Page 48 of Moon Craving

The beast had never laid such certain claim to another, not the members of his

pack, not even of his family. The wolf howled for the moment when they reached Sinclair

lands so they could claim Abigail in the most basic and irrevocable of ways. Words could

be dismissed, but joining his body to hers could not be undone.

When Talorc called a halt to his men for the night, Abigail's joy in the ride had given

way to numb exhaustion. They had stopped only twice to water the horses, and only one

of those times had they dismounted. They had eaten bread and cheese then, but that had

been hours ago. Yet, as hungry as Abigail was, she was too tired to contemplate eating.

She stumbled into the forest to deal with her body's most pressing needs. When

she returned to the men and horses, Niall and one of the other warriors were erecting a

small tent of skins.

He noticed her when she came near and nodded, his frowning visage not

changing, but there was an understanding in his gray eyes that nearly moved her to tears.

"I thought Highlanders slept under the stars," she found the energy to tease.

He smiled at that, pulling the scars on the left side of his face into a twisted

grimace. "It's for you, English."

"Oh." She swallowed inexplicable tears. "Thank you."

He shrugged and she decided that was the Scottish warrior's answer when he did

not want to be bothered with speaking.

When the other soldier finished putting furs inside the tent for her to sleep in, he left

and only then did Abigail's tired brain tell her she had been rude not to ask Niall for an

introduction. When she said so, the giant scarred warrior gave her an odd look.

"Talorc will make them known to you at the proper time."

"Oh." She did not know what that meant and was too fatigued to try to make sense

of it.

She turned toward the tent and stumbled. Niall was there faster than she could

have imagined possible, stopping her from falling on her face.

She looked up at him with gratitude. "Thank you."

He held her arm, obviously concerned she would stumble again. "Are you all

right?"