The Morrigan: Damaged Deities (14 page)

“I doona think it’s gonna let up anytime soon,” Kade said.  He opened his coat. “Come now.”

Morrie tucked against his side, covered by the coat he held over her head.  Wrapping her arm around his slim waist, she leaned in against his warmth, breathing in the faint scent of his cologne as they both hurried down the steps to the truck. 

Keeping her covered, Kade opened the door for Morrie, helping her inside as the rain soaked him.  She laughed as he rounded the front, slipping and catching himself on the hood before scrambling inside. 

Shaking his wet hair like a dog, Morrie cried out, leaning away from the splatter of raindrops.  Both breathing heavy, they sat for a moment smiling at each other. 

Shaking himself from a daze, Kade started the engine and pulled away from the restaurant, expertly handling the rickety truck even as it skid and slid in the mud.

The rain came down with a vengeance, growing stronger as the truck lumbered down the road.  The way ahead was erased by it and Kade navigated them forward on pure instinct, though it was a slow journey.

Wondering if they would ever make it, Morrie finally spied the manor’s lights blinking through the downpour. 

Kade wrenched the wheel to turn the truck down the manor’s dirt road.  Morrie had just relaxed that they’d made it back with their clothes still on when the truck dipped, the wheel spun and they went nowhere.

Cursing beneath his breath, Kade shut the truck off and faced Morrie. 

“Looks like we’re going tae have tae make a run for it,” he said. 

Perfect
.  A cold shower would do her some good.  Morrie breathed, “Okay,” as Kade stripped off his coat.

“Here, cover yerself with this.”  He handed the bundle to her.

“I can’t take your coat, you’ll be drenched.” She held up her hand, not accepting it.

“I’m drenched already, lass, now stop arguin’ and do as ye’re told.”

Morrie scowled yet complied, despite herself.  She pulled Kade’s coat around her and over her head, wrapping herself in his scent. 

He pushed his wet hair back from his forehead and looked out into the rainy night.

“Alright then, let’s go.”

They both burst out of the truck with Kade stopping to grab Morrie’s hand and lead her toward the manor.  It seemed so far away and the rain did its best to hold them back. 

Hitting a muddy patch, Morrie slipped, yelping as she did, but Kade kept her from falling. 

Stopping to readjust the coat over her better, he turned her body to face him before bending forward and throwing her over his shoulder.  As she cried out in protest, his long strides easily covered the distance to the house. 

Knowing this was better, Morrie made a face of begrudging acceptance and made herself comfortable, head bouncing next to Kade’s perfect ass.  Even though she was a goddess, being one of war and sex sort of meant she’d been in this position before. 

Only now, she rather enjoyed the view, defined so clearly by rain-soaked pants.  Her fingers curled around the back of his belt so that they didn’t move lower and grab his cheeks.

She bounced a little more once Kade leapt up the front steps and the world spun again as he set her on her feet. 

Looking up at him from beneath a scowl, she let him remove his coat, warming her arms with his big hands.

“That was fun, aye?”

“Oh, aye,” she answered in a mocking Scottish accent. “I’ twas grand!” 

He answered with a deep laugh that tickled her tummy.  Taking a calming breath, she turned away and went inside.

Blessed Lorna had started a fire in Morrie’s bedroom.  But even with its heat, she shivered, her hands shaking as she peeled her jeans off. 

The hardwood floors were like ice beneath her bare feet.  Stepping from one foot to the other, she shrugged her turtleneck off, grabbed a towel from the armoire and wrapped it around her naked body. 

She padded quickly down the hall to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.  Turning on the shower, she pulled off the towel, setting it on counter before she stopped with a jolt. 

A basket sat by the sink filled with lavender-scented soaps—the same brand she had left behind at the grocer in town.  There were also bottles of lavender bath oil, body wash and lotion. 

She wondered when Kade had had the opportunity to arrange this—maybe his cell phone actually worked out in the marsh?  Because she was certain it was Kade behind it all.

Smiling, she picked up some soap, inhaling its scent and pictured him, his eyes.  But her smile quickly fell when she thought of the last time she had let herself think too much of a man.  It hadn’t ended well and she had paid for it for centuries.  What made her think this time would be different?

Taking the soap with her, Morrie stepped inside the shower, letting the hot water burn away the cold.  She rubbed the soap between her hands, building up the suds and spread it over her body, staring off at the showerhead as Kade’s lips and hands filled her mind. 

Against her better judgment, she imagined Kade’s hands running over her stomach and down her thighs. 

The dream she’d had before she came to Scotland resurfaced and in it, she pictured Kade as the man who’d replaced the god.  It was his rippling abs that jerked in quick breaths kissing her bare stomach.  It was his hands that traveled across her body. 

But then, it wasn’t him at all.

Chulainn stood in his place, appearing in her mind as he appeared in her dreams, as he was when she last saw him. 

Standing over her, looking down with his intense gaze and in those icy blue eyes was so much anger, hatred and hurt.  There might have still been love there, too…but they were never the type to admit to love. 

Not back then.  It wasn’t until centuries later that Morrie realized what she had felt for the Celtic hero.  It wasn’t until she lost him that she mourned his loss.

When Morrie opened her eyes, she found herself alone in the shower, the water still beating down on her.  But the memories of Chulainn chilled her more than the cold water and brought her back to reality.  She had to stop these silly flirtations with Kade.

Wrapping the towel around her, she opened the bathroom door and stepped out only to come to a halt at the sight of Kade walking toward her, completely naked. 

His tall, perfectly sculpted body looked like honey in the low lamplight.  Her eyes grew wide as she stood frozen in the hallway.

“Save any hot water for me?” he asked as he approached, his bare feet slapping against the wooden floors. 

The muscles of his lean torso moved with each stride he took, planing down.  A trail of dark hair led her eyes to the glory of his hardened erection.  Her hand clenched in memory of how it felt in her palm.

Morrie couldn’t speak.  Her mouth was open, but no words would form.  Seeing how he affected her, Kade grinned.

“Tis nothing ye havena already seen, lass,” he purred, walking past her to the door.  He turned around, all of his extreme endowment hanging in full glory as he added, “Or held.” 

He backed into the bathroom, letting Morrie get a little longer glimpse before winking and shutting the door.

That lasting image burned into her brain, Morrie locked herself up in her room.  She couldn’t trust herself around MacLeod with the way she was feeling.

With no intention of leaving her room for the night, she pulled on a thin, cotton nightgown and sat on the edge of the bed, her heels on the sideboard.  She rested her elbows on her knees and stared at the bedroom door, thoughts racing. 

What was it about Kade that made her feel this way? 

Normally she felt nothing, normally she could remain professional on a job.  She had a horse to find, not a man to bed. 

And yet the thought of bedding him had Morrie groaning and burying her face in her hands. 

It had been over two thousand years since she’d last been with anyone; it had been that long since she’d been in love.  She didn’t know if her abstinence since had been in some subconscious attempt at loyalty to the man she betrayed, but she knew that sick feeling swirled inside her now.  That she was betraying his memory and him all over again by her wicked body and its traitorous responses to a man she barely knew.

At the time she agreed to her encounter with Dagda, there hadn’t been a moment of consideration of how Chulainn may react. 

Morrigan the goddess was self-serving, self-assured, self-centered and selfish.  She had taken pride in being that way.  She knew no other way.

She was a goddess and deities just didn’t
do
commitment. 

Especially not after the little bit of truth Dagda had told her about her human lover.  He hadn’t been the only one betrayed.

She could have saved him, she could have used her magic to make him immortal—but she’d been hurt.  And by the time she realized the extent of her feelings, it was too late.

Days passed and soon, years, and Morrie discovered the loss had affected her deeply.  Deeper than she’d ever acknowledged until this moment, when faced with the obvious revelation that she could feel again.

Searching the room, Morrie spied an old clock slowly swinging its rod-iron pendulum. 

Just after 9 P.M.  She was six hours ahead of New Orleans, so Bev could still be at work. 

Morrie didn’t care.  She needed to talk to someone who would understand.  Stretching across the bed, she grabbed her phone from the nightstand and pressed the button to call her sister.

It rang twice.

“Did you fuck him?”  Bev: always with the pleasant greetings.  In the background, Morrie could hear a group of men whistle and cat-call at Bev. “Oh, go fuck yourselves!” her sister complained away from the phone.

“He has a brother,” Morrie answered, her voice low.

“What?  Wait—!” Again her voice grew distant as she shouted at whoever she was near. “Dudes! For serious, on the phone here. How about y’all go get your suppressed nuts off at that patisserie over there?  Just a few more beignets, Rusty, and you may move up to a C cup!” Switching from sarcastic to serious, Bev returned to the call. “Sorry about that, I’m working a case with a few local beat cops and,
Jesus Christ
, are they horny!  Now, what did you say?”

Morrie took a deep, calming breath.  It did no good.

“MacLeod, he has a brother.”

A thoughtful pause.

“If I was a betting goddess,” Bev said, calmer than Morrie expected. “And I totally am because I fucking rock at Craps, I would say this brother has dark hair, dark eyes and livestock-quality appendages?”

With a faint whimper, Morrie dropped her face in her hand.

“Oh my gods!” Bev cried. “You know that, for sure, don’t you? You’ve seen his dong!  Damn, I’m good, you
little slut
.  Aww, my serious, little triplet finally made whoopee.”

“No!” Morrie sat up, staring out at the room before a rustle outside the door had her jerking a glare over her shoulder.  She paused in silence for a moment, listening.  When nothing more happened, she returned to Bev. “No, nothing like that has happened yet.”

“But it’s going to,” Bev answered with expert assurance.

“No, it’s not,” Morrie retorted.

Bev made a snort of disbelief before saying, “Yeah, it will.”

“No!” Morrie cried out, surprised by her own passion. “It can’t.  I just have to wrangle this damn horse and then I’m on the first flight out of Scotland.”

“Look, Morrie, I know you feel like you’re betraying your relationship with Kellan—,” she used the English pronunciation of Chulainn’s name. “But that’s in the past.  The long ago past.  You can’t get angry because you have urges for someone else now.  You’re allowed to have feelings.  You’re allowed to move on.”

And once again, despite it being in complete contrast to her character, Bev grasped the true heart of Morrie’s problem and understood.

“It’s still unprofessional to hook up with the client’s brother, don’t you think?” Morrie asked, dryly.