Children of the Moon 04 - Dragon's Moon

it?”
    “Of course not.” He could not believe Eirik had even asked such a stupid thing. Their people needed Lais’s abilities. “I cannot deny the Clach Gealach Gra my service in healing others.”
    “Then how do you think you have the right to deny this gift?” Eirik asked in a tone that implied he was not the only one capable of voicing stupidity.
    “You didn’t say this to Gart when he chose his dreams of children over his mate.”
    “I am not Gart’s alpha.”
    “If it comes to that, you are not actually mine, either.” Though they both knew that prince triumphed over alpha as a distinction of leadership, no matter what Eirik had sacrificed to bring his people to the clans and relative safety.
    “I am your friend,” Eirik said with certainty. “I would be remiss if I did not point out when you are being an idiot.”
    “Boisin said Mairi has to stay here, with him, to train in her calling as a seer.”
    “It is no easy thing to leave your mate behind, even if it is for a short time, but for an indefinite period, it is damn near impossible.”
    “Though sometimes it is necessary.”
    “I trust you as I do no other, but I am dragon. You can stay here, with your mate, and know naught will befall a Chrechte of my power.”
    “Even a dragon needs a friend at his back. I will come with you.” There could be no question of it. Their people, Éan and Faol alike, relied on the success of this quest.
    “Thank you.” Eirik clasped his arm, forearm to forearm, in the way of warriors. “You will return to her.”
    Feeling more at peace than he had since his first whiff of his mate’s scent, Lais stepped back. “I will. What do you think the Balmoral would say to requesting his priest perform another wedding this day?”
    “He’s a man of action. He will understand the need.”
    L ais found Mairi with Ciara, listening to more of Boisin’s stories, both women enraptured by the old man’s gift.
    Smiling, Lais laid his hand on Mairi’s shoulder so as not to startle her.
    She looked up, her pretty blue eyes filled with question.
    “Walk with me a minute?” he asked.
    She nodded.
    Cackling, Boisin stopped his story. “Is that how you young men do it? Walk with me a minute, he says.” Boisin slapped his knee. “My own dear mate led me a merry chase. I’d have not asked her to walk with me for fear she would lay a trap ahead of time.”
    Lais felt his face heat, but Mairi was standing and she shook her head in amusement at the elder. “Thank you for the stories, Boisin.”
    “Aye, lass, you’re welcome. You’ll learn to tell them as well as my own daughter has done and her son after her.”
    Mairi nodded, looking pleased and Lais’s worry at leaving her behind lessened.
    He led her out of the cottage and around to the back. “There is a small loch a bit of a walk from here.”
    His eagle had smelled the water and Lais had gone looking when he’d realized the old man’s barrel was half empty. He’d refilled it for Boisin, the least he could do after watering four large horses from the man’s reserves.
    “You are leaving with the others,” Mairi said, resignation in her tone.
    “I am coming back.”
    She looked up at him, but he kept his attention on the path ahead of them. He didn’t want to have this conversationuntil they were well away from the cottage and keen Chrechte ears.
    They reached the water and he guided her to a seat in the shade cast by a large oak tree near the bank.
    “You are coming back? Why?” she asked, her blue eyes troubled.
    “To collect my wife.”
    Those pretty blue eyes widened now, shock shimmering in their depths. “Your wife?”
    He smiled. “Aye.” He dropped to his knee beside her and took her small hand in his. “Mairi, sweet one, you are my mate.”
    “That is not what you claimed in the boat.” She gave him a very disgruntled frown. “And you ignored me, last night in the guards’ hut.”
    “I did not know when Gart would return; I could not risk him finding us in a compromising circumstance.” As it was, the guard had not returned at all, but Artair had come to the hut when his watch was over.
    “Now you want to be my mate? Because Boisin threatened you with his randy grandson?”
    “Because Eirik told me I was being an idiot and I agreed. You are a gift from God and to deny you is to deny the preciousness of that gift. That I cannot do.”
    “You said wife .”
    “I did.”
    “You want to marry me?” she asked on a