by Hazel Hunter
His eyes watched her pump him in her fist, his jaw so tight she thought it might crack. He straddled her, bringing his gleaming cockhead close to her breasts as his girth swelled even larger.
Lily held him as the first jet fell like warm, wet lace over her nipples, and rolled her fist up and down his shaft as she leaned up and caught the second stream with her tongue. He put his hand over hers and painted her breasts and throat with his come.
Cadeyrn braced himself beside her, his breath warming her cheek as he rubbed his hand over her wet breasts. Lily caressed herself between her thighs, and then brought her slick fingers to his chest to paint her name on him. She knew without asking that neither of them would wash it away just yet. It was a little barbaric to brand him so, and to wear his seed like some exotic perfume, but it was also a deeply, wildly sexy secret.
He pressed her against him so that her breasts flattened against his chest, and the delicious scent of their pleasures blended to an erotic musk. He leaned in to kiss her eyelids shut, and held her that way until she started to doze.
They might not have spoken a word to each other, Lily thought as she gave up fighting against sleep, but they’d understood each other perfectly. She’d never known this, but she knew what it was. She’d wished on stars for it, and ached in her loneliness over it, and found her way to freedom in search of it.
Love.
Chapter Seventeen
FAR BEYOND THE mill to the west, Aon surfaced and surveyed the surrounding land. No sign of the Skaraven or the druidesses stolen from the mill appeared. To be sure the escaped were not hiding nearby, Aon released his seeker volatiles, which brought back nothing but the taste of sheep and ordinary mortals.
As the others came out of the ground he felt their hunger for mortal blood misting the air. They had not killed anything since the attack on the village, and soon the lust would make them crazed. Aon had no intention of being trapped in another henge because he could not control his urges, but he had the strength the others did not.
“They havenae come here,” Ochd said as he shook off the earth and came to Aon. “We must go back.”
“No’ before we take them,” Coig said, and jerked his hand at a large flock a half-league from them. “Look, many. I want them.”
Tri’s scarred face turned. “Hendry no’ say kill meat.”
“He doesnae mean the sheep.” Ochd studied the mortal shepherds trying to herd their flock away from the giants. “There are but six.”
“You speak like mortals,” Coig sneered. “It makes my gullet fill.”
Ochd smiled. “Like Lily? ’Tis a shame. You shall never have her as the Skaraven does.”
“We dinnae come for shepherds,” Aon told Coig. “We go back, search north.” To Dha he said, “Take Tri. Find the Wood Dream. Move them to next place.”
“I say stay,” Coig said, and shoved Aon.
The others fell silent and moved back as they watched Coig’s body release an attack mist.
Aon neutralized it with his own volatiles, but not before it wafted over Dha and Tri, who lunged at each other before staggering back as Aon shoved them apart.
“I am first,” he told Coig. “I say what we do. We cannae lose the females.”
“We dinnae need them,” the sadistic giant said. “The Wood Dream female goes mad. Hendry does naught. We leave them, we do as we want.”
The thought of abandoning the Wood Dream made Aon’s own anger build. Coig had lost his connection to the lovers, but the rest of them remained their loyal guardians. The sadistic giant had become more trouble than he was worth, and soon Aon would have to do something about it. For now, he had to keep the peace.
“You take Lily when we find,” Aon promised him. “She shall be yours to kill.”
“To do as I wish first?” Coig asked, his hands rubbing together. “All I wish?”
“Aye,” Aon agreed. Hendry would be angry with him, but he knew a clash among the giants would be worse. “When we take them back, have Lily. Toy with her before you snap her neck again. Kill the Skaraven.”
“No,” Coig said. “He lives. He watches me have her.”
Chapter Eighteen
CADEYRN OPENED HIS eyes to a deeper darkness, and heard soft noises coming from the hall. He looked down to see Lily sprawled across his belly, her beautiful face curtained by her hair. The moment he tried to shift her to his side, her hand came up to touch his face. He kissed the warm hollow of her palm.
“I don’t want to move,” she murmured, but she did, pushing herself up and yawning. “I think we should stay here and grow old together. Right in this bed.” She smiled as she dipped her head and pressed her lips to his.
He would never tire of kissing Lily, Cadeyrn decided. When she would have ended it, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her against him as her warmth sank into his flesh. She felt as much a part of him now as his limbs, and more so. She had seen him, his true self, and she had freed him from the prison of his own making.
Lily drew back enough to study his face. “You look different. You’re not happy, are you? Where is that glower I’ve come to fancy so much?”
Cadeyrn pretended to think. “Mayhap you have made me so. Or I may yet be drowsy and unable to muster a proper glower.”
“I really like the glowering.” She pursed her lips. “Then there’s the scowling, the stern-eyed frown, the impatient glare. Oh, and that hooded look you give me when you think about shagging me. Like now.”
“I shall hood my looks always,” he promised. “If you will smile upon me when you think of shagging.”
Lily smiled slowly.
Cadeyrn kissed her again and tucked her head against his shoulder. His battle spirit had brought them together to mate, but it had been her courage and determination that had breeched his heart and torn down his walls. Now he understood fully what Brennus had found with his Althea: a trust so precious and all-consuming it had altered him forever.
Yet Lily had spoken of growing old together, when he could never do that now. Would she stay with him as he was, unchanging and eternal, while she lived out a mortal life?
“’Tis so much I must say to you.” He cupped her jaw with his hand, and traced the curve of her bottom lip with his thumb. “But we’ve no time for talk—or shagging.”
“We’ll have plenty of both at Dun Mor, when you make me your bed-slave.” She caught his thumb and nipped it before she sighed. “Now let me get dressed, boyo, before I start smiling again.”
Cadeyrn nodded and climbed out of the bed to collect their garments.
Once dressed, they walked out to find Emeline and the sisters preparing a cold meal of bread, cheese and dried apple slices. The nurse darted a wide-eyed look at Lily before she blushed and limped into the kitchen.
“Evening, lovebirds,” Rowan drawled as she offered them cups brimming with cider. “It’s hard, by the way.” She glanced at the kitchen. “Florence had two cups.”
Lily tasted it and sighed. “It’s not a lukewarm toddy, but it’ll do. Excuse me.”
Cadeyrn watched her disappear into the kitchen before he regarded the sisters. “Have we offended Lady Emeline?”
“Ah, no.” Rowan exchanged an amused look with Perrin. “Since she’s as pure as Snow White before she met Le Prince, I actually think you’ve enlightened her.”
“Oh, yeah,” her sister said, nodding. “Last night was definitely an education.”
“I’m no’ catching the jest,” he admitted.
“Emeline is our touchy-feely sponge,” the carpenter told him. “She soaks up whatever emotions we’re experiencing, usually when we’re in close quarters. Anything we’re feeling, like pain, nausea, fear…and the good stuff, too.”
“If the feelings are strong enough, she can sense them from across a distance,” Perrin added. “Like all the way from the master bed chamber to the back of the kitchen last night.”
He finally understood what they were trying so hard not to say. “Fack me.”
“
Uh-uh-uh,” Rowan said and shook a finger at him. “You two did enough of that last night.”
“Grow up,” Perrin told her sister, and then wrinkled her nose. “Cade, it’s just that Emeline was right there with you and Lily. Emotionally speaking, I mean.”
Lily and the nurse came out of the kitchen, and when Emeline saw how they looked at her she tossed up her hands.
“Stop gaping at me as if I’m on the mooch. I cannae help it.” She turned to him. “I’m sorry, lad, truly I am. I’ll try no’ to intrude on your privacy again.”
“What she means is, next time, get a room,” Rowan quipped. “In another galaxy far, far away from her.”
“Right,” Lily said, folding her arms. “Now that we’ve thoroughly dissected me, Cade and Emeline, I think we should eat and get on with it.”
Cadeyrn ate his meal quickly, and left the ladies to go to the stables. He saddled the five horses he judged suitable for the long ride, and turned out the rest so they could graze freely. He rode the biggest mare out, leading the others by long lines, and tethered them outside the big cottage.
Lily emerged bundled in a woolen blanket she’d folded and belted around her like a coat. The other lasses followed, each wearing several layers of garments against the cold. Like Lily they’d also donned boots, and Emeline had tied two thick splints of wood around one of her ankles.
“I’ve never ridden, of course,” the nurse said. “I dinnae think I’ve done anything that suits this time except bleed.” She inspected the mounts and squared her shoulders before she marched up to a broad-backed plow horse. “You look sturdy enough for me, lad.” The gelding sniffed her hair and tried to chew on her braid. “On second thought, I think you’re more suited to Rowan.” Emeline tucked her braid inside her cloak and moved on to an older roan gelding that Cadeyrn had found still saddled. The horse checked her hands before it shuffled around to present its side to her in an obvious invitation. “And you already like me. Cade, if you could help me up into this contraption.”
Lily watched Rowan help Perrin into the saddle of a pretty chestnut before she expertly mounted the plow horse. That left a young white stallion for Lily, who took a moment to let him nuzzle her before she nodded to Cadeyrn, who lifted her up so she could swing her leg over his back. He let her settle herself for a moment before he spoke to them all.
“We ride north, toward the ridges on the horizon, where water may flow in the valleys. Take the same positions we used coming from the fortlet,” Cadeyrn told them. “Take a better grip on the reins, Lady Emeline. That’s the manner of it. If you see any sign of the famhairean, whistle like so.” He let out a soft, three-note bird call.
Lily and the other ladies answered him with the same whistle.
“I would ride into battle with all of you,” he praised them. “When we reach the forest at the base of the ridges we’ll stop to rest the horses.” He shifted his gaze to Emeline. “I ken you’re yet weary, and wish it could be sooner, but we must cover as much ground as we may before moonrise.”
“We’ll keep up,” the nurse promised, her expression resolute.
As soon as they rode out of the village the freezing night wind swept over them. The horses picked up their pace as they saw the wide stretch of land before them, but after the first league they slowed and glanced back at the village.
“They’ve never been taken out past the crop fields,” Cadeyrn told Lily, and glanced back at the other ladies. “Keep their heads up, but dinnae jerk on the reins.”
Emeline’s roan squealed in response, as if to scold him for taking them from the only home they’d ever known.
“None of that,” the nurse told the gelding, and stroked a hand along its neck. “We’re going to the forest. Just think, you’ll be warmer there out of the wind.”
As if soothed by her touch and her voice, the gelding whickered low and settled back into a steady trot.
Another hour passed before they rode close enough to the forest for Cadeyrn to make out a glittering patch in the very center. He called on his battle spirit to aid his vision, which narrowed and extended over the distance they yet had to cross. The glitter came from a high, narrow waterfall that had not entirely frozen over. Beneath it he saw a small, dark pool that frothed beneath the cascade.
“There,” he said to Lily, pointing to the falls before he turned his mount to face the others. “I see water ahead.” He glanced at his lover. “’Tis our next ride, my lady.”
Her gaze shifted past his shoulder, and her face went white. “Cade.” She pointed back toward the village.
He turned to see a distant blur stretching out behind the cottages like a cloud rolling over the land. The air above the long, low mass filled with fountains of earth and rock as huge mounds of displaced soil rose and collapsed. One of the outlying cottages burst apart, collapsing into a heap.
The horses would never outrun the famhairean.
“Dismount,” he told the others as he jumped down and swung Lily off her stallion. “Rowan.”
“On it.” The carpenter reached up to grab Emeline, easing her down. “But shouldn’t we be riding like hell for the trees?”
“They’ll follow the sound of the horses.” Cadeyrn slapped the horses on their flanks, sending them galloping off. “While we’ll run there.” He pointed to a section of the forest to the east of the water. “Once in the trees we’ll head northwest and come up behind the falls. You must keep hands on me when we go into the pool, or I cannae bring you with me.”
Rowan eyed her sister, who nodded as the carpenter went to Emeline. “Want to be my race buddy, Florence?” she asked as she slipped her arm around the nurse’s waist.
“Just keep me upright,” Emeline told her.
Cadeyrn took hold of Perrin’s and Lily’s hands before they set off. He kept their pace as slow as he dared, glancing back frequently to check the advancing famhairean. When he saw that they wouldn’t make the trees unless they ran faster, he halted for a moment to hoist Perrin to ride on his back while Rowan did the same with the nurse.
“I’m jolly good,” Lily said, panting the words, but she didn’t falter as they hurried for the forest.
The furrows of earth shot away from them as the giants followed the horses to the very edge of the trees. Just as they exploded out of the soil, Cadeyrn reached the forest. He ducked behind a large trunk, signaling for Rowan to do the same. Lily came around him and pressed against his front, while Perrin slid down from his back and braced herself against the big elm.
To the west, trees began falling and crashing to the ground as the giants marched into the forest.
Cadeyrn gestured for Rowan and Emeline to come to him. “Follow my steps and stay close. If you see anything coming toward us, hide yourselves.”
The snow drifts carpeting the forest floor made it difficult to find safe footing, and Cadeyrn tamped down as much as he could as he gauged their position. He could hear and smell the falls but led his ladies deeper into the woods before he took a turn to the west. Something came hurrying toward them, and he dragged Lily and Emeline into the brush with him while Rowan and her sister disappeared.
Snow and ice covered the huge stag that galloped past them, making his antlers and hide look white.
Gods above, dinnae forsake us now.
Cadeyrn helped Lily and Perrin out of the cover, and saw the sisters emerge from behind a fallen oak. Rowan made a circle with her thumb and forefinger before she boosted her sister over the obstacle.
Two choices lay before him, Cadeyrn thought as he scanned their surroundings. He could find a place for them to hide and hope to wait out the famhairean. But though the darkness weakened them, that was no guarantee they would remain safe. He saw no caves or hollows in the forest that would protect the lasses from the cold and wind for the rest of the night.
The alternative would prove even more dangerous. He could have them gather the dregs of their strength and make one last, bold dash for the falls. The sound of a distant rumble shivered through
the air, and he felt the earth beneath his feet tremble as if afraid of it.
Lily gripped his hands and whispered, “They’ve found us.”
Chapter Nineteen
SEARCHING MADDOCK MCARA’S lands made Althea appreciate how well the laird treated his tenants. At every farm he stopped and dismounted to greet the wary-eyed farmers, and told them only that he’d brought most of his clansmen and the Skaraven to assure they were safe. He also knew all of their names and asked after their families. The wives brought out their babies for him to admire, while their husbands produced dark bottles of whiskey. The McAra took a swig at every farm but never seemed to get drunk.
“He must have an iron stomach,” Althea murmured to Brennus as the laird bid farewell at their latest stop.
“The tribe of Ara were near weaned on uisge beatha, as I recall,” the chieftain told her. In a lower voice he added, “Look closer when the wee laird takes the bottle. He holds his arm before his throat, to hide that it doesnae move with a swallow.”
“He’s faking it?” Althea chuckled when Brennus nodded. “So he doesn’t insult the farmers while he avoids getting plastered.” As the laird mounted and rode up to join them, she smiled and said, “I think your name should be McShrewd, my lord.”
“Och, but I’m a simple man, my lady.” Maddock waved to the farmers and winked at her. “And one who well kens his lack of weight.”
At their next stop one of the tenants apologized to the laird for not sending the wheat and barley flour that Maddock’s steward had ordered.
“I sent me grain to the mill as soon as we harvested, but word’s come the water’s dried up, milord,” the farmer said.
Maddock exchanged a look with Brennus before he clapped the farmer on the shoulder. “There’ll be no grinding without water. We’ll attend to this directly.”
