Children of the Moon 04 - Dragon's Moon

looked near death. If it were not for the faint but steady beat of her heart, he would be lost. As it was, he wanted to rip someone’s head off, preferably any Faol who still followed Fearghall, since the one responsible for the loss of the Faolchú Chridhe to the wolves was far beyond Eirik’s reach.
    “She’ll be fine. The lass just needs a bit of rest,” Boisin assured them.
    “You have seen this before?” Eirik demanded.
    “Oh, aye…the more powerful and prolonged the vision, the more it will take out of you. But a little sleep and some food and she’ll be back to rights again.”
    Eirik swept his wife into his arms. “Where is the healing chamber?”
    He would leave the mating chamber for Lais and Mairi. Eirik wasn’t about to attempt consummating their own marriage, until Ciara was fully recovered.
    “There is no chamber for healing in these caves,” the Balmoral stated. “Without a healer like Lais in our clan, or the sacred stone to draw upon, we are reliant on our Chrechte natures and the healing arts.”
    Eirik felt sorry for the Faol in that moment. The Éan may have lived in the forest, hunted and in hiding, but they still had the old Chrechte ways.
    “So, there is only this cave and your mating chamber?”
    “No, there is a cave that branches off to the left there.” The Balmoral pointed with his hand. “Many Chrechte have spent the night in there when needing peace and solitude.”
    It was not a healing chamber, but it sounded better than taking Ciara back to the castle. Eirik remembered to say, “Thank you,” before carrying her down the dimly lit tunnel.
    L ais led Mairi into the chamber of mating that the Balmoral had directed him to. Like the sacred caves on Sinclair land, it had a pool fed from an underground hot springs. Though the stone bath was smaller than the one in the other caves, it looked perfect for a mating.
    Mairi’s gaze flitted from place to place in the cave. “There are torches in the walls. Should we light them, do you think?”
    “Aye.” He wanted to be able to see her lovely body.
    “Oh. Are you sure?” she asked, seeming to have had the same thought, but a different reaction to it.
    “Very.”
    She nearly wrung the pleats from her skirt, she was yanking on it so hard. “You have an odd propensity for seeing me without clothing.”
    “There is nothing strange about it, sweet one.” He took his flint and struck it on the wall of the cave to spark each torch.
    Tinder dry, they caught fast. There were four torches in all. Enough to cast the small cavern in a soft yellow glow, but not so many all the shadows were dispelled.
    He turned back to Mairi to find her staring with sometrepidation at a pile of furs a few feet from the pool casting steam into the air.
    “Sweet one, you have naught to fear in our mating bed.”
    She shook her head. “I know…I just…do you think others have lain there before?”
    “I am sure many Chrechte have consummated their mating vows in that very spot. ’Tis a blessed place.” Lais drew closer, scenting the air. “But none have lain on the furs there now.”
    The Balmoral had told him as much as well.
    Mairi let out a breath. “You are certain?”
    “Aye. The laird said they are a gift from the pack to each newly mated pair.”
    “But we are not Balmoral.”
    “He did not seem to care.”
    “So, they’re replaced after…” She cleared her throat. “After each mating?”
    “That is what the Balmoral said.”
    “That is kind, I think, and particularly to us as we are not part of their pack.”
    “He accepted our vows as Chrechte alpha.”
    “Still.”
    “It is good of them,” Lais conceded, putting his hands on her shoulders and pulling her back against his body. “You are mine now, Mairi. Only mine.”
    She turned in his arms, so her face was tilted up toward his, her blue eyes filled with emotion. “And you are mine.”
    “Aye. From the moment Eirik laid you on the ground at my feet.”
    Her bow-shaped lips curved. “You make it sound like he gifted me to you.”
    “Fate did and Eirik was its messenger mayhap.”
    “You are my gift, Lais. Do you not realize that?”
    He opened his mouth to speak, to say he knew not what, but his throat was too tight for words. So, he kissed her. She melted against him, her arms circling his neck, her small hands locking in the hair at his nape.
    He undressed her with care, though he knew that after the healing session he had insisted on that morning beforeleaving