“You...wait, you mean in this war thing?”
“Yeah!”
“Jon, I can't...”
“What?” Jonathan asked, his face falling in disappointment.
“Look, I know it's important to you, but I have somewhere to go. A home. Somebody waiting for me. I just needed to know if you're all right. Al came by and told me about you and I had to see for myself. I missed you so much...”
Now that they were together again, there were no words that felt sufficient enough to explain what he'd been through. The terrible guilt and misery he'd felt when he believed he was truly alone in the world. He had nearly killed himself in his grief, but somehow, he'd been brought to this woman's room and spared.
“I missed you too,” Jonathan said. His face had aged considerably, and he looked much older with the scruff thick around his face. “Listen, we're still in the planning stages. Talk to your family; think it over. We seriously need the help. We could get killed out there, but I know how skilled you are. You could make or break this thing for us.”
“Forget about it,” Jonathan begged, gripping his brother's forearm. “Just come back with me. We have everything you'd need. I swear, it's perfect.”
“I'm sure it is,” Jonathan said, pulling gently out of his brother's grip. “But this expedition was my idea. I'm responsible for risking those men's lives. I can't just leave him there to die. Not when there's something I can do to save him. You can help me or you can go home; those are your choices. It's not safe for you to stay if you're not going to be a part of this. I'd rather you were safe anyway, little brother. You have no stake in this war.”
Jax opened and closed his mouth in disbelief. He had finally found his brother, but after all this, he might very well lose him again in a needless battle to save one man's skin.
“It's not just for me,” Jonathan said, lightly punching Jax on the shoulder. “I need to safeguard the future of the children in the community up there. It's a really solid place, you know. They're trying to start something special. Get a real society going again. Not like the turf-war cult hell down south. I'm behind this one hundred percent. Maybe when this is over, you and your family can join us. You'll know where to find me.”
He winked at Jax and turned away, walking out the doorway. And just like that, his brother was gone again.
Chapter 8
“How did it go with your brother?” the sultry woman asked when she returned to her bedroom. Her voice brought another surge of longing to his loins as he remembered the way it felt when she was touching him in his sleep. But he was also angry and disgusted by her and refused to meet her gaze.
“It's not really any of your business," Jax snapped at her. She smiled, a glow that radiated from across the room, and Jax darkened in response.
“It must not have gone well," she said, coming toward him.
“Please, just leave me alone," he said, looking her in the eye. “There is somebody that I love.”
“Well, she's quite lucky. You're very handsome.”
And with that, the smiling woman disappeared, leaving him alone in the room. He walked over to the fireplace cursing at himself for feeling such an intense burst of longing that he would have no release for. He pulled his clothes on, groaning in discomfort as they grazed his erection, and grabbed his backpack. He was going to head back home to be reunited with the woman he loved most. The woman who he missed so much that he almost resented loving her in the first place.
***
The journey was long and grueling, just as he remembered it on the way there. Unfortunately, it was even harder with the harsh elements working against him. He dug himself a little hole in the snow, creating a wall where the wind was the fiercest and pulled half of the tarp over it. He put the other half of the tarp on the ground to prevent himself from getting wet, packing the snow tightly to create a firm platform. He was elated with the knowledge that his brother was alive, and happy that he knew exactly where to find him. But he was also worried that the pointless war he was fighting might leave him without a family left to speak of.
He spent the next two weeks running as quickly as he could, heading back home to Layne. At night, he was haunted by thoughts of the seductress, and had to force himself to avoid the images of her face and the memories of the pleasure he felt during the sensual dream he'd had. He would force his thoughts back to Layne, the last sexual encounter they'd had, and try to keep himself from relieving the burning sensation in his loins. It would make him vulnerable if he did.
Finally, after what seemed like years, the landscape began to look familiar. He followed the path that Al had created until finally he saw the familiar fence coming up in the distance. Before he could get inside, the door flew open and Layne was in his arms. Her intoxicating, rose-scented hair filled his senses, and she moaned immediately as he bucked his hips against her, pulling her pants off of her body and spreading her legs. He lifted her up by the waist and gazed into her sea colored, blue-green eyes.
“I missed you so much," she whispered.
“I missed you too," Jax whispered, pulling his throbbing member out of his pants and pushing it inside her with a hard shove. She had already been wet by the time she reached him, and threw her head back with a loud moan as the sudden impact made her knees buckle. He carried her inside, thrusting slowly in and out of her as they moved through the snow covered forest floor and toward the doorway of the cabin.
They didn't make it to the bedroom. Instead, he pushed her against the wall and showered her entire body with hot kisses that made her moan and writhe against his body. He had been gone for far too long, and she had missed his muscular torso, and the feeling of his long, thick cock pushing intimately inside her.
She gasped as he groaned loudly and came hard inside her, filling her insides with the hot flow of his orgasm. She hadn't come yet, which he knew, and he moved behind her, pressing himself against her backside and reaching around to cup her firm breast in one hand and slide his fingers inside her with the other. She leaned against him with a moan and he kissed her gently as his penis grew hard again, finally squeezing itself between her legs as it grew more swollen with anticipation.
In a tangle of limbs, they fell onto the couch, and Layne wrapped her long, perfect legs around his waist as he rammed hard into her, sending a shockwave of pleasure through her whole body. She cried out, and he did it again and again, not giving her a break to catch her breath. She arched her back, her nipples pink and hard, and buckled against him as their hot fluids dripped between her legs and pooled on the couch beneath her. She shuddered as she felt him tense up, ready to come hard into her again, and she cried out loudly as she began to quake underneath his powerful body, giving in to the most intense orgasm she'd ever had in her life.
They lay tangled on the couch together, Jax stroking her long, light brown hair lovingly, the light in his dark eyes glowing brightly. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed his forehead, and he smiled sweetly at her.
“What color are your eyes?” she asked him.
“I think they're green,” he said thoughtfully. “But I don't really know. They change sometimes.”
“I hope our baby's eyes are like yours,” she said with a contented sigh.
“What...?” Jax asked, sitting up and staring at her.
“I think I'm pregnant,” Layne whispered.
THE END
Look for Book 2 and beyond in this series ; )
The Highland Legacy
A Runes of Argyl Story
Book 3
Jessica Savage
Copyright ©2016 by Jessica Savage. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Table of Contents
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bsp; 5.
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1.
At the Beginning of all time the great Gods of the Universe sat in the Great Void of Space and looked down upon the world that had been created beneath them. They had already foretold the future of mankind and could see the recklessness and hostility of the centuries to come. Many of the Gods laughed and did not care about the creatures that were emerging from the slime of the waters to stand erect upon the cooling land, yet Odin and Thor and Ares were not too great to realize that their own destinies were aligned with this new and emerging species, and that the very existence of the Gods would come to depend upon them.
To this effect, three stones were cast by each of the great deities from out of the molten pit of the earth and upon each of these stones were placed great powers that only the Gods possessed.
A keeper for each of these stones was nominated from the faithful souls that roamed the earth and these runes were handed down through the centuries, generation to generation of guardians, until such time would come when their powers would be released.
Andrea read the leaflet that she kept in the back of her dressing table drawer. The pamphlet had been part of the display in the New York gallery - describing the ancient relics that Helen had discovered.
It was hard to think that all that had happened in the past was real and sometimes she didn’t even believe it herself, but Alex and the unborn child inside her were constant reminders.
Upon meeting Alex she had decided to remain on Iona; why not? She would be close to Geraldine, the only other person in the world she could confide in. Alex knew nothing, he was a descendant of Alexhander MacDonald but had no clues about the past. Geraldine, his grandmother, had told him nothing. The baby would be born soon, the girl Elizabeth; she would remember nothing of her time in the past. The present was enough for all of them.
Over the months the romance had easily blossomed between Andrea and Alex and it wasn’t long, with the help of Geraldine, before they had rented a small cottage together on the Island. She was two months pregnant but had lied to Alex that it was merely a month. It was, after all, only a small white lie; the child had in reality been conceived over 500 years in the past, and of course the child was technically his - or at least his great–great-great-great-grandfather’s.
She tried not to think about it too much.
Life was good in the main. The pace of life was much slower here on the Island; compared with New York it had stopped, but she preferred it that way. There were only two things that niggled away at her on the long winter nights and one was Steve - her ex. She had left him behind in New York to escape the clutches of her other worry; Helen. Her evil ancestor Helena had been killed way back in time but the present day incumbent still remained. No doubt she knew of her ancestor’s death and was now even keener to possess the three runes that were in Geraldine’s possession; to gain their power and return to the past to take her vengeance and wreak havoc once again.
At first her mobile had been full of missed calls and voicemails from Steve, but as the weeks passed the calls grew fewer. Now almost 9 months had elapsed since she last saw him and she doubted that she would see him again. His ego had been bothered by her leaving, but he was not bothered enough to follow her back to England, even though he believed it was his child she was bearing.
Geraldine had promised that Helen could no longer harm her; with her ancestor, Helena, now dead, she was weakened. There was only one way Helena could be restored and that would be by Helen retrieving one of the runes and travelling back in time to breathe life into her evil ancestor. Without possession of a rune, travelling back in time was impossible. Geraldine assured her that could never happen while ever the runes were kept safe.
Life was slow paced and peaceful on Iona and it was just what Andrea needed. She could run her business from anywhere in the world as long as she had a laptop, mobile phone and a good internet connection, and even Iona managed to provide all of those.
The day was bright and she needed some fresh air. As she stepped outside of the doorway the view never failed to impress her. The cottage was located away from the main centre of the Island, overlooking the Bay at the Back of the Ocean. The title itself conjured up different worlds in her head and she was immediately struck by how little the place had changed over the centuries. Her ancestor, Andra, would have stood here and looked out onto the same view. The roar of the ocean against the shore was mesmerizing; something ancient and powerful in each roll of the waves and she could watch it for hours.
Holding her hands over her swollen belly she felt for the life within. She was almost full term with the baby and could feel the movements within the watery depths.
Life and death, birth and rebirth, as constant as the waves upon the shore.
Andrea shivered slightly. That was the only downfall to setting up home here. There were constant reminders of the past everywhere, each step she took was treading in her ancestors footsteps. It was almost as if Andra was there, watching her every move.
Even after everything that had happened, she could still scarcely believe it, especially in the daytime when everything seemed bright and normal. Her adventures into the past seemed but a passing dream and she would have thought she were mad if it were not for Geraldine to remind her that she was in fact sane; that what had happened over the last few months was real.
She walked slowly across the fields and into the main village. She had agreed to meet Geraldine at the Hotel Columba for coffee before calling in at the Abbey to catch Alex in his lunch hour. The tourist trade was busy at this time of year and his guided tours were proving very popular – he had a way of bringing the past alive for people and the Abbey Trust had made his temporary contract permanent.
Geraldine was as bright as ever and Andrea found it hard to believe that she was 80 years old.
The two were sitting in their regular seat by the window of the small hotel lounge when Andrea’s face dropped as she stared out of the window.
“What’s wrong Andrea, you look like you’ve see a ghost?”
Andrea continued to stare; her face turning pale.
“I think I have; Steve has just walked past the hotel.”
She had never imagined that she would ever see Steve again. With no intention of ever returning to New York, she never expected Steve to turn up here on Iona.
“He seems to be heading for the Abbey Geraldine, I better head him off. I don’t want him to meet Alex.”
Her old friend looked concerned.
“But Steve doesn’t even know about Alex, does he? Wait a moment and collect yourself. He can do little damage. Now, what are you going to say to him?”
Andrea was already standing and putting her coat on ready to leave.
“I’m sorry Geraldine but I have to go. What if he meets Alex and starts asking questions; asking if he knows me? I just can’t leave anything to chance. It’s all too complicated. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Geraldine watched her young friend rush out of the room and her brow furrowed. There was a change in the air and the period of calm was almost over.
He was some distance away by the time she had walked out of the hotel and onto the path, and he had almost reached the entrance to the Abbey.
“Steve!”
She called his name as loudly as she could muster. His pace slowed and he stopped; recognizing the voice he turned to face her.
The sight of him caused her heart to quicken. Andrea thought she was well and truly over him, but they had been together a long time and old habits die hard.
He walked slowly back towards her and stopped a few paces away from where she stood.
“Andrea.”
Struggling to keep her composure she bit into her lip. It was ridiculous that she should feel so emotional; it had been such a long time. Perhaps it was her hormones?
“Andrea, you look great.”
Walking forwards he held out his arms to embrace her.
<
br /> “Big, you mean?”
As he moved in closer to kiss her, she turned her head and his lips pecked her cheek politely.
That was typical of Steve; always thinking that his charm would win her round. Maybe it could in the old days, before Alex, but now things were different.
“What do you want Steve?”
She pulled herself away and he was ruffled by her coolness.
His smile soon disappeared and she could see the anger starting to form behind his eyes.
“Isn’t it obvious Andrea? I’m here for you and the baby. Enough is enough. I’ve left you long enough on your own, given you space or whatever it was that you wanted, but now I’ve come to take you back home. Let’s be sensible about this. I’m staying for a few days in a hotel on Mull. Now be a good girl and come home with me?”
Andrea could feel her temper start to flare.
“How dare you patronize me. And what is there to be sensible about. I’m pregnant – end of. But we’re finished Steve, it’s over and I am not coming back with you to New York, I’m staying here with ...”
She could have bitten her tongue, she had said too much.
Steve’s face grew pale.
“Staying here with whom?”
Her face reddened as she struggled with an explanation.
“With, with...Geraldine of course. She’s been looking after me and I’m making a new life here for myself.”
She didn’t sound convincing and he narrowed his eyes in disbelief.
“So you’re setting up home with a crackpot old pensioner eh? That doesn’t sound likely Andrea. And what about this place, it’s the back of beyond and far too quiet for someone like you? Be reasonable Andrea. The child needs a father and a proper home.”
“It’s not your child.”
BULL: MC ROMANCE (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 6) Page 90
