"From the cave. We keep some with the boats."

"I'm sure there is one in there for you as well, am I right?"

"Are you saying you do not want to hunt naked with me?"

"How astute of you to take my meaning."

Talorc threw his head back and laughed. Abigail noticed that he sent every sound through mindspeak so she could share in it all with him.

She turned to him, "I love you so much, Talorc." "I love you so much, Talorc."

"I love you, my precious angel."

Guaire stepped back from Niall, only to be pulled against the big warrior's side.

Burnished streaks appeared across his cheekbones. "Good morning, my lady. Laird."

"Good morning, dear friend. You look happy."

Guaire looked up at Niall, the scarred warrior giving him a far sappier smile than she would have thought him capable of. "I am. Very."

"I am so glad."

"Thank you. You and the laird have worked out your differences?"

"We have. He won't let even his king send me away."

Guaire nodded in approval. "Of course not. You are our lady."

"And you are mated," Talorc said.

The brush of pink turned into a full blush that spread right down Guaire's neck. "We are."

"All this time, he has not been afraid of me," Niall said, directing his words to Talorc.

Talorc's brows drew together in confusion. "His actions ..."

"He wanted me." Oh, Niall looked proud. "So much so that he trembled in my presence. He always avoided being too near because he feared I would realize his secret desire."

"Secrets keep mates apart," Talorc said with certainty.

Niall nodded, something passing between the two of them that said their communication went deeper than the mere words.

Niall came to kneel in front of Abigail. "I owe you a sincere apology, my own dear lady and friend."

"I am still your friend?"

"Yes. If you will have me." He looked down as if ashamed and then lifted his head so she could read his lips again. "I was jealous."

"Of the time Guaire spent with me," she guessed, finally understanding.

"Yes. I thought he had fallen for you, and though I knew he would never betray his laird, I was furious with envy that he seemed to find in you what he could not see in me-the Chrechte ordained by God to be his mate."

"His love for you never wavered."

"Secrets," Niall said with a poignant expression.

She leaned down and kissed the scarred cheek of her first friend among the Chrechte. "I forgive you and I hope you will forgive me for hiding my own secrets."

"Always."

"Friends?"

"Until death."

They took two days to return to the fortress, Talorc and Niall insisting on hunting to provide food for their mates along the way. Abigail did not mind because it gave her time to talk to Guaire.

"What did Niall say about kissing Una?" she asked as soon as she thought the two warriors had gotten far enough away.

"He said she kissed him. He let her because he saw me coming out of the kitchen.

He thought it might make me jealous. Then he realized how stupid that was, but only too late to stop it. He saw the hurt on my face and it gave him the first hope he'd had since realizing I was his mate."

"When did he realize that?"

"Too long ago." Guaire's entire demeanor was one of frustration. "My fear of revealing myself and his of frightening or overwhelming me kept us apart."

"Perfect love is supposed to cast out fear."

"I suppose it does when you admit it."

"But when you're intent on hiding it-"

"It just causes pain."

Abigail nodded and then said, "Let's make a pact not to regret the past, but rejoice in our present and future."

"Pact." Guaire put his hand out.

Abigail shook it. "Pact."

When they returned to the fortress, Niall made no effort to hide his longtime affection for Guaire. Abigail was delighted to discover that the Highlanders were much more accepting of the love between the two men than her parents or their people would have been. Everyone but Una.

Abigail knew something would have to be done about the other woman, but it would have to wait. Talorc had told her that he had something to show her. She waited for him in the great hall while he and Barr conferred on the soldier's duties for the day.

Finally, everyone else was gone and the only two remaining in the hall were her and Talorc.

He stopped in front of her, looking her up and down and sending tingles everywhere his gaze traveled. "I cannot believe you are my mate. You are so perfect for me."

"I feel the same."

They shared a kiss, but when it started to grow passionate, Talorc pulled back.

"Come with me."

"Anywhere."

He smiled, clasping her hand firmly in his. He led her into one of the storage rooms.

She looked around in the gloom but did not see anything in particular she could imagine her husband wanting to show her. He lit a torch, though it was hardly dark enough to make that necessary. She understood better when he shut the door and slid a locking bar into place.

How odd to have a lock on the inside of a storage room. She would have asked him about it, but he looked so intent, she hesitated to say anything.

He went to the far wall and pressed something on the shelves holding food stores for the tower. The shelves swung out like a heavy door to reveal an opening in the wall about four feet high and two feet wide.

He transferred the torch to his left hand and put his right one toward her. "Come."

She took his hand and let him lead her through the dark opening. They went down a set of steps into a secret room under the tower. All of its walls and even the ceiling were reinforced with stone.

"What is this place?"

"The Royal Treasure room."

"Royal Treasure?"

Talorc nodded, pulling her toward a smooth stone casket engraved with carvings of wolves along all the sides and the top. "My father was a direct descendant of one of the seven royal Chrechte lineages through his father. When MacAlpin killed all the living princes of our people, he killed those who had inherited royal blood via their mother's lineage, as was our tradition.

"The male lineages were not counted, until holders of the treasure were needed.

Then seven men descendant from the seven Chrechte tribes were chosen to be keepers of our last royal gifts. It was this treasure that Tamara's baron lover was trying to take when he tried to burn down our keep and kill our warriors."

"And you are showing it to me?"

"Yes. I trust you with all that I am." He put the torch in a holder and took both her hands. "The only one who knows of the treasury is the protector and his chosen helper.

My mother did not know of its existence, nor did my sister Cait. I do not know how Tamara learned of it from my father, but she did. His second-in-command was the only other person who knew about it."

"Niall and Barr's father."

"Yes. When my father told me of the treasure, on his deathbed, I chose to share the knowledge with Niall rather than his older brothers. My wolf chose him as my partner in protecting the treasure as he chose you to be my mate."

"Your own mother did not know about this?"

"No."

"Thank you for telling me."

"All that I am is yours."

"You really mean that."

He nodded. Then he turned to the casket. "Would you like to see it?"

"If you want to show me."

"I do."

He lifted the lid of the marble casket. Inside there were bones, a large cross like priests carried during mass, a smaller cross on a chain, a modest crown and a sword without even a jeweled handle.

"These are treasures of the heart, not of gold."

He smiled, clearly pleased she understood. "The bones of the right hand of St.Columba, the warrior saint."

"The hand that held his sword and his pen."

"Exactly."

"And the other bones?"

"The skull and right hand of Uven, son of Oengus, the last king over all the Chrechte tribes. The sword and crown are his as well. The cross on the left belonged to Columba, and the one on the right Uven wore into battle."

"Your stepmother was a fool. This treasure may be worth dying to protect, but it isnot worth killing to steal. Its value lives in the hearts of the people for whom it signifies history."

"You are an amazing woman, Abigail of the Sinclair. Truly, my secrets are safe in your small hands."

"And my heart is safe in your big ones, though mighty, they are gentle with it."

"Always." Then he saluted like a warrior, right fist over his heart.

She was smiling when she threw herself into his arms to kiss him.

She had found more than a place of security in the world that had been less than friendly since her tenth year; she had found true love and a sacred mate.

No woman could want for more.

Epilogue

Scotland's king did not send a messenger to his favored laird, Talorc of the Sinclairs, in reply to his laird's latest words. He came himself. To meet the woman that inspired such loyalty, he said. Though, it soon became clear he had a secondary motive.

He wanted Barr to rule the Donegal clan until young Circin had been trained and reached an age to lead the smaller clan.