Highlander's Kiss

by Joanne Wadsworth

  Her heart leapt within her chest.

  Chapter 12

  “Tavish, Jeremiah rides this way.” A gentle hum whispered through Julia’s mind and her heart lost one very necessary beat.

  “Are you certain?”

  “Very.” Clutching Jeremiah from behind sat a cloaked woman. “Mother’s with him. I hear the gentle hum of her aura.”

  “Stay right where you are. I’m coming.”

  “Mother!” She screamed her name as she stumbled outside. Rushing along the path with her mother’s gentle hum increasing in tempo, she yelled frantically and waved her hands.

  Jeremiah hauled his horse to a stop next to her and sneered, a look of victory sparking bright in his eyes. “Well, well. If it isnae Julia, my wife-to-be. About time you arrived.”

  “I will never be your wife. I am here to rescue my kin and naught more.”

  “Julia?” Mother pushed her hood back, heaved free of Jeremiah and jumped to the ground. Mother grasped her, held her tight. “What are you—I cannae believe you’re—how did you—oh goodness, I’ve missed you.”

  “You’re alive. You’re really alive.” Tears pooled in her eyes and flowed down their mashed cheeks. “Where’s Father?”

  “At the castle. He’s gravely ill and Jeremiah agreed to bring me to the healer for the herbs I need. I must bring his fever down if he’s to survive.”

  “I agreed on one account.” Jeremiah bounded to the ground, his holstered claymore bobbing at his back. “You were to keep your hood in place and no’ expose yourself, even to the healer.”

  “But my daughter—”

  “Julia!” Tavish roared her name as he raced across the field toward her, Tor, Cherub, and Kirk one step behind him.

  “Damn it,” Jeremiah spat. “And now we have even more Mathesons here on our land.” He grabbed Julia around the waist, tossed her up onto his destrier and bounded in behind her. Arms pinned tight either side of her, he slammed his knees into his horse’s flanks and they flew back along the trail toward the castle.

  “Mother! Tavish!” She shoved against Jeremiah’s punishing hold. Behind them on the trail, Tor nabbed her mother and whisked her back through their chamber’s open garden door. The others had gone, had disappeared in the blink of an eye.

  A breeze churned the grass and whipped the long stalks about then a blast of wind hit her. Jeremiah’s horse reared onto its hind legs and whinnied. Its hooves crashed down and she went flying.

  “Got you.” Tavish scooped her out of thin air and plastered her against his rock hard chest. Cherub and Kirk stood right behind him. “Let’s just get one thing straight, for once and for all. Where you are, is where I need to be.”

  “Aye, I agree.”

  “Julia, come.” Cherub nabbed her hand and tugged her backward.

  Jeremiah bounded from his horse, landed on the ground and stormed toward Tavish. He swung his claymore from its holster and Tavish thrust his sword high and blocked Jeremiah’s fierce blow. “Who are you?” Jeremiah scowled at him.

  “Tavish Matheson, Julia’s mate and her handfast husband.”

  “If you’re her husband, then you stand in my way.” Jeremiah came at Tavish, slashing again and again in a clear attempt to take him down as quickly as he could. “Be prepared to die. Julia will be my wife afore the end of the day.”

  * * * *

  Tavish sprang forward and fought. It was time for Jeremiah MacKenzie to learn that no one would ever take his wife from him, a message he intended to make certain got through. He certainly had no greater incentive than to fight for his woman. He slashed and Jeremiah met each of his deadly strikes.

  “Whistle out if you need me, Tavish.” Eagerly rocking from foot to foot, Kirk palmed his sword from the sidelines, his gaze narrowed on Jeremiah. “I want in on this fight.”

  “This is my battle, one I intend to win.” He was a Matheson, and no one ever tangled with the ‘Son of the Bear.’

  “Those are strong words, Matheson, but you’re on MacKenzie land and we dinnae spill our own blood here, only that of our enemy’s.” Jeremiah’s gaze glinted with determination and he slammed his blade hard into Tavish’s, one hard strike after another.

  Tavish grunted and fell back a step then bounded back. He struck, his blows strategic as he came at Jeremiah first on one side and then the other, all wielded in order to weaken his enemy. He blocked Jeremiah’s next high swipe then dropped low, rolled clear and came up on his adversary’s flank and struck again, swiftly and surely.

  “Nice move, Tavish.” Kirk gritted his teeth. “Now bring him down so we can find Julia’s father and be done with this lot.”

  “I’ll be right with you.” He met each of Jeremiah’s blows with the same intensity as the aggressive warrior heaped on him.

  “Tavish!” Julia pulled free of Cherub and rushed toward him, her golden locks streaming behind her. “Dinnae get hurt, no’ one scratch. Do you hear me?”

  “Get back.” He glared at Kirk. “Keep her behind you and safe.”

  Kirk hustled Julia out of the way.

  Jeremiah struck his ribs, the blow ricocheting and rattling his teeth. Damn it. He should have been keeping his focus on the warrior he fought and not on his mate. Julia screamed as MacKenzie swung again.

  He caught the next blow and arms shaking, shoved his two-handed sword hard against Jeremiah’s. He heaved forward and battled. Whisking his blade through the air, he caught MacKenzie off guard and sliced into his arm.

  Jeremiah grasped his bicep and growled as blood poured through his white-knuckled fingers. Not a death blow, but a damaging one all the same for a warrior who would need his sword arm if he wished to fight.

  “This battle isnae over.” Snarling, Jeremiah nabbed his horse, bounded onto the beast and rode toward the castle, his injured arm swinging loose at his side.

  He should have expected the man to run once injured, wanted to chase him and put an end to the fight only Julia ran toward him and he caught her in his arms and gripped her tight.

  “We have to reach my father afore Jeremiah does.” She clasped his face and kissed him. “Thank you for coming to my rescue.”

  “You’re to go straight to your mother. Tor will watch over you while Cherub, Kirk, and I see to your father’s rescue. We’ll find him, that I promise you.” He dug his fingers into her hair and kissed her with all the fierce need contained within his soul. Seeing her in MacKenzie’s hands had nearly halted his heart from beating. “We’ll meet you on the hill where we first arrived. Tell Tor. He’ll get you and your mother there without any issue.”

  “My father is ill, sick with a fever. Mother never had the chance to explain more than that. Be careful.” She kissed him again. “Stay safe and come back to me.”

  “Always.”

  Julia raced back to the inn and he wiped his blade on the grass, sheathed it then grasped ahold of Cherub. He had a mission ahead of him, one he couldn’t falter in. “Let’s be away.”

  “Hold tight. We are running out of time and I’m going to make this flight quick.” Cherub cloaked the three of them and took them high. They flew over the curtain wall and descended down into the bailey before the tower house.

  Jeremiah galloped through the main gate. “Secure the keep. Our enemy has arrived,” he bellowed and all hell broke loose.

  * * * *

  Fear and worry coiled deep in Julia’s gut as she left Tavish and ran back to the inn. Leaving her mate to fight this battle without her at his side had been the most difficult thing she’d ever done. With her heartbeat a raging mess, she stumbled through the garden door and inside the chamber. She drank in the returned sight of her mother. Even though she looked pale, dirt smeared across her cheeks and her skirts ragged, she was still alive and that was all that matter.

  “Mother.” She grasped her close, ran her hand over her fair hair pulled back into a long plait and let the tears flow. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” Mother rocked her in her arms, the gentle hum o
f her aura a sweetly soothing sound she’d known since the day of her birth and that had only ever brought her comfort. “Tor just explained everything to me, that you’re mated to his brother, Tavish, and that you’re here to rescue your father and me.”

  “Did Tor explain that they’re from the future?”

  “Aye, that your sister is mated to a man named Finlay, who’s from Tor and Tavish’s clan. The ‘power of three’ has been unveiled and Nessa’s prophecy set in motion.” She shook her head as if dazed. “I cannae believe all that has happened while we’ve been gone.”

  “What of Father?”

  “He’s so sick. A week past, he suffered a nick to his arm from one of the warrior’s blades and the wound festered and a fever rose. It rages strong and willnae abate. I convinced Jeremiah to take me to the healer. He didnae care to lose his prisoner afore the fortnight of time had expired. Jeremiah told us of the MacKenzie’s demand sent to Gilleoin.”

  “Tavish is a gifted healer, one they call a doctor in his time. Father couldnae be in better hands once Tavish finds him.” She glanced at Tor. “Tavish said to take us to the hills where we first arrived. He’ll meet us there with Father, the moment they’ve rescued him.”

  “Then let’s be away, before the enemy storms this inn.” Tor opened the outside door and gestured them through. “To the stables. We’ll ride.”

  She gripped Mother’s hand and tugged her out the door and around the side of the inn to the stables.

  Tor halted next to two horses tethered to a post, cupped his palms and tipped his head toward her. “You first, Julia. Speed is of the essence.”

  She set her foot in his hold and he hefted her up then aided Mother as she mounted in behind her.

  “Hold tight.” With the reins in hand, she slapped her horse’s neck and bolted from the inn, her mother’s arms wrapped firm around her waist. Tor galloped in beside her and they rode up the hilly trail to the crest. “Where’s Father exactly?” she shouted over her shoulder. “I can inform Tavish. We have a merged link of the mind.”

  “Your father’s on the upper floor of the main tower.”

  “Tavish.”

  “Tell me you’re safely away.”

  “I am. Father’s being kept on the upper floor of the main tower.”

  “We’ve already searched within the dungeons below and we’re heading that way now.”

  “Then hurry.” She urged her mount onward and upward, made the top rise and sat high on her stead. MacKenzie’s stronghold sat on the jutting rock at the tip and guardsmen swarmed the battlements. “They know you’re there.”

  * * * *

  With Julia’s warning ricocheting through his mind, Tavish negotiated the cramped inner stairwell of the main tower in the near dark, Kirk and Cherub right behind him. The space was tight, designed that way to ensure a man couldn’t swing his sword should the tower be under siege. He made the second landing where a trace of light trickled through the slatted boards covering a narrow window and he nodded at Kirk and Cherub. “Two more floors to go. We’re almost there.”

  He scaled the next two flights then halted at the very top, his senses on full alert. The gloomy corridor, this one lit by one single candle in an iron wall sconce, held three cells with wooden doors and a mail-clad warrior standing on guard outside the last one.

  As the warrior straightened and glanced their way, Cherub nabbed him and Kirk and swiftly cloaked them.

  “Tavish, I’ve got this one,” Kirk whispered.

  They crept closer.

  A clunk sounded and the guard grabbed his steel helm which now held a dent in the top that matched the length of a blade, Kirk’s blade. The guard’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and he slithered to the floor, his keys jangling at his side.

  “Nice hit,” he slapped Kirk on the back as Cherub released and uncloaked them.

  “They drop fast when they don’t see you coming.” Kirk grinned as he tapped the downed man’s steel helm once more with his sword. “The next one’s yours.”

  “Thank you.” The urge to fight still flared strongly through him.

  “Hopefully there won’t be a ‘next one.’” Cherub lowered to the guard’s side, hauled his keys from his belt and tossed them to Tavish. “Unlock the door and let’s pray there’s a window. I need fresh air in order to work with my element.”

  Tavish turned the key and shoved the door open.

  A candle flickered on the floor next to a single pallet wedged in the corner. A ratty gray blanket covered the legs of a man who could only be Julia’s father. Aleck Matheson’s arms were outstretched and each of his wrists restrained with cuffs and pulled back against hooks.

  “Who goes there?” Aleck rasped, his voice weak and his gaze cloudy. He rattled the chains, his hands fisted as if he were fully prepared to fight even though immobilized. “I demand you bring my wife back to me.”

  “Aleck, ’tis Cherub.” She rushed to Aleck’s side and pressed one hand to his forehead. “You’re hot, very hot.”

  “Cherub?” He blinked, his body burning with a fever and the heat easily reaching Tavish. They’d arrived just in time. He waited one step back as Aleck got his bearings and understood they were here to help him, not hurt him. “Is it really you, Cherub?”

  “Aye, ’tis me, and Adair is safe and waiting for you on the hills beyond this castle. I’ve brought my mate, Kirk, and his cousin, Tavish. They’re Mathesons, from Gilleoin’s future clan and Tavish is mated to Julia, your Julia.”

  “Nessa’s prophecy has been unveiled?”

  “Aye. You and Adair have missed a great deal during your imprisonment. Are you ready to leave?”

  “Aye, and quite some time ago.” His pale hair, dirty and long and shaggy, swayed about his sunken cheeks as he shoved his wrists out.

  “Here, I’ve got the key.” Tavish knelt before Aleck, rustled through the keys and slotted one that appeared the right fit into the lock. With one swift turn, he released the lock and the cuffs clanked open and fell away. Aleck tried to hold himself up, but he swayed. Weak he might be, but strong of heart he was. “I’ve got you.” Tavish heaved Aleck up and slid his arm under the man’s shoulder. “Brace yourself against me as needed.”

  “I’ll un-board this window.” Kirk slid his blade between the wooden slats over the window and cranked one of them off then tore the rest free with his hands and flung the window open.

  Tavish whistled at the sheer drop that would see any man who tried to escape this way end up a mangled mess on the jagged rocks below. The sea crashed in and sprayed high. “There isn’t a chance we can all fit through this window, Cherub.”

  Footsteps thumped up the stairs.

  “I dinnae need the window, Tavish, just the fresh air.” Cherub stepped through the door into the darkened passageway, twirled her fingers and sent the wind streaming through the open window whooshing past her and slamming into the warriors pounding their way. Grunts and bellows sounded. Hands dusted, she closed the heavy wooden door and shoved the bolt home. “My apologies, there is a need to lock us in since I dinnae wish for any of our enemy to jump into the portal I open. This will be a trip for four and no more.”

  “A sound idea, my imp.” Kirk clasped Cherub around the waist. “Grab ahold, Tavish.”

  Supporting Aleck at his side, he nabbed Cherub’s other arm and motioned for Aleck to do the same.

  Once they were all connected to her, the Fae Angel of Love grinned then did as she was born to do, her duty, that of protecting and guarding her kin. A more dedicated protector of their people, Tavish had never known. With a flick of her fingers, she swirled the fresh air tunneling around them and sent them falling away through the most blessed portal ever.

  A few moments later, they reemerged in the clear light of day on top of the rise overlooking the inn, the wind churning all about and his mate sitting astride a horse with her mother behind her and Tor atop a second horse. Relief poured through him.

  “I love you,” he whispered then sent that
love swarming down their link.

  * * * *

  “I love you too.” Fresh tears streaked down Julia’s cheeks as Tavish’s love saturated her along their link. She tossed one leg over her horse, jumped to the ground and bounded into his arms. She ran her hands over him, checking him for any sign of an injury. No nicks or even one scrape. She grasped her father, his body gaunt and hot but oh, he was alive and that’s all that mattered. “I cannae believe I have you and Mother back,” she cried as she hugged him. “I’ve missed you, Father, more than my heart could bear at times. I see you’ve met Tavish. He’s my mate and handfast husband. We’ve no’ long spoken vows.”

  “I’ve missed you too, cannae believe you’re here.” Father held out his hand for Mother and she dashed across and joined them, snuck under Father’s other arm and helped to hold him up as Tavish did too.

  Jiggling about, she hugged both her parents and allowed her sheer joy and happiness its release. “Father, Tavish is a healer in his time, and you must allow him to look after you. He’ll rid you of your festered wound and fever.”

  “All I desire is to have my family close and to be together once more.” Father glanced at Tavish. “Thank you for coming to my rescue. Glad I am to see my daughter has such a courageous and loyal husband.”

  “I would do anything for you, for both your daughters or your kin.” Tavish glanced at Cherub. “Have you enough strength to transport us back to the future? The sooner I tend to Aleck, the better.”

  “Of course. I have rested up enough, and seeing my kin safe and well has given me an added boost of energy.” Cherub swished into the center of their group and twirled her hands through the air. “Everyone hold onto me. We’re heading to Kirk, Tavish, and Tor’s time.”

  They all did as she bid and the air churned.

  Tavish caught Julia close as they fell away into the dark and breezed through the endless streams of time. Gently, he stroked the back of her head, each soft and loving caress warming her through from the inside out.

  She snuggled deeper into his embrace, her parents either side of her. Wonder and love filled her heart. She had her parents back and she’d never let them go again, or the man she’d been gifted with as a mate. She opened her mind more fully to his and shared every one of her thoughts. “Thank you for returning my family to me. You’ve given me the greatest gift.”