Highland Protector (MacCoinnich Time Travels Book Five) (28 page)

“Well, we will just have to see if
you feel the same.”

Gavin threw his arms to the side.
“I’ve created a monster.”

“I think you like the monster.”

He rolled her under him in the space
of one breath. “I think I love the monster.”

Amber’s laugh caught in her throat.
You
think you love me?

He placed a palm to her face. “I
don’t know what else to call the emotion inside of me, Amber. I only know I’ve
never felt about anyone the way I feel about you.”

“What if it’s just our bond ruling
your heart?”

Gavin shook his head. “Then sign me
up to say the vows again. I would never have chosen to leave my home for
anyone, but I can’t think of going anywhere without you. It’s as if I found my
place in this crazy world, and that place is with you.”

“You’ve taken the words out of my
mouth. I thought the knowledge I wasn’t to live in my parents’ time would
bother me, but all I thought of was you. Of us. If this is love I don’t want
the feeling to ever end.”

Gavin leaned down and kissed her
softly.

“We’ll figure it out together.”

“Aye, together.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Amber chose a pair of black pants and
a pull over knit shirt that hugged her body to wear for the day. It reminded
her of her husband, of his dress and demeanor. The fabric was flexible and, to
add to her mobility, she pulled her hair back into a band so only one long
strand fell down her back. She should probably remove some of the length. It
simply wasn’t practical in this time. Maybe Helen could help her with that
later in the day.

She stood by the window and watched
the hues of the sun stretch over the horizon.

Those in the house were just starting
to stir. She thought of her gift and opened herself up to the emotions of
others. Slowly the pulse of Helen and Simon seeped into her. Their anxiety
rolled from their images in Amber’s head. Giles, if she had to guess, slept
with disturbing dreams.

Selma was close as well. Only when
Amber thought of her friend, all her emotions were overruled by someone. Jake.
Aye, she was with Jake and they were…Amber felt the room warm and turned off
her inner voyeur.

Mrs. Dawson slept soundly. Her dreams
didn’t penetrate Amber’s head.

There was two other souls close by.
Children. And their sorrow was so deep Amber clenched her shirt over her heart.
“Poor babies.” They’d lost something and grieved.

Amber tucked away the children’s
grief and focused on taking a deep breath. Gavin’s shield built up around her,
one thin layer at a time, until it moved everyone’s emotions to the opposite
side.
I’m getting better at that.

Gavin walked up behind her and slid
his arms around her waist. “You’re getting much better at that.”

“’Tis because of you. Your gift.”

“It’s because of your strength.”

They walked hand in hand down the
stairs and into the kitchen. Amber moved about to put water on to boil for tea
while Gavin brewed coffee.

Giles found them first.

“Somehow I knew you’d both just pop
back up.”

Gavin shook his friend’s hand. “Just
a short trip to meet the in-laws.”

Giles nearly dropped the cup he’d
just picked up. “You’re kidding!”

“Most intense few days of my life.”

The librarian blinked, his jaw slacked
open.

Amber laughed.

“Ian? Lora?”

“All of them.” Gavin removed the cup
from Amber’s hand and kissed her temple.

“I thought I heard your voice,” Helen
said as she walked into the kitchen. She headed straight to Amber and hugged
her. “You have to stop scaring us. It’s giving me grey hair.”

Amber chuckled. “No more running
off.”

Helen looked deep. “You sure?”

“Aye. I’m sure. No matter what
happens, Gavin and I will see it through together.”

When Simon strode into the room, he
lifted Amber off the ground in a hug. “How is everyone at home?”

“How did you know that’s where we
were?”

“A guess.”

“As time would have it, I arrived
shortly after they left us here. Hardly an hour had passed. They were
surprised, of course. But in the end my father gave us his blessing.”

Simon looked at Gavin. “He knows of
your ancestors?”

“We told him everything we know.
There’s yet to be any real evidence of that prophecy being about us.”

Helen shoved her husband’s arm.
“That’s what I said. There isn’t any proof of anything.”

“There is no confirmation I’m not of
her blood either. However, neither one of us have noticed anything awful
happening inside of us.”

“I suppose we’ll simply have to let
time decide.”

Amber sat at the table and reached a
hand toward Gavin. He clasped it and kissed her fingers.
We have time.

We do.

Amber glanced up to see Simon
watching her. She smiled. “They send their love and congratulations on your
child.”

After pouring a cup of coffee, Simon
sat opposite of Gavin. “Everyone is well then?”

Amber nearly nodded, then thought of
Cian. “Cian didn’t approve of our union.”

Simon seemed to soak that information
in before he said, “I’m not surprised. He’s become harder these past years.”

We need to tell them,
Gavin told her.

The last thing she wanted was to soil
her brother’s name, but if he were to appear there now, everyone would need to
know what he’d tried to do.

“I can’t.”

Gavin squeezed her hand.

“You can’t what?” Helen asked.

“The night of our handfasting, we
were awakened by Rory,” Gavin made eye contact with Giles. “A warrior of my
time. He told us we needed to leave immediately.”

“Why?”

“We don’t always know why we’re sent
in time. If we’d left immediately as Rory wanted, we wouldn’t have known why.”

“What happened?”

“Cian arrived uninvited.”

Simon’s body tightened. “Arrived?”

Amber needed to tell the rest of the
story. “He wanted to take me away from Gavin. His anger was thick, Simon.
Hateful.”

“Did he want to harm you?”

God’s teeth she didn’t want to
believe her own brother would. “I-I don’t know. We didn’t stay to interrogate
him. He vowed to undo what was done.”

“Undo?” Helen asked. “Undo what?”

Amber shrugged. “Our union, our
bonding? I don’t know. Our shield was thick and I couldn’t read all his
emotions.” Yet she knew that wasn’t entirely true. Her brother was willing to
do anything needed to undo her bond with Gavin. Anything.

“He’s changed over the years,” Simon
said.

“Do you think he’s dangerous?” Gavin
asked.

“He’s a fierce warrior. Our enemies
had no mercy at the end of his sword.”

Gavin looked to Giles. “I suppose we
need to study his history. See if there’s anything we need to watch.”

Amber wasn’t sure what bothered her
more, the fact Cian would have kidnapped her to get her away from her husband,
or the fact Simon wasn’t surprised by her brother’s actions.

“What did we miss here? I believe we
have new house guests?” Amber changed the subject.

Helen blew out a breath. “Jake’s ex
and her fiancé were murdered.”

“No!” Now Amber understood the level
of grief in the home.

“Yeah. We just don’t know for sure
who did it,” Giles said.

“It was an animal attack. But I’ve
yet to find an animal that can open doors and penetrate a home without help.”
Simon leaned forward on his elbows. “I can’t tell if it was mortal or magical.”

“How are the girls?” Amber asked,
more worried about the children than who was behind the deaths.

“Unharmed. They hid in a closet when
they heard their mother’s screams.”

“Did they see anything?”

“No, thankfully.” Helen went on to
explain the charms Selma had given the girls and how they’d been found.

They were still talking when Amber
felt the children moving closer. “They’re coming. Best we change the subject.”

You can hear them?
Gavin asked Amber.

Aye, can’t you?

He shook his head.

A couple of seconds later, two
adorable girls walked into the kitchen with Selma and Jake at their side.

“You’re home!” Selma rushed forward
for a hug.

“Aye, we are.”

“It’s about time.” Mrs. Dawson walked
into the room behind the others. “We were getting worried about you.”

Amber stood and offered her chair to
the older woman. “Tea or coffee?”

“Tea would be lovely, dear.”

Selma introduced Amber and Gavin to
the girls and put them on the task of mixing a couple of bowls of pancake
batter. The twins quietly watched the others in the room and talked amongst
themselves.

Amber moved to Jake’s side and laid a
hand on his arm. “I’m sorry.”

He nodded toward his daughters. “It’s
them I’m worried about.”

“We’ll keep them safe.” He met her
gaze, and sorrow mixed into her thoughts of the girls safety. “But that isn’t
what you’re worried about.”

“They just lost their mother.”

“But they still have you.”

Jake gave a curt nod and moved to the
place between his girls to help.

****

The prophecy lay on the tip of
Raine’s tongue, yet there wasn’t a single crack in the white honor of Kincaid
or Amber MacCoinnich. Not one.

She sat next to the fire under the
night sky. Her clothing was carelessly tossed to the side as she bared herself
to the elements to feel every ounce of energy around her.

The herbs tossed into the pyre
billowed in dark smoke and filled her lungs then her head.

She rocked back and forth and stared
into the hot flames. When the world around her slid away, she whispered the
words, “Show me.”

A white flame licked an orange one then
merged into a blue ball that spread and filled with the Druid lives she wanted
to take. Their souls were chess pieces moving on a board, and she was a dark
angel watching from above.

The white light of children played.
The call of a wolf screamed as sap slid from the bark of a tree and ignited in
the flames. The blue sphere tightened, enclosing the children. All the souls in
the Manor cried.

Then before she could see more, the
ball exploded.

Yes. Raine needed to move the chess
pieces in place for the queen to take her throne. No use destroying a
MacCoinnich who had yet to realize all their power. That would be like chewing
cake and spitting it out.

No, it wasn’t time to kill. It was time
to move about the board, collecting power, removing a pawn, a knight, and then
removing the queen would reward her as an empress.

The world slowly moved back in place
around her and the wind kicked up. Without thought, Raine stood and walked
through the flames to reach her discarded clothing. She flicked the soot off
her arm and dressed.

As she turned to walk away, the
flames behind her died.

****

Kelsey and Sophie had taken to the
backyard to explore Mrs. Dawson’s massive yard.

“Todd sends his best,” Amber told
Jake who watched his girls through the door.

“It’s not fair you just saw him.”

“He feels the same way. Perhaps one
day you’ll meet again.”

Jake pushed away from the window, and
Amber took his place.

The girls were chasing two
butterflies and laughing. Then, as if they realized they were smiling they both
stopped.

Amber gave a silent prayer for their
strength and ability to laugh. The girls continued to move in and out the
flower garden talking with each other.

“So the person behind the murder—any
leads?” Gavin asked.

“Selma seems to think the wacko that
wants a piece of her is behind it, but Simon thinks something witchy forced the
dogs to attack.”

Amber overheard their conversation,
only half listening as she watched the girls. Apparently, two dogs from one
neighbor and another one from an adjacent property banded together and
attacked.

Amber cracked the window so she could
hear the girls.
They need to be guarded. It isn’t about the mother; it’s the
girls.

Amber?

The window wasn’t open enough so she
moved to the door and walked outside.

Amber?

She opened her shield and stepped on
the porch.

Voices from the adjacent houses
filtered in. She pushed them away. The girls were quiet in their grief, and the
attention of those in the house were focused on one person. Her.

But she couldn’t dwell on that, not
now. Someone, two someone’s were close. Watching.

Something darted from the trees. Kelsey
and Sophie both screamed.

The hair on Amber’s nape stood on
end. She lifted her arms and pushed her shield around the girls some half an acre
away. The blue light surrounded them when several wolves moved out of the trees.
Their howls pierced her ears and Jake ran past her.

Amber?

Gavin called to her, but she couldn’t
answer.

He was out there…the person making
the wolves attack.

One of the wolves jumped on Jake. But
before the wolf could sink its teeth into Jake’s flesh, she reached for a way
to fight off the animal from so far away. The solution was there, like a jay sitting
on a fence inside her head, mocking her.

She caught her breath and held it.