“Your bite always soothes me.”
He didn’t fight her request for long, giving in fast. He scraped his teeth down her neck, back and forth as he kept one eye on Cairstine on the other side of her, then he did as she’d bid. He sank his teeth into the sensitive spot where her pulse point throbbed then sucked on her flesh, marking her well.
Eyes closed, she swayed back into him, and Cairstine finally relented and released the intoxicating substance that drew her away from her body and allowed her to float in a place where pain couldn’t reach her.
She drifted, the man at her back with his mouth on her neck holding her close, and her sister thankfully feeding and replenishing herself as she needed to do to survive. Aye, Cairstine was an immortal, just as she was, but death could come to her sister’s very spirit and soul if she chose to forego these feeds and instead become fully dark. If she did, the legend of the vampire wouldn’t be a legend anymore. Nay, death and destruction would be set loose on this Earth, and if that happened, even she and Lilias would be unable to halt her.
Long minutes passed, then Cairstine finally released her from her drugged hold, licked across the two puncture wounds and sealed the incisions before stepping back. Her cheeks were flushed a rosy red, her lips coated in blood which she licked away. “You are so tasty, my dear sister.”
Hunter continued to hold her back tight to his chest, then he too lifted his head and roared. His bear snapped and snarled in his middle.
“Ah, Cairstine, mayhap you should go.” The sky had lightened further, a flush of pink spreading through the deep blue. “Seek your rest for the day.”
“Aye, I’ve fed well.” Cairstine morphed into a black-winged bat and screeched as she flew out the open window and soared into the sky.
“She can’t walk in daylight?” Hunter asked, his voice all rough and growly.
“She has no’ been able to from around the age of nine. That’s when she began shifting into so many different creatures. She chose then to rely solely on blood for sustenance. ’Tis one of the pitfalls of her skill, losing her ability to walk in daylight. She will rest in her bedchamber two doors down from mine at the keep, the curtains drawn. Dinnae fear for her though. She has never succumbed to the burn of daylight thus far and she is rather wise to what she can and cannae do. Once, when she got trapped in the forest as the sun rose, she become a bug and crawled underneath a log to hide from the coming daylight.”
“Clever.” He traced over the spot where her sister had fed. “How often must she feed?”
“Every few days, although she alternates between Lilias and me so as no’ to weaken either of us too greatly.” A little dizzy, she gripped the counter as she moved around it toward the door. “I need some fresh air.”
“Take my arm.” He extended it to her as he opened the door and she accepted his offer and stepped outside as the sun broke the horizon and painted the sky a golden red. Birds chirped in the pines rising high behind the ruins of the village, while in front, waves rolled into shore and splashed the pebbly sand. This land thrummed with enchanted energy, magic belonging to her fae kind.
“I noticed Cairstine’s clothes morphed with her.” Hunter led her around the stony remains of the central fire pit, through the gap in the crumbled stone of the outer wall and down to the shoreline where the sparkling blue-green waters beckoned her to come and swim. “Mine shred if I don’t remove them.”
“My sister spells her clothes so when she shifts they travel with her. She learnt that trick as a child.” Crouching with one hand on her sword hilt, she laid her other hand on the sacred ground and opened her mind to her skill.
With her inner sight focused on Colin MacKenzie, she allowed her ability to rise and sought what might be awaiting her. She couldn’t force a vision to surface, but if one were close to rising, she could nudge it along. Images swirled and she clutched ahold of them.
All around her Colin MacKenzie’s warriors slashed their oars into the crashing waves, and Colin MacKenzie himself smirked as he swaggered toward the bow. She was still on board his vessel, and Hunter still lay prone in layers of tartan. Blood seeped around the arrow wound in his chest, the tail end of the arrow snapped off and the head protruding out his side. She couldn’t leave him like this, no matter the arrow had already taken his life. Grunting, she tipped him over a little, gripped the blackened arrowhead and heaved. It slid free and she tossed it aside, bound a strip of his ripped tunic around the gaping wound still oozing blood, then settled him back down again.
She’d done this to Hunter, failed him, utterly and completely and now he was dead. Gone from this world. Grief and loss poured through her. She had to maintain her stance, to ensure he never traveled with her into the past. She couldn’t fail him again, must heed this vision and the ones that had come before which had shown her his death. She needed to end things between them. No other choice remained.
Carefully, she lifted the folds of the tartan he’d been wrapped in and laid one corner back over his face, while up ahead the MacKenzie’s castle rose like a fortress, his stronghold built on an island a stone’s throw from the mainland. This was the last place she wished to be. She sniffed, wrapped her arms around Hunter and hugged him close, his presence comforting her even though he was no longer here.
Atop the barbican, a score of guardsmen patrolled in heavy battle attire, their helms covering their faces, and her sorrow slowly subsided as anger took a firm hold. She clenched her fists, her desire to kill throbbing through her.
This was her enemy, and they would perish for taking away her very heart and soul.
Chapter 10
Never had such intense frustration rolled through Hunter as it did in this moment. Ailith was lost within a vision, her eyes glazed and her arms banded tight around something bulky, something she saw and held onto with fierce determination. He crouched in front of her, caught her clenched hands from the air and wrapped them around him instead. She blinked, her gaze clearing and he cupped her face in his hands, his voice a low growl as he demanded, “Tell me what you’ve just seen.”
“Your death still, as I saw in my vision last eve, with an arrow to the chest. I was on board MacKenzie’s war galley, holding onto you tight as we sailed toward his stronghold.” She stroked one finger along his bottom lip, her cheeks tear-stained. “You need to let me go, Hunter, because if you dinnae, you’ll deny us both the chance of a bond should one truly exist. Let me find my way back to you when the time is right.”
Aye, he could understand her fears since her visions were a portrayal of the future to come, her combat skill gifting her with the ability to see her enemy’s next move, but he couldn’t allow her to go into war against their enemy without him. “You ask for too much, Ailith.”
“I’ve traveled often throughout the ages, the entire world over, and no’ once have I ever come across such an obstinate man.” She pushed out of his arms and heaved to her feet. Pacing the beach before him, she huffed and puffed and waved her hands about. “Look, last night with you was magical, but whatever has happened between us until now proves naught.”
“Don’t try to deny our bond exists. We’re mated, and you damn well know it.” Anger thrummed through him. The full moon had yet to decide their fate, but deep in his heart, he’d already formed an unbreakable bond with her and he wanted more. He wanted to bind them together for all time, for her to accept him at her side, and for her to accept his aid in her duty to her people. Aye, he had no intention of allowing her return to the past, not now he’d finally found her. He tried to draw in a deep, stabilizing breath, but barely managed it. She wished to run, and he sensed that to the depths of his soul. “Ailith, listen to me. I can’t protect you if I’m not with you.”
“I’m an immortal. I dinnae need your protection, whereas you need my protection until we can join together.” She stabbed a finger in his chest. “I have no’ been waiting over eight-hundred years to find you, only to lose you afore I even get the chance to truly know you.”
“There has to be a way around our current issue.”
“The only option is the one I’ve already given you. You stay, and I leave.” Palming the hilt of her sword, she stomped along the beach toward the cliffside trail leading around the bay to Matheson Castle.
“We belong together, and if you dare try to leave me”—he set out after her—“I’ll simply hunt you down. That’s what I do. I’m a tracker.”
“I willnae take any further risks with your life.”
“Damn it, Ailith. We need to have an actual conversation about this.” Swinging his arms, he jogged in beside her and grasped her arm. “We need to address our issues, not for you to just make the decision for us both.”
“I cannae stand by and watch you being killed by my enemy, no’ when I have the means to halt your pursuit.” Glittery faerie dust got tossed and sprinkled over him. “Hunter Matheson, listen to me well. No longer shall you remember me or any of the time we’ve spent together, no’ one single moment. I shall be as if a stranger to you, an annoying stranger, one you cannae wait to be rid of. Do you understand me?”
“Aye.” He pushed the answer from his mouth, the woman before him fluttering in and out of his vision, her words tearing at his very heart. “You’re a stranger,” he mumbled, fists clenched and his claws slicing out and stabbing into his palms. “An annoying stranger.”
“That’s right, and now you no longer see me, no’ at all.” She continued to blur before his eyes as she stepped farther away from him, her voice drifting on the breeze.
“Don’t leave me!” He thumped his chest, anguish slashing through him with such fierce intensity, only she was gone…whoever she was.
Someone had been here, then disappeared into thin air.
How the hell had she…she…she…
Who had just been here with him?
He lifted his head, his bear clawing for his release.
The wind rushed up the cliff face and washed over him, bringing with it the salty scent of the sea and the crispness of the Highlands he so adored. This was his home, only something was missing. The lingering scent of strawberries and—he sniffed—was that fertile woman?
Overhead, the heavy boughs of the pines swayed and he dropped to all fours as pain seared through him, his bear ripping free. The Change was fast, far swifter than any Change he’d ever undergone before, and he slapped his paws down on the forest floor and charged into the depths of the forest.
These woods had always brought such calm to his very soul, but not right now. Desperation thrummed through him. He bolted around in circles, thrashing through the underbrush only to end up at the cliff face again, his clothes torn and fluttering away in the wind, his wrist dagger and sword scattered across the path.
He heaved up onto his hind legs and dug his claws into the trunk of a towering tree. Slashing downward, he bellowed and bellowed. Loss, unlike any he’d ever experienced before, pummeled through him.
His thoughts were so jumbled, patches of time missing here and there. He couldn’t even recall waking up this morning and leaving the keep, or why he’d headed out here all alone, along the cliff trail toward the ruins of the fae village.
The sun rose higher and he made the Change back, scooped his weapons from the ground and hauled his naked butt back to the castle. Small creatures scuttled away into the underbrush as he stormed past them, clearly sensing the riled predator in their midst.
Through the postern gate, he jogged, then took the side entrance and bounded up the stairs two at a time. Outside Liam’s door, he rapped and called out, “It’s Hunter.”
“Come—”
He shoved the door open and stepped inside Liam’s medical room, his kinsman seated behind his desk piled with papers, one brow arched.
“—in.”
“Something’s wrong with me.” He slapped one hand against his chest. “My heart hurts, as if it’s been wrenched in two.”
“I can take a look at your heart if you like, but first you need to put some pants on. There are spare clothes in the cupboard on your right. Help yourself.”
“Thanks.” Shoving one hand through his hair, he ignored the cupboard and instead paced the room as he tried to explain all his jumbled thoughts. “I’m missing so many memories, large patches of time.”
“Hunter, your willy is still out.” Liam pushed his chair back, opened the cupboard and tossed him a pair of black jeans and black leather boots. “Put those on. I can’t concentrate otherwise.”
“Fine, I’ll get dressed.” Muttering under his breath, he hauled the jeans on, sat on the wooden-backed chair and laced the boots. “Is it possible,” he muttered through gritted teeth, “for someone to steal another’s memories without their consent?”
“It is if you’ve been around Ailith.” Leaning against the windowsill overlooking the inner courtyard, Liam rolled his blue shirtsleeves to his elbow. “She’s one of the full-blooded fae, Cherub’s niece and sister to Cairstine, who arrived through a portal a few hours ago. They’re identical in appearance, although not with their skills.”
“What skills do they hold?”
“Ailith holds the skill of combat sense, and can receive visions of war before they unfold. She’s also a telepath, as is Cairstine.”
“Tell me more about Cairstine.” More pacing. He couldn’t sit still.
“Cairstine holds the skill of morphing. She and I spoke about her ability not long after she arrived with Cherub. I even brought her here to my rooms and offered her some blood from my stock.” He motioned to his refrigerated unit that kept the temperature of the blood stock within from getting too cold or too hot.
“She drinks blood?”
“Aye, and she can’t walk in the sunlight. After she declined the blood, I showed her around, then before dawn, she morphed into the form of a golden eagle and flew out to visit her sister. She didn’t say where her sister was, so I don’t have that intel, but thirty minutes later she returned as a bat. It was incredible to see.”
“None of this sounds familiar.”
“Then a word of warning. Steer well clear of their faerie dust, glittery stuff they keep in a pouch at their hip.” Liam eyed him speculatively. “I wasn’t in the great hall for breakfast yesterday, but I didn’t miss the rumors flying afterward. You stated well and clear for all our clan to hear that Ailith was your mate. You’ve been gone for over twenty-four hours as well, presumably with her. Does any of that information help? Am I jogging any memories yet?”
“No.” But Liam was certainly jogging more of his frustration to rise. “What do Ailith and Cairstine look like?”
“Both of them have blond ringlets and emerald eyes flecked with gold, although Cairstine’s eyes can change color. I saw them darken to a raven color with blood-red shimmering through them. That happened when she sighted the blood in the unit, the very second I opened the door.” Liam turned at the window and searched the inner bailey. “Come here. Ailith is outside now.”
“Where?” He was at Liam’s side in a flash.
“Seated on the corner bench under the elm tree. You can’t miss her.”
He fisted his hands and thumped his knuckles onto the windowsill. No one sat on the corner bench, not a damn soul.
I shall be as if a stranger to you, an annoying stranger, one you cannae wait to be rid of. Do you understand me?
Aye, you’re a stranger, an annoying stranger.
That’s right, and now you no longer see me, no’ at all.
He raked his claws into the stone.
Chapter 11
Within Matheson Castle’s gatehouse security control room, Cherub turned from the screen feeding the footage from the camera mounted to the eastern side of the curtain wall and looped her arms around Kirk’s neck where she sat on his lap in a padded leather chair. She’d spoken to Ailith on her return and understood her niece’s fears regarding her last vision and her decision to spell the removal of Hunter’s memories a second time, but there was also Murdock’s vision to consider. A b
attle with swords was yet to occur between Hunter and her niece, one which would lead them to Faodail. She drew in a deep breath and played her fingers through her mate’s silky black hair. “I’m worried, Kirk.”
“We have to let them find their own way to each other.” Kirk spanned his hands around her waist.
“I just wish I knew if those two are truly mated, but as yet I’ve seen only that she’s mated to someone here in this time.” She rubbed her cheek against Kirk’s cheek, her burgundy skirts brushing her ankles as she lifted her feet and slid deeper into her chosen one’s lap. “Do you think they’re mated?”
“From what I’ve seen of Hunter’s behavior, his desperate need to keep Ailith at his side, I do believe they’re mated. Sometimes a man knows when he’s found his soul bound mate, whether the full moon has arisen or not. Jamie and Bella are a perfect example. Deep in Jamie’s heart, he knew Bella was his, had been drawn to her well before her inner bear came of age, and even though he managed to keep his claws off her until the month before she reached full maturity, he still struggled greatly until that time. He even went lone bear to try and force some distance between them, to give her that last month she needed.” He kissed her softly, gently, his voice a murmur against her lips as he continued, “Then there’s the fact that Hunter has never chased another woman like he’s been chasing Ailith. What he’s undergoing is the hunt, the chase we men take on in pursuit of our soul bound mate. He won’t rest until he makes her his.”
“I certainly agree there.” Hunter was indeed chasing Ailith, just as the warrior shifters from this clan did when they got within sniffing distance of their chosen ones. She ran one finger down the front of Kirk’s chest, coasting over the defined muscles and wicked indents of his rigid abs. “Let’s say they are mated, then that means I cannae keep two who are mated apart, no’ when their journey in discovering their bond is all about the chase.”
“Then we need to make certain Hunter remains alive while that chase continues.” Kirk buried his nose in her hair and nipped her earlobe. “I think we can manage that. Don’t you?”
Highlander's Claim: Time Travel Romance (The Matheson Warriors Book 2) Page 11
