Unwanted (18 page)

Finn turned to
Rhona
, noting that the green of the dress brought out that shade in her eyes.
 
Funny, he’d thought them mostly blue the night before.
 
“Eight Berserker lines are represented within the temple and they each declare a color of the sacred northern lights as their banner.
 
Alrik
was a
Thorsen
who claim the banner of blue.
 
He was dubbed
Alrik
the Blue because he was the Elder of his line.”

“Oh,” she squeezed his hand.
 
“I see.”

Connor rubbed the dark shadow stubble on his chin.
 
“And our Gael line was dubbed black because?”

“Black isn’t a color, it’s the absence of one.
 
Therefore it is reserved to shame a lineage such as ours.”

Roderick snorted.
 
“Aye, but black is the shade of the night sky, and that is constant.”

“It’s also the shade of my wrath as I wipe out every Berserker that threatens my family.” Connor spat on the stone floor, summoning a dark promise.
 
“Any man foolhardy enough to storm my gates won’t live long enough to see the
MacLauchlans
end his line and burn his banner.”

Roderick added his vow to the stone and looked to Finn.
 
“
Yer
Fionngall
MacLauchlan now.
 
Will ye take arms with us against those who would threaten our line?”

An emotion so complex and exhilarating swelled inside of
Finn,
he thought his chest would burst trying to contain it.
 
He gripped
Rhona’s
hand, as it was the only thing that kept him anchored to his body.
 

“Aye,” he pledged.
 
“I’ve no loyalty to them.
 
Not anymore”

“I should say not.”
 
For the first time since he’d met her,
Rhona’s
voice held a note of anger, a mirror of rage that he held in his own heart.
 
“They deserve to die for their treatment of you, every last one of them.”

Finn found her gaze and held it.
 
Something burned between them that he couldn’t define and it made him want to take her into his arms and lay claim to her mouth in the same way Connor and Roderick had their own mates.
 
He was seconds away from doing it, in front of everyone.

“Enough talk of war and vengeance,” Lindsay said gently.
 
“On this, the darkest day of the year, we need to focus on the light returning.
 
And give thanks for those we have in our lives that help us through the darkness.”

“Well said, my love.”
 
Connor gave his wife a tender smile.

“Also, the food is getting cold.”
 
Evelyn lifted a platter and handed it to Finn, who took it and filled
Rhona’s
plate, then his own.

As the family feasted together, Finn listened to the dialogue surrounding him, enjoying the novelty of eating at such a fine table for the first time in his long life.
 
He didn’t contribute much, if anything, to the conversation, though even
Rhona
added her husky laughter and a quip now and again.
 

Strains of cheery music from a pipe, fiddle, and drums drifted from the great hall.
 
It danced with the crackle of the Solstice fire and harmonized his brothers’ deep brogues with the lilting cadence of the women’s voices.

Tall candles illuminated the love and affection glowing on the faces before him.
 
He looked at the dress plaids the men had donned for the occasion then down at his own northern garb.
 

A plan formulated in his mind.
 
He wasn’t going to let either of these women live without their mates on his account.
 
He wouldn’t let the warriors of Freya wade into
Strathlachan
and leave nothing behind them but food for the buzzards.
 
But if he was going to fight on the morrow, he’d do it wearing the MacLauchlan colors.
 

For they now belonged to him.
 

Rhona
laid Iain on her bed.
 
He was drowsy and good-natured after feeding and a clean change, but fought the pull of sleep with the valiant heart of a warrior.
 
She patted his belly and looked about her cozy chamber as he wriggled in his bindings and grabbed at her hand.
 

The casements, locked tight against the howling storm, were draped in wine-red, umber, and gold that matched the drapes on the largest framed bed she’d ever imagined.
 
She ran her bare toes over the heavy furs that covered the rushes.
 

Lord, the
MacLachlans
walked on finer furs than she slept beneath, though in spite of their wealth she found them to be humble and generous.
 

It would be difficult to return to her stable after sleeping on such a lovely bed.
 
Though it seemed that she’d be staying until after the danger had passed.

The thought of the cruel monsters with whom Finn had sheltered descending on their village terrified
Rhona
.
 
It was a danger she’d never known existed.
 
Wasn’t there enough in this world to be frightened of?
 
Was there no happiness for people like them?
 
No peace?

The well-oiled hinges made no noise as the chamber door opened behind her, but
Rhona
knew Finn was there.
 
She could sense his presence.
 

His need.
 

Her breath hitched as the door latched quietly closed.
 

“How is he?”
 
Finn’s breath teased her hair, but though he was so close, he didn’t touch her.
 

“He’s contented.”

From behind her, he reached his long, muscled arm and placed his hand over hers on Iain’s stomach.
 
This brought his hard body flush against her back.

Rhona
held absolutely still, as though movement might frighten him away.
 
His hand was so large, engulfing hers and nearly covering Iain’s entire torso.
 
The warmth radiating from it traveled up her arm and spilled into her chest.

Iain’s large blue eyes locked behind her where Finn stood, his chubby face splitting into a toothless grin.
 

 
“Would that this was my son,” Finn murmured in a low voice.
 

Tears stung
Rhona’s
eyes and she had to blink them away.
 

“Back at the temple, I used to watch other Berserkers train their progeny.
 
I always wanted to know what it was like, to have that kind of pride.
 
To pass my knowledge on to another.”

Rhona
swallowed her heart as it tried to creep into her throat.
 
“When you lived at the temple, was there ever a woman that you wanted to be… mated to?
 
Someone you loved?”

“Every Berserker dreams of becoming mated.
 
‘Tis
the ultimate need.”
 
His low voice conveyed a yearning borne of many years.
 
“But the only women I ever… met were prostitutes from Kirk Eden.”

“Prostitutes.”
 
Her hand curled into a fist beneath his.
 
“Like me.”

“
Nay.
”
 
He caught her wrist.
 
“It’s not like that with you.
 
Never think that.”

“But you didn’t kiss me.”
 
She hated the bitterness in her voice.
 
Couldn’t she just be grateful for the time they’d shared?
 
Why did she yearn for more of him?
 
Why did she want to demand
all
of him?
 
“You
wouldn’t
kiss me.
 
Is that because you had to pay?”

Finn cursed roughly and seized her shoulders, wrenching her around to face him.
 
His chest heaved and his fingers bit into the flesh of her arms, but she barely felt it.
 
The look on his provocative face was untamed and indescribable.
 
Equal parts fear, resolution, and longing.
 
His eyes burned with an emotion
Rhona
dared not name.

Without preamble, he crushed his lips to hers.

Hard, demanding, and ruthless, Finn’s kiss was different than anything
Rhona
could have imagined or ever experienced.
 
He instantly opened his mouth, forcing her lips to part.

His groan was one of a parched man falling into an oasis.
 
His tongue was hot, wet silk inside her mouth, spearing and retreating in a rhythm that flooded
Rhona’s
loins with passion.

She cherished the feel of his hard, unyielding body pressed against hers, his lethal hands cupping her face.
 
Sensing a wild desperation in his kiss, she responded and submitted to him all at once, allowing him to plunder her mouth in any way he desired.
 
He explored every dark, moist recess, nipped at the corners of her lips, and then plunged inside again.
 

An aching urgency rose within her and
Rhona
reached beneath his shirt, her fingers brushing the hard, roped flesh of his stomach.
 

To her surprise, Finn broke the kiss.

“
’Tis
done.”
 
He sounded rather dazed. “I am bound.”
 
Gazing down at her, a most peculiar look in his eyes, he tucked a ringlet back from her face.
 
Then he firmly set her away from him, stooped and lifted Iain in his arms, turned, and carried the babe from the chamber, shutting the door soundly behind him.

Confused,
Rhona
sank to the bed on trembling legs, pressing her fingers to her swollen lips.
 
They still tingled and pulsed from the strength of his kiss.
 
Where had he gone?
 
Did she displease him somehow?
 
A terrifying thought jolted her.
 
What if he’d merely come to say goodbye?

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but when the door opened she jumped to her feet, surprised when Connor strode into her room.

“Laird?” she blinked.

His teeth glowed bright against the bronzed skin of his face as he flashed a devilish grin.
 
“
’Tis
a family trait to clinch these things quickly,” he winked.

Rhona
was about to ask his meaning when Roderick entered carrying the thickest chains she’d ever seen.
 
She could barely contain her shock.
 

Finn ducked in behind them, securing thick shackles around his wrists.
 

When he’d declared himself bound, she’d assumed he meant figuratively.

He’d abandoned his skins and furs for the green and blue of the MacLauchlan tartan.
 

And nothing else.
 

In fact, though a snowstorm surged outside the castle, each of the MacLauchlan brothers dressed likewise.
 
No shirt or boots, merely a plaid wrapped about their muscular hides and secured over one shoulder.
 
Rhona
suppressed the urge to fan herself as
a sheen
of sweat bloomed beneath a dress that had become too tight.
 
With all three in one small
bedroom
, she was surprised there was any room left for her as their pure masculinity consumed so much space.