Highlander Unraveled (Highland Bound Book 6) (11 page)

The moon rose up in the sky. A giant silver globe with a yellow hallo. Stars dotted the inky blackness, winking, taunting me with the magic they held but had not released for me.

All five of us stood in the center of the clearing, awkwardly smiling and looking nervous. A few attempts were made at mindless comments but then someone would forget to speak and silence reigned again.

My gut wrenched.

We were about to embark on something truly mad. A moment in our relationship that I’m certain none of us had thought to ever encounter, and yet, if we did and it worked, we could very well bring Emma home. And if it didn’t… Well, then we’d always have these awkward moments to remember.

“Let’s stand in a circle round the center stone,” Shona said. “We’ll hold hands and tell Fate exactly what we want.”

We moved to do as she suggested, our feet barely making a sound in the soft grass. Shona was to my left, Ewan to my right, Moira and Rory in front of me—though their faces were blocked by the thickness of the stone we surrounded. Ewan’s grip was steady, strong; Shona’s was firm but shaky.

Mine was somewhere in between.

I stared hard at the sacred stone, willing it to light up as it had done in my dream. It remained coldly stark.

“Fate!” Shona shouted, her face toward the sky.

They all looked toward the sky with her, but I stared firmly at the stone, willing it to know what I wanted. Willing it to light with magic.

“Bring us our Emma back. Bring Emma Gordon Grant back to this time. Back to her husband, Logan, her child, Saor, and her friends. We beg of you!”

She repeated the words again, and we all followed, saying the words with her, louder and louder still, until it was more a chant than a prayer. Our hands all steadied, strong and forceful as we gripped each other.

Rays of moonlight touched the stone in streaks, reminding me of sword blades. They stabbed down from the sky, cutting into the natural world.

Did the moon know my pain? Did Fate?

“Bring her back to me!” I bellowed.

“And now…” Shona murmured, letting go of my hand. She kept her gaze only on Ewan as she walked toward him and put her arms around his neck. They leaned toward each other, bodies connecting at the same time as their lips.

The intimate move was well practiced. Sensual.

I was envious, my gut twisting with jealousy. I wanted Emma. To wrap my arms around her and show her how much I loved her with a sweet kiss.

Moira and Rory followed suit. Their kiss was filled with such passion. The spark of excitement that newlyweds often felt. Hungry. Craving. All consuming.

I turned away from them, heading to the other side of the glen. I lay on the ground, hands behind my head and stared up at the moon.

How many times had I watched it, waiting for something to happen? This would be the fourth night I’d laid here. I prayed it wasn’t as disappointing as the last three. I wanted to see her. To hold her, even if it was only her spirit.

Across the way, four moans rose up to join in the soft wails of a breeze. I could hear the sounds of them kissing, stroking, connecting. None of them were taking this chore lightly, putting passion to the test.

Tingles coursed through my body, my veins. And it wasn’t from being turned on. This was different. A charge of fire that whizzed through my veins. I’d not felt like this before. Not even the night I’d dreamed of Emma.

I closed my eyes, wondering if sleep was calling. If the magic of the glen would bring her to me.

But my eyes refused to close other than a few precious blinks. They stared wide open at the sky, hopeful and fearful at the same time. Was my mind fighting it? My fear of being taken from Saor?

I glanced at the stone, seeing the moon’s blades slicing against it. But no other light.

“What do I do?” I whispered. “Emma…”

The tingles increased, flowing hot and cold through my veins, expanding, until they reached my neck with a painful force. I felt my veins pulsing hard, my heart seizing. My back arched of its own volition, gut wrenching toward the sky. My vision blurred. My mouth went dry. A silent scream on my lips.

And then, the moon’s glow disappeared.

Chapter Eleven

Emma

The front door opened and closed, followed by silence. I stood still for only a moment before rushing to the window to see who had left, but the streets were clear.

I wasn’t crazy. I knew I’d heard the door open and close.

Now definitely wasn’t the time to start thinking I was losing my mind. I mean, I’d traveled back in time, then forward, married another man and had a baby. If I was going to start questioning my mental health because of a front door, there were bigger problems I wasn’t considering.

I stared hard out the window. Not a single soul in sight.

But, oddly, both their cars were gone. Had it taken me longer than I thought to get to the window? Had I just missed them? Were they speed demons as well as boxers? I certainly believed Mrs. MacDonald could race like that.

“Ohmygod,” I whispered to myself, backing away from the window.

On second thought, maybe I was crazy.

Or maybe, as real as this felt, it wasn’t. I was having a nightmare or a breakdown or something. I was stuck in some sort of hell, that was for certain.

This was supposed to be my safe house. The first place I’d thought of at Mrs. Lamb’s to get away from the chaos, from Steven. But it had become quite the opposite now. An
unsafe
house.

Then again, this house actually proved I wasn’t crazy. Moira and Shona were real people, and I knew them.

I stood stock still for maybe five whole minutes. Listening. Waiting. Just in case Mrs. MacDonald or McAlister came back, or never left and the closing of the door had been a trick of my mind.

I didn’t know who either of them was, but I did know I couldn’t trust them. That was abundantly clear.

When no sounds came other than the occasional car whizzing past on the street below, I grabbed my purse and slung it crisscross over my shoulders and chest.

I needed to leave.

I didn’t know where I’d go, or how I’d get there, but I wasn’t staying here another minute.

Holding the tennis racket, just in case, I unlocked and opened the door, blinking into the darkness of the upstairs hallway when a shadow loomed in front.

“Hello, dear,” Steven said, his voice low and menacing.

Ohmygod…

I backed away from the door in complete shock and disbelieve. The tennis racket fell from my numb fingers. Bile rose up my throat.

“What… What are you doing here?” I asked, jerking my head toward the window. “How did you get here?”

He followed me into the room, blocking the door from my view. “Now, that’s no way to treat your husband is it?”

I shook my head, my foot getting caught on the racket, nearly toppling me backward.

He laughed as I righted myself.

“You’re not my husband,” I said, sternly. More stern than I’d ever spoken to him before.

“Tsk, tsk.” He looked behind him, and I did too, not sure what to expect. “I see you met my friend.”

“Friend?” That had to explain how he’d found me. But which one was his friend?

“Mrs. MacDonald. Though I’m surprised you followed her, given the name.”

“What…?” My breath caught. Steven…
knew
?

No, no, no. I shook my head, trying to clear away the chaos, but it only buzzed louder in my ears.

He waved his hand and rolled his eyes. “Oh, I know, right about now you’re questioning all sorts of things aren’t you? Well, let me clear it up real quick for you.” He cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest, staring down at me as though I were easily the biggest moron he’d ever laid eyes on. “When you disappeared, Mrs. MacDonald was in and out of Mrs. Lamb’s house. She caught my attention. Turns out, the woman is a time jumper, but I suspect you know what that is so I won’t go into detail. Long story short, she and I formed a friendship, and she told me where you were. What you were doing. Or should I say,
who
you were doing.” He sneered. “She told me it would only be a matter of time before you returned and when you came back, she promised to keep an eye on you. For me. Until I could get you all to myself. Didn’t want to have Mrs. Lamb meddling again.”

I swallowed hard around the lump in my throat.

“Suffice it to say, I’m not letting you out of my sight.” He made a tsking sound. “Been there, done that.”

I cleared my throat. “Where did they go?” I asked, nodding toward the hallway.

“Oh, them?” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “Well, they left. Probably won’t ever see them again.”

“But where?”

Steven narrowed his eyes. “Why do you care? They aren’t going to help you. No one is.”

I stiffened. “I
don’t
care.” But I did. Had they jumped back in time, changed history somehow and that’s why their cars weren’t there anymore, or had they simply driven away when he arrived?

If they could change history, anyone could. Even Steven. He could take me back in time to before I ever left for Gealach in the first place, making Logan and Saor and all my friends disappear. I shuddered.

Steven reached out with lightning speed and grabbed my wrist, yanking me toward him.

“You, sweet wife”—though when he said sweet it had more of a
bitch
tone to it—“Aren’t going anywhere.”

Steven tossed me down on the bed, and I bounced wildly, trying to scramble to the other side before he was one top of me.

“No!” I shouted. I wasn’t going to let him touch me. Not like I’d let him so many times when we were married. He might be able to have me sinking back inside myself, quivering in fear, but the fact of the matter was, I was a changed a woman. I was stronger. More confident. More knowledgeable. I kicked and punched beneath him, tried to scratch his face, but he caught my wrists and slammed them up over my head, sending a shooting pain through my shoulders.

“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing? You’re my wife and this is my right.”

I leaned up, looking him dead in the eye. “I. Am. Not.
Your.
Wife,” I said through gritted teeth. “You mean nothing to me. And I do not belong to you.”

He only laughed and squeezed my arms harder. I would have bruises tomorrow, I was certain. As long as there was a tomorrow…

“You’ll do your wifely duties, whether you want to or not.”

Wifely duties
… He meant lay there while he raped me.

The room around me vibrated. I wasn’t getting enough oxygen with him lying on top of me. I wasn’t the waif I was when married to him before, but he was still bigger and his weight was crushing.

The air seemed to shift, the walls closing in.

“What the—?” Steven said, jerking backward.

He still kept me pinned as he scanned the oddly pulsing room.

So, it wasn’t me. He saw it, too.

“Oh, thank God,” I murmured. It was the time warp, had to be. I was leaving, or least I prayed I was leaving. I remembered this odd shift in the air from when I’d first time traveled, though I remembered nothing from the second time. Only waking up at Mrs. Lamb’s.

Steven stared hard at me, trying to figure out what it was I was saying as the room around us began to vibrate in earnest, like an earthquake.

I just closed my eyes and waited for it to be over. Waited to find myself lying in a pasture or my own bed at Gealach.

But a second later, the room stopped shaking, and Steven’s weight was still on top of me. The darkness of the room caving in around me, making it hard to breathe.

I opened my eyes to find his menacing glare.

“What were you saying?” he asked.

My tongue felt thick, my lungs tight, heart pounded.

Nothing had happened. I looked around the room, trying not to do so frantically, but I couldn’t help it. Everything was the same.

Was it an earthquake? No! I couldn’t believe that it would be. This couldn’t be all there was, the half-broken promises of Fate. Fate was supposed to be good and kind and give people what they deserved. I didn’t deserve this. I knew that.

“Get off me,” I seethed. “Get
the fuck
off me. Now.”

But Steven only laughed at my words, not giving a crap about my anger, my hatred. I bucked and kicked and yanked at his hold on my arms.

I had to be my own hero. Save myself from him. I couldn’t wait for Fate to intervene. I needed to get away from this man, right now.

“I’m not letting you go. Ever.”

“You don’t have a choice. You don’t own me.”

He sneered. “Then maybe my new friend can send us to a time where I do.”

I shook my head, that idea never having occurred to me.

“She’s gone,” I hissed.

“Not for long.”

Was that the vibrations then? Mrs. MacDonald trying to jump back through time?

The feelings of helplessness I’d so often felt in our marriage returned. Of being oppressed, suffocated, left with no control over anything in my own life.

“Say it, Emma, say what you’re really thinking.” Steven’s eyes were wide, maniacal.

“You don’t want to hear what I have to say.” This time it was me who sneered with disgust.

“Oh, but I do.” His voice had taken on a jovial note. The kind he used when he was truly pissed.

Well, I was pissed, too. And I was ready to let him have it. “I hate you. I loathe the very ground you walk on, the air you breathe. I’d rather die than spend another minute with you in this lifetime or any other.”

My outburst only made him laugh. His head reared back, mouth agape and the sound that issued was what I imagined a possessed donkey howling was like. The laughing stopped just as abruptly as it had started.

“I won’t let that happen, my love. I want you nice and warm.” He bent low, trying to kiss me, but I bit his lip, drawing blood.

The metallic taste of it rolled over my tongue and I gagged.

He let go of my arms, but only so he could wrench back and slap me hard on the cheek.

The pain was instant—face throbbing, vision blurred.

Even still, if he tried to kiss me again, I’d bite him once more. Harder, and I wouldn’t let go, like a savage beast, I’d tear at his flesh.

“You vicious little bitch. Is this what you learned while you were away? While you were off fucking some barbarian? I’m going to teach you a lesson in respect. I dare you to ever make a move against me again.”

Steven climbed off of me and I tried to sit up but he shoved me back down roughly, and I hit my head hard enough on the back of the headboard my teeth rattled.

“Don’t move,” he growled, stabbing the air between us.

But I did. I was not going to be his victim. Not anymore. He was several feet away from me, if I could just get away…

This time when he lunged at me, to shove me back down onto the bed, I dodged out of his way. I bolted for the door, but he caught me by my hair, yanking me backward. I teetered on my heels, but lost my footing and fell hard on my ass. Not expecting me to fall, he stumbled slightly, but didn’t crash.

I quickly rolled over and leapt back up to my feet, trying to run again, but he grabbed me by the arm and whipped me around. My foot caught on the decorative carpet and I fell again, but this time, my head hit the ground making an awful cracking sound, with a deafening echo.

I blinked, but I couldn’t see. The room was dark, and then Steven’s voice, telling me to get up, to move my lazy ass, slowly faded, too.

I guess I was going to get my wish, and death would be mine after all.