Blood Moons (43 page)

"Why not?"

"Because
she
's not the one who'll have to live here!"

"I might," Pixie chimed in.

"Whatever happened to the wild tiger who couldn't be cooped up inside for more than ten minutes at a time?" Dara questioned, crossing her arms over her chest. "Whatever happened to sleeping underneath the stars?"

He made a grumbling noise. "Haven't we been doing that enough lately?"

Most definitely
, she thought. Tristan had bought the land here with the money he'd gotten from the Special Unit as payment for stopping a serial killer. But it was
only
land.

There was no man-made structure on it that even vaguely resembled a house. For the last two weeks, they'd been sleeping in a rough shelter made of tree branches.

And it had rained three times in those two weeks.

"Then build a house!" She was starting to feel as if she'd have to stomp her feet and hold her breath to get him to let this go. "A shack. A freaking tent would be nice at this point."

"Woman, I'm building this castle and that's final."

Her eyebrows shot up. "
What
did you just say to me?"

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Blood Moons

by Alianne Donnelly

"Uh-oh," Pixie said, hiding behind her brother, who was having a coughing fit.

Tristan shifted his weight, looking away uneasily. "Er..."

"Because it sounded like you said
that's final
. And I just know you'd never say
that
to me." Taking her out of Gray Dublin had been one thing. She'd been so happy to leave it behind she hadn't even questioned where he'd be taking them, or how they would live. With her own payment for her services, which included very nice hazard pay and a hefty disability premium, they had a small fortune to live on, so she didn't mind settling on this brand-new, clean and shiny, nearly unoccupied planet.

But the days of him pushing her around were over.

Apparently, she'd lost a great deal of her telepathic abilities, now reduced to
sometimes
feeling other people's emotions if they were too strong. She didn't miss it. It actually made going out among people easier and Dara wanted to take advantage of it and socialize. Which was difficult enough now, when they weren't living in town—a glorified village, really—

but in the woods, without as much as a set of plates to eat from.

So Dara had been teaching Tristan how to compromise.

Because there were now new lines drawn with her, and there would be dire consequences if he crossed them.

This castle was one of those lines.

She would
not
be living in seclusion up here, away from the rest of civilization, no matter how much she loved her husband.

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Blood Moons

by Alianne Donnelly

He backed up a step for each one she took toward him.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't mean
final
final," he said.

"Really?"

"Really." Tristan smiled wide, looking around for an escape. He faked right and ducked left around her before she could back him up all the way to the beach-side edge. "I meant the drawings and plans have been finalized. As structurally safe. And they're ready for your inspection." He nodded, as if his own explanation had satisfied him. "It's all negotiable. Trust me." This was the Tristan she'd only seen glimpses of before. Now that all immediate threats were gone, he'd channeled all that intensity to his playful side. The side that made her heart melt for him and made her forget that life
wasn't
a fairy tale.

"Uh-huh." Dara squinted into the distance. "What's that on the lake?"

"Er..."

"Maybe we should go," Calen suggested and started pulling Pixie away, but she wouldn't budge.

"Tristan?" Dara prompted.

He winced. "That's the ... barge. Bringing the first batch of stones."

Dara sighed, grasping for patience. "But it's all negotiable."

Calen lifted Pixie off her feet. "Yeah, we will definitely be going now," he announced and took off down the hill. The damn castle wasn't even built yet, and already they were losing what few friends they had!

"Absolutely, it's negotiable," Tristan said firmly.

"Besides"—he put on his most seductive, I-am-your-hottest-394

Blood Moons

by Alianne Donnelly

fantasy-and-you-know-it look, smiling enticingly—"I never said we'd have to live here full-time." He caught her hips and pulled her to him, linking his hands loosely at her back.

Dara refused to be charmed. She would hold steady. She
would,
damn it! "I will
not
be cleaning a hundred and sixty rooms."

"Good God, no," he said, laughing. Then he ducked his head to her ear. "I have much better uses for you than that, lass." He showed her in her mind exactly what he meant by that.

Dara shivered and her cheeks burned. "Shameless," she accused breathlessly, tangling her hands in his hair.
"And I
love you all the more for it..."

Tristan stilled. He drew back, searching her gaze.

"What?"

A slow smile spread over his face, his eyes sparkling with gold.

It wasn't until much later, after they'd made love on the beach, and then again in the soft grass, and then once more in a secluded, shallow part of the lake as the sun set over the hill, that Dara realized she'd thought him the words.

The End

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395

Blood Moons

by Alianne Donnelly

About the Author:

Alianne is an avid lover of stories of all kinds. Having grown up with fairy tales in a place where it almost seemed they were real, it was no surprise when she began making up her own stories. She loves books, music, hiking, and archery, and won't shy away from travel and zip lining. Alianne graduated with a business degree and when she's not off in the land of fantasy, she lives in California.

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