“There shall.” Tears misted her gaze, her time with him disappearing fast when the last thing she wished to do was say farewell to her most beloved parent. Nay, she would never say farewell. He would be close, not unreachable, not considering her skill. Through the dream realm, she’d visit him. “I too will offer Ronan my aid in his chase should he need it, and when you rest, I will come to you as often as I can.”
“I will always be here, for you and for Ronan both. Never think that I willnae, but for now I have a mate who needs me possibly even more than both my children currently do. I must remain here and do all I can to ensure Muirin speaks the truth and remains on the side of the fae. If danger lurks, I’ll deal with it.”
“I’ll miss you.”
“As I will miss you.” Father kissed her cheek, squeezed her tight in his arms before he released her. “Travel safely, and return soon. I demand it.”
“Aye, Father, I shall.” She dissolved her form, slipped underneath the door and soared high into the darkening sky. Night would soon fall, the sun a heavy orb of golden-orange sitting low along the horizon.
Unseen, she whizzed over the curtain wall, right between two kilted guardsmen then flew down along the rocky shoreline toward the copse of trees where Alec had last been. In the wide bow of an ancient elm tree, she settled then tried to open her link with her chosen one, only nothing but a black hole gaped where he should have been. “Where are you, Alec?”
No answer.
The setting sun sank lower, sent a final flare of brilliant red through the skies then disappeared. Within the dark of night, a mountain mist streamed down the hill and through the trees, an eerie cloud of ghostly white that suddenly swirled and churned. The air rushed all around her and signified only one thing. Cherub’s cloaked return through a portal.
She allowed her spiritual body to solidify then with one hand on her sword hilt to keep it from banging against her side, she dropped down and landed with a soft clunk on the ground.
“There you are.” Alec hauled her up against him, appearing right out of thin air as he smothered her in his heat, a radiant warmth she completely adored. “Did you have enough time to speak to your father?”
“Aye, I updated him on all that has happened, about you and that Ronan has discovered he is soul bound to another. He’s promised to always be here for Ronan and I. He also demanded I return, and I shall through the dream realm, as often as I can.” She kissed him, with all the love she held for him overflowing her heart. “I’ve missed you.”
“I hated having to leave you behind in my chamber, and I also hated having to leave you here to start with, if that makes any sense.”
“Completely.”
“’Tis so good to see you’re safe and well, Annella.” Cherub squeezed her arm. “We delivered your physical body to Alec’s chamber and the chief’s wife, Megan, watches over you. You’ll come to no harm under her care, that I can assure you.”
“Thank you.”
“Are you ready to find and free your brother?” Kirk, standing behind Cherub, rubbed his chin over the top of her blond-haired head.
“I’m beyond ready, and we must do so afore Duncan reaches him. I dinnae wish for my brother to hear any proposition Duncan might have to offer him. Ronan needs to return home, to heal and regain his strength, and I’ll accept naught less.” She leaned against Alec and he hooked his arms around her waist as she snuggled deeper inside his mind. How had she been so lucky to have been gifted with such a wonderful mate? “Thank you for allowing me to see my father and to spend a few more precious minutes with him.”
“I would never keep you from your loved ones.” He rubbed against her, embedding her in his deliciously warm and fresh pine scent, his presence calming and settling her deep inside.
She curled her fingers into his steel-studded gray jacket, and held onto him as if her life depended on it, which it likely did. “I wish to be with you, joined as one, as we were earlier this day.”
“I wish for that too, and I’ll demand such a joining right after we’ve rescued your brother and returned you to your physical body. But at least for now, I know you can’t come to any true harm in this spiritual form during our coming mission.” He buried his nose in her hair and breathed deep. “Grab ahold of Cherub. It’s time we were away.”
“Aye, we must move, with all haste.” Cherub held out her arms.
Annella grasped Cherub, just as Alec and Kirk took a firm hold of her too, then Cherub extended her cloaking over them all. “We’ll travel through the air rather than use a portal. No’ only do I need to conserve what strength I have for the coming mission, but the stronghold where Ronan is being contained is so very close, only a few miles at most. I can us take us there just as swiftly this way, and still beat Duncan and his men along the way.”
Cherub lifted them up and whizzed them through the air. Moonlight shimmered through the dark layer of cloud drifting in overhead as she took them higher, breezed them across the darkened, craggy mountains and silver-tinged forested hills toward the stronghold at the end of the inner channel of Loch Carron.
Carron Castle loomed. Candlelight lit the windows of the main tower house and armed guardsmen stood in their MacKenzie plaids and leather jerkins along the battlements, two at each corner with several standing at attention within the arched two-story gatehouse as they searched the waterway and surrounding land. “I didnae see Duncan and his men riding along the way. Did you?”
“Not a glimpse. He would’ve had to ride farther inland and around the hills.” From behind her and unseen, Alec scraped his teeth back and forth over the sensitive skin of her neck. “I can barely hold back this hunger I have for you.”
“Bite me if you need to.” She stretched her neck. Nothing would settle her quite like his gloriously possessive bite would. “I would never turn you away.”
“I wouldn’t let you either.” He sank his teeth into her flesh and she gasped then whimpered for more and he didn’t disappoint. He slid one hand underneath the hem of her loose-sleeved red tunic and spread his warm palm over her breast, his voice a deep purr in her mind. “I want to nibble away on every inch of you, suck your nipples into my mouth and thrust my—”
“You’re making me extremely hot with your naughty words.”
“Expect a full and complete ravishment the moment I get you back to Ivanson. I intend to allow my bear his release and ensure he doesn’t hold back.”
“I love your bear.” She wriggled around in his embrace, inched up and sucked on his neck. His pounding pulse point throbbed under her tongue and she licked his skin and bit down, allowed her fierce desire for him to surge along their link and saturate him. Goodness. She needed to bite him again, only Cherub began her descent and soared over the ramparts.
“We’re here, everyone.” A whisper as Cherub set them gently down inside the inner bailey within the shadows of the curtain wall. She maintained her cloaking over them and murmured, “Now, ’tis time to find these dungeons then—”
“Gordon, you must allow me to see the prisoner.” Kyla rushed out the front door of the keep in fast pursuit of a warrior wearing leather chausses, a plaid and a blackened nasal helm tucked under his arm. Her golden-red curls bounced down her back and the silk folds of her violet gown swished about her legs. “He’s to be kept alive and no’ beaten. The maid who took him his last meal reported to me that he bled, badly.”
“He infuriated the guards with his continual demands to see you. The two of you seem to have formed an unusually strong attachment to each other.” The warrior turned on her and snarled under his breath. “Why would that be?”
“I have no’ formed any such unusually strong attachment to him. I simply seek to do as Duncan requested of us. Even though Ronan’s been restrained within our dungeons, we’re still to ensure his wellbeing. That was my brother’s order.”
“Then return to the keep and I’ll ensure his wellbeing for you, right after he’s had sufficient time to repent from those aggravating dem
ands he keeps making. Seek your rest this night. You arena permitted into the dungeons again until the morn.” He stormed away, took the steep stone steps along the curtain wall up to the battlements and joined the guards on duty at the gatehouse.
“We must hurry. Ronan has immediate need of us.” She squeezed Cherub’s arm as she maintained her hold on her, her tone whisper-quiet. “Where should we begin?”
“The entrance leading to the dungeons could be anywhere. In Colin MacKenzie’s castle on Loch Alsh, the entrance to his cells is through a trapdoor in a lower storage room near the kitchens. At his keep to the far north of here at Loch Broom, ’tis by way of a stairwell leading upward to the highest point of the tower. We’ll begin our search inside the castle and if we have no luck there then we’ll spread out and take in the bailey, the outbuildings, and finally scour the cliffs overlooking the loch and surrounding land itself. We also need to remain hidden while we do so, which means you’ll all need to maintain your hold on me until ’tis safe to let go. We search together.”
Yet she could remain unseen by dissolving her form. She opened her mouth to say so, only Alec nipped her ear, his teeth sharp as his mind moved through hers.
“We remain together, and that’s an order.”
“Aye, Captain.” How frustrating.
* * * *
Alec held Annella tightly within his arms as Cherub swept the four of them unseen through the side door of the keep, down a darkened passageway and directly into the kitchens, which were thankfully devoid of even one soul. He wouldn’t allow another separation from his chosen one, not while they searched this keep.
“’Tis just as well the evening meal is done.” Cherub uncloaked them all within the quietness of the kitchens. “Let’s scour this area first, including the storage rooms leading from it.”
Annella walked toward the fire still burning in the ovens, her gaze on him. “Our dungeons at the House of Clan Matheson lie directly underneath our castle’s kitchens and the scent of the cooking food often drifts down and torments those who are restrained far below, although I never scented anything other than foul and musty air when I visited Ronan.” She peered into the blackened pots sitting over the hot coals, which bubbled with water. “Someone has requested a bath and even though the cook isnae here, one of the maids might no’ be far away.”
“We’ll be careful.” He shuffled the wooden pails stacked neatly next to the fire aside, crouched and swept his hand over the ground as he searched for a trap door. “You mentioned Ronan picked up a trace of salt in the air.”
“Aye, but I never did while I was with him and I saw naught more than his cell and the darkened passageway leading from it through the bars.” She leaned over him from behind, her full breasts brushing his back and her enchanting scent flowing all around him. “The floor appears clear.”
“It does.”
“All appears clear on this side of the kitchens too.” Kirk closed the door of a large pantry then walked through a side door and into the storage room beyond, Cherub following close on his heels.
“We’ll search high and low, not take any place for granted.” He rose, caught Annella’s hands and buried his nose in her long golden tresses. Breathing deep, he pushed her back against the wall. “You’re distracting me in our search.”
“How is that?” She touched her lips to his with the lightest of kisses.
“Just by being so damn touchable.”
“That I can rectify.” With a smile, she dissolved her form and streamed under his arm and into the storage room.
“I wasn’t asking you to rectify the matter.” He clomped after her into the darkened recesses of the side room where a trace of firelight penetrated through from the kitchens. Head bent to keep from knocking it on the low ceiling strung with herbs and medicinal plants, he scented the air as he wandered around the large space. Bags of oats lay stacked against one wall, bags of dried beef and pork too, while salt permeated the air from a thick saline bath Annella stood over and inspected.
“’Tis fresh meat being brine-cured and would provide a touch of the salty smell Ronan picked up if he were directly below.” Annella traced one finger along the bath’s rim and glanced at him. “Look for a trap door here.”
He set to work doing so. Spices infused the air, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and garlic. His bear caught each and every one of the scents as he searched the storeroom, turned each aroma over until he’d discarded them all, Ronan’s scent not amongst any from within the heady mix. No trap doors either. He moved anything that appeared moveable and searched underneath.
“I can’t catch even a whiff of Ronan in here.” Kirk stood next to a tall chest propped against the far wall. He hunkered down, wiped one finger through the dust at the base then wriggled the chest forward and searched behind it. “There’s nothing here at all. We should continue on.”
“I agree.” Cherub held out her arms, the golden girdle fastened around her waist glinting overtop of her olive gown. “We’ll search the great hall and surrounding antechambers next.”
“We also need to pick up our pace.” Kirk wrapped his arms around Cherub from behind, stuck his nose against her neck and took one deep breath. After a heartfelt sigh, he murmured, “You smell so good compared to the dust clogging my airways at the moment.”
“Well, I thank you for the compliment.” Grinning, Cherub plucked a cobweb from his hair. “Hold tight, everyone. I need to extend my cloaking over us all as we head out.”
Annella brushed up against him and murmured in his ear, “I’ll race you to the great hall.”
“Wait.” He grabbed her hand, but she dissolved and flowed out the door before he could pull her into his arms. “Come back here, woman.” He stalked into the kitchens and around the perimeter of the room, his increased shifter hearing attuned to any noise that might alert him to the arrival of another, particularly when someone would need to attend to the boiling water soon. Ahead of him and no more than a wisp, his woman breezed out the door and he set out after her in fast pursuit.
“Hold onto me, Alec.” Cherub caught up to him, arm extended. “There is naught more intriguing than the chase. Am I right?”
“Aye, although this is the last place I want to be chasing her.” He nabbed ahold of Cherub, Kirk already gripping her other arm, and they left the scents of coriander, cumin, and mustard behind as they weaved through the darkened back passageways toward the great hall, all invisible to the other.
Moments later, they entered the hall and moved around the perimeter. Massive wooden-beamed rafters rose to an impressive height with several tall, narrow windows holding stained glass within. Trestle tables and benches filled the central area along with a fireplace large enough for a man to walk within. “Where are you, sprite?”
“I’m leaving the great hall for you to search. I can remain unseen in this form and I’m already upstairs and have whipped through the chief’s solar and am now scouring the upper bedchambers. We cannae discard the entrance to the dungeons being up here and winding downward through a secret tunnel perhaps.”
He should order her to return, only in all truth, it made sense for her take the upper floors when she could move about so swiftly and surely, without alerting the maids or any others who might be about. “Be careful,” he gritted. “Go no farther than you have.”
“Aye, Captain.”
* * * *
Annella wisped through the rooms above-stairs, alert and watchful, then whizzed up the stairwell to the uppermost level of the main tower. Even though ’twas doubtful Ronan would have been moved from the underground dungeon where he’d been placed to a high-tower cell, ’twas still possible and she’d leave no stone unturned.
Down a darkened corridor lit only by a single candle burning in an iron wall sconce, she hurried then halted before a thickly paneled wooden door with a bolted lock. No circlet of keys lay in sight, not that she’d expected they would so she glided underneath the door and emerged within the cell holding a musty odor
with dust motes floating through the air. A straw pallet sat on the ground and chains bolted to the wall over it held heavy cuffs dangling from the end. “I found an upper cell, but no prisoner within. They clearly like to keep prisoners restrained at this keep.”
“We’ve come up with nothing in the great hall as well. We’re moving onto the lower antechambers.”
A dirt-encrusted window overlooked the courtyard below and she emerged her form enough to shove the iron-barred window open then became unseen again and swept out into the cool night air. Breaking Alec’s order to go no farther made her shiver with unease although she continued on. Every minute that passed was another minute her brother remained in danger and she desperately needed to find him.
Through the inner courtyard, she flew then slipped underneath the doorway of the armory and into the pitch black. She’d begin the outer search here. Without anything to light her way, she solidified her form and patted the closest wall in the hope of finding another wall sconce with a candle. She bumped her hip into a high wooden workbench and traced across the top of it, her fingers knocking into a candle holder. Wonderful. Light. From her wrist sheath, she slid her dagger and flint free, struck the flint with her blade and sighed with relief as the sparks caught the candle’s wick and light flared.
Along one side of the armory, sacks lined the stone wall and crates sat stacked next to them, while on the other side, battle axes, shields, pikes and various weaponry hung on hooks. She picked the candle up, the melted wax dripping onto the metal saucer and its light flaring across the blade of a massive two-handed claymore lying on top of the workbench, a weapon with precious stones encrusted into the hilt. The blade gleamed under the candlelight and the words Luceo non uro etched into the blade on one side, flashed at her.
“We’ve still got nothing. What about you?” Alec’s words resounded in her mind and she clutched ahold of them.
“I’ve left the upper floors and I’m now outside in the armory.” Candle set back down, she ran one finger over the motto of the MacKenzie clan, this exact blade one she’d seen before. Within Duncan’s very hand when he’d fought with Father in the forest near their warrior encampment. “Duncan might be here. I’ve just found his sword.”
Highlander's Sword: Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance (Clan Matheson Book 3) Page 17
