Forbidden Fate (Sisters of Danu Book 1)

by Mia Pride

  Pulsing herself against him in rhythmic motions, she could see Liam’s jaw clench as his grip on her rear tightened. “Gwynn…” he breathed as he took her mouth with his with an almost painfully crushing force. “Do you want me as badly as I want you?” he asked as he pulled away.

  Gwynneth was done with words. She was done with them reaching this pinnacle and then being forced away by some unforeseen complication, or some piece of her past that continued to haunt them. This legend that declared him her destiny, had somehow inadvertently kept them apart. Gwynneth was done with allowing outside forces to control her every move. From now on, she was in charge of her own fate.

  Her silence had Liam quaking with worry. Was she changing her mind? Was she ready to push him away again? His heart protested as it squeezed in his chest. If she pulled away now, he would never recover from the loss.

  But she didn’t. In one graceful move, she slid her body up his, wrapping her other long, slim leg around his waist, locking her ankles behind him as she clung tightly to his neck. He was pressed against her and with one shift of Gwynneth’s hips, she slid onto him, arching her back as he filled her.

  “Och, Gwynn…” he groaned as he felt himself gliding deeper into her. It had happened so suddenly. Her brazen move surprised him as she took control, wriggling her hips in tandem with his as he supported her weight by wrapping his large hands around her hips and pushing her deeper down onto him.

  Her hold tightened around his neck as she leaned back and let out a whimper that set his blood to boiling. Out here, surrounded by the wild, they were nothing more than two animals, bringing their bodies together in a mating dance as old as time. The thought brought him over the edge as he growled and thrust harder, running his tongue over her breasts and collar bone as she continued to arch back with small gasps.

  Her body began to tighten and quake around his and he knew she was at her peak of pleasure. Liam couldn’t control the violence of his own release as he roared into the night, gripping her hips tighter as he thrust once, twice, then felt his entire body explode around him into tiny shards of light. In the back of his mind, he knew that he would never be the same again, and yet, he would be whole, for the first time in his life.

  Her body went limp and he could feel her slick chest against his, knowing it was a sheen of sweat that covered them both. The water had seemed to boil with the energy they created and never had he felt warmer in the dead of an autumn night as the love of his life surrounded him in her trembling embrace.

  He tried to lower her back onto her legs, but she clung tighter, refusing to detangle her limbs from around his torso. Pulling back slightly to look into her eyes, he saw a tear trickle down her cheek. “I love you, Liam,” she whispered in between her panting breaths.

  “Forever, Gwynneth. I will love you forever.” He wrapped a small tendril of her damp hair around his finger and clenched it to his nose, inhaling her essence.

  She was shaking with the release of so much tension, both physically and emotionally drained. He carried her onto the shore and carefully laid her down onto a blanket he had set out before. As he lowered her down onto her back, sadness overcame her. She never wanted to be separated from him again. Refusing to release her arms from around his neck, she pulled him down onto the blanket next to her, feeling his wet body wrap around hers with a peace that could only come after the satiation of the body.

  The cool air outside felt wonderful on their heated skin. Liam and Gwynneth were lying on their sides facing each another, her hands around his neck and his around her waist. When Liam looked into her eyes, he could see into her soul. After years of anticipation, they had finally joined themselves bodily, and it was more amazing than either one of them had ever dreamed.

  She was still panting as her heart rate slowed, overcome with such an intense feeling of love, safety, and peace. Wholeness. “Is this normal?” she whispered, her lips so close to his that they brushed together when she spoke.

  He shook his head and chuckled, thinking how the water had heated up around their bodies in the lake as he made love to one of the Sisters of Danu. He had loved Gwynneth for so long, never knowing she was a descendant of the gods…and yet, he had known all along that Gwynneth was much more than a simple mortal woman. “Nothing about this is ordinary.” Then his features switched from playful to curious as he tucked her hair behind her ear. “Can I ask you something, Gwynn?”

  “Anything…” she breathed. Her eyes closed as she rolled over onto her back, finally relinquished her grip from around his neck.

  “Honestly, what made you change your mind so suddenly?” He was still lying on his side, running his eyes up and down the length of her naked wet body. He felt as if he was in a dream and promised himself to always remember this moment with her. Keeping his hands off her was impossible. His fingers began spinning small circles over the curve of her hip, leaving gooseflesh in their wake.

  She opened her eyes hesitantly and chewed on her bottom lip nervously. She debated for a moment and then let out a long breath. “Honestly, tis embarrassing.” She covered her flaming cheeks with her hands. “I have always wanted you. I only refused you after I learned about…Fiona. The thought of you with her made me sick. It still does…” she made a sour face and looked at him.

  He was running his fingers through her wet hair in deep thought. “I know Gwynneth, and I am sorry for any pain I’ve caused you. But I cannot change the past, though I dearly wish I could. I don’t know what else to say---“

  She quickly put a finger up to his lips to cut him off. “You shouldn’t have to say anything. Tis my own insecurities. My own selfish want to solely possess all of you, forever. I started to realize I was, not only being cruel, but potentially losing you with my stubbornness. The thought of you thinking I didn’t want you, and that mayhap you would go back to her…it was too much, I had to show you how I feel about you, before I lost you forever.”

  He was silent and listened quietly as she continued her confession, “It still makes me sick to imagine you doing, what we just did, with her. Really sick. I cannot stand it.” She turned her face away.

  Liam could see a tear start to roll down the side of her face and his heart throbbed to see how much his love meant to her. He grabbed her chin in his hand and forced her to look him in the eye. “Gwynneth, what we just did…I have never done that with her. I have never felt so possessed by anyone the way I did when I was with you. You are my everything. I hope you can someday understand that.”

  He leaned down and kissed her temple, where one salty tear was threatening to run into her hair line. “A chailín mo chroí. I would never have gone back to Fiona when we got home. My entire being is yours. Can you please understand that? From the moment I first met you on that green field picking yellow flowers, my heart was yours.”

  She turned her body into his and wrapped her arms around his chest, giving him a hug and then running her fingers over his powerful back muscles. “You were but a scraggly lad when we met. You have turned into a fine man, Liam Mac Cuill,” she smiled and nuzzled her head into his chest. “Much of my memory has come back. Tis not all there, but I remember important things…I think. I remember meeting you on the hill and you had a yellow flower in your hand.”

  Smiling, he kissed the top of her damp head, “I did that every day, Gwynn. Every single day we met under that tree and I picked you one yellow flower.”

  “Do you think we will actually get to be happy someday?” she looked up at him with uncertainty in her eyes.

  “We already are.” He pressed his lips to hers, taking her by surprise as he grabbed her by the shoulders and flipped her on to her back. “But, perhaps I can to make you even happier. I would certainly like to try...”

  She giggled and pretended to fight him as he swung one leg over her waist, effectively straddling her as he hovered over her body. She could see his obvious desire rising again and felt a thrill run through her body. “Really, Liam? Again?” she squealed with feigned condem
nation, but she relaxed her body under his, preparing herself for whatever he had planned.

  “Aye. Again,” he smirked and his mouth slashed across hers.

  A horse whinnied and Liam stirred in his sleep. He slightly opened one eye and looked at the sky. It was still the dead of the night and he closed his eye again. No longer feeling Gwynneth snuggly tucked against his side, he shivered from the loss of her heat. He must have rolled away from Gwynn at some point in the night.

  After making love on the lakeshore one more time, Gwynneth’s eyes had begun to droop as her exhaustion took hold. Gathering her up in the wool blanket, he carried her satiated, limp body back to the camp, where he had already set up a comfortable place to sleep. His instincts had told him he would share a bed with her on this night, and he was pleased to have had the forethought to add extra blankets on the ground.

  With his eyes still closed, he rolled over and draped his arm around Gwynneth. His arm caught air and landed on the ground with a thud. He could feel the crunch of leaves under the blanket as he skimmed the flat of his palm around, blindly searching for Gwynneth. He felt nothing and sat up quickly, throwing his eyes open wide. She was gone.

  “Gwynneth? Gwynn!” Panic was rising in his chest and he heard a horse’s whinny again. Turning to follow the sound as his stomach dropped with a nauseous anxiety in his gut, he squinted into the night, across the other side of the fire. Just as his eyes focused between his sleep and the billowing smoke, he saw a large black horse. Taking a step forward and wiping the sleep from his eyes, he saw two figures upon the horse. He quickly recognized the largest figure. Though cloaked with a hood, he could see the chiseled jaw, cleft chin, and hazel eyes staring back at him. Baine.

  Gagged and bound in front of him on the horse, was Gwynneth. She gave a muffled scream, but no sleeping person could have heard it over the strip of wool tightly wrapped around her mouth. She was struggling fiercely, but her arms and legs were tied and Baine had his large arm wrapped possessively around her waist. In the blink of an eye, he whipped the reins, the horse whinnied once more, and Baine and Gwynneth were off at a fast paced gallop, to where, Liam did not know. As for why, he was quite certain.

  Chapter 25

  “NAY! GWYNNETH!” Liam’s lungs filled with air and let out a bellow that shattered the peace of the night as he ran over to his horse tied up a few yards away. “Wake up!” he shouted to his friends as he struggled with panic to untie the knots in the rope tied around the tree.

  The men sleepily roused from their beds. The brothers rolled around groaning and cursing under their breath. Duncan, a trained warrior, popped straight up out of bed and was on his feet within a split second. “Wha-what is it?” A dagger was already drawn in Duncan’s hand and he was circling around, looking for danger.

  “Cernunnos’s horns! Baine abducted Gwynn!” He mumbled a curse under his breath as he tried to gain control of his growing panic. “I must have been out cold…” His hands were shaking violently, only making the knot of the rope tighter. He leaned down to pull his dagger out of his boot and sliced through the rope with haste. He stepped over to Duncan’s horse and sliced through her rope as well.

  “He went that way, just now.” Liam pointed the shaking dagger in the direction of their departure. “She was gagged and bound. I’m going to kill that bastard. He isn’t going to make it to Iverni alive.”

  Liam swiftly jumped up on his horse. “Duncan, follow me. Rioghan, Brion and Gorman! Quickly pack up our supplies and track us down. I know you are well trained hunters. Tonight, we are hunting Baine.” With a slap of the reins, his horse surged forward with haste. Duncan ran over to his horse and quickly mounted, following Liam loyally and fearlessly into the forest.

  Gwynneth struggled to escape Baine’s firm grasp around her waist while the horse was traveling at full speed. She knew very well that if she succeeded, she would be thrown off the horse and likely be badly injured. That was a risk she was willing to take. Baine knew she was no longer with child and he abducted her from Liam’s bed in the night. He would consider Gwynneth tarnished and his intentions were clear. His need to hurt Liam was stronger than ever and he would dispose of Gwynneth, or die trying. No world where Liam was both king and Gwynneth’s husband, was a world Baine could live in.

  His arm remained tightly wrapped around her waist, as if an iron band was crushing into her bones. She could hear his heavy breathing as he rode into the darkness, the cold whipping her in the face. She had nothing but her thin night dress and her body had long ago gone numb from the cold and fear.

  She had woken up with his strong hand over her mouth as he swiftly dragged her out of audible distance. This was a planned attack, she had realized, as he pulled out the wool strip of cloth to wrap around her mouth and two long strips of rope to bind her hands and feet.

  “Och Gwynn,” Baine said disappointedly as he successfully bound her appendages. “You were really going to just leave me in that prison while you ran off with your lover into the woods?” His hazel eyes flashed at her and she actually could see pain underneath the hate.

  “I know I wasn’t always the perfect husband, but I had really hoped to work this out. You’ve lost my child. I worked hard on that. I was willing to try again for another,” he puffed in between breaths as he struggled to tie up her struggling body. “After I escaped, thanks to some help from my companions, I tracked your party into the woods.” His voice was a soft whisper, impossible to hear beyond her ears, but she prayed one of the men would stir. He tugged hard on the rope as he tightened it around her wrists. It was cutting into her skin, biting at her flesh.

  He put his face up to hers, breath to breath and bared his teeth at her. “I saw you with him, you unfaithful whore.” He slapped her across the face with an emotionally driven whack of his palm. Her head snapped to the side and left her face stinging with the impact. “I will never touch you again. You are tainted with his seed. Completely worthless to me any longer.” He lifted her restrained body over his shoulder and hoisted her across the horse, her head dangling on one side and her tied legs on the other. She could see all the men sleeping. Liam was facing away from where she had lain. He had rolled over at some point in the night, allowing Baine easy access to her unprotected body.

  He swung his powerful thigh over the horse and lifted her by the waist, sliding her up into a sitting position. The rough shifting of her body caused the horse to whinny. She could see Liam stir in his sleep and roll over. His hands started searching in the night for her. She saw him bolt upright in panic. The horse whinnied again and he saw her. It was too late. Baine slapped the reigns and his horse shot off into the night. She knew Liam would come for her, she just wasn’t sure if he would find them in time.

  Baine had not spoken a word to her since they rode away. His lack of speech was the most frightening detail of her reality. Baine was never at a lack of spiteful, taunting words. He enjoyed causing her pain, both physical and emotional. He was not making an attempt to do either and she was left with haunting thoughts of his unknown intentions.

  As they continued to ride, she could see the terrain changing. It was still night, but a sliver of a moon hung in the sky, giving just enough light to cast a bluish hue across the sky, outlining the view of the silhouetted trees. The thickly grassed floor of the woods started to thin out, replaced with small pebbles of gravel. The clustering rows of trees overhead disappeared and only scattered trees flew past them as they continued on.

  Without the protection of the trees, the wind became more aggressive, blowing her night dress up in the wind around her bound legs. She was already frozen, the wind could no longer sting her skin, but her vision was sporadically obscured by her whipping hair tangling around her face.

  When the wind mercifully pulled her hair away from her eyes, she could see the pebbles on the ground turning into boulders. The sounds around her changed, as well. No longer did she hear the hooting of the owls high in the trees. Instead she heard the familiar sound of white no
ise, rhythmic swooshing sounds all around. The air was crisper, almost heavy and she could smell the saltiness on the breeze.

  It became quite obvious where he was taking her. She could not understand why, but this cliff seemed to be a symbolic place for Baine. He was, once again, attempting to take her to the Cliffs of Moher. Bile was rising to her throat and she felt queasy with fear. She was completely bound with no chance to survive drowning, if she was lucky enough to miss the jagged rocks on the way down. Was this really how it would all end?

  As if reading her mind, he spoke for the first time since her kidnapping. “Do you remember this place, Gwynneth?” It was a rhetorical question, knowing she could not respond. “I do not mean from the last time we were here. I am referring to the first. Or has that memory conveniently not come back to you? Let me tell you the story. It will be the last story you ever hear.” He squeezed her waist tighter, seemingly in affection, but Gwynn could no longer keep up with his shifting moods.

  “When we were first married, you were but fifteen summers, a fragile young woman. I adored you, simply could not wait for you to love me, the way I loved you. I was five years older than you and did not feel it was right to take you yet. I spent the first two years trying to be honorable and win your heart. You always looked sad and mournful, nay matter what I tried.”

  He took in a deep shaky breath, as if trying to control his pain, and continued, “I knew why, of course. I knew about your affections for Liam. I had hoped they were merely childish feelings that would fade away and be replaced with love for me. Lots of women wanted me Gwynneth, but I loved you and I never strayed. I endured two full years of celibacy, just to show you my love.” His voice started to crack with emotion.