Wolf at Her Door: BBW Paranormal Romance (16 page)

The tall door opened and across from me was a woman a little older than me in a plaid robe with a thick sash around her waist. She was beautiful with wild red hair and eyes the same color green as Callen's. I thought she looked familiar, but I couldn't place her. Before I knew what was happening, she threw her arms around me and hugged me tight.

"It's been so long, Heather," she said. "Where's Callen? He didn't even tell us he found you."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" I said.

She laughed. "I'm Ainsley, his mother."

Chapter Ten

Heather

Ainsley seemed so happy to see me, it didn't even bother me that she kept hugging me. With her arms around me, she brought me into the house and we sat on a soft brown couch.

"If Callen didn't bring you, then how did you get here?" she asked.

"I looked up his name and yours came up with this address," I said. "I'm sorry it's so late."

"It's never too late for family," she said with a smile. "I know you don't remember me–"

"No, that's not true. I kind of think I do, and that's why I'm here. Callen did something terrible and I want to hate him, but I can't. I feel like I've known him for so long and love him so much that I know he had a reason to do what he did."

"What did he do?" she asked.

"He killed my father," I blurted out.

Her eyes widened.

"I didn't mean to say it like that. It's so hard for me to even talk about, that if I didn't just say it I knew I wouldn't be able to."

"Are you sure it was him?" she asked.

"Yes, he admitted it. But he said he couldn't tell me why."

She nodded and looked sad. "And so the curse continues."

"Curse?"

A handsome man with dark wavy hair like Callen's entered the room. Even though he wasn't familiar to me like Ainsley was, I knew this had to be Callen's father.

"Aye, the curse on my clan," he said as he pushed his hair back from his forehead. "When a MacCulloch falls in love with someone from another clan, they will be torn apart. Fate intervenes to keep the lovers from being together."

"So you're both MacCullochs?" I asked.

"No," Ainsley said. "We only just came together after spending four hundred years apart."

"Four hundred years?" I said with disbelief.

"The MacCullochs are immortal."

"But you just said you're not one. How...?"

I was too stunned to finish my question. So much had happened already in the past two days that I couldn't imagine even more.

I listened intently as Ainsley told me the story of her and Bran, of how she ran away, how she raised Callen with the help of a banshee, and how they traveled together for protection. Then she paused and smiled before she grabbed my hand.

"I should probably let Callen tell you everything, but the reason we're familiar is because of your memories. You and Callen are soul mates. You're meant to be. You have the one love, the love that completes and makes you whole."

"My memories?" I said.

I thought about the dreams I had with Callen and how they were always in different times. As crazy as everything sounded, it made sense. I believed everything Ainsley said. Now I just needed to know one more thing.

Bran looked up towards the door, and his eyes flashed amber as he narrowed them. His face relaxed and he leaned back in his chair.

I knew it was Callen. I got up from the couch and ran to the door. Yanking it open, I saw he was on the other side and I jumped into his arms.

He held me tight, closing his arms around me, and breathed in deep. I felt his heart beating against mine and I finally felt complete and whole, just like Ainsley said.

Opening my eyes, I noticed a blonde woman behind him. My fists clenched as I looked at her.

"Don't worry about me," she said with a smile. "Wolves were never my thing. Plus, I'm taken."

"I'm so glad you're here," Callen said as he traced my jaw with his fingertips. His touch pushed all my jealousy away. "But I wish you weren't here at the same time. I'm afraid for you."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you can't be together because of the curse," Ainsley said, coming to the doorway.

"But you and Bran are together," I said.

"I don't know for how long," she whispered before turning away.

"Niall has risen from the loch," Callen said as he entered the house. "He's on his way here."

"Then I'll fight him," Bran said as he pulled a longsword out of the closet with his hands. "Nothing will keep Ainsley and I apart ever again."

"No, he'll kill you," Ainsley said.

"She's right," Callen said. "Niall has allowed a demon to bond with him, making him even more powerful."

"I was worried something like this would happen," she said.

I couldn't believe how things kept getting crazier and crazier. Two days ago I thought I lived in a strange but normal town. Now I was surrounded by immortal shifters wanted by a demon. I couldn't explain why I was handling all of it so well.

"Who is Niall?" I asked.

"He's where the curse began," Callen said.

Callen told me about Gracelin and the curse. He also explained how he met Faith in the woods after leaving my house and how Gracelin used her to communicate with him. It was surreal to say the least and as much as I wanted to not believe it, I knew it was true.

Ainsley sighed as she wrapped her arms around Bran's waist. She looked up at him, then over to Callen with sadness in her eyes.

"Gracelin confided in me when we were still living in the Otherworld," she said. "I never told anyone what she said, but since Bran and I have been back together, it's been in the back of my mind. The curse usually works with fate to keep the lovers apart. She could never tell me what would happen if fate didn't intervene, but I suspected Niall would rise from the loch."

Gracelin

Centuries Ago, Scotland

When I cursed Niall, I only wanted him to love me. I wanted him to be with me forever. I never thought things would turn out this way.

The Fates are curious creatures though and they like to have fun. My curse not only affected Clan MacCulloch, but me too. It bonded Niall and I together.

The day he heard my sister, Rhianne, had passed to the great beyond, he was livid. I had never seen anyone with such anger and hatred in their eyes before.

"Tell me it isn't true, you witch," he spat. "Tell me that after my searching all these years for her, that my one love isn’t gone."

He drew his sword and held it back towards his shoulders. I didn't know how to answer. I knew that any answer I gave him would result in my death.

The only man I loved stood before me, his blond hair gleaming. The wind whipped his hair and kilt, but his only focus was on me. And not in the way I ever wanted. My heart ached that I caused him so much pain. And when I thought of the others in his clan my curse would affect, I was devastated. I only had one thing to say.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

The sun flashed against the bright metal of his blade as he swung. There wasn't enough time for me to move, and it didn't matter anymore. Where would I go? I held my breath as the man I loved twisted the long blade towards me. Our eyes met as the heat of his blade hit my neck.

His violence and hatred towards me didn't release me. I ended up in the darkness of the Otherworld. I heard giggles and whispers but couldn't see anyone around me. But even before it happened, I knew the Fates had something else in mind.

A black cloak surrounded me and turned me into a hag. When I closed my eyes, the only thing I could see was death. They were deaths that hadn't happened yet, but each death I saw racked my body with sobs.

I don't know how long I was in the darkness before I learned how to bend it to my will and create the world I wanted to inhabit. But eventually, I closed my eyes and saw Niall. He was trying to kill himself.

I appeared, wailing like I always did, this time not only crying for the life he was trying to end but also for the many lives I had hurt. He was standing on the edge of a rocky cliff, looking down, ready to jump when he heard my sobs. He turned to look at me.

"I should have known it was you," he said. "Even as a hag, I still recognize you, Gracelin. You've haunted my nights and my days since I killed you. And now I can't even die to end your torture."

"I'm not doing it to you," I said. "Do you think I would choose to become a banshee? Remember we are bonded, Niall. The Fates didn't see why that bond should end with my death. They're quite tricky, you know."

"You have to help me. I'm begging you. I'm tired of living and without Rhianne in the world, I have no reason to. Kill me, Gracelin, and let me finally join her."

My hood fell back as my hair changed from a dull grey to the vibrant red of my youth. I was young and beautiful again. Maybe Niall would change his mind about living.

"Is being immortal that bad?" I asked. "I'm not asking for anything. I'm already dead and a banshee. But I'm still the woman I was all that time ago. The one you wanted, even if it was only briefly. You have your freedom to travel and go wherever you want–"

"But eventually I would always have to return to you," he said as he jumped off the cliff.

I ran over and watched him hit the rocks and crags. My heart stopped as I watched blood spill from him. I collapsed onto my knees as his body plunged down into the sea. A piece of his kilt had caught on a sharp crag. I grabbed it and held it close, knowing I would never part with it.

As the water became calm, I sat back on my heels in front of the setting sun. He hated me so much that he would rather die than be with me. And yet I still loved him.

When the sun rose the next morning in the Otherworld, I knew something had changed. I woke and pulled a large wool blanket around me as I stepped outside my cottage. Standing in the heather, looking out towards the loch, was Niall. He was in his kilt, his sword by his side. His normally broad shoulders were lowered. He was defeated.

"Kill me, Gracelin," he said. "If you ever truly loved me, then help me by killing me. You know it's the only way."

"I can't," I said. "I can't do it."

Despite how evil Niall had been to me, I couldn't imagine living out the rest of my life in the Otherworld without him. Was I being selfish? Perhaps. Or maybe deep down I liked that he was feeling the pain I felt when we were younger. I didn't know.

"Then you give me no choice," he said. "I need to be somewhere where I cannot see or hear you. This is the closest I can come to death."

He sheathed his sword behind him and climbed down the cliff to the shore. Once there the loch rippled, inviting him to enter.

As he stepped into the calm water, he looked up towards me. His face was calm, stoic, peaceful. He continued to walk further into the water until it covered him.

He never rose from the loch. As the centuries passed, I waited for him to rise, but he never did. Eventually, I began to think of Niall and the loch as one. But I didn't fully understand what lay beneath its glassy surface.

Heather

Present Day, Leeds Point

"And now he's mad," Callen said. "Being in the loch has driven him insane and has allowed a demon to bond with his soul."

"He wants vengeance. He doesn't see love anymore, he doesn't understand it," Ainsley said. "He only listens to the curse."

Looking down, I realized I was wringing my hands like I did whenever I was nervous. I hated to think that my life, or lives, had been dictated by some strange Scottish curse, but there I was unable to completely give myself to Callen because of what happened to my father.

"Are you okay?" Callen asked as he lifted my chin with his finger.

"No," I said, "I need you to tell me what happened the night my father died. The night you killed him. You have to understand that I need to know. I have to understand why you would do something like that because I don't understand why I'm not angry with you. I feel like there has to be a reason, and I need to know why."