Page 64 of Highlander the Conqueror

Sky saw the joy in his eyes and the confusion, and she pressed her fingers gently against his lips. “In time, you will come to understand love and know you love me as well, for I feel it every time you make love to me.”

He did not understand what he felt, he only knew he never wanted to lose it, never wanted to lose her. He swung her up into his arms and kissed her gently. “I think we should concentrate on producing an abundance of heirs.”

She kissed his cheek. “And every one of them will be conceived with an abundance of love.”

He felt it, though the warrior within him would deny it, think it foolish, but it could not be ignored. It overpowered him, gripped at his gut and heart, forcing him to acknowledge it.

Love.

Did he truly love his wife? Was that what he felt that he could not understand? He did not know but he would find out. For now, he would do his best to show her what he felt.

* * *

Wakefulness stirredSlayer the next morning, though it was more an urge to come fully awake, to open his eyes. Or was it a warning? He did not debate the matter; he opened his eyes.

Sky lay on her side beside him, her hand stretched out to his face, though frozen in flight, and her cheeks were stained deep pink. No desire stirred in her two different colored eyes. On the contrary, it was fright he saw sparking there.

Then he felt it, a movement on top of his head and he all but growled at her. “Do not tell me the kitten is on top of my head.”

“You are on her pillow,” Sky said softly.

“Herpillow?” Slayer asked none too gently.

“She likes to nap on it,” Sky said and quickly snatched Angel off the top of his head and the kitten hurried to bury herself against Sky’s chest.

“The animals do not belong in bed,” he admonished and received a warning growl from Fane, whose head had suddenly popped up from beyond Sky’s side of the bed. Slayer sprung up to lean over Sky and glare at the hound near the hearth. “Never growl at me, Fane.”

The hound approached the bed submissively, his body hunched, and laid his chin on Sky’s hip and whined.

“He is torn between his loyalty to you and his gratitude for my help.”

“His loyalty to me comes before anything else,” —Slayer paused, his brow narrowing— “though I am glad to see that he protects you but not from me.”

“Then let him know you mean me no harm, or he will remain confused.”

She was right about that. His hounds trusted him because he made his commands clear to them. He rested his hand gently on Sky’s waist. “I protect Sky, Fane, just as you protect her. She is part of our pack. We will keep her safe and she will see to our care.”

Fane licked his hand as if understanding.

“Confirm my words,” Slayer ordered with a possessive squeeze to her waist.

Sky turned on her back to glance at Fane, her husband’s hand moving along with her as she turned to lay on her back, keeping a possessive hold of her.

“I care for you all, Fane,” she said and patted his head.

As soon as his wife turned her attention on him, he said, “The animals do not belong in our bedchamber. They carry bugs and I will not have bugs in our bedchamber.”

He remained sitting next to her and she looked up at him from her prone position. Even upon waking, he soothed the eyes though his manner was a bit grumpy.

She reached up to brush a strand of hair off his face. “I rubbed them both with a powered mixture of copious amounts of mint and rosemary to keep the bugs off them and had rosemary and lavender placed around the room. Fane and Angel probably have less bugs on them than the clan’s people.”

The kitten had crawled over Sky to get to Fane and once at the edge of the bed fell off. Fane quickly scooped up the little ball of fur by the rough of her neck and carried her to the hearth where he plopped down after releasing the kitten only to have her curl against him.

“They have grown fond of each other. They are an odd but loving pair,” Sky said with a gentle smile.

Odd but loving pair. Would people think that of him and Sky when it was found out they were wed?

Sky sat up and placed a gentle hand on his arm. “Fane would serve you better if he remained by your side rather than closed away in the pen and Angel is my friend and I prefer she remain with me.”

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