Miranda

by Sherry Foster

  Chapter Eleven

  “What have you done? My own family has rejected me and I know it is something you did.”

  “I don’t believe I ever mentioned being able to stay in touch with your people. I have not waged war against them for birthing you. Though do not make the mistake of thinking it was not a consideration. But what need have I to destroy your people when I can turn them against you instead. If you can get them to remember you, by all means, keep your little shifter friends. Do you think me a fool? Do you think I know not the power of the oath you would give to your kind had I not demanded otherwise? Foolish wolf. Your loyalty means you must choose this clan over your people despite what you may feel. But I am no child without consideration of the future. You would destroy me were it within your power. By taking away your people I have pulled your fangs. You can not strike against me alone and you will never gather others to strike with you.”

  “How dare you. I know you care naught for your daughter, only for the power she brings you, but I have family in that pack. My mother, father and brother are part of that pack. You would turn my own family against me for power? What unholy hell did you spring from to care so little for the feelings of others? How did one such as you raise such a caring and considerate daughter. You should be proud of her but she is naught but a possession to be used by you.”

  “Of course she is a possession to be used. What use had I to birth her if not to further the clan?” Miranda spit the words out. Flames danced from her hands and she kept plenty of room between her and her daughter’s mate. He might not know the power he could wield, but she did. Never would he get close enough to touch her, she could not allow that to happen. “Tis a foolish foolish man who ventures too often into the belly of the beast. Did not your people teach you so? Are the scars you wear not enough yet? Were the screams of your mate not enough to teach you wariness? So stubborn a man you would continue to go against my laws? At the cost of your mate? I have spoken and so it will be for all of eternity. You will be pack-less while you live. No one will remember you or yours. No pack will know you, no pack will take you. Your loyalty will be to the clan until eternity. As I have spoken so shall it be, now get out.”

  Donovan stumbled from the room distraught. Nathaniel had been correct when he said the price would be high but even he had been surprised at the price Miranda would demand. Three months ago Donovan had gone to his Alpha, he and Merry both, and explained the situation as they understood it. Seamus had not understood, no one had, but he had not stood in the way either. Seamus had released them from their oaths that day and the pair had returned to the castle. The training Miranda had demanded seemed to lesson the feeling of power and warmth the pair felt but they did not understand enough about what was going on to protest. Merry had done some asking of other clan members and felt she understood. Their power had to be tempered or it would destroy them.

  What they had not expected was the reaction of the pack. They made it a point to visit weekly yet every visit seemed stranger than the last. The pack turned more away from them, treated them more as strangers each time. The last visit had shown no one in the pack remembered their names, not even his family. He did not understand but he knew it would only get worse as time went on considering how protective packs were around strangers.

  The last and only time Donovan had gone against Miranda he had suffered. The fire she used against him left scars on his back which he would wear the rest of his life. But his pain had washed through his mate and her screams haunted his dreams at night. He needed to find a way for the two of them to be free of the clan, but he didn’t know enough to make a plan. Where could they run to when she could always feel them. Where would they hide if she could trace the link through her daughter? He needed answers and the only one old enough, with enough power to help him was Nathaniel, and he had refused.

  Nathaniel loved his niece, she was the daughter he would never have, but he knew things he wasn’t telling. Donovan needed those answers but Nathaniel refused to give them. He thought if Merry and Donovan would embrace the clan ways fully they would fit in and everything would be grand. But Donovan could never submit to the clans, not if it meant losing his family. Not when the clan was led by such a witch as Miranda. He worried over the situation constantly. He and Merry had long talks about what was going on in the clans. Merry had found out that all the clans were now joined under Miranda and the only way they could see for that to happen was because of their mating. If Miranda’s clan and the McGregor clan were equal before and now Miranda had more power with the only difference being their mate bond, then they figured they were the common denominator. His mate agreed but they were no closer to an answer than before they started their questions. He would have to ask Ira and hope he could get some answers.

  Chapter Twelve

  “It is the only way I can see to be free of her.” Donovan paced as he explained to Ira what he was thinking. When he had first approached Ira with the plan the man had been against it. But over the last few weeks, as things played out with his pack and with Miranda Ira had come around.

  “You can not tell anyone what you plan to do. I will help you, but you must take Jolene and me with you. We will give to Merry our pledge of loyalty, but you can not leave with her without us. Jolene and I, we can’t have children, Merry is as a daughter to us and well, we want to see our grandchild one day. Oh we know the child will not be our grandchild, but to us the daughter you have will be as close as we will ever get to a grandchild.”

  “Ira my good fellow, you and Jolene are welcome to come with us. But we do not even know yet where we will go or if we can win free of Miranda. I can not see a way to be free of the link she has and if you know I surely wish you would tell me. Truly I do not think I can continue in this way much longer.”

  “Come, today is my half day. Gather your mate and I will request my wife pack a lunch for us and we make a holiday of the rest of the day. We will let on we are going to train far from the castle and Jolene will be along to wait upon us as we shall take our dinner on the moors. No one will question training in such dangerous arts far from our abode. Shall we meet in the stable when the clock strikes the hour?”

  Donovan stared at the man before a smile slowly crossed his face. “You do know of a way. Get us free of the link and you and Jolene can help us raise our children.”

  The sly look on Ira’s face disappeared to be replaced with one of sorrow. “You don’t know do you? I thought, Donovan my friend,” Ira shook his head and gathered his thoughts before continuing, “to tell you the truth though, I do not believe Merry herself knows. Miranda’s line is cursed. You and Merry, well, you will only ever have one female child. No great lot of children, I am sorry.” He swallowed hard, “I don’t know if even Merry has ever been told. We didn’t think it of any importance, or maybe we didn’t think it so unusual as to bring up. Most clans are cursed in some manner or other, the infighting has been disastrous over the centuries. Mayhap, can we break free of the clan, the curse will fall. But I count not on the goodwill of the fates for they are as fickle as the wind. But go and get your mate and we will strive to put this all behind us and begin anew.”

  Donovan closed his eyes, lonely was the child who had no other to grow with. Straightening he nodded at Ira and turned to walk away. Children or no he must save himself and his mate. The future could care for itself or not at all. If they could not win free the future would not matter as Miranda would surely gain control of any child they might have.

  ***

  Later that evening as Donovan and Merry went over the plan again she voiced her doubts and her fears. “I don’t think it will work. This plan is going to backfire so badly and she will kill us, she will kill Ira and Jolene and Fiona…”

  Donovan placed his finger against her lips. “Hush now, you heard Ira, the servants have been planning something like this since you were a small child. They have woven magic through you from the day you were born. The plan will work, it has to. Your alli
es number seven here in the castle, but if we are to win free we must not use them all. Tis unlikely all could continue to stand against your mother. Ira and Jolene have planned well even if the plans meant cutting out the others. Twill work. We must trust all will be well.”

  “And if it doesn’t? What then? Can not we ask Uncle Nathaniel to help us?” Merry worried at her bottom lip and the despair washed through Donovan at the fear coming from her in waves.

  “No. Ira explained everything. He will send to the McGregor clan for Lieth to come with some tale of destroying me. He will help me destroy the man instead and in the instant that the man dies and the magic runs free he will work to sever the bonds going through you while the magic is wild and nothing can be traced. In that instant Miranda will not realize she has control of the clans without your focus. By the time everything settles she will still wield control and everyone will believe Lieth killed you and you took him with you. They will believe me dead also and we can escape to the colonies England has across the sea. All will be well and we can start afresh. It will work, it has to.”

  “But she will know, I mean, if Lieth and I were both dead her power would be equal still to the McGregor clan.”

  “Stop. Twill not be equal. Not if we do exactly as Ira has told us. The link must be broken and the magic from Lieth funneled to her. If in the instant of his death Ira and Jolene can indeed do as they say then his link will replace yours and his magic will become your mother’s. She will think she gained your power as you died but by my dying with you she will gain my power also. Come now, I am not clan but I believe it to work. She will feel she has more power and know it is greater than the McGregor clan. She will think Lieth’s death funneled his power back to his clan. If she believes you are dead and me with you then of course she will believe the stolen power to be from us. So she will believe the tale, she has to believe it. She will never realize the power she gains came from not the two of us but from the McGregor clan. They might suspect something when they gain no power but we will be away by then. Knowing she gains both our power were we to die makes me realize why she cares naught if we are no more. Only for a child of ours does she wait, we know this now, so we do this or we die true by her hands later. She will never willingly let us go. Not if we hold such power and will hold more. Not if a child we have would hold even greater. No, the plan is sound and we shall do this. We must be away the same day so I will gather our things, such as I think we can take, and we will flee to the pack where Ira will try to gain us admittance. For only as long as it takes us to flee to the new world.” The bitterness at knowing he would need to depend upon another to gain him back into his own pack seeped through the last statement.

  If there was a desperation to their lovemaking that night only the two of them knew why.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Now remember, he will throw his fire at you and you must stand still. Whatever you do sir, please do not move. I will not lie, it will hurt both of you. But you must stand true and not waver. Your lives, all of our futures depend on the two of you standing still as the flames wash over you, do not, under any circumstance touch each other. You must stand apart. Now, do you remember which way to face? Both of you?” Ira looked from Donovan to Merry and back again, their nods giving him cause to breathe a little easier. If they knew all of what he attempted they might back down. He could not have that so he and Jolene and failed to tell them everything. Their lives, all four of them, depended on the two playing the part he had given them.

  Ira jerked his head around when he heard the bell sound from Jolene. He hurried back down the path to find Lieth waiting for him. Instead of immediately taking the blackguard to where the pair were he lingered which gave Jolene time to get into place. He spent the time telling Lieth how the shifter was impossible to train and other lies. He told him how they could sneak up on the pair. After assuring himself the man was eager to end Donovan and telling him how the pair were not true-mates after all so Merry would be unhurt by the encounter he estimated everything should be prepared. As he led the man down the path to Donovan he prayed to his goddess as he had never prayed before, uncertain she would even listen after what he and Jolene had already done.

  When the two rounded the path Donovan jerked around to face them, anger radiating outward in waves. Lieth did not say a word before flames shot from his hands toward Donovan. Instinct almost made him duck and standing still when the flames hit him would be another nightmare which would wake him in the centuries to come. As the flames stuck he had a fleeting thought that maybe the entire plan was a trick to get rid of him. He almost ran then but he stood fast and trusted the love he had seen in Ira and Jolene’s eyes for Merry. The pain was excruciating and he heard Merry begin to scream. Before he could give in to the urge to flee taking Merry with him he realized the pain was not the pain of flesh burning as it had been when Miranda had scorched his flesh to teach him a lesson. So intent on his pain, and the pain of his mate, he barely noticed when the other man began to burn. The screams filled the air, his, Merry’s and the stranger who had been so cruel to his love.

  He felt wild lashing pain inside and out and the air was filled with lightning and fire. He felt his knees weaken and he longed to go to Merry. Never again would he put his trust in another for something like this. If he had known, but even then what could he have done? He felt someone pulling at him and realized he had gone down, hard. He pushed himself up and heard rather than saw Jolene trying to get Merry to get up.

  “Come sir, up with you we must be away. Jolene has Merry, come now one foot in front of the other.” Ira frantically urged Donovan to his feet. He could smell the acrid scent of burned flesh and he saw three bodies laying where once Lieth had stood as he stumbled to his feet. Barely had he regained his footing than Ira was pushing him forward toward the side gate where the stolen carriage waited. He saw Jolene half pulling half carrying his mate and he put on a determined burst of speed to catch up. Or, he tried, but his legs were not under his control as he needed them to be. Half stumbling he and Ira followed their mates to the gate where they struggled into the carriage. He grabbed Merry and his world went dark.

  When he woke he struggled to sit up and look around. The carriage was not moving and he wasn’t sure what woke him, if anything. He checked Merry but she was still out and his soft murmurs did not wake her nor did her wolf stir when he called to her. He got louder as he tried to wake her but before panic could set in Ira called softly to him, “My lord, cease. She is fine, merely exhausted physically and mentally. Please, let her sleep, she will awaken when she has rested. Can you give me a hand?”

  When Donovan climbed from the carriage he found Ira had a camping spot set up and he could not see the road from the carriage. Looking around he saw they were in a clearing with the horses tied up near a small stream. “Nice place, but this is not my pack’s territory.”

  “No, I thought to go there later, we smell of death and Merry and Jolene need to rest. They bore the brunt of the attack. We can use the stream to wash the stench away and rest up. Tomorrow will be soon enough to continue to the territory. Help me finish setting up camp. We are some distance from the road and though no one will be looking for you and Merry, they may very well look for me and Jolene. No camp-fire and keep the noise to a minimum. We don’t want to be found before we are ready, well, we don’t want to be found at all. But as weak as we all are we would stand little chance of protecting ourselves. Come, give me a hand.”

  “What happened back there? I saw three bodies. What kind of person was that guy to be able to shift into three people as he died? I am fair confused about what I saw.”

  “Best we not discuss it here. Tis a tale for later days when we are far from this land and safe from the clans.”

  “Ira, what did you do? What was he? Some demon from the pits of hell? Is this a clan trick? This is how you gain powers? You what, take the powers from someone you kill and they become part of you? Did that, what I saw, did it mean he had killed
two others to become as strong as is claimed?”

  Ira started rubbing his head, “Enough my lord, he was not three people. We had to have three bodies else there would be no tale to be told of you and Merry dying. Think man. What do you think happened? The only way we could get the two of you away was to kill you, but we needed bodies or no one would think you dead.”

  “So where did you get the bodies?”

  Ira shook his head and turned away to face the creek. When he turned back Donovan saw the look of devastation, eyes staring into the distance but seeing nothing. He started to speak a few times but finally he shrugged and turned away again but Donovan saw the utter loss on the man’s face before he could hide it. Still he waited for Ira to speak. But it wasn’t Ira who spoke, it was Jolene.

  “Merry is our child. We raised her and gave her comfort when her mother would slap her and call her names. We shielded her when we could and claimed blame for her actions when we could. We told you there was nothing we would not do for her. We needed bodies, we needed to save Merry. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the ones you love. Sometimes it isn’t you that pays the price for your choice. Leave it be. It can give you no comfort to know who paid the price for your freedom.” Racking coughs shook her body and she fell back onto the blanket she was laying on as Ira rushed to her side. He shot a glare at Donovan before gesturing to the other blankets.

  “Best finish what we started and bring Merry from the carriage. She will rest easier in your arms tonight than curled up in the floor of the carriage. I have set up some slight protections to alert us of any approach. We need rest, we need food, and we need to plan. If Merry awakens feed her, the basket is there.” He pointed to the basket beside the carriage wheel. “If she continues to sleep, lay her down and hold her. She will heal faster in your arms than alone. Such is the way of a true-mate yes?”