Dragon's Mate [Cairgorm Dragons 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Clair de Lune

  “I want to feel your weight on me. I want you inside me. Please don’t leave me.”

  He lay on top of her, taking the weight on his elbows. He pressed butterfly kisses all over her face, her eyelids, her nose, until she stiiled and, eventually, his cock softened. Then he got up to clean himself and her. When he returned to the bed after disposing of the cloths, she held out her arms to him. He cuddled her close, and she heard, “I love you so much,” as she drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Nine

  The next morning, after a leisurely breakfast of oatcakes and preserves, with a large cup of that delicious chocolate, Eilidh went to find Seonag. Braemuir was in council with the elders of the Clan, and not expected to be free for some time. As was the way of the Braemuir Clan, his parents took no part in the council or the Gathering. Once his father had abdicated power, they didn’t appear, so there would be no divided loyalties, or conflict within the Clan. The council had to discuss the mating with a man, who was not of the Clan. Although Braemuir had no idea yet which female Ness wanted, he was in favour of closer links with that Clan. He had told Eilidh that some of the older men would take some convincing, so she would have plenty of time. He had told her not to wander away anywhere alone.

  Seonag and Eilidh went to the stillroom together. Eilidh’s parents’ house had a small store with herbs drying, hanging from the beams. This stillroom was the largest Eilidh had ever seen. The Caisteal had many servants, and played host to the Clan at varous times of the year, so large stores were needed. Seonag showed her what stores they had, and promised to take her to gather the herbs that they used to make the medications and the scented soaps for the house. There were particular places for different herbs. As the Braemuir’s lady, she would not be expected to go and gather them herself, but she would be expected to oversee the stillroom, and ensure there was an adequate supply. Many herbs were utilised in the cooking and to scent the linens.

  Eilidh felt as though they were being watched. She turned and looked about her, but could see no one. I’m imagining things. There’s no one there. She shook off the feeling and attended to Seonag. The other stores were close by, and, as they had plenty of time before luncheon, Seonag offered to take her to see them. They entered the cool room, set aside for preserves. Eilidh was amazed at the number of different ones. There was honey. “From our own bees,” Seonag told her proudly. Some fruits, like raspberries, loganberries, and strawberries, were grown in the gardens. Others, like blackberries, were gathered from the hedgerows. Preserved mushrooms were kept there, and some shelves were set aside for the apples, when they were ripe. Some of the apples would be used to make cider, some left for the table. Pears and plums were also preserved for the table in winter, and elderflowers gathered to make a strong cordial. Uisge beatha was made by an old woman in the settlement, who would pass the secret recipe on to her daughters and granddaughters. Nuts would be gathered and stored in the rush baskets, set aside for that purpose, on the shelves. There was another store, which held nothing but potatoes and vegetables. They were about to go to see that, when a small boy came running up, to ask Seonag to return to the kitchens, where she was needed. Eilidh said she’d stay and look around. Seonag left, taking the small boy with her. Eilidh sent a thought to Braemuir, as he sat in the council discussing Ness’s request.

  “Stay there and await Seonag’s return. Don’t leave the buildings alone. Take care, mo run. I’ll be with you for luncheon.”

  Eilidh picked up a few jars and read the labels, all written out in beautiful copperplate. She wondered who had written them. Suddenly she felt uneasy again. The hair on the back of her neck prickled. She turned around, but no one was there. Stupid, there is no one there. You are imagining it. She turned back, but the feelings persisted. She could feel that someone was watching her. She turned round again, looked down, and saw a note had been pushed under the door. She picked it up and read.

  If you want to see your parents again, come at once to the small copse, at the bottom of the garden. Tell no one and come alone.

  Eilidh dropped the note, flew out of the room and raced to the copse at the bottom of the garden. She was frantic. She knew who had her parents. She gave no thought to what was going to happen. She just ran.

  “Eilidh, don’t go, Eilidh, wait. Wait for me. It’s a trap. I’m coming, my love.”

  She heard him, but she took no notice. That evil man had her parents because of her. She had to go to stop him hurting them. She ran into the copse, frantically calling her parents. She heard a chuckle behind her. Whirling, she saw the same man, masked and now standing between her and safety.

  “Where are my parents? What have you done with them?”

  “Come with me, and I’ll show you.”

  “No. How do I know you have them?”

  “Well, I’ll just go and get rid of them, as you aren’t interested in saving them.” He turned and strode off. She ran after him, clutching his arm.

  “No, please, I’ll come with you. Don’t hurt them.”

  He took hold of her arm and hurried her out of the copse and down to the coast. He rushed her along the shore, and into a cave. There, in the gloom, were her parents, gagged and bound to stakes.

  “Let them go. Please let them go. Take me instead,” she begged.

  “Stupid cunt.” He grabbed her, gagged her, and loaded her with the iron chains again. He lashed her to one of the stakes, next to her parents.

  “I’m so sorry that I can’t stay and watch. I have to go and be seen about.” He laughed and left the cave.

  Eilidh struggled and fought to free herself and her parents. They were deep under the earth and, try as she might, she couldn’t feel Braemuir’s mind. The cave was a sea-cave and, sooner or later, the tide would come in, and they’d drown. The evil man was nothing if not consistent, letting the sea do his work. She looked at her parents with tears in her eyes.The gag stopped her even saying goodbye. Her unborn child would die and Braemuir, too. What have I done? She threw herself from side to side, trying to to move the stake. It wasn’t moving at all. The chains swung, but they stayed in place. This couldn’t be the end.

  Chapter Ten

  Braemuir leaped up out of his chair, sending it crashing to the floor. He ran to the door seizing his sword from the table. Lachlann followed as Braemuir shouted.

  “She’s gone somewhere. She’s in danger. We have to find her. Oidhche has set a trap. Lachlann, go and find her parents. Muireall, go and ask Seonag where she last saw her.” Both hastened to do his bidding. To the other men who, hearing his raised voice, had streamed into the hall, he said, “Go and search the grounds. My mate is missing.” Lachlann returned, saying her parents couldn’t be found.

  “You are the only one I can trust. Oidhche is in the Caisteal. He’s one of us. Go and see who’s missing. Ness and our brother, where are they?”

  “Do you suspect them?”

  “I suspect everyone but you and Muireall. Go!”

  Braemuir tried to call her, but all he got was silence. Had the man knocked her over the head? Why couldn’t she answer?

  Muireall came back, and together they went to the storeroom. Finding the note, and reading it, Braemuir cursed. He paced up and down, his face a mask of fury and fear, and no one dared go near him. One by one, the parties of searchers returned, reporting no news of her or her parents. Lachlann told him that both men had gone out with search parties. Oh, he was clever. He had arranged it so that no one would know who he was yet, until it was too late.

  Braemuir thought he has going out of his mind. A small hand, stealing into his, was of some comfort. Muireall and he had always been close.

  “Can’t you hear her?” she asked.

  “How do you know?” She met his startled gaze.

  “I know because I can hear my mate in or out of dragon-form.”

  What mate? Braemuir couldn’t go into that now. He put it to the back of his mind. He would find out later.

  “No, I can’t. He must have hit her
over the head. If she’s only sleeping, I can hear her so she must not be in her senses.”

  “No, maybe not. Mind you, if I am in the castle basements, under the rock, I can’t hear my mate. She may be under rock.”

  Braemuir wondered just what his sister had to do in the basements. Something else I shall have to discover later.

  “She can’t be in the basement. She was outside, and no one saw her come back in. So where can she be? Where could he hide her under rocks?”

  Braemuir paced and thought. I have to think. I have to get it right. There must be a place, and not too far away. Oidhche wouldn’t be able to change to dragon-form without risking being seen, so he had to be able to get to the cave and back in time to join a rescue party before Eilidh was found to be missing. Suddenly it came to him.

  “That’s it! The caves on the shore.”

  He was a dragon and in the air almost before the words had left his lips. He flew like an arrow to the shore. So many caves. Which one? Oidhche would have had to walk to the cave. Still, there were many to search. Maddain and Feasgar were in the air and following him. They landed on the sand and changed back to human-form. The cave entrances were too small for dragons. They began to search, becoming more frantic, as they realised the tide was turning, and soon, the tidal race would flow into the caves and flood them. Braemuir shouted, but there was no reply. Muireall held up her hand for silence, and then they all heard the rattle of chains. Braemuir hurled himself inside the cave, and there she was. As before, she was loaded with iron chains, but this time he couldn’t tear the stake from the ground. He had to cut their bonds with his sgian-dubh and try not to hurt them in the process. Muireall and Lachlann busied themselves removing gags.

  “Who did this to you? Did you see his face?” Braemuir was determined to find out who Oidche was.

  “He was masked, like the last time. It was the same man, but I don’t know who he is.” Elidih sobbed out her answer. “I’m so cold. Can’t we get out of this horrible cave and get warm?”

  “I’m so sorry, mo run. Of course we can.”

  Braemuir lifted her up and carried her outside. She was soaking wet, so he wrapped her in his plaid to carry her back to the Caisteal.

  Lachlann and Muireall helped her parents, who were so shocked they could barely speak. Frustrating as it was, they made no sense, at the moment, so questions would have to wait. Seonag was waiting for them at the entrance.

  “There are fires, hot baths, and dry clothes ready in your bedchambers.”

  Braemuir wouldn’t put Eilidh down. He carried her upstairs, stripped her, and gently lowered her into the hot water. She sighed.

  “Hot water. Just what I need.”

  “This isn’t the only hot water you’re in. When you’ve recovered, I shall want to know why you disobeyed me yet again.”

  There was steel in his voice, and she shivered in anticipation.

  “Yes, my little one. That is exactly what awaits you. Evidently you learned nothing the first time. I shall have to spank you again. This time I shan’t be so lenient.”

  He washed her hair and soaped her back, breasts, and pussy. Then he poured a couple of flagons of hot water over her to rinse off the soap. Spluttering, she reached for the drying cloths, only to find he held them out for her as she stepped out of the bath. Wrapping her in the largest one, he carried her to the fire and set her on her feet before it. Kneeling, he proceeded to dry her, at the same time arousing her to what he knew must be a painful degree. By the time she was dry, she was panting, and cream soaked her thighs. Her nipples were like pebbles. He chuckled and made it worse by tickling her and making her squirm. He gathered her in his arms, burying his face in the junction of her shoulder and neck. He licked and sucked the pulse that throbbed there.

  “Do you know I was nearly out of my mind? I thought I’d never see you again. I thought we would both die and our son with us. How could you do that to me?”

  She had no real answer. He could see how puzzled she was.

  “I panicked. My parents were in danger because of me. I had to go with him or he’d have killed them. I felt a compulsion to go with him. I couldn’t turn back or stop. Then, in the cave, I couldn’t reach you, or hear you.”

  Braemuir was more concerned than he let her see. It would have taken a really powerful mind to influence her, to coerce her like that. He wondered if her parents had any useful information. If Oidhche had managed to “persuade” Eilidh, what would he have done to her parents? Braemuir resigned himself to getting nowhere again.

  He put those thoughts and concerns aside. Tomorrow would be soon enough. Now he had a much nicer task to occupy him until it was time to eat.

  He tipped her face up and began to kiss her, tender little kisses at first, but as she responded, he became more urgent. She wrapped her arms around him. He stood, lifting her with him. Her legs gripped him as he strode to the wall. With her back pressed against the wall, he thrust his cock inside her.

  “I can’t wait. I need you now.”

  Usually he saw to her pleasure first, but he’d almost lost her. He needed to be inside her, to feel her hot, wet pussy clenching around his painful erection. To remind himself she was alive and his. He was in no mood to be slow or gentle.

  “I need you, too. Take me hard and fast.”

  She didn’t have to ask twice. His hips pumped his cock into her. Her back to the wall, at every thrust she must have felt the hard surface, bruising her back, but she didn’t complain. On the contrary, she was as heated and urgent as he was.

  “Faster, my love. Fuck me hard and fast. I need to feel your cock deep inside me.”

  His hips bucked. He couldn’t control his thrusts anymore. She screamed as she came, her cunt clenching and milking his cock. With one more deep groan, his hot cum flooded her pussy, as his release spurted from him, in jet after jet. He stumbled to the bed, and she held tight to him, refusing to allow him to withdraw.

  “No, don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me yet.”

  The way she clung, wanting to retain his cock inside her, for as long as possible, was one of his dearest delights. He had no strength to move the covers. All he could do was pull one end over them, to keep her warm as they lay linked together, until his softening cock slid out of her. He’d promised her a spanking, and she’d get it, because she enjoyed it, not because she’d gone with Oidhche. She couldn’t help that, he knew. He would see to her needs later, not now. He curled around her, protecting what was his, and dozing in the warm afterglow.

  When he spoke to them later, he found he was right. Her parents had only hazy memories of who had taken them to the gardens, and thence to the caves. They didn’t remember the name of the man or his face. Braemuir sighed, but had to accept that Oidhche had won that round, too. He was damned if the bloody man would win the battle.

  Chapter Eleven

  Oidche was furious. How had she got away? He’d thought the plan out very well and had seen no flaws. His mind control had come in useful yet again. He consoled himself with the fact that neither Braemuir’s mate nor her parents would have any useful information. That might still give him the advantage over Braemuir. First he had to get Ciarda here. She could shelter in the copse overnight. It wasn’t cold. He needed her at hand. Her condition would be a point in his favour. She was beautiful, in both her dark green dragon-form, and her human-form. They were well matched in names, colours, and appetites. She would serve him well. Am I getting soft now she is impregnated? He rejected that thought outright. He had one last throw of the dice. He would have to come out in the open, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

  He strode quickly down to the copse, through the trees and, once out of sight of the Caisteal, changed into his dragon. He flew to the settlement. On the outskirts, he became a man again. It was dangerous to be seen there. He hoped he could get Ciarda’s attention, without being seen by anyone else. His luck was in. When she was told what she had to do, she was reluctant. He told her she would do it, and h
e heard no more demur. They took off together, landing by the copse.

  “Kneel on the ground.”

  She knelt. He didn’t have to tell her what he needed. She moved his plaid aside, cupped his sac, and rolled his balls in her hands. She was none too gentle, but that did not bother him. He knew she wouldn’t go too far. I’ve trained her well. She knows better than to inflict pain on me, or she’ll pay for it tenfold.

  “Get on with it. I don’t have all day.”

  She took the head of his cock in one hand and sipped at the slit. The pre-cum that had leaked out shone on her lips. Her small, pink tongue lapped at his slit, and then she swirled it around the head. All the time she made a purring noise deep in her throat. Man, but she can suck cock. I’m glad I’ve impregnated her. I don’t want to train another. He knew when her hand strayed to her pussy, but he didn’t care. If she came, that was fine by him, this time. Her mouth was tight, and he was thick and engorged. She’ll manage it. She’d better! His cock hit the back of her throat, and she gagged. He began to thrust his hips forward and back, using her mouth to pleasure himself. She whimpered but kept up the suction and the laving with her tongue. He felt her stiffen. Her mouth felt tighter as she shuddered and shook in her orgasm. Time to finish this. He seized her head in his hands.

  “Be still.” He pumped his rigid cock in and out of her mouth until he came, growling his release as jets of his seed spurted from him, and into the back of her throat. She swallowed convulsively then licked him clean. He left her, telling her to stay out of sight until he needed her. She knew what she had to do, and when he gave the signal she must do it. Both their lives and the life of their child depended on it.