Page 28 of Wolf Heir (Highland Wolves of Old #3)

Aisling should have known Aodhan would catch them when they arrived at the castle, and be concerned at once about Coinneach’s wounds. Out of everyone’s hearing, Coinneach explained to Aodhan what had happened.

“I would kill the son-of-a-two-headed beast, if we could prove Osmond sent his men to eliminate you and Aisling,” Aodhan said.

But Aodhan would not terminate Rupert, whom the chief believed to be his son. Aisling suspected Aodhan wouldn’t go that far.

Before changing topics, Aodhan let out his breath. “You are no’ letting this keep you from a mating this eve, are you?”

Coinneach smiled. “Nay. I need to grab a couple of things from the barracks. Will you watch over Aisling in the meantime?”

“Aye, you know I will, with my life.”

Aisling couldn’t believe Coinneach would have brought up the mating to Aodhan, but she was glad Coinneach felt well enough to go through with it and not delay it.

Coinneach quickly left the barracks with blankets in hand, being obvious about what they were up to in case anyone noticed. Smiling, she shook her head.

“Do you want me to guard you and Aisling while you, uh, get on with business?” Aodhan asked.

“Nay. We’ll be fine.” Coinneach patted his sword.

Aisling realized that beneath the blankets, Coinneach was well armed, and she was glad for it.

“I will return.”

“See you later then.” Aodhan reached over to slap him on the back, then appearing to think better of it because he didn’t know where all Coinneach’s injuries were hidden under his shirt, he dropped his hand and smiled.

Coinneach hurried off with Aisling, neither wanting to alert the whole castle as to what they were up to. The pack members would know soon enough.

“The herb garden?” Some of the tall shrubs and herbs would provide sufficient shelter from prying eyes. The problem with wolves was that they could see in the dark, so they needed some privacy.

Coinneach led her to the castle doors. “What about the spicery pantry? I have no’ been there, but you must have.”

“Aye, perfect. No one will be in the kitchen or storage areas at this time of night.” She led him inside and took him straight to the pantry. In the kitchen, a lantern was still burning, and she grabbed it.

No one was about, like she suspected, and they slipped into the pantry unnoticed. She pulled the door shut, wishing they could lock it from the inside. She put the lantern down, far enough away from where they set the blankets that they wouldn’t knock it over in the throes of passionate lovemaking.

The faint light cast a majestic glow on the vaulted ceiling and shelves of spices—including ginger, cloves, peppercorns, dill, mustard, caraway, ginger, and even a large amount of saffron.

All were in boxes to preserve them, scenting the air with a mixture of spicy aroma.

Containers of cooking oils sat on the bottom shelves.

He laid the blankets on the floor, spreading them out to make a comfortable pallet for them. The notion of making love here was both arousing and daring.

Then he removed his sword and laid it down next to the makeshift bed, ready to protect them if someone came after them again. She knelt, nestling her bow and quiver of arrows at her side of the blankets—just as ready to protect them—and then turned to him.

The lantern’s flame behind them flickered in the updraft, and the rising heat drew sweet, sharp scents from the air.

“Hmm, it smells heavenly in here,” she whispered, her hands on his shoulders, her tongue licking his neck.

“The spices in here and the fragrance of heather collected on our clothes and hair, aye.” He took hold of her shoulders and ran his hands over them in a loving caress and kissed her forehead.

“And us,” she corrected, her voice growing huskier as she pressed her palm to the center of his chest, where his heart fluttered like a snared bird.

She took hold of his face and pulled him down, their mouths colliding, biting, joining as the need to speak was overtaken by the need to taste. He kissed her again, with the force of someone making a declaration that could not be unsaid or misunderstood.

They wanted this; they needed this—a mating, a joining of two wolves in love. She broke free first, breathless, laughing softly as she removed her kirtle, baring skin already dappled by the chill in the air.

He caught her hand, splaying her fingers wide, and bent to kiss each knuckle, the gesture oddly reverent. “You are the bravest person I have ever known,” he murmured, words muffled as his lips traveled the length of her arm.

“You are too.” She unfastened his belt and dropped it on the floor with a soft clatter.

He ran his hands over her breasts under the translucent shift. Her nipples tingled with intense pleasure, and she moaned with delight. He kissed her breasts while she pulled off his plaid, wanting to mate before something else stopped them.

Once his plaid was on the floor in a puddle of fabric, she pulled up his shirt, the lower part tenting his desire for her.

Before she could lift his shirt all the way, he was pulling her shift over her head and tossing it on his plaid. She quickly pulled off his long shirt before he thwarted her again.

“Hmm.” She nuzzled his chest with her mouth. “You smell of pine forest and the river.”

“You smell of the same, the wilderness, and the tall meadow grasses filled with heather.”

She ran her finger from his throat to the thatch of dark hair around his fully aroused manhood.

He trembled, collected her hair in his hands, gently stroked it, and pressed his lips to hers.

She licked his lips and plunged her tongue into his mouth.

He quickly stroked her tongue with his as she ran her hands over his naked, muscled back.

Her body responded completely to his measured touches, her nipples hyperaware, the area between her thighs wet and eager for his penetration.

He swept her up in his arms and laid her reverently on the blanket, then joined her, his body pressed against hers. She opened her legs for him, allowing him to fall between them, warming them with their close contact.

He rubbed his erection between her legs, the friction of his manhood against her womanhood sending delicious chills up her body, the sensation both amazing and delightful.

She arched against him, wanting him inside of her now, but he wrapped her legs around his hips and continued to rub against her in such an unbelievable way, she felt she was going to burst into flames.

Their hearts were beating like crazy, their musky sex adding to the earthy tones they were already enveloped in. Their breaths came quickly as they relished the intimacy between them.

Then he was surging into her and filling her with his love.

Suddenly, he pulled most of the way out and began to stroke her, where she nearly shattered at his touch.

Goddess, she’d never experienced such a wonderment.

She cried out and clapped her hand over her mouth.

He chuckled, kissed her mouth, and thrust into her again.

He didn’t stop this time until he came and she felt his seed in her, drenching her, making her wonder if he had produced a bairn in her.

“I love you, sweeting.” He dragged the extra blanket over them. They merged then, limbs and intentions tangled, the world beyond the door unimportant. All that mattered was that they were mated wolves and she wanted desperately to share the news with the pack, but not here, not like this!

“I love you and think the world of you.” She hoped her mother didn’t worry about where she was this night, but suspected that Nelly would let her know that they were safe at the castle and would retire to bed when they were ready.

“Love you,” Coinneach whispered against her ear, his hand caressing a breast.

“Love you back, Coinneach.” She figured they would return to their pallets in their respective living areas, but she didn’t want to leave him any more than he made a move to suggest they parted ways and went to their own beds.

Each time she tried to extract herself from his embrace with a halfhearted attempt, he tightened his grip and pressed his face into her neck or her hair, mumbling sweet sentiments until she relented.

Instead of leaving the spicery room, they made love again in the middle of the night.

Again, she thought they would return to their beds, but they enjoyed this too much and continued to cuddle.

She nestled herself against his side, her leg on top of his, and listened to his easy, contented breathing.

Until after sleeping a few hours more, she heard a soft, deliberate knock, so small it could have been a trick of the wind. But then it came again, more insistent, rapping three times at the spicery door, she realized the kitchen staff would soon be in the kitchen, preparing the morning meal.

She groaned. “Coinneach, we must get up. We’ve been caught. I need to get to work.”

He smiled and folded his arms behind his head. She kissed his stomach. “Someone is at the door,” she whispered.

He sighed. “Aye.”

She got off him and hurried to dress. He watched her, smiling as he got up and dressed himself. She knew he was perfectly pleased that others would realize that they had mated.

She opened the door, expecting Cook and the whole kitchen staff to be watching them as they left the spicery room, but the kitchen was empty. “Come, hurry. We must leave at once. No one is here.”

Had someone… Aisling smelled the most recent scent next to the door—Nelly. Had she come to warn them? She must have.

Aisling glanced back at Coinneach and shook her head as he carried his blankets out of the room, looking self-satisfied. Now he would return them to the men’s barracks, and everyone would see him do it.

She gave him a quick kiss and a smile. “’Tis done.”

“Aye. You can decide when to tell everyone.”

“As if the word willna have already spread. No matter. I need to tell my mother though. I’ll see you when we break our fast.”

Then she rushed off to the women’s quarters while he headed to the barracks.

Her mother was just getting dressed when Aisling hurried into the ladies' chamber. She set her bow and arrows down and changed her clothes. She would need to wash them and return them to Elspeth when she was free to do so.

“You mated Coinneach,” her mom said, sounding resigned to the matter.

The other women were leaving to do their work until the meal was ready, casting glances at Aisling and smiling.

Nelly hurried into the lady’s quarters. “Hurry. We’re late.”

“You wouldna have been except you wanted to save me,” Aisling said. “Thanks.”

Nelly smiled, then pulled at her arm. “Come, hurry.”

Aisling realized then that Nelly wanted to know the details of what went on. She glanced at her mother.

“I’m good with it. Get to work before Cook scolds you girls for being late to the kitchen.” Aisling’s mother hugged her. “Congratulations.” Then she hurried off to work.

Nelly raised her brows at Aisling, then hugged her. She whispered, “I guess your mother is finally all right with you mating Coinneach.”

“Aye, ‘tis good.” Which was a good thing because it was done. Aisling wondered if she and Coinneach would be moved to a room set aside for married couples, where curtains would divide them from other couples. Though she and Coinneach weren’t officially married yet, mating with another wolf made it a sure thing.

When she and Nelly arrived at the kitchen, Cook just shook her head at them. But then she smiled. “The spicery pantry?”

Nelly and Aisling laughed. They would have to find some other semi-private place to make love again.

Aodhan laughed when Coinneach arrived at the barracks carrying the blankets. “So it’s a done deed?”

“Aye. And we’ll wed in the meadow by my family’s croft when we can.”

“You’ll be leaving the barracks then.”

“If they have room for us in the keep where other couples stay.”

The other men congratulated Coinneach and headed out of the barracks.

“Drustan asked me where you were.”

“And you told him?”

“Busy with your ladylove. He knew you would be mating each other sooner rather than later. Does Blair know?” Aodhan asked.

“Aye, she does. She had given us her approval. So we should be fine.”

“If we can prove whose son you truly are, Hamish might have wanted to have a say in who you mated.”

Coinneach slapped Aodhan on his shoulder. “No one would have decided that for us.”

Aodhan nodded. “If anyone cared about who I mated, I would feel the same way.”

Coinneach smiled. “No one would dare tell you what to do.” He cleaned up in a water bucket, dried off, and dressed. “Let’s go break our fast and then relieve the other men on duty.”

“I’m still trying to figure out how to prove your da is our chief.”

“It doesna really matter as long as Osmond, Rupert, or Morag dinna try to kill the ones I love.”

“Or you either… At least no’ on my watch.”