The Morrigan: Damaged Deities (46 page)

Every ounce of her longed for him, needed to feel his skin against hers, needed him inside her.  Because that was the only way she knew how to communicate to him how she felt.  Words could never do with Morrigan.

Heavy-lidded, her chin tilted slightly up, lips reaching for his.

“Kade!”  Kamden’s abrupt appearance at the end of the hall brought Morrie back to reality with a stop. 

Though Kade didn’t move, standing so close to her, Morrie looked down, feeling ashamed that she allowed herself to get so caught up in him.

“What?’ Kade grated out, his face still close to Morrie’s.

“I’ve been calling for ye.  Lorna’s missing.” 

Morrie looked up then and saw that Bev was standing behind Kamden, watching her with interest. 

Kade took a step back from Morrie, his attention on his brother now.

“What do ye mean, she’s missing?”

“I haven’t seen her for two days now.  I finally checked her room and her bed’s not been touched.  There’s a pot o’ stew on the stove that has congealed over.  I’m goin’ tae search for her now.  Will ye come with me?”

“Aye, o’ course.”

“We’ll help you look, too,” Morrie offered, seeing her sister’s agreement in her nod.

“Thank ye.  It’s a lot o’ land we’ll need tae cover.”

Kamden turned back down the stairs, but Bev hovered just at the top of them, waiting for Morrie.

With a glance up at Kade, Morrie moved to slip around him, but he caught her arm, stopping her.  His face was fierce again, determination set on his creased brow.

“Doona think this is settled and doona think ye’ll use this as a means tae escape,” he growled. “Ye’ll no’ be goin anywhere after this, lass.”

Morrie blinked.  “What?”

“I went tae hell and back because of ye.  Ye owe me yer time, if not more than that and so ye’ll be staying wit’ me a little longer.”

Ripping her arm free from his grip, she turned her own flashing anger on him.

“Just who do you think you are, ordering me around?”

“I’m the man burdened with an insolent goddess for his fate.  No god above would side against me for taking what’s due from ye.”

“Insolent!” Her cheeks burned and her fists balled at her sides.  She ached to land several punches on his smug, set jaw.

“Aye, insolent.  And doona argue wit’ me, ye know it’s true.”

He was all puffed up male ego and it equal parts infuriated Morrie and turned her on.  But she would not give into her desires now. 

That she had ever longed for the pig of a man, she would never understand.  To think she had actually considered staying!

“We’re done.”

“Only for now,” he relaxed his stance and grinned. “We’ll be discussing yer relocation tae Scotland after we find Lorna.”

Her mouth dropped at his gall. 

Lifting his chin, he stared down at her with cold resolution.  Too furious to continue, Morrie turned away from him.

“Come on,” Morrie bit out as she grabbed Bev’s arm, spinning her sister around to trail beside her. 

Her fury manifested in heated mutterings.

“Thick-headed, stubborn mule of a hasn’t-changed-in-two-
fucking
-thousand years man.”  Climates changed more than him.  “Evolve, Neanderthal!”

Bev threw Kade a wide-eyed look over her shoulder.  “Morrie getting angry.  You won’t like Morrie when she’s angry.”

She turned and hurried after her sister down the stairs.

C
HAPTER
F
ORTY

“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”

Sun Tzu

Evening came early in the Highlands.  The sun had slipped beyond the horizon, leaving the last fading light of day across the sky.  The fog had rolled back in, settling itself within the dips and hills of the landscape.

Morrie trudged along with her boots falling heavily in the spongy earth, a scowl nestled deeply on her brow.  Her balled fists swung at her side and her heavy breathing came out in loud, steady huffs.

“So things are going well with the Scot…” The always buoyant Bev kept pace with Morrie, not needing to walk as fast with her much longer legs.

“The Scot, the Celt,” Morrie spat never tearing her focus from ahead of her. “Still the same boneheaded thug hell-bent on shackling me into a life of female servitude.”

“Hey, at least you broke your dry spell.  In glorious fashion, I might add.”

Morrie came to a halt, leveling her fury on her sister. “And why did you not tell me you made him immortal?  Why did you let believe all this time he was dead?”

Like a fish gasping for air, Bev’s mouth opened and closed, the wheels working in her mind. 

“Um…well…” she continued to flounder for an answer. 

And then Morrie understood.

“You forgot, didn’t you?”

Wincing, Bev’s shoulders fell and she held out her hands, pleading. “There was a lot going on at the time, and I had just met The Fucking Pict and everything got a little jumbled.”

“It’s been over two thousand years!”

“Yeah,” Bev replied, her eyes wide. “I’ve been really busy.”

“Typical,” Morrie muttered.  Shaking her head, she continued her march.

“Hey!” Bev cried out, chasing after her. “I don’t understand why you’re so upset.  You have him back now.”

“Not without a little humiliation.  He acted like I had done something so terrible with Dagda.  And maybe he hadn’t actually betrayed me, but he also didn’t accept me for what I was—he’s never accepted me for who I am.”

“So he wants you to marry him and live here in Scotland, what does it matter where you live anyway?  You can move from point to point with just a thought.”

Flickering her nervous gaze from beneath her brow, Morrie muttered under her breath, “I can’t, anymore.”

“What?” Bev frowned, perhaps truly not hearing her, which was just…typical!  Of course she’d make Morrie repeat herself.

Huffing, Morrie stopped and looked her sister in the eye. “I can’t move anywhere.  I can’t use my magic.  I’ve…lost it somehow.”

Whistling low, Bev straightened and crossed her arms.

“Lost it?”  Morrie gave her a defeated nod. “How do you
lose
magic?  How do you lose
magic
?  You’re the witch goddess; you’re the trickster.  You’re the only one of us three who has magic!”

“I know!” Morrie cried.  Her words echoed back to her across the hills. “It’s been too long.  I went so long without it that I…I’ve forgotten how to use it.”

Pressing her lips together primly, Bev leveled a motherly look on Morrie and she knew her sister, who normally had the situational awareness of a coke addict with ADD, was going to speak to her with absolute clarity and understanding.

“And
why
did you go so long without using magic?”

Because she’d been heartbroken over losing Chulainn and Bev knew that.  Morrie frowned and didn’t answer.

“You’re right,” Bev shrugged and made a dismissive face. “It’s all just sex, right?”

Morrie hated it when Bev was right!

Sighing, she looked out, wondering where the housekeeper could have possibly gone. 

The cold bled through her clothes.  Morrie cursed not grabbing a coat before she stormed off, but she’d been so angry, she hadn’t been thinking straight. 

She seemed to always have that problem around Kade, he muddled her mind. 

“You know, too, that in that human form you can get knocked up.”

Morrie gasped and choked on it, sputtering and coughing, her eyes tearing up. 

Amused, Bev slapped her on the back a few times, but it didn’t seem to help.

“Ballerina,” Bev offered, holding her arms in a circle over her head.  Morrie continued to heave, doubled over. “Ballerina, fucker!” 

Bev had always believed putting the arms over the head opened the lungs, helping with a cough.

She grabbed Morrie’s arms to lift them up, but Morrie slapped her away, freeing herself from her sister’s grip. 

“Stop it,” she rasped, her throat raw. “I’m fine.”

Still grinning, Bev said, “So I take it you didn’t use protection?”

Morrie gave her a quelling look.  Not only did they not use protection, but she’d been watered more than a country club golf course.

Bev became doe-eyed. “Awww, am I gonna be an auntie?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Morrie growled turning away from her sister.  Laughter followed after her.

A shallow creek cut through the lands, its waters rushing in snowy currents over the round rocks.  Morrie took care as she stepped over them, splashing her way across.

“Oh my gods!” Bev cried out, holding her hands out. “OH MY GODS, STOP!”

“What?” Morrie asked, spinning around.  For once she was a little thrown by her sister’s panic. “What is it?”

Did she spy Lorna?  Morrie hadn’t heard a sound, did that mean the old lady had slipped and fallen, struck her head on a rock? 

Christ, she didn’t think she could face Kade and Kamden with their housekeeper dead in her arms.

With eyes wide, Bev scanned the watery ground below her while she stood perched on a large rock.

“Does this not look exactly like the creek they found ET in?”

“What?” Morrie exhaled.

Bev made a big play to look around. “Do you think we’ll find Eliot?”

Exhaling a calming breath, Morrie continued walking.  “You watch too many damn movies.”

Jumping lightly off the rock, Bev landed on the wet grass with a small splash.  By the way she skipped after her, Morrie knew she was losing focus.

“This is boring,” Bev whined, running up to walk beside her. “Can’t you just throw out your magic and find her that way?”

Morrie glared at her.

“Oh, right.  Sorry.”

They walked on in what Morrie would have wanted to be silence, but Bev chatted the whole way. 

The woods had started to close in on them and Morrie felt like they drew closer to the loch.

Rustling the leaves, the wind had picked up.  The air smelled of rain.  Overhead the clouds struck out the last hint of light.  Another storm was on its way.

“So I told Artie that I know a lot of available hottie cops I could hook her up with, she’s a goddess for fuck’s sake, but she’s still toting that whole celibacy mumbo-jumbo.”

Bev rambled on while Morrie narrowed her eyes. 

They drew near a part of the loch she hadn’t seen before.  Up until tonight, she had not realized how big the lake was, or how far the MacLeod land reached.

“I mean, she’s the moon goddess, she’s gorgeous and she could get any guy she wants, but you know how she’s always been pretty shy.  Nothing like that brother of hers.  They’re both without power, too.  But they lost it long ago when the humans stopped believing in all the gods.  I think the only reason they’re even around now is because you still have some of those New Age hipster weirdoes that have revamped the old beliefs.  But hopefully she went to the Halloween party, I told her she needed to get laid—actually that’s tonight—”

Halloween?

“What did you say?” Morrie turned around. 

They were surrounded in darkness now.

“Which part?” Bev asked just as a howl broke out from beyond the horizon. 

Her eyes lit up with an unnatural light and her head whipped towards the sound.