by Casey Lane
Sunny fell again, only barely managing to roll onto her back instead of driving the arrow deeper into her gut.
The last thing she saw before passing out was the look of horror on Sloan’s face.
Sloan’s heart stopped when the hunter shot Sunny in the stomach with her crossbow. A rage like he’d never experienced swept through him. A giant wave, bigger than anything he’d ever summoned, formed, totally without his consent. It crashed over the hunters, sweeping them away and completely out of sight. He had enough control over the wave to make sure it parted around Raven, Anna and Leith, but he’d probably drowned the hunters. And he didn’t care.
He dropped to his knees next to Sunny and seized her hand. “Sunny?” he choked out. “Sweetheart?”
Her eyes seemed larger than ever in her pale face. She blinked up at him, but didn’t say anything. She didn’t even seem to be aware of her surroundings.
He pressed his lips to her knuckles. He couldn’t lose her. But there was nothing he could do for her at the moment. “Raven,” he screamed, knowing his leader was on his way. “Raven! Sunny’s been hurt.”
“On it,” Raven called back, running at full speed toward them.
Sloan could see Leith pulling out his phone and pressing it to his ear. Anna started prowling around, falling back into their training from years ago and making sure they were covered in case of another attack.
He resisted the urge to gather Sunny up in his arms for fear of doing her further damage. He clutched her hand tighter and held it to his heart. “Sunny, don’t leave me. Please, baby, I’m begging you. Fight, sweetheart.”
Her eyes started to glaze over and her breathing began to slow. “No,” he screamed, squeezing her hand. “Don’t let go. I need you.”
It didn’t matter how hard he pleaded with her. Her breathing continued to slow and became shallower with each inhale. Desperate, Sloan sent his magic out, looking for hers. It was there, faint and dim, but it was there. He tugged on her magic, drawing it up and strengthening it with his. “Sunny Kerrigan,” he said firmly. “You are going to live. I love you, and I can’t live through the death of my soul mate. So, hold it together.”
Raven came skidding to a stop next to him and dropped to his knees. “Oh, fuck,” he whispered. The leader’s hands hovered over her stomach, but he didn’t actually touch her. “Hold on, Sunny. The paramedics are on their way.” Sure enough, sirens were floating on the air, their shrill sound reassuring.
Sloan ignored the man and focused his full attention on the woman bleeding on the road. She was blinking at him again, only this time he could see the question on her face. “Sunny,” he said, just to make sure she knew he was talking to and about her. “Dara will always have a place in my heart. But I love you. You. I never thought I’d be able to love someone as passionately as I love you. You dragged me back into the land of the living. If you die … well, Raven will have to kill me because I’ll go on a rampage without you.”
Talk about putting pressure on someone. He didn’t say anything else. He held her hand, terrified that if he let go, she would float away from him.
The paramedics finally pulled up and jumped out of the ambulance. He could hear what they were saying, but he didn’t understand a single word. All he knew was that someone was trying to pull him away from his Sunny.
He fought tooth and nail to stay with her, but strong arms wrapped around him from behind. “Let them work, lad,” Leith said lowly.
Sloan stopped fighting, but Leith didn’t remove his arms, for which Sloan was grateful. “Damn hunters,” he spat.
“Hunters did this?” one of the paramedics asked while they were securing Sunny to the stretcher.
“Aye,” Leith said. “We’ve had a group of them using strange weapons to hunt rabbits late at night.”
The paramedic frowned. “Have you reported this to the police?”
Raven shook his head. “No. We didn’t really know who to contact.”
Why were these daft paramedics questioning who shot Sunny? Their job was to take her to the hospital, and keep her alive on the way. Luckily for them, they started loading her into the ambulance before he could unleash his tongue. Raven turned to them. “I’ll ride with Sunny. Leith, you bring Sloan and Anna.”
Sloan knew there was no use arguing. As rich and powerful as Raven was, as well as the fact that he made very regular, very generous donations to the hospital, meant that the man had a lot of influence. The hospital would probably bend over backward to try and please him.
Anna rushed over with the car keys in hand. “Luckily you didn’t wash Raven’s car away. Are you okay?” she asked, inspecting him critically for injury.
He couldn’t keep it in anymore. His eyes filled with tears, and he didn’t even attempt to hide them. They fell down his face unchecked. “She can’t die,” he whispered.
Leith turned him around and cupped the back of his head. Sloan found himself with his face suddenly smashed into the bigger man’s chest. He was stunned. In all the time he’d known Leith, the man had never offered anyone such comfort. Not even after Dara’s death, had he offered more than a small smile. And here he was, obviously aware of how much he loved Sunny, and literally offered Sloan a shoulder to cry on.
His body gave in, and he let his friend bear most of his weight as he sobbed.
Chapter Twenty-Four
It had been a long, hard road to recovery for Sunny. When she’d first woken up in the hospital room, she thought someone had died. All the occupants of MacAlister Castle had gathered in her room and looked as if they were at a funeral.
She’d lost a kidney and her spleen to the hunter’s arrow and had been in a considerable amount of pain for weeks. Even now, six months later, her wound still tugged and twinged occasionally.
But she and Sloan were both alive, and that’s all that mattered.
Sloan had brought her home three weeks after the attack, and had been waiting on her hand and foot ever since then.
She laid still, savoring the heavy warmth of the blankets. Winter had hit Scotland hard, and it was damn cold, even to her Canadian blood.
The sound of birds filled the airy room and a puddle of sunlight splashed over Sunny’s face. She groaned and rolled over, burying her face into the pillow. “Too early,” she complained. Why had they left the curtains open last night? Oh, right. They’d been too hot for each other to bother worrying about them last night.
Reaching out one arm, Sunny searched for the warm body that was usually sprawled out next to her. She frowned when she failed to find him. Muttering grumpily, she turned her head and cracked one eye open.
Sloan was nowhere in sight. But if the sound of running water, and the deep voice singing cheerily from the bathroom were any indication, Sloan was in the shower.
She pouted at the fact she didn’t wake up in Sloan’s arms.
But Sloan in the shower was a pretty good compromise. A naked, wet and happy Sloan, if the tune he was singing was any indication, was always a good thing. Add that to the fact he could do some pretty awesome things with the water in the shower, and she was in for a good time.
With that thought in mind, Sunny bounced out of bed and sauntered over to the bathroom. The steam hung thick in the air when she walked in. Sloan had switched to whistling, and she shook her head. He whistled “Yankee Doodle,” something he’d taken to doing when she insisted on some good, old-fashioned American food when she’d been in the hospital.
She smiled at the memory. She had been cranky, in pain and completely sick of hospital food. She’d demanded a burger, fries and chocolate shake. He’d been happy to run out and get her what she wanted, but she’d insisted on the meal coming from McDonald’s. There was exactly one McDonald’s in the immediate area, about twenty minutes’ drive from the hospital. She’d really enjoyed that meal though.
“Are you coming or what?” Sloan called from the shower.
“Yeah, yeah,” she answered. She slipped into the stall with him and shut the d
oor again, enclosing them in the steamy air. “Hi.”
Sloan flashed a bright grin and smoothed her hair back from her face. “You were drooling on my shoulder this morning,” he teased.
Still slightly grumpy because she hadn’t woken up to some lazy morning loving, she stuck her tongue out at him, but didn’t stop him when his soapy hands slid down her belly. He paused when he got to the scar, his hands hovering over it protectively.
When she’d first seen the scar, she’d been horrified. It was huge and ugly and had made her cry every time she looked at it. But Sloan had soothed her ruffled feathers. He’d been insistent that the scar wasn’t ugly. It was only a reminder of how hard she’d fought to stay alive, and he said he found it sexy.
He’d proved his words over and over. There hadn’t been a day since she’d come home that he hadn’t worshiped the spot with his lips. And today was no exception. He dropped to his knees and kissed her stomach gently.
She twined his wet hair around her fingers and shivered when he trailed his lips over her sensitive hip bone. “Sloan,” she moaned when he stayed where he was, just teasing.
“Don’t worry, babe. We’ll get there.”
“But when?” she whined.
Sloan pushed himself to his feet and loomed over her. “My baby doesn’t feel like waiting today?”
She shook her head and wrapped one leg around his thigh, grinding her pussy against his hard muscles. Some days, she loved foreplay. And the good lord knew, Sloan was a master at foreplay.
But there were other days, like today, where she wanted it hard and fast.
“What my lady wants, my lady gets,” Sloan said with a lascivious wink. He slid his hand between her legs and tested her readiness. “Oh, baby. God, you’re so wet.”
Gripping her hips, Sloan yanked her away from his thigh and spun her around so she was facing the shower wall. The motion was so quick, she had to slap her hands against the wall to keep her balance.
Yes. She absolutely loved when he took her like this.
He slid into her without hesitation, until his balls were resting against her thighs. “Fuck, sweetheart,” he groaned, pulling out and sinking back in. “I’m not going to last long.”
She, however, was nowhere near ready to climax. If they had been anywhere but the shower, she would have dropped her hand to her sex and fingered her clit, just to catch up with him.
Sloan seemed to know exactly what she needed. She squealed when she felt a tiny jet of water begin to pummel the exquisitely sensitive right side of her clit.
The orgasm hit her unexpectedly and her inner muscles clenched around him. Sloan kept the water in place even as he pounded into her and her climax seemed to go on forever.
By the time they’d recovered enough to move, the water had gone cold. Wrapped in large, fluffy towels, they stumbled over to the bed and collapsed. “Good morning,” he said.
Smiling, she extracted one of her arms, which had become tangled in the blankets, and poked him in the side. “Say it,” she said instead of wishing him a good morning.
This time it was Sloan’s turn to stick out his tongue. “Why do I have to be the first one to say it?”
She poked him again. “Because you owe me.”
Sloan’s eyebrows flew up and he stared at her incredulously. “For what?”
Oh, Sloan was going to love this. “For dragging you back into the land of the living.”
Sloan rolled his eyes and propped himself up on his elbows. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”
She planned on never forgetting those words. They were what had kept her going when all she wanted to do was let go of the pain and fade away. But she wasn’t going to tell him that. He already had a big enough ego. “Tell me,” she said again.
Letting out a very exasperated breath, Sloan rested his chin on one of his palms. “Fine. I love you. I love you with every breath I take and every beat of my heart. Happy now?”
She could have done without the sarcasm, but she knew he was just messing with her. “Very. Sloan?”
Sloan snorted but softened it with a smile. “Yeah?”
“I love you, too.”
Rolling on to his back, Sloan put his arms behind his head and smiled up at the ceiling, looking entirely too pleased with the situation. “I know.”
Huffing, Sunny looked up at the ceiling too, and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re such a know-it-all.”
The mattress dipped, and Sloan hovered over her. “I do know it all. For example, I know if I do this, you’ll be all over me in seconds.” He nibbled on her neck, sending new sparks through her body to collect between her legs.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. “I love that you’re a know it all,” she whispered, shivering when his hand dipped between her legs to play gently with her clit.
He smiled softly and kissed the corner of her mouth. “I love you so much,” he said quietly.
She pushed a lock of hair off his forehead and looked into his face. “I love you too.”
If you plan to continue with this series, there’s an epilogue…but I suggest you stop here if you don’t like cliffhangers and don’t plan to continue.
Thanks for reading!
Epilogue
Five Months Later
Raven nibbled at his dessert, savoring the rich taste of the chocolate cake as he looked around the dining room. Leith sat by the fireplace, scowling into his drink. He’d been like that for weeks now, ever since Matthew had been released from the hospital.
Sunny and Sloan were sitting half-way down the table in their own little world. They were bickering over something, occasionally sending little bursts of magic aimed at the other. The effect was ruined by the fact that they stopped to kiss every other second.
They were a welcome distraction from everything else going on. He’d talked to Prince Gareth about the Takahashi’s accusation. The prince had taken advantage of his numerous contacts and had confirmed the Takahashi leader really had been murdered. And without a leader, the handlers had to be going more than slightly mad by now. The problem was that leaders didn’t come along every day. A leader was born. Usually they were identified before the death of the leader and trained. It wasn’t like any old witch could stand up and be a clan leader.
Worse yet, the rumor floating around whispered that the Takahashi handler had been, if not married to the leader, at least in a very intimate relationship with her. If the rumor was true, it was amazing the Takahashi handler hadn’t destroyed the whole damn world.
He’d managed to get word through a very trusted source to the Keita clan that the Takahashi leader had been slain. He’d received a response back that the Keita clan would increase their leader’s security.
As for any MacAlister involvement in the murder, he really couldn’t say. He’d been apart from his clan members for so long, he was afraid he’d lost his hold on them. He’d discussed the possibility at length with Leith, but neither of them could really figure out how to determine the truth.
But if someone was killing clan leaders, he really needed to step up the search for the next MacAlister leader. Because if he died, there would be nothing to stop his handlers from shaking the whole damn world apart in their sleep. Or causing a flood of biblical proportions. Or burning the whole damn thing to the core.
Blinking his eyes, he pushed the thoughts away and turned his attention back to Sunny and Sloan. Sloan lifted his fork, offering her a bite of his crème brulee. He smiled at them even though they weren’t even giving him the time of day. It was nice to have some happiness back in the castle. Hopefully soon, they would have even more laughter. “So, what do you think we should do about the influx of clan members coming in?” he asked Anna, picking up the conversation they’d dropped to watch Sunny and Sloan.
She pursed her lips and tapped her fork lightly against her plate. “Well, the cottages on the property are still in good shape. They just need some updating. And there’
s plenty of room in the castle. Maybe we can give families the cottages and have the singles and couples stay here in the castle?”
Raven nodded, trying to imagine the quiet castle alive with people. It had been just the five of them for so long, he’d almost forgotten what it was like to have people everywhere, singing, laughing and bickering. When was the last time he’d held a baby? It had always been one of his favorite parts of having his clan with him. The kids.
Of course, there were going to be a lot more people living here than ever before very shortly. Not every clan member had resided in Scotland before the war. Some, like Matthew’s family, had made their homes elsewhere and only traveled to Scotland for the annual clan meeting. Now, with the decision to call each and every clan member to the castle, he had to figure out a way to house and feed all these people efficiently. Money wasn’t the issue. He had more than enough. He’d been blessed with the ability to understand fluctuating markets and knew exactly when and where to invest and when to sell.
“That’s a good idea,” he said to Anna. “Do you know anyone who could help get the cottages ready?”
Anna had taken over calling the clan members when Matthew had started negotiating alliance terms with the dragons, but her real talent was event planning. If anyone knew how to get things done, it was Anna.
Thankfully, Anna nodded. “I do. Let me make some calls, and I’ll have people here by the day after tomorrow. We’ll probably have to look into doing some work in the castle too. Only two of the wings are being used right now. The other three haven’t really been touched in probably thirty years, at least.”
“Okay. Just let me know what I have to do.”
Anna smiled and popped another bit of dessert into her mouth. Sunny chose that moment to set Sloan’s crème brulee on fire in a small display of magic. Instead of yelling, Sloan blew the flame out and took a bite. “Mmm,” he said, offering Sunny a bite.
“They’re kind of sickening, aren’t they?” Anna said softly, gesturing to the couple with her fork.
