Blood of the Highland Moon

Chapter 15: Clean Up

Eallair's P.O.V.

I nodded and made my way back to my room. At the door I closed my eyes, took a calming breath and entered the room. “Catriona, how are your wounds?” I asked as I closed the door behind me.

“They feel like I was attacked, why do you care?” She snapped.

I sighed. “We were both a wee bit angry earlier and I was hoping we could forget how we both acted.”

“We? How we acted? You wouldn’t even give me the chance to tell you that he deserved it because he challenged you and continued to attack you; he went for your throat, Eallair!” She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. “You had no right to yell at me the way you did.” Her voice was low when she finished and looked up at me.

I crossed to the bed where she still sat. “Forgive me, I was still a bit worked up from the fight.” I turned her to face me and almost laughed at her glare. “You need to drink, you’ll heal faster.”

She glanced at my chest. “What about you? I know your not as bad as me, but your still hurt.”

“I’ll heal the rest of the way when I change again, don’t fret.”

“Then why don’t you change now?” She demanded.

I smiled. “I didn’t know you cared so much.”

“I don’t. My only concern is that ye’ll infect me with weak blood when I drink from you.” She said as she looked away.

“I didn’t say you could drink from me.” I said in an amused tone.

“It would be a good way to apologize for yelling at me.” She said as she crossed her arms.

“Do I taste that good, lass?” I asked in a thick voice, the thought that she wanted to drink my blood causing me to grow aroused.

“Ha! The reason I want to drink from you is because I’ll heal faster with fresh blood.”

“All you have to do is ask and my blood is yours.” I said still smiling because she was lying, again.

“Fine, Eallair, would you change, then change back, so that your blood can heal my dog bites?”

I growled. “So that my blood can heal you.” I stood from the bed and kicked my boots from my feet.

“What are you doing?” she asked as her eyes widened.

“Changing for you.” I pulled the belt from my waist and let my kilt fall to the floor, letting her get a good look at what she caused my body to do. “I hope you heal fast.” I said as I began to change. She watched, her eyes wide with fascination. When I was done I glanced at my chest and smiled.

Catriona's P.O.V.

I watched as he looked down at his healed chest, then looked up at me and pulled his lips back from his teeth in what I assumed was a smile. “Don’t snarl at me because you’re healed. You should be happy.” I said as he began to change back. I watched in fascination as his claws turned to hands, snout into a human face, and the hair receded all over his body. My eyes slid over his body as it changed from wolf to man, his broad chest, free of the wound, to his hips, and large, throbbing shaft.

He smiled once he was changed back fully. “You keep looking at me that way lass and you’ll have to get your blood while I burry myself deep inside you.” My eyes drifted back to his face and I swallowed, because, the stars help me, I wanted him to. He walked to me, pushed my knees apart, and knelt between my legs. “Take what you need lass.” He said as he tilted his head to the side and pushed my skirts slowly up my legs to my thighs.

I licked my lips and leaned forward. “Bloody dog.” I mumbled as I bushed my lips across his neck. He shivered and I sank my teeth into his skin, bracing my hands on his shoulders. He sucked in a breath and groaned. His hands tightened on my thighs then he shoved my skirts the rest of the way up and began to rub my c**t with his thumb in torturous little circles.

I moaned against his neck and arched my back, the combination of his delicious blood running down my throat and what he was doing between my legs bringing me close. He groaned and wrapped one arm around my waist and the other up my back, holding the back of my head in place, then stood, lifting me with him. He sat on the bed and I hurriedly straddled him, my knees resting on the bed, the tip of his c**k pressed against my folds.

He groaned and pulled my hips down, filling me in yet another way. I began to work my hips as I drank, the feel of him moving in and out of me, thick and long, causing me to shiver. He groaned again and cupped my ass, leading my hips. Our movements grew faster and faster, his blood flowing freely into my mouth and down my throat. I pulled my teeth from his throat as I began to fall apart from the pleasure, shattering like glass, and blowing apart like a storm. I cried out with pleasure as his teeth sank into my breast and he began to drink from me as he pumped inside me once, twice more, then I could feel as hot spurts filled me and he snarled against my flesh.

He pulled his teeth gently from my breast and kissed it, his breathing heavy. “Bloody hell lass, I couldn’t stop myself.” He sounded shocked at what had happened. I had been just a bit shocked, but I didn’t care. I licked his neck wear I’d bitten him and he shivered. “Do you need more?” He asked honestly and tilted his head slightly.

“No.” I said softly, my eyes closed in pleasure, my breathing heavy. “That was enough. I liked what you were doing to me too.”

He lifted me from him and stood me on my unsteady feet. “Then let’s try it again.” He said as he began to strip away my clothing. In the matter of moments he’d stripped away my clothing and slowly worked my body to one stormy release after another until we were both too exhausted to move and fell asleep twined together. His arms wrapped around me and the sheets tangled over our bodies.

Eallair’s P.O.V.

I woke to the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance and reached for Catriona to find that she was not there. Panic set in and I sat up in bed to look around the room. I let out a breath I hadn’t known I’d been holding when I espied her sitting next to the window with her forehead resting against the glass. I smiled to see she was wrapped in my kilt. “Lass, you should come back to bed.” She shot a glare at me then turned back to the window. “What was that for?” I asked, utterly confused.

“The bath that I had to turn away because you were asleep. They were not happy when I refused to open the door either, then they started to snicker.”

Somehow, I managed to swallow my own laugh before asking, “Why did you not just dress then answer the door? It would have been nice to have a hot bath.”

She turned to me with another glare. “Because, the dress I had on yesterday is torn and bloody, the only thing I have to wear that is clean is your bleeding kilt.”

My smile deepened. “And you do look bonnie in it. Like a wee present ready to be unwrapped.”

“Don’t even think about it.” She hissed as she stood from the window and backed up a few steps.

“Think of what?” I faked innocence.

She hitched her chin up and regarded me with a superior look. “I would appreciate it if you would get me a fresh gown.”

I leaned back in the bed, crossing my arms behind my head and leaving the blankets tangled at my waist. “Very well, but first you must do something to earn the courtesy.”

She raised a brow. “Earn the courtesy? Just what would you ask me to do?”

“I’m going to order another bath when I go to fetch your gown, but before you can put it on, you must help me to wash.”

“I will not!” She said in outrage.

“Why not? You might just enjoy it.”

“Because its beneath me to bathe dogs.” She said loftily.

“I promise not to get all hairy while you bathe me.” She began to say something else but I cut her off. “Plus if you don’t then I will simply dress myself in my kilt and leave this room, and I’ll have to take your soiled gown with me so that it can be mended or disposed of, depending on how damaged it is.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” She said in a low voice as she glared at me again.

I uncrossed my arms and sat up again, leaning forward to look at her. “Oh yes, I would.” I said with a smile.

She turned her gaze out the window, a near pout on her beautiful face. “Fine.” She muttered nearly too low for me to hear.

“Good, then I’ll be needing my kilt.”

Her head jerked around to look at me. “I beg your pardon, but you have other clothes you can wear.”

“Aye, but I don’t feel like pulling on a pair of pants and a shirt and boots and all. It would be much easier to put on my kilt.”

“Eallair, you are pushing me just a wee bit far.”

Before I could respond a knock sounded on the door. She smiled and looked back out the window. I threw the blankets aside and crossed to the door, opening it just a crack. “Aye, what do you need.” Alex stood on the other side with a wide grin on his face.

“I was just telling you that Gwen is in quite a fit that you and Catriona haven’t yet eaten breakfast. It’s only a matter of time before she comes to your door herself.”

“Tell her to have a bath sent to the room, along with a fresh gown for Catriona and some food, would you?”

His grin deepened. “I’ll let her know.”

I closed the door and turned to Catriona. She was glaring daggers at me as I’d expected. I smiled and walked to her. “Catriona, sweeting, they all know, what is the point in hiding it?”

“You are too smug with it.”

I cupped her chin with my fingers and pulled her to me. “That happens when you are king.” Before she could say anything else I kissed her. I felt her body soften against mine and stepped away. “Bloody hell lass, you drive me mad.”

She smiled a wicked smile. “Good.”

I smiled. “Come back to the bed and sit with me, it’s a wee bit cold out of the blankets today.”

She glanced at the bed then down my naked body. “I don’t think I really want to.”

“You don’t have to get under the blankets with me, just come and sit with me.” I grabbed one of her hands and began to tug her over to the bed. “Come and talk with me about things.”

“About what?”

“Anything. You must be getting board with the books you’ve been reading.”

“They are not the same as talking to someone.” She confessed.

“See? Would you not like to talk to me about whatever comes to your mind?”

“I suppose.” She said as I tugged her down on the bed and climbed in myself.

“Tell me what makes you the happiest?” I asked as I pulled her into my arms.

“Freedom. I have so little. You already know this though. What makes you happy, Eallair?”

“Training, running when I’m a wolf, and hunting.” I considered her for a moment. “But something that I found very fun was when we went into to rain together yesterday, your laughter is beautiful.”

“Why do you do that?”

“Do what?” I asked honestly confused.

“Why do you try to flatter me? What could you possibly get from it?”

I shrugged. “I don’t look to get anything from it, I simply say what I feel. Did you not have fun?”

“Yes, I suppose it was fun attacking you.” She gave a sly smile.

“I enjoy all things physical with you lass.” I said in a thick voice.

“I’ve learned that.” She glanced at the door. “It would not be wise to get into something physical until after the bath has come however.”

I chuckled. “Yes, you are right.”

She wrapped an arm around me and laid her head on my chest. “Tell me what it was like to grow up with a vampire for a mother and a werewolf for a father.”

I took a deep breath, not really sure if I wanted to talk about my parents. “It was difficult for them I suspect.”

“My parents never really had much to do with me other than to teach me my lessons and keep me inside.”

“At first my parents didn’t let me near windows, they feared what the sun might do to me as well. But one day when they were both sleeping I snuck up to the main floor, wanting to play with Alex and Gwen, and the sun didn’t burn me. I was 6 when I stood in the sun for the first time.”

“I was 8 when I found out that I could only stand the sun for short moments without falling asleep. They didn’t think I was going to wake up. My mother told me that my heart had stopped beating and I gained a fever.”

I tightened my arms around her. “Lass, you didn’t tell me that it could make you that sick.”

She gave a bitter laugh. “I might have been burning with fever because my father had rushed out to get me and caught fire before he made it into the shadows again with me.”

“He caught fire with you in his arms?!”

"Yes.” She sighed. “I’d loved that dress so, but after that it had to be thrown away.”

“Lass, I’ll not let you risk that the sun is what caused you to gain fever.”

“Then I’ll have to put the dog on a leash, won’t I?” She looked up at me with defiance.

“Catriona,” I said softly, “I don’t want you to get hurt. I’m nay saying I’ll keep you locked up in the castle the way your father did, I’m just saying that I’ll not let you go out when the sun is high and could hurt you.”

“You would nay even let me see how long I could withstand it? You would not let me try to get used to it? All it does is make me sleepy.”

I sighed. “I don’t wish to risk you.”

Her eyes hardened as she looked up at me. “Because it would be the end of your wee plot if anything bad happened to me. The vampire princess must be in perfect condition when she’s returned to her father as a peace offering.” She sat up in the bed and scooted away from me.

“Damn it, Catriona, don’t make it sound like that is the only reason I don’t want to see you hurt! I care about you, just the same as I care about Gwen and Alex.”

Before she could respond there was a knock on the door. She got up and marched to it, flinging it open. “Yes?” She said, her voice seething with superiority.

“W-we’ve brought the b-bath miss.” A female voice stuttered.

“Ah, good then, bring it in.”

I sat up in my bed and stretched, smiling at the way she commanded them. When the servants hurried in and sat the tub down, after glancing at me, I nodded to them. “Thank you kindly. What about a fresh gown for Catriona?”

“Lady Gwen is on her way with one.” The maid said as she curtsied and hurried to the door.

“And our food?” Catriona asked as she stepped in front of the door.

“It w-will be brought after your bath.” One said as they all backed up a few steps.

“Don’t worry, I’m nay going to bite you, I’ve had my fill of dog for the moment.” She stepped out from in front of the door and they nearly ran out of the room.

“Must you torment them?” I asked as I got out of the bed and into the tub.

“I expected the lass to be afraid of me but nay the two lads.” She said simply.

I shook my head. “The only vampires they have ever met are my mother and I. The entire kingdom knows that it was a vampire who killed my father.”

She sighed. “Not all vampires are as bad as the one who killed your father.” She turned to me. “I don’t think you mother would hurt a single living thing.”

I laughed. “You didn’t get her anger growing up. She swatted my backside a time or two. Come now, pour a bucket of that water into the tub, would you?” She glared at me then walked to the tub, picked up a bucket and smiled right before she dumped it over my head. I growled. “You’re going to regret that, lass.” I said as I reached out and snagged her about the waist. I yanked the kilt from her with my other hand and pulled her into the tub with me.

She was giggling as she splashed into the water. “Does this mean you’re going to help me bathe instead of me helping you bathe?”

Just then Gwen walked into the room carrying a new dress and covered her eyes with her free hand. “Bloody hell, the two of you couldn’t even wait for me to bring up the dress before you got in the tub?” She said as she crossed to the bed to put the dress down.

Catriona scrabbled to grab the kilt I’d tossed to the floor. “Eallair!” She hissed when I didn’t let her go.

“You don’t think I am about to let you expose me to my cousin?”

Gwen snorted. “It’s nay as if I’m going to look, the two of you can just go back to your bath now.” She walked out of the room and closed the door with a thud.

Catriona twisted around and thumped the heel of her hand against my chest. “You bloody i***t! This is your fault!”

“What? Its not like the castle doesn’t know what we are doing, do you really think it’s going to make a difference that Gwen saw us in the tub instead of just walking by and hearing us?”

She adjusted so that she was settled better in my lap, crossed her arms over her chest, and glared at me. “You are not the least bit embarrassed to be seen naked in the tub with me?”

I smiled. “No, not in the least.” I cupped her ass and the nape of her neck, pulling her to me for a quick kiss. “Now I think we should wash before the water gets cold, don’t you?”