Page 120 of Moon Craving

had dismissed the clansmen.

Talorc looked toward the floor above as if he could see his beautiful blond wife

through the timbers. He sighed at his own foolishness. She wasn't even up there. Guaire

had taken her on a tour of the fortress. "Aye."

"But . . ." Clearly his second-in-command did not know what to say because he did

not finish his thought.

Osgard's feelings were easily read. He was furious, his craggy, aged features

tightened in fierce lines. "Impossible."

"You doubt my ability to read the signs?"

"Your father insisted Tamara was his true mate as well, but we all know how that

turned out." Osgard snorted. "The man was infatuated and that was that."

"I am not infatuated with my wife." He was protective of her, possessive in a way he

never would have anticipated, but that was all because of the wolf. She was not just his

wife. She was his sacred mate. "I have no intention of sharing the secrets of our clan or

our people with her."

"Your father did not intend to tell your mother about the Royal Treasure either, but

he did it all the same."

"I am not my father," Talorc growled.

Osgard was still hurt from his former laird's betrayal, but no one knew the pain of

looking up to that man as sire and having all feelings of respect and admiration wiped out

in a single night. No one but Talorc.

"Our lady does not know she is your mate?" Niall asked, scowling.

"She thinks it means we are true friends." And Talorc refused to feel bad about

that. Abigail was human. She would not understand anyway.

The fact that her sister seemed to in her bond with Lachlan of the Balmoral was not

something Talorc wanted to examine closely.

Talorc's words startled a laugh from Osgard. "The English are fools."

"What is foolish about a woman mistaking a word that has more than one

meaning?" Niall demanded. "There is no honor in making a gull of your sacred mate."

"That is not my intention. She is not one of us; she does not need to know she is