I was introduced to Evan Sutherland, a handsome man with dark brown auburn-tinted hair, who was gazing out the window as if longing for someone, undoubtedly my sister Lilias, but leapt to attention and smiled at us the moment we arrived. “’Tis verra nice meeting another lovely sister. Hazel’s told me so much about ye, Willow.”
I met his smile. “Nice to meet you as well.”
As it turned out, Evan was a long-time friend of Hazel and Lucas, though they only just recently remembered. Next, I met Chara’s husband, Marek, who was an older version of Broderick, with silver-streaked black hair and grey eyes, as opposed to green.
“This is for you, sweetie,” Hazel said once I sat down, setting a plate of warm corn muffins slathered in freshly—yet magically—churned butter next to me after Sloan ensured I was tucked beside him on the settee closest to the fire. She winked at me, clearly remembering burning everything before she was whisked back in time. “Not charcoaled this time.”
“Thanks, sis.” Although I wasn’t all that hungry, when Sloan gave me a stern look, I took a bite and couldn’t help but groan with approval. “Magic or not, you’ve more than nailed these, Hazel. Really delicious.”
I encouraged Sloan to take a bite of my muffin, not surprised to see pleasure flare in his eyes.
“Och, ‘tis bloody good.” He grinned at Lucas in warning, who rarely took his eyes off Hazel as she bustled around seeing to everyone’s needs. “With your fated mate cooking that well, you best stay active, cousin, or else.”
“Aye.” Lucas beamed at Hazel like she was warm sunshine on a cold, cloudy day. “I think we will all have to battle well and often for she’s bound to cook for everyone until we’re old and gray.”
“You can count on it.” Hazel offered him a sultry smile and batted her lashes, far bolder than she’d ever been. “There’s more than one way to stay active, husband, and you excel at that just as much.”
When I grinned and arched my brows at Aspen at how forward Hazel had become, she shrugged, glanced in Broderick’s direction, and met my grin, telling me all I needed to know.
Good sex ran in the family.
Knowing what I wanted, or should I sayneeded, right now, without having to ask, Sloan handed me a cup of whisky and kept me close so I could soak up his body heat. And nothing had ever felt so good. Not just because of his warmth but because I was finally in his castle, tucked against his side, talking with his kin like I had long dreamed, even if it was bound to be an uncomfortable conversation.
One Chara took the lead on when she managed to detect what I’d done my best to hide. She crouched in front of me and held out her hand, her voice gentle when it might have beenmore heated given the circumstances. “Might I see your tattoo, Willow?”
“Of course,” I said, a little embarrassed I hadn’t been forthright about it, but in my defense, it had been one hell of a day. Pushing up my sleeve, I gave her the backside of my wrist, just as surprised as Sloan by its subtle yet obvious change.
Rather than a full gem at the center, there was only half.
Just like the one my dragon wore over her heart.
“Ah,” Chara murmured, her eyes flaring with gold when she brushed her finger over it. “So I see.” The gold faded, and her gaze returned to us. “’Tis already too late.”
“Too late for what, Mother?” Broderick’s narrowed gaze went from us to his mother, who went to the hearth and gazed into the fire like she could see as much in the flames sizzling over the wood as she could in my tattoo.
“Too late to avoid war with the Sutherland’s,” she replied bluntly, sighing. When her gaze returned to us, I realized she was every bit the matriarch of this castle as Elspet was of hers. The difference, outside of being kind and loving versus hateful and domineering? She did it far more graciously and subtly, while clearly adoring and respecting her daughter-in-law’s rightful position.
“And Sloan and Willow shouldnotbe punished for their actions for ‘twas their dragon hearts at work,” she went on, offering us much-needed forgiveness before she looked at Broderick and Aspen. “Willow shifted for the first time in the Morrow and has half a gem over her dragon’s heart.” When her eyes flared golden again, I knew she let everyone in on what had happened. “’Twas truly out of their human hands after that and verra much their dragons at the helm.” Her loving gaze flickered to Marek before sweeping over the others. “And I dinnae think any of our inner beasts would orshouldblame them.”
I tensed when Broderick cursed under his breath, and his dragon eyes shot to Sloan. “Och, cousin. And ye of all people!”
“Ye of alldragons,” Aspen corrected, making clear how well she and Chara worked together because they were, however subtly, handling the chieftain’s response. She nudged him back into the chair behind the desk, where he'd been rifling through papers. In reality, I suspected he had been discreetly trying to assess how dire our situation was, and how it would affect his people.
The moment Broderick reluctantly sat, Aspen planted her backside against the desktop in front of him and offered a crooked, sultry smile. “And don’t sit there all righteous, baffled how your kin would dare succumb to their inner beast when it concerns their mate, because we both know better.” She braced her hands on the desk as if she meant to hoist herself up and perked a brow. “Don’t we, husband?”
When he narrowed his eyes, she did the same, and they shared a long, lingering look before Broderick pulled her onto his lap, as if relenting to something only they understood, and his softened gaze leveled on us again.
“Mother showed us much of what happened within our minds.” He looked back and forth between us. “Now I would hear it from your human half. Every last bit from start to finish.”
“Aye,” Sloan said dutifully, filling him in, and I was right there with him as the storm rolled in and we shared everything from start to finish, including our younger years.
Then Sloan made things perfectly clear, whether the MacLeod chieftain liked it or not.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
–Sloan–
“IWILLNAE BE handing Willow over to Dugal,” I made clear to Broderick, shaking my head once and looking him dead in the eyes. “Because we both know what he’ll do to her, and I willnae allow it to happen. Not for the love of anything be it kin, king or country, and ‘tis safe to say I love ye all a great deal, butnolass deserves the likes of Dugal, let alone my fated mate.”
