was a headstrong woman, she knew what she wanted out of life and she had fought for her right to live the way she pleased from a young age. After being denied at all costs, and kept amongst the confines of the castle, she had eventually accepted her fate. As the only daughter of Lord Calder, she would be wed to a rival family to strengthen bonds and forge alliances. With each passing day, Muriel could sense that her time was running out and that one morning she would wake up and her mother would sit her down and tell her that a date had been set and a suitor had been decided. Now she was nineteen, it seemed even more possible to happen at any moment. She was of an age where most girls had already been married and born several children. Her father had held out on her own marriage to ensure that Muriel was used as effectively as possible and the most powerful family was found. She hated that her only place in life was to breed with the son of another Lord and carry on a line of clans that she had been desperate to escape. Muriel knew deep in her heart that she was worth more than this, and even though she had accepted her fate… she would never give up hope that somewhere out there, there would be something or someone to save her.
[Runes of Argyl 01.0] The Runes of Argyl Trilogy Page 153
