Page 65 of Moon Awakening

Lachlan was too proud to admit such a thing though. "I grow weary of your harping, brother. You sound like a fretful old woman."

"Better than a man at the mercy of his beast."

Lachlan usually let comments like that slide, but enough was enough. His brother needed reining in. "Be careful I do not unleash my beast on you," he said with chilling bite.

Ulf winced, but quickly controlled his features. His strength in the face of even a Chrechte's threat impressed Lachlan. He had always admired his human brother and while he had pitied Ulf's inability to make the change, he'd never made the mistake of thinking the older man was weak for what he was.

Not wanting to risk Emily hearing anything more that might betray his secrets, he led his brother far from the bushes she was now simply hiding behind. She'd finished dressing but had not come out, and he didn't know if it was because she was embarrassed or because she didn't like his brother, or both.

He stopped a good thirty feet away. "Say what you came here to say."

Ulf's hands fisted at his sides. "First tell me honestly if you have plans to marry the woman."

"You should know better than that. I will not marry a human."

"Not even a clanswoman?" Ulf asked.

"Nay."

"You're worried the Chrechte's secrets will be revealed."

"That is part of it." Intermating always carried such a risk. There had been a time when it had been expressly forbidden, but that was before the Chrechte joined the Celtic clans. Many maintained the ancient ways though.

His father had not.

"You're afraid all of your offspring would be like me, instead of just one, aren't you?" Ulf asked, sounding bitter.

"It is the responsibility of all Chrechte, but especially the leaders, to make sure our race does not die out."

"I am no less a Chrechte warrior than you because I have no beast to overcome my human logic."

Lachlan did not agree, but he could not explain to his brother, who had no wolf, what it meant to know the beast lived inside him giving him strength and superior abilities. Far from diminishing his ability to think logically, his beast added an animal cunning to his thoughts that no human could emulate.

"There is no need for this argument. I have told you I do not intend to keep the Englishwoman. Why is not important."

"To you maybe."

"To you either. My decisions are not subject to your approval, nor are my thoughts."

"You're so damn arrogant."

"Emily thinks that's a Highland trait."

Ulf did not smile at the jest. "She has a low opinion of us all."

"That you have done nothing to rectify."

"Why should I? I care not what my enemy thinks of me."

"She is not your enemy."

"I do not dismiss the truth in favor of my cock's urgings. She is English and she is promised to the Sinclair laird. That makes her my enemy."

"She is a Balmoral captive, which puts her under my protection. Consider that the next time you are tempted to treat her like your enemy," Lachlan said in clear warning.

"I came to tell you that Duncan is here to give his report." The lack of urgency in Ulf's manner indicated the spy's report was not to tell them that the Sinclair had gathered his troops and was even now crossing the sea to lay siege to the castle.

"I will return to the keep shortly."