Children of the Moon 04 - Dragon's Moon

said. “For the most part?”
    Eirik indicated the woman Lais had been referring to as Ciara. The prince had heard her tell Lais she lived in the keep. He had not missed his second’s amusement at that fact, either.
    The Sinclair bellowed, “What in the hell is Ciara doing down here in the middle of the night?”
    The woman in question jumped and then bit her lip before giving a small wave to her laird. The Sinclair did not look amused, nor did he look particularly surprised.
    Eirik doubted the other man would take the rest of his ward’s exploits with the same equanimity. “A better question might be: what was she doing on top of the west tower?”
    Clearly able to hear them, though she stood several feet away, Ciara glared at Eirik as if he had betrayed her most bosom-held secret. He let his own disapproval show in the look he returned her.
    If she had expected him to keep her dangerous actions from her laird, she was not only deluded about her brother—the woman was a fool.
    The Sinclair’s eyes began to glow with the wolf’s light and the scent of his fury was so strong, Eirik wasn’t sure the pack alpha would not shift right there. His own dragon roared for a chance to come out.
    “Ciara was on top ?” Talorc asked with deadly quiet.
    “Until she fell.”
    Talorc did not ask Eirik to repeat himself. He did not question how Ciara came to be in the lower bailey now, in one piece. He simply turned toward the tower and bellowed a man’s name.
    Seconds later a guard came running up, breathless and pale with fear. “Yes, laird?”
    “My daughter was on top of your tower.”
    “C-Ciara, laird?”
    “Do I have another one I do not know about?”
    “N-no, of course not, Alpha. It’s just that, I didn’t…she didn’t…how did she…” Clearly overcome by too many questions and no answers his laird was going to accept, the guard’s voice trailed off. “How did she get off, sir?” the hapless guard was foolish enough to make as his one complete sentence.
    “She fell.”
    Grief mixed with fear and the guard dropped to his knees. “I’m so sorry, Alpha.” He offered his neck for whatever the other wolf meant to do.
    “She lives.” The Sinclair shook his head, his fury still strong, but a resignation about it.
    Eirik lifted one brow in question.
    The laird sighed and it was not a happy sound. “She is far too adept at masking her scent.”
    “She’s sneaky.”
    “Aye.” Talorc sounded proud, despite his anger.
    “How does she live?” the guard asked with a fair amount of trepidation.
    Talorc turned his anger back on the still-kneeling guard. “Our new clansman saved her.” His tone and manner implied it should not have been necessary.
    The guard seemed oblivious in his shock. The look of awe and respect he gave Eirik surprised him, but not as much as the gratitude wafting off the young wolf’s skin. He bowed his head to Eirik. “Thank you.”
    “You have a personal interest in the laird’s daughter?”
    The guard’s eyes widened in fear as he slid a sideways glance toward his laird and then the huge blond man who had silently joined them just as Eirik had told the Sinclair of his adopted daughter’s exploits. Niall, Talorc’s second, glared at the guard with death in his eyes.
    The young wolf vehemently shook his head. “Nay, ’tis just that she is favored by many in our clan.”
    Niall nodded as did the Sinclair, but Eirik noted both men gave the guard matching looks of warning.

Chapter 3

Dreaming of a tomorrow, which tomorrow, will be as distant then as ’tis today.
    —L OPE DE V EGA
    T he Sinclair dismissed his guard with instructions to do better in future or risk losing his ability to procreate.
    The wolf’s clear acceptance of the threat as truth and fear because of it left a sour stench in the air after he was gone.
    Talorc grasped forearms with Eirik. “Thank you for saving my daughter.”
    “She is clan now.”
    “Aye.”
    The object of their discussion chose that moment to come up to them. Ciara looked up at the man who called himself her father. “Laird Talorc, I am sorry for the trouble I caused.”
    Eirik was shocked to note the Sinclair mask his fury and his demeanor turn gentle. “It is all right, Ciara. I know you did not mean to cause grief.”
    “I didn’t. I thought I would return to the keep and no one would be the wiser.”
    This was supposed to placate her laird? Her belief she could get away with it and thus cause no worry to others?
    “I