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“YOU THINK WHATEVER they took from your sacrifice makes me more vulnerable?” Ethyn frowned at Cray as they made their way through the woodland heading south. “I dinnae ken.”
“Nor do I, Cousin,” he replied. “Not yet.”
Despite both of them running hot as a rule, he made sure Madison was sheltered against the biting wind beneath a fur.
“All we know is it ties in with why the brotherhood isn’t possessing so many soldiers this time.” Madison flinched. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say something about Cray and I coming together might be preventing it. Or distracting it somehow.”
Ethyn nodded but said nothing more about it as they joined wee David and the day wore on. Strangely, every so often, the king would smile and chuckle in their general direction. Though his behavior earned him an odd look from the regent, Andrew never remarked on it. The journey had been long and fraught with too much death to take away what little joy the king might find.
“What do you make of that?” Madison said into his mind. “Have you ever seen David act that way?”
“Nay.” He chuckled. “Though ‘tis good to see.”
“Look at you all lighthearted when you used to be so grumpy.” She met his eyes over her shoulder before glancing at Ethyn. “And the one who’s supposed to be so lighthearted looks the opposite now.”
“Aye, but then he hasnae met his Broun yet,” he whispered in her ear, dropping kisses on her neck. “It makes all the difference.”
While he fully expected a romantic response or the never-ending scent of her arousal to flare, she tensed instead. “Am I your Broun?”
“Aye,” he said gruffly, not expecting the question. “Of course you are.”
When he felt her turbulent thoughts brush his, he realized just how much it bothered her that he hadn’t voiced such earlier.
“Och, lass,” he said softly, holding her more firmly against him, unable to stop his thickening brogue. “Can ye blame me when I fear losing ye? When ‘twas one thing to suffer the heartache of losing Maeve, then another to realize losing ye would be so much worse?”
“You thought saying it out loud would doom us,” she murmured, meeting his eyes again. Her relief was obvious. “That’s why you haven’t said anything?”
“Surely ye’ve caught my thoughts?” He cupped her cheek. “Surely ye feel what’s in my heart?”
Her eyes grew moist, and she nodded. “I did, but still...”
“Still,” he murmured, understanding. “Having gone through what I suffered with Maeve and our wee one, then becoming the man I did, makes it hard to believe.”
“It does,” she said honestly.
He was about to respond that she need not fear, but Regent Murray pulled them into a conversation about the upcoming attack and what to expect on the morn. It sounded like everything would go just as history said from Archibald leading the attack to the regent playing his part.
“Has anyone heard from Julie and the others?” she asked after Andrew went his own way. “Will we see them tomorrow?”
“Aye,” Ethyn replied, evidently having made contact with Tiernan. “They are heading south. We should see them on the morrow.”
“Are they still seeing wolf tracks?”
“Aye.” Ethyn scanned the woodland, no doubt looking for Phelan. “They are leading them back in our direction.”
“So nothing happened to them other than seeing wolf tracks?” She shook her head. “What was the point of Tiernan’s tat leading them in a different direction to begin with then?”
“I know Tiernan says the compass only protects us,” Marek said, offering a theory. “But it seems curious that we were attacked whilst separated from them.”
“Aye.” Cray arched a brow at his brother. “Mayhap an attempt to divide and conquer?”
“’Tis likely.” Marek shrugged. “Lest another reason presents itself, what else are we to assume?”
By the time they made camp that eve, it was drizzling and blustery but mattered little to Madison and Cray. The more time they spent getting to know one another, the happier both became. Aye, they had a horrific history behind them, but it didn’t stop them from hoping for a brighter future.
A chance to start all over again.
Something he intended to voice plenty once they made it to their tent after dining with the king. Andrew and the Douglas were in high spirits, looking forward to a sound raid on Balliol and his nobles tomorrow at the bridge.
Though he was discreet about it, wee David continued to spontaneously smile in their direction every so often.
“Seriously, what’s that all about?” Madison said into his mind, amused. “Because his response to you is considerably different than it was at the beginning.”
“Aye,” he agreed, not sure. “Mayhap he senses my foul mood lifted.”
“Always a possibility.” She grinned at him, teasing. “You have gone from fierce to tamed, haven’t you?”
“Tamed, is it?” He gave her a look that told her precisely which one of them would be tamed by the time he was done with her.
After they bid the king and his men goodnight, they strolled for a bit so she could cool down.
“Are you well then?” he asked. While he could keep the near paralyzing fear he felt at her being ill from his face, it was impossible to keep from his thoughts. From his emotions.
“I’m fine.” She looked at him with warm reassurance, understanding his fear. “Don’t worry. I’m just running hot is all.”
Hotter and hotter as the day wore on, according to her.
“I noticed Ethyn didn’t join us for dinner tonight,” she commented, undoubtedly trying to get his mind off worrying about her. “Do you think he’s okay?”
“Aye.” He nodded. “He’s just concerned about Phelan with so many soldiers about, so I imagine he’s keeping an eye out for her.”
She nodded then tilted her head back so she could enjoy the cold rain on her face. As always, the scent of her arousal was strong. Which made him wonder because she was clearly trying to lower her temperature rather than desiring him.
Catching his curiosity, she stilled and looked at him. “What is it?”
“I dinnae ken,” he said softly. Though tempted to reach out to his brother about this, it was far too personal.
Her eyes widened a little. “What’s too personal?”
“What might be happening.” He touched her cheek, noticing that it got hotter still at the contact. More than that, her dragon eyes flared in response. “Tell me, lass, do you find yourself cooled down any after we lay together?”
She considered that. “Come to think of it, yes.”
“Och,” he murmured, shocked his dragon hadn’t alerted him to this sooner. “I think you’re in heat.” He pulled her into their tent, out of the rain, suddenly more protective than usual. “I think you have been since the beginning.”
“Are you kidding me?” She put a hand to her belly. “I thought male dragons were supposed to know when females were in heat?”
“’Tis usually the way it goes.” He urged her to sit down, already worrying over her as though she were with child. “But nothing about any of this is usual.”
She shook her head, confused, trying to process what he was telling her. As aware as him that he had already filled her with more than enough seed to get things going.
“Your scent has drawn me from the moment I arrived in the twenty-first century.” He sat beside her, wondering. Praying and hoping. “But it hasnae changed since then or drew my brother into a frenzy as it should have.”
Her brows shot up, and her mouth fell open as though she meant to say something but had no idea what was appropriate.
“I think your dragon hid it,” he surmised, positive he was right, sensing her dragon’s thoughts brush his. “And I think she hid it, so the brotherhood wouldnae sense it.”
She blinked a few times, trying to come to terms with that before her eyes suddenly cleared, and her inner dragon flared. “I think you’re absolutely right.” Her gaze met his, her hand never leaving her womb. “You don’t think...”
“I dinnae know.” He rested his hand over hers, wondering the same thing. “There has been no heartbeat yet, so I dinnae think so.”
“Could my dragon be hiding it like she’s manipulating her scent?”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing.” He shrugged. “But then I’ve never heard of a dragon hiding that she was in heat.”
“Which tells you just how much this brotherhood truly frightens her.”
He nodded in agreement, biting back a possessive growl that had everything to do with his inner dragon. It flailed at the idea of evil going anywhere near his mate or child again.
“We won’t let it,” she said softly, determination in her eyes as they met his. “They’ll never harm one of ours again.”
“Nay.” He urged her to lay back. To rest just in case.
“Are you kidding me?” She pulled him down after her. “You’re going to have to cool me down first, dragon.”
Her dragon eyes flared again, and for the first time, she chanted them out of their clothes. Though he could tell she was curious how she had so effortlessly done such, he figured it could wait until later. Right now, he would see her relieved. Downright frigid in the end if the measure of how much he could satisfy her had any say in it.
He rolled her onto her side, cuddled her from behind, and set to seeing to her needs, stroking and touching her until she hit a fevered pitch. Then and only then, when she squirmed against him, did he lift her thigh and thrust deep. Both shuddered at the raw pleasure of it before desire consumed them, and he continued thrusting.
All the while, he tilted her mouth to his, kissing her before he murmured in her ear everything she longed to hear. How much he wanted her and only her in his life. How cherished she would always be. How he wanted to take her as his wife and have many wee bairns with her.
“Enough to repopulate a planet?” she murmured against his lips, smiling.
“Aye,” he said hoarsely, already looking forward to seeing her swell with his children. Then teaching them how to shift and fly for the first time. Just like he did, straight off one of the highest MacLeod Castle turrets.
“That’s not happening,” she gasped as he gripped her hip and hit one of several spots that made her purr.
“’Tis the MacLeod way,” he murmured. “To leap off the highest—”
“No, mate,” she groaned, in bliss as her dragon stood its ground. Her fiery, defiant gaze challenged him before it softened, and she licked her lips, lost in the way he made her feel. “Do we really need to discuss this right now?”
“Nay.” He chuckled and stroked the soft folds between her thighs, making her whimper. “Best that we focus on making our wee bairn first, aye?”
Something about saying it out loud made his dragon go wild. Slow, affectionate lovemaking became frenzied and hard as he took her without mercy. As always, she thrived beneath his domination, and let go soon after, giving in to her pleasure when he permitted it. He thrust one last time and locked up with a roar, following right after her.
Finally cooled down, well-pleasured and exhausted from the night before, her eyes drifted, and she dozed. Pulling her close, he drifted as well only to find himself drifting not in slumber but toward the portal at Bull’s Rock.
More pointedly, shooting out the other side only to see what had happened.
Sadly, he finally witnessed what the brotherhood had done to him and his kin.
