“I give you my word that we shall.” Cherub extended one arm. “You’re to hold on to me while we’re traveling through the vortex I open. No letting go, otherwise you’ll experience a far rougher journey than what is necessary.”
“I understand. This will be a new way for me to make the journey to Alec’s time.” She’d never traveled through one of Cherub’s portals before, the need to do so never arising. With trepidation and excitement flaring strongly through her, she gripped Cherub’s offered arm. “This I cannae wait for. I’d like naught more than to catch my mate unawares again. I look forward to tussling with him.”
“I doubt this shall be the only time I will ever take you through a portal. I give you my word I’ll always be available to take you directly to your mate in this way should you ever have need of it. Ask, and ’twill be done.” Cherub swirled her fingers through the air and the wind rose and rushed all about.
A portal opened and holding onto Cherub, she fell away with her princess into the churning abyss. Stars blazed within the dark and lightning flashed. Heart pumping, she gasped at the sheer beauty of moving through both time and space. This was far more spectacular and mesmerizing than when she traveled through the dream realm. What an adventure, and at the end lay all her hopes and dreams, of battling with her chosen one once more, and of finding her loved ones and having them returned to her. She had to secure Alec’s aid. Only the best tracker on her side would do, as well as the only man her soul hungered for.
Aye, theirs would be an intriguing battle, one she longed for.
Chapter 5
Annella bumped down with Cherub inside Alec’s darkened, moonlit chamber, the air rippling over the blue curtains pushed back either side of his tall window. His room remained similar to when she’d last seen it, his plush black fur cover rumpled on one side of his bed, his sheets all tossed about. She set her traveling sack down on the luxurious white carpet near his wall-mounted television and touched the scarred wood in the paneled wall where he’d impaled her arm to it. He’d thrust the weapon unmercifully fast, but that she’d never hold against him, not when she’d asked him to cut her.
To his window, she wandered and gripped the windowsill. Below in the inner courtyard, all remained quiet and she pushed the window open and caught the slight thwack of an axe striking wood somewhere deep within the night-shrouded forest. Tonight, the treetops shone a silvery hue under the golden orb of the moon and she breathed deep, took in Scotland’s freshest air and firmed her resolve. She would take on her mate and without any hesitation. “Is that him chopping wood?”
“Let me check with Kirk to be certain. He’s on guard along the battlements, will know if that is Alec.” Cherub touched her head as she opened her merged link with Kirk. She conversed with her mate then nodded. “Aye, that’s your chosen one, out deep in the forest.”
“Then I shall go and confront him there.” She crossed to the door and together they walked downstairs and outside into the gravelly courtyard.
“Should you need me, call out and I’ll come.” Cherub hugged her then glanced up at Kirk where he stood in his kilt and white tunic silhouetted with the moon shining bright behind him. “I’ll be with my mate should you need me.”
“Thank you.” With a deep breath, she marched under the raised portcullis then followed the stony pathway sweeping around to the rear of the castle, her hand on the hilt of her ever-present belted sword. The forest rose high beyond a— She stumbled to a stop. Strange contraptions with wheels and shiny coats in a myriad of vivid colors sat side by side within the clearing she’d entered. How unusual. What were these beasts? She trekked toward the first enclosed cart and stroked one finger over the glass window then along the edge of one smooth, painted side. Metal. Incredible. This contraption must be one of this time’s conveyances, and with its fortified strength it would surely be able to repel arrows or the strike of a warrior’s blade when one sat fully encased within. How clever. Only where were the necessary attachments so the horses could be secured to the front? Frowning, she wandered around the wagon then stuck her nose against the glass window at the front. Inside, luxurious and heavily padded seats took pride of place front and back, along with a small wheel at arm-height before the front seat. What a strange place to put a wheel.
“Those are called vehicles.” A giggle echoed toward her from high on the battlements and Cherub leaned over the crenellation with a grin, Kirk standing guard at her back. “Alec’s that-away.” She pointed toward the worn trail leading through the thick line of pines. “Off you go.”
“Of course.” She’d inspect these vehicles a little more later. With a wave, she trod past the conveyances and into the forest, jumped over the odd trailing tree root and toward the resounding hammering of an axe.
In a small clearing surrounded by trees, her chosen one stood, his biceps rippling as he swung his axe down on a log. Wood splintered with the sheer force of his strike, the moonlight shimmering over his bare chest, his skin all sweaty and glistening, his heavy muscles contracting and well-defined abs making her suck in one very necessary breath. Goodness, her man looked completely edible in those black leather pants which clung to his powerful thighs and rode low on his trim hips. Patting her racing heartbeat, she embraced the heady mix of desire and need rolling through her. With one slow but sure step, she moved out from under the trees. “Good evening.”
Alec halted mid-strike, his legs planted wide and arms raised high, his axe firm in his powerful grip. He lifted his head, locked gazes with her, his golden shifter eyes blazing bright in the moonlight, then he snarled something wicked. “What the hell are you doing back?”
“’Tis lovely to see you too.” She’d stand strong, never allow him to rattle her. Ambling across the lush grass dotted with the odd yellow flower, she halted in front of him.
“I’m not asleep, so either you’ve infiltrated someone else’s dreams to get to me, or you’ve traveled through one of Cherub’s portals.”
“Aye, you’re such a clever bear. I’ve come with Cherub and now stand afore you in the flesh.” She pulled her collar to the side and angled her neck toward him. Entice him, she would. “If you wish to bite me, this mark will stay. Does that sound tempting?”
“Hardly, and cover yourself up.” One narrowed glare as he slammed his axe through the wood. “Why are you here?”
She released her collar, flicked her braid back over her shoulder and walked around him in a slow circle. “Cherub, Kirk, and I will be leaving at first light on the morrow for our enemy’s land, to the place where Father and Ronan were captured by Duncan MacKenzie.”
“And what has that got to do with me?” Every muscle in his body tensed, his stance rigid as he raised his axe again.
“I’ve come to ask you a favor.” Standing at his back, she ran one finger from hip to hip along the top of his pants. “I still cannae reach Father or Ronan in the dream realm, which means Kirk will need to track their scents from Duncan’s campsite. Two trackers would be better than one, particularly since a couple of days have passed since they were taken. I would also like the best tracker there is to be at my side during the hunt. That tracker would be you.”
“You can’t have me.” He lowered the axe headfirst onto the grass, his palm firm around the wooden shaft’s end as he slowly turned around and faced her.
“I’m aware of that.” She stroked over his broad shoulders, leaned in and blew a warm breath across his damp chest holding a smattering of hair. Touching him in this way soothed her, so very much. “Cherub has searched the Chief of MacKenzie’s castle on the shores of Loch Alsh, but there is no sign of Duncan or my kin there, which means Duncan must have taken them either to his own stronghold, of which I’ve heard about but am unaware of where it is, or some other place. ’Twill no’ be an easy task to find them, no’ if I cannae find them in the dream realm first.”
“You still can’t have me.”
“Please, Alec. I need your aid and I will do whatever you ask to secure it.�
� With her entire savings in her pocket, she removed her pouch of coins and handed it to him. She would give her entire life if she could to see her kin safely returned to her, as well as all that she was. “That is all I have. Please accept it.”
* * * *
An owl hooted in the distance and echoed all around as Alec stared at his mate then the pouch of coins she’d handed him. Hell, he was the worst lout for making her think she needed to offer him actual money to secure his aid. He gripped her hand, gently placed the pouch back in her palm and closed her fingers around it then looking into her eyes, muttered, “You’re impossible.”
“I need my kin returned to me. I love them, would gladly go to my grave if they’ve gone from this world, but until I know for certain, I will remain here on this Earth and continue my search for them. Please, say aye. I need your aid in finding them. If this isnae enough, then name your price and I’ll try to pay it.”
This was his chance to exact the only price he wanted. “If I come, you must give me your word that once your kin are safe again, you’ll find another man and wed him.”
“What?” Pain and anguish flared in her gaze, her heartache at his demand clear to see. “You hold the other half of my soul, just as I hold the other half of yours. You’ve just asked of me the one thing I can never give. Accepting another over you is impossible.”
“I want you to try.”
“Nay.” She thrust the pouch at him again. “Take it. I’ll find a way to secure more coin.”
“Damn it, woman. I won’t take your money, no matter how much you give me.” He pushed her hand away.
“Then ask me for anything else, only not that I lie with another man and dishonor our bond in such a way.” Tears pooled in her eyes and his heart nearly clenched in on itself at seeing her sheer pain. Pain, he’d damn well caused her.
He was such an idiot. He wanted to kick himself. Hurting his chosen one was the last thing he wished to do, and now he’d gone and done it without even laying a hand on her. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you to choose another man over me.” He swiped another log from the pile and thumped it on top of the chopping block, her deliciously enchanting fragrance swirling all about and tantalizing him beyond measure. His bear raged at him to take her and his hunger flared with brutal strength inside him. Teeth gritted, he swung his axe and brought it down on the log, drove it into the wood over and over until all that remained was the odd splinter on the block. “I’ll come.”
“You will?” She grasped his arm, lifted up on her toes and kissed his cheek, the smile on her face one he wanted to memorize and never forget. “Truly?”
“Truly, provided you obey every one of my orders from this moment forth. First, you’re to cease touching me.”
“Completely?” She frowned, so damn endearingly.
“Completely and utterly.”
“You strike a hard bargain.”
“Give me your word. No touching.” He wouldn’t back down on that request.
“What if you were hurt and needed my aid? I would need to touch you.” Hunkered down, she picked up the wood he’d chopped and tossed it into the barrow.
“Then touching is only permitted within reason. You’re also to call me Captain, not your mighty bear or any other endearment. That’ll help you to remember who’s leading this trek to find your kin.”
“You wish to place boundaries between us, to keep me firmly from you?”
“Exactly.”
“We are soul bound, although I shall try to follow your orders, but only those within reason.” She gripped the wheelbarrow’s handles. “I’ll take this load to the woodshed. Is that permissible, Captain?”
“Very. Be gone from my sight until we leave.”
“Again, that is an unreasonable request.” With a far too sensual swish of her hips, she disappeared into the trees.
How the hell had she so easily gotten him to accept her request for his aid? He could have sent any one of his kinsmen along with her. Cherub and Kirk would already be at her side on the trek and even though he might be their clan’s best tracker, Kirk was still damn good at what he did and could handle any hunt on his own.
Axe in hand, he chopped wood then groaned when she returned. She filled up the wheelbarrow a second time and walked off once more, her long golden tresses pulled tightly back into a braid that swayed all the way to her tiny waist. His fingers itched to wind that braid around his hand, to tug her up against him and keep her pinned in place while he ravaged her mouth with his. She was here, his mate, and in her physical form. He’d never caressed her true flesh and damn it, he longed to.
Thwack. Thwack.
The coming days would be a nightmare as he searched for her kin, and with her in such close reach, he’d need to enforce definite lines between them and ensure she didn’t cross even one, which clearly she’d already done and would likely continue to do.
“Are we going to be out here all night chopping firewood?” She set the wheelbarrow down and piled more wood into it, wiped the back of her hand across her glistening forehead. She even sweated beautifully. “I have no’ slept much these past few days and wish to be at my most alert during our search.”
“Sure. I’ve finished here. We’ll catch some rest.” The dark circles under her eyes gave testament to her lack of sleep and as her mate, even though he had no intention of claiming her, everything within him still demanded he see to her care. He scooped up his discarded shirt, tossed it over one shoulder, set the axe on top of the wood in the barrow, gripped the handles and pushed it down the trail. “I’ll need to secure you a chamber for the night, although I’ll need to wake the chief’s wife to do so. I have no idea which chamber might be free.”
“There’s no need to wake her. I’m quite happy to sleep in the great hall on my plaid.” She walked beside him as he bumped the front wheel over the trailing tree roots. “Or on the plush carpet in your chamber. That too would do quite well for my needs.”
He’d never allow his mate to sleep in the great hall where any number of his clansmen—and mostly unmated clansmen—might stumble upon her. “No, you can take my bed and I’ll sleep on the settee.” He could deal with that.
“Are you certain?”
“It’s late. You’ll take my bed, and that’s an order.” He dodged the creeping undergrowth crowding the trail, emerged from the forest and set the barrow down inside the woodshed then marched toward the postern gate as his mate walked beside him and yawned. “You shouldn’t have allowed yourself to get this tired, Annella.”
“My father and brother would say the same.” She stopped next to the center well draped in ivy and picked up the wooden ladle from within the swaying pail and sipped from it. She scooped up a second ladleful and held it out to him. “Are you thirsty, Captain?”
“Sure.” He gulped the water then tipped what remained in the pail over his head and shook the drops from his hair, pressed one hand to the small of her back and urged her across the courtyard and up the front step. The vest of soft black leather she wore over her cream tunic matched her black breeches which hugged every inch of her sweetly curved backside, a backside he shouldn’t be looking at. He adjusted his suddenly too tight pants, stomped up the stairs and opened his chamber door for her.
“Thank you.” She swished inside.
“Don’t thank for opening a damn door.” Door slammed shut, he flicked on his bedroom light, walked into his bathroom and hit that switch too. Shower lever snapped up, he tossed his shirt into the corner wicker basket and kicked off his boots.
“Oh my, that is the largest looking glass I’ve ever beheld.” She stood in the doorway eying his ceiling-high mirror over the black marble vanity top. “One can almost see their entire self in it.”
“We call them mirrors in this time.”
“Hmm, mirrors. An apt name.” She crossed the bathroom and with one hand resting on the glass shower side, ogled the water streaming from the shower head. “Incredibl
e. What do you call this glassed enclosure?”
“A shower. Water travels through metal pipes within the walls and comes out the spout. You adjust the lever on the wall and set the heat to whatever you’d like. Hot or cold or anywhere else in between. It offers water of any temperature.” He motioned toward the door. “Out you go.”
“I’ve never partaken of a shower afore and I wouldnae mind one.” Weapons set aside, she tugged off her knee-high boots, pants and vest and standing only in her cream shirt, nodded at him. “You go first. I’ll follow.”
“You can’t shower with me.” Hell, she’d stripped off so fast he hadn’t had a chance of halting her, had lost his tongue the second she’d pulled the ties on her breeches loose.
“Of course I can. Me and my fellow warriors often bathe together in the loch bordering our warrior encampment. This shower is no different to that, just in a more confined space.” She stepped inside under the spray and twirled about. “See, there is plenty of room in here for two.”
“You agreed to following my orders.”
“Aye, those within reason.”
“You’re being beyond unreasonable right this second.” Still, he stepped inside after her in his pants, heaved the door shut and rattled the glass sides as he did. If other men had bathed with her, then so would he. “Pass me the soap.”
“This warm water is glorious.” She plucked the bar of soap off the recessed shelf and built a lather in her hands before handing it to him. Gently, she pressed her hands to his neck, right over the marks she’d given him and rubbed.
“Do you soap your fellow warriors as well?”
“Nay, never, but you’re different.” She lifted up on her toes and ran more of the bubbles through his hair. “You I’m permitted to touch even though we’ll never complete the bond.”
“You know why we can’t complete the bond.” Clearly, she wasn’t going to obey his order not to touch, and right now, with her looking so tired, he didn’t have the heart to keep reminding her of his request. It may have been a slightly unreasonable one, possibly.
Highlander's Sword: Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance (Clan Matheson Book 3) Page 6
