She sighed. “Yeah. That’s what I figured.”
“Ye ken what this means, lass,” he went on. “It means we have time to repair the village afore the next attack. It means we can lift the curse together.”
She took his hand one more time. “I…I’m sorry, Christie. I mean, I’m sorry about saying I didn’t want to stay with you. If you still want to, I…I mean…I’d like to.”
“Do ye mean ye want to marry me and stay here with me?”
She nodded down at the ground. “If you still want to. I understand if you don’t. I’m sorry I threw your offer back in your face. It was stupid of me.”
“What changed your mind?” he asked.
“The wolf,” she replied. “You were right. I couldn’t spend a night out there under the moon and then walk away. I…I never realized it could be like that. I thought being a wolf would be horrible and monstrous like the time I attacked the Faery King. I didn’t know it could be so…so wonderful.”
He put his arms around her. “I’m right glad, lassie. You’d take me heart away with ye if ye left now.”
She collapsed into his kiss. She never wanted to be anywhere else. Then she rested her forehead on his chest. “I’m so happy this is all over.”
“It seems it never happened,” he murmured. “It seems we were in the future the whole time.”
“How will we break the news to Lachlan and Ivy?” she asked. “What will we tell them?”
“Tell them naught,” he replied. “Let them think ye just appeared out of nowhere.”
“And what about us? What will we tell them about…you know, about us spending so much time together?”
He snorted with laughter. “I dinnae think I’ll have to explain much to Lachlan. He’ll be too occupied with his own wedding, and by the time the dust settles, ye and I’ll have spent enough time together that he’ll approve when I break the news.”
“How will we get to the village in the meantime?” she asked. “We won’t be married. Won’t that cause a scandal or something?”
He moved closer until his lips brushed her face. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I think we’ll find a way. Ye dinnae have to bother about that. There’s no’ a force in creation that’d keep me away of ye now, lass. Now come along with me. Just remember ye have no’ met any of these people afore.”
He led her down into the castle, but he instantly realized he was right. Everyone was far too busy patching up the wounded and cleaning up the mess to pay any attention to Alexis.
Christie found a room for Alexis on the same landing as his own. He closed the door behind him and kissed her. “Stay here and keep a low profile. I’ll be back for ye in an hour or so, and then ye can come down to supper with the rest of us. I think you’ll have no trouble blending into the life of the castle.”
He went downstairs and found Lachlan sitting on the table in the Great Hall while Colin bandaged a gash on his side. “There ye are, lad. I have been thinking on this trip ye planned to take to Urlu.”
“I have been thinkin’ on it, too,” Christie replied.
“Aye? And what have ye been thinking?”
“I have been thinking you’d best send someone else after all,” Christie replied.
Lachlan arched an eyebrow. “And may I ask what changed your mind about going yourself?”
“Ye may ask, and I’ll tell ye,” Christie replied. “It’s Alexis.”
“Aye?” Lachlan barely suppressed a grin. “What about her?”
“I’m staying here,” Christie replied. “She changes things a mite, do ye no’ agree? With her here, we have a chance to stop the curse without the Urlus’ help. I still believe ye ought to send a message to them. Ye ought to tell them ye want their help, but now that Alexis is here, you’ll want to establish communications in case ye need to call on them at a moment’s notice. Wait and see what turns out with Alexis here. Ye may no’ need their help after all.”
“Have it your own way,” Lachlan told him. “I agree with ye that her being here changes the situation, but we dinnae ken if she’ll stay. She may disappear the way she did afore.”
“She’ll stay,” Christie replied.
“How do ye ken that?”
“She told me.”
“When?”
“Just now, upstairs.”
Lachlan’s eyes flew open. “Did she?”
“Aye.”
“Did she say what made her decide to do that?”
Christie shrugged and looked away. He wasn’t expecting this conversation to take the turn it did. “She didnae say, but perhaps she’s tired of disappearing all the time. Perhaps she wants as much help from us to break the curse as we want from her. I’m only guessing here. You’d have to ask her.”
“Perhaps ye had best ask her,” Lachlan suggested.
“Perhaps I will…someday.”
Chapter 34
Old Father McTavish snapped his Bible closed. “I now pronounce ye man and wife. Ye may kiss the bride.”
Lachlan moved closer to Ivy. He put his arms around her and kissed her, and the Great Hall erupted in cheers. Lachlan and Ivy turned to face their Clan, and everyone rushed in to congratulate them at once.
Alexis retreated to the door. This act that she didn’t know anybody took on a life of its own. She found the job of integrating into the Clan a lot harder than she expected, probably because no one was supposed to know about her romance with Christie.
Lachlan and Ivy already seemed to divine the truth. The rest of the Clan was a different story. She wasn’t Christie’s wife yet. She wasn’t supposed to be sneaking off with him to one bedroom or the other. They were supposed to be strangers just getting to know each other.
In the week since she and Christie traveled back in time to the battle on the roof, Clan business occupied a lot of Christie’s day. As Lachlan’s right hand man, he had to take part in every decision. He didn’t bother to try to convince Lachlan to reduce the defenses or to bring back all the civilians that evacuated during the last horrendous months.
Alexis, on the other hand, found herself with too much time on her hands. She could only spend so many hours a day with Ivy, especially with Ivy preparing for her wedding day. Alexis found it doubly hard not to spill the beans that Ivy was pregnant. No one was supposed to know, not even Christie.
Alexis knew a handful of people in the Hall the day of Lachlan and Ivy’s wedding. She was a stranger. No one paid her any attention, and she retreated to the periphery until she could find a suitable time to disappear.
She spent a lot of time this last week wandering the woods and coastlines. The longer she spent on Mull, the more she loved it. She never yearned for her old home in America. That life was dead. It died in the battle that closed the portals forever.
Loud shouts, laughter, and conversation between long-separated relations echoed out of the Great Hall. Feasting and drinking went on into the night. Toward sunset, Alexis made her escape. She crossed the Hall and made for the stairs when Christie came out of the shadows.
He took her hand and hustled her around a corner. He pushed her against a wall and kissed her. “Where do ye think you’re going?”
“I don’t belong here. I don’t know half these people. You should go back to the party. I’m going upstairs. I’ll see you later.”
He inclined his head toward the front door. “Why dinnae ye come out with me tonight?”
“Out?” she asked. “What do you mean, out?”
“Out running,” he explained. “We havenae been out since we got here. We havenae been running together yet. I want ye.”
He leaned his weight into her, and his mouth covered her lips in passionate kisses. She collapsed under his weight. His body filled her with electric excitement, and the idea of running under the moon with him burned a fiery path through her guts.
Run…with him? She hadn’t been running once since she traveled back in time with him. In all the time she wandered the forests and beaches, she did it as a person. S
omething held her back from shifting.
No one was supposed to know about that, either. The McLeans were all supposed to think she was human. She didn’t so much dread their finding out. She anticipated it with excitement like a birthday or Christmas.
Every person on this island, with the exception of Ivy, presented a thrilling opportunity to explore that haunting intimacy she shared with Lachlan that night… It wasn’t long ago, and it wasn’t in the future. It never happened, and it would never happen—not like that.
It would happen, though. She would run as wolf with everyone on this island, including Lachlan and all his children. She would get to know Davy McLean the way she always dreamed she would, and it all started right here, right now, with Christie.
He eased back and opened the front door. The sun went down outside and cast the landscape in gentle pastels. The surf groaned in the distance. The wild world outside called Alexis out to join with it.
“Come with me, lass,” he murmured.
He didn’t wait for her to reply. He took a running jump off the steps and shifted before he hit the ground. He bounded down the steps. In a few long strides, he vanished into the woods.
Alexis’s heart soared. She dove through the door, and her skin fell away in the blink of an eye. Her hands hit the ground, and her wild soul burst forth in all its unchained glory. She left all her reserve behind. She ceased to be Alexis Morgan and became instead a pure streak of animal energy.
She hungered for the cool Earth beneath her paws. It flowed up through her bones and gave her lightning speed. The moon rising over the hills intoxicated her mind. Her senses picked up minute details in the surroundings until she no longer needed to see or hear or smell.
The whole world opened up for her. She intuited it in her pores and cells. She became one with it and it enfolded her in the most exquisite pleasure of her life.
She overtook Christie in the forest. When she came up next to him, he took off like a shot over the moors. He traced a similar line down the island on his way to Lochbuie. He circled the Tower House and rocketed away along the coast heading west.
Alexis ran at his shoulder for a while, but her surging energy wouldn’t hold back. She put on a burst of speed and took a running jump onto his back. She bowled him over in the grass on top of the moor.
Christie let out a yelp and came up with all his teeth bared. They wrestled for a moment until he started to gain the upper hand. She sensed herself losing steam, so she darted away and took off running faster than ever.
Christie gave chase. His black coat blended into the night, but Alexis didn’t need to see him. She smelled his powerful male scent. His flowing presence radiated its strength to her out of the dark.
She took the lead. She led him up to the highest peaks where she spent the night with Lachlan and the rest of the pack. She would have run on, but Christie darted in front of her to cut her off. He herded her back and ran in circles around her.
All of a sudden, he darted in and touched his muzzle to the corner of her mouth. A wave of sexual excitement shot down her body. She knew exactly what he was trying to tell her.
She made a dive to escape, but he pounced on top of her and took a bite out of the scruff of her neck. He wrestled her down on the ground. Her body tensed, but he let go of her in an instant and ran away.
Alexis didn’t waste time. She lunged to her feet and took off running in the opposite direction. She didn’t think she could leave him behind, and she didn’t want to. He wanted to mate with her. That was obvious, but she never mated with him as a wolf before.
She had no idea how to do it, but her instincts would show her that, too. She raced down the hill and through a graveyard before he appeared at her side. She swirled through the gravestones. He made no further move. He only ran at her side with no particular agenda in mind.
All of a sudden, he veered away and plunged into a thicket. Alexis swerved to catch up with him. When she broke through and found him, he ran with his nose low to the ground on the track of a deer.
The scent excited her more than ever. Her hair bristled, and she skimmed along the ground on a filament of energy. Running cost her no effort at all. She could keep running forever and never get tired.
In another dense forest across the island, they startled the deer out of the bushes. It took off running, and Christie and Alexis flanked it on both sides. Christie bolted ahead to steer it toward her. It was now or never.
At the last second, Alexis skidded to a stop. The deer ran past her, and she rocketed forward at full speed. In the blink of an eye, she charged Christie and knocked him reeling down a bank on the far side.
The two wolves tumbled head over heels down, down, down. They rolled through dry leaves and bounced over boulders before they slammed down hard on flat ground at the bottom.
Christie leapt to his feet with an enraged snarl. He rounded on Alexis, but she wasn’t there. She whizzed off into the night with her tail waving in the air. His frustration and anger gave him more strength than ever, and he put on speed to run her down.
She buried herself in the dark until he caught up. She made a quick circle and leapt out at him from the side. She ducked under his chin and gave him a flickering lick on the side of the lips.
He rounded on her, but she turned her rear end to him. She waggled her hind quarters in his face and took off running. She ran a few steps, stopped, and glanced back over her shoulder at him.
He stood still. He narrowed his eyes at her and snarled. She wagged her tail and grinned. He trotted forward a few steps. She wheeled around and jumped up on her hind legs. She pawed the air with her forelimbs and bounded right and left to invite him to play.
He still hesitated. She stood off for a moment and regarded him. She glanced off into the trees, but he still didn’t come near her. She took a running step toward him and nuzzled under his chin.
He opened his jaws and feigned biting her. He growled, but he didn’t close his teeth on her. She swiveled around next to him and slithered her body along his length. What would it take to get him to respond?
She ran a few steps away from him again. This time, he trotted after her, but he didn’t try to catch her. She slowed to invite him to catch up with her, but he only slowed one more time and stopped.
She ran around him in circles. She rubbed against him. She gave him a playful bite under the chin, but never hard enough to hurt. He growled at her and snapped his teeth on empty air.
All of a sudden, she took off running again. If he wanted her, he better catch her. As she expected, he rocketed forward right behind her. She outran him all the way over the moor to Loch Spelve. At the top of the hill, he exploded forward and jumped on top of her. He sent her bowling down the hill.
When they landed at the bottom, he didn’t give her a chance to recover. He scrambled on top of her and pinned her to the ground. His teeth closed around her neck from behind, and he forced her down.
His body wriggled around on top of her, and she felt the tension coursing through him. One more inch, and he would have her. She struggled once, but he pushed her down with all his power. She relaxed and submitted to the inevitable.
He laid his body along her back and flexed his hips against her back. She arched her tail out of the way and raised her pelvis to meet him. His stomach rippled against her spine, and he growled in her ear.
All of a sudden, he let go and bounded off and away. Before she could get to her feet, he was long gone.
Chapter 35
Christie stood inside the trees and gazed up the hill at Duart Castle. It stood tall and dark in the night. Lights glowed in every window, and voices drifted down the wind to his ear.
He loved this place. He never wanted to live anywhere else, and now he knew it could rest in peace for a long, long time. He never had to worry about anyone or anything threatening it again.
He would watch his children and his kin grow and live in prosperity for the rest of his life. Lachlan was married and Ivy was pregnant
. Christie knew for certain the embassy to Urlu would bring back good news. None of the nightmare horror he and Alexis witnessed ever happened. The Phoenix Throne was safe, and Faery was safe, too.
While he stood there admiring his home, Alexis came walking out of the forest behind him. She stopped nearby and cocked her head to one side. “Are you okay?”
“I’m grand, lassie. You’re a mighty she-wolf. The McLeans are lucky to have ye among us.”
She took a step closer. “What’s wrong? Why did you run away like that? I though you wanted to. Did I do something wrong? I didn’t mean to make you mad. I’m sorry if I hurt you or anything.”
“Ye didnae hurt me,” he replied. “Ye were magnificent. Ye always are.”
“What’s the matter, then? Why did you pull away and run off? I thought we were having a good time.”
He sidled closer to her. He scooped one hand around her back and kissed her. He wanted her now more than ever. “I want your skin, lass. I want ye bare in my bed where I can taste ye and enjoy ye all over all night long. That’s what I really want.”
She put her arms around his neck and sank into his kiss. She wanted it, too. The sensation of holding her down in the forest, of her hips rising to meet his, made his head spin with delirious desire. She was all wolf, even in her human form. She could never be tamed, this beautiful, wild, magical woman of his.
His manhood stiffened under his kilt, and he slid both hands down to cup her ass. He hauled her against him, and her legs melted apart around his hardness. He wanted to be inside there, in that mystical garden full of moist delights and hidden mysteries.
He put her down and took her hand. He led her up the steps and pushed the door open. He kissed her in the act of drawing her inside when a voice jolted them apart. “I thought I’d find ye two together.”
Christie whipped around and came face-to-face with Lachlan. “Lachlan, mon, I thought you’d be…”
Curse Breaker (Phoenix Throne Book 7): A Scottish Highlander Time Travel Romance Page 23
