Highland Protector (MacCoinnich Time Travels Book Five)

by Bybee, Catherine

  “It worked.” Giles shouldn’t have been surprised, but he was.

  Mrs. Dawson patted his back and offered a smile. “It’s time I found a bed. Wake me if anything happens.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Giles said as he lent a hand to help her down the stairs. “Did you see this happening?” he asked her once they were half way down the first stairwell.

  “No. Not this.” She took another step, limping her old bones down. “I just knew none of us would sleep well this night.”

  “So it wasn’t a premonition?”

  “Not in the way you’re thinking. More of a global feeling.”

  At the first landing, she paused to catch her breath.

  “What is your global feeling now?”

  Mrs. Dawson patted his hand, sent him a placating smile. “Asking me to predict the future, Mr. Giles?”

  He lowered his gaze. “Asking if they’re going to make it?”

  She released a short laugh. “There is wisdom that comes with age, I think,” she said nearly to herself. “Amber is arguably from the strongest line of Druids known…Kincaid…well, I don’t know his parentage, but Lora did tell me Amber’s savior would be a very powerful man. Do you believe our Kincaid is that man?”

  A warm feeling washed over him. “Yes. Kincaid is one of the strongest within our band of warriors. Never wavering. If anyone can save Amber, it’s him.”

  Mrs. Dawson’s wrinkled face squished together in thought. “Then we have to believe they are meant to be…the question is if he acted in time.”

  That very thought had run through Giles’s mind repeatedly since he uncovered the need for Amber to bond in order to survive. With Kincaid’s reluctance to step up, he constantly worried the man would wait too long, and look what happened. They were both comatose, Kincaid bonded to Amber and Amber had been close to knocking on death’s door.

  “I can’t help but wonder why I’ve not seen any of this happening in the books. I’ve read so many tomes and none of them talk of Amber and Kincaid specifically.”

  “That might be because Kincaid was too late…”

  Giles cringed.

  “Or, more relevant to your direct concern, I like to think the reason is the Ancients have hidden this brief moment in time to allow Kincaid and Amber the free will to decide for themselves what path they should take. No one, no matter what time they are from, wants to think their life is predetermined down to their mate.” A coy smile spread over Mrs. Dawson’s face. “I’d like to think the fact we found the two of them nearly naked means some of their free will has spoken already.”

  Giles’s shoulders started to fold in slowly until he laughed. “I didn’t realize that. I was too focused on the fact Amber wasn’t moving…and Kincaid was bonding to someone who’d already passed.”

  Mrs. Dawson hummed out a sigh. “Not everything is as it seems. Had Amber truly passed, he couldn’t have bonded with her. ‘Where two hearts beat, there is now but one’, the verse speaks for itself.”

  “Of course.”

  Mrs. Dawson started down the second flight of stairs and Giles moved to help her again.

  “So they are both alive?.”

  “And healing…”

  “But if Kincaid was too late?”

  Mrs. Dawson hesitated. “Then the reason the books don’t speak of them is because they don’t exist in your future.”

  Yet, even as the words left the wise woman’s mouth, he couldn’t help but think somewhere…somehow…even that information would have been written somewhere…by someone.

  “I hate the not knowing.”

  She paused, met his gaze. “Then think of Amber’s mother. Lora sent her daughter here to survive. This was her only chance, and now that Kincaid is bonded to her, she must live.”

  Giles felt his jaw grow tight. “But what of Kincaid? He can perish and Amber not be affected. She would carry his gift, his protection…and he could die.”

  One-sided bonds didn’t last. If there was one thing written in time, it was the fact that when one bonded with an unwilling partner, the bonded one followed their love until the end, which often came too soon, and the other moved through life more powerful, but slightly incomplete. If Amber lived, and Kincaid died, she would fulfill her mother’s premonition.

  Giles helped Mrs. Dawson to her room, offered to fetch her water…something…

  She waved him off, and he fled back to the upper story of the mansion

  Helen had pulled a chair next to Amber’s side of the bed while Simon paced.

  “I can stay. There is no reason for all of us to stand in wait,” Giles told them.

  They both turned on him. Simon spoke first. “Do you think you’re the only one invested in the two of them?”

  Simon’s short tone had Giles pushing his glasses up on his nose, standing taller. “No. I’m thinking of your wife…your unborn child.”

  Simon shifted his eyes to Helen and his fierce expression softened. “Mayhap you should find your bed.”

  Helen rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, I’m not going anywhere. Bring a cot in here, a bed, whatever. I’m not leaving this room until they wake up.”

  “Lass?”

  Helen shot a hand in the air. “Don’t lass me. Amber is our responsibility.” Tears leaked from her eyes. “If she dies, we need to tell everyone what happened. We can’t do that if we don’t see it.”

  Giles stared at the still couple on the small bed. He couldn’t help but believe Amber would live. It was Kincaid he worried about.

  Chapter Seventeen

  This isn’t right. This can’t be…

  Gavin’s voice penetrated Amber’s dreams. Only she shouldn’t be dreaming. She should be passing over.

  She tried to open her eyes, but found them too heavy. Her limbs were equally difficult to move, and she found herself lying in a state as if waiting for something.

  I’m sorry, Gavin, she told him in her head. I couldn’t let you sacrifice your life for mine.

  Instead of any vocal response, she heard Gavin repeating the same thing over and over… This isn’t right. This can’t be…

  He couldn’t hear her, she realized. Unable to do anything but hear his plea, Amber felt the weight in her heart grow heavier.

  This isn’t going to happen.

  A tremor surged up Amber’s hand as Gavin’s words changed. The power of the northern winds rushed up her frame and lifted her arm. Pinpricks of sensation circled her wrist, and she heard Gavin’s words through the soupy fog of death.

  With each sacred word of the Druid wedding vows he uttered, she felt her heavy heart begin to pick up its pace. Part of her wanted to ward him off, tell him he was too late…she was already leaving. But he continued and the branding of his hand to hers loosened the weight holding her down. Yet when she tried to open her eyes again, she saw nothing but scalding light.

  She searched for Gavin, his voice, anything…but there was nothing.

  He was there, she could sense him, but there was no voice to accompany his presence in her mind.

  She felt Helen, Simon, Giles, and Mrs. Dawson nearby, but couldn’t hear their words.

  Silence, something she prayed for more times than she could remember, met her world of white nothing.

  Minutes ticked by…maybe hours...still nothing.

  Gavin…where are you?

  Nothing.

  The familiar cloud of panic threatened to choke her. The need to find Gavin, to help him find her, pulled her thoughts inward.

  Then she heard him… This is not how we die. His voice was weak…fading.

  Nay.

  Amber pushed against the shield holding her down, opened her mind, and pictured it exploding.

  She shot up in bed, her eyes opened, and she gasped for breath.

  “Amber!” Helen was at her side in the time it took to take another breath.

  The feel of Helen’s hand holding hers, felt unfamiliar. Giles stepped into the room from the hall.

  “You’re awake.”
/>
  Gavin needs me. “Aye.” Her eyes traveled to the man beside her. “Gavin!” She pulled from Helen’s grip and placed both hands on his still body. “Gavin?”

  “He hasn’t woken up.”

  Amber shot Helen a confused look. “What do you mean?”

  “He found you…in the attic.”

  Amber looked at their hands, noticed a torn cloth in his fist. “Oh, God. H-he… It wasn’t a dream?”

  Giles moved to Gavin’s side. “Not a dream. He bonded to you.”

  “Why?” she asked in a whisper.

  “To save you.”

  Simon moved into the room, pushed past Helen, and laid a hand on Amber’s shoulder.

  She looked over at a man who was as close to her as a brother. “Why isn’t he awake?”

  “I don’t know, lass. He’s grown more pale while you were clearly coming back to us.”

  “How long have we been like this?”

  Helen lifted two fingers. “Two days.”

  Two days?

  Gavin, can you hear me?

  Bonded couples could talk to each other with their minds, but there was nothing getting into his head from hers. “Gavin,” she said aloud.

  “We’ve called both your names. It didn’t seem to help,” Helen told her.

  This isn’t how we die. Gavin’s words penetrated her mind.

  Gavin?

  He couldn’t hear her. But she heard him.

  …we die.

  Gavin drew in a deep breath and then didn’t follow it with another.

  Amber chilled. “Nay.” He was slipping. She could feel it.

  She pulled his hand close to her and wrapped the tie around them. “From the North…”

  Simon pushed on her shoulder. “Stop! Think of what you’re doing.”

  The weight of Gavin’s shield hovered over her. She pushed it against Simon’s hand and he was thrown to the floor. “I know what I’m doing.”

  “From the North, to the South, in the East or in the West. Where you go I’ll follow, your light will shine my way. It’s my love I give you, past my dying day. Where two hearts beat, there is now but one. This tie that binds us together shall never be undone.” She closed her eyes and rolled her head back as the force of her vow rose from her and into him. Now breathe!

  He did…a long gasping breath.

  Can you hear me, Gavin?

  His eyes fluttered but did not open.

  The next breath that entered his lungs was one she coaxed from him…and then another. Don’t die…I don’t even know you yet. The words in her head hit a deep abyss, until finally she heard his voice.

  It wasn’t our time to die.

  Tears sprang to her eyes. Nay. This world isn’t finished with us.

  I need to sleep, Amber…just a little longer.

  She gripped his hand. “He needs to sleep,” she said for the others in the room.

  Those in the room sat in silence.

  Amber closed her eyes and willed Gavin to breath…one breath, two…

  “Ah, Amber?” Giles asked.

  “Yes?”

  “Uhm…do you realize you’re both hovering above the bed?”

  She looked below them, realized a foot separated them from the mattress. “’Tis Gavin’s shield.”

  “I’ve known Gavin for a dozen years. Never seen that before.”

  She concentrated on lowering their bodies, felt the air beneath her give slightly. The blue aura around them thinned, and she felt the sheets under her. Amber uncoiled their joined hands and moved to push Gavin’s hair from his face. She noticed then, that they broke contact and the outside world didn’t rush in. She lifted both hands before her eyes and studied them. “We’re not touching.”

  “Oh, my God, Amber,” Helen uttered.

  “You’re cured?” Simon asked.

  “I-I don’t feel anything beyond our thoughts. Is Mrs. Dawson home?” Laughter teased close to the surface because of the sheer fact she needed to ask about the mistress of the house.

  “She is.”

  “Seems the books were right. Bonding was the answer,” Giles said.

  Amber met Giles’s gaze. Yes, but was the price too much to pay?

  ****

  Selma varied her routine, didn’t leave the house at the exact same time and never went to the post office when she didn’t expect a line. It sucked, since lines weren’t fun to wait in…but it beat walking in empty parking lots with the spider-crawling sensation that had hooked its way up her spine and wasn’t letting go. She’d visited Dawson Manor once since Amber and Kincaid had fallen into their comatose state, and when she drove home that night, she felt the eyes of someone watching her. That someone was powerful.

  Selma realized then she didn’t need to bring trouble on those in Mrs. Dawson’s home…not until they were all whole again and could defend themselves.

  The walls of her apartment were becoming much like a prison. And it was ticking her off. There hadn’t been any more emails or requests from her lover-boy. In the wake of his unwelcome email and the news coverage, which she realized now probably wasn’t her guy, everything had been painfully silent. She wasn’t sure what was worse…knowledge or nothing?

  Nothing. Nothing was definitely worse.

  After thirty minutes of watching a reality show featuring up and coming, or wanna-be singers, Selma switched off the set with her mind and pushed herself off her couch. “What is wrong with you?” she asked herself. “You’re Druid, for crying out loud. Protect yourself!”

  Yes, she could manipulate mechanical switches, lights, televisions, her computer, even the microwave when needed, with her mind. But her real gift was what she shipped to the world. It was what had made her believe she was a witch to begin with.

  She left her living room, switching off the light as she passed with her mind. She graced her storage room with the same light show and found her box of charms. A variety of crystals, bits of amber, and even more precious stones lay in a velvet casement. She thought of her friend and picked a large dark amber stone originating from somewhere in Europe. She gathered several herbs and moved into her kitchen.

  She’d never once gathered this many powerful elements in a protection spell. I’m probably overdoing it.

  The thought of the people in her life surfaced, and she returned to her room to gather a few more stones.

  “Go big or go home.”

  She rubbed her hands together and willed the candles in the room to light. They were already surrounding her. It was her safe room. If anyone came after her here, they would find an unrelenting ward, briefly impenetrable, allowing her time to call for help.

  She lifted a candle and dripped the wax inside a pestle. A dash of Juniper flaked on the hot wax, which she let burn before adding the bits of amber.

  “For protection,” she mumbled. She added a small amount of betony and a dash of agrimony. “To ward off evil. Keep the wearer of this gem from harm. And finally…for wisdom.” She added acacia. “So the wearer might know evil is upon them and respond quickly.”

  She circled her hands over the smoke and flame and added one more charm…her Druid gift. “If the Ancients will it so, charm these gems and keep the wearer whole.”

  The flame in the stone bowl grew hot and then blew out.

  Selma moved about the room, blew out her candles, and willed the lights in the room on. While the stones cooled, she assembled the bits of jewelry that would house the charmed stones.

  If someone was watching her, they might come after those around her…and that wasn’t something she could live with. If no one was watching her…then the jewelry would simply be a nice gift and perhaps keep unwanted attention away. It was a win/win in her book… and hers was the only book that counted right now.

  She was placing the last stone in the jewelry when her phone rang. Helen’s happy voice met her ears.

  “Someone sounds excited.”

  “Amber woke up and bonded to Kincaid.”

  Selma’s hands fell
and she stared across the room. “Bonded?”

  “Yes. Oh, my God, Selma, you should have seen it. The room glowed in this bright blue sparkly light—”

  “Sounds like an animated film.”

  “I’m serious. Sparks…pixy dust…call it what you want, the room freaking glowed.”

  “How did Kincaid respond?”

  “He hasn’t regained consciousness.”

  Selma rubbed her tired eyes. “Wait, he’s still out?”

  “Out cold. Amber said he needs to rest. We all finally left their room. Well…Amber kicked us out.”

  “Wait.” Selma shook her head, not able to picture what Helen was saying. “Amber kicked you out? Soft and moldable Amber told you to leave?”

  Helen’s giggle brought a lift to Selma’s lips. “Yeah…she said we all needed to stop staring at the two of them and go.”

  “Wow.” Selma couldn’t picture it.

  “And another thing…”

  “What?”

  “The voices, the emotions…they aren’t there anymore.”

  The ache in Selma’s jaw from her smile started to fade. “What do you mean?”

  “Amber’s gift…it’s like it’s not there.”

  “How’s that possible?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe Kincaid’s gift is sheltering her. She’s not holding his hand every second of the day and she couldn’t even tell if Mrs. Dawson was in the house.”

  “How can that be?”

  Helen blew out a breath. “I don’t know. Giles is in the library searching for answers. He’s never heard of any Druid losing a power, or even a power weakening once they bonded. Maybe once Kincaid wakes we’ll know what’s happening with him.”

  “Could he have sucked her power inside him?”

  “We don’t know. Amber certainly seems to have control of his power. She damn near knocked Simon across the room when he tried to stop her from bonding with Kincaid.”

  “Oh, please, how can Amber knock anyone—”

  “With Kincaid’s power. The shield he uses shot up and launched him. We were all so stunned. And Amber… her expression was so…”

  “So what?”

  “I don’t know…fierce? Yeah… close to violent. I didn’t recognize her.”