Highland Darkness

by Lilian Jade

  The men in the room stepped closer, hands reaching out to grab for the items. Lilith stepped back half a step, giving the men a hard look which she hoped conveyed her silent command of stay the fuck back. The men stopped obediently. “Please,” she said out loud. “Just let me take a look before I pass these things over to you. I don’t want to be held accountable for anyone losing a limb or some shit.” The men nodded at her. “My grandfather wrote this book.” Though his name appeared to be a little different, she was sure that it was his name because the handwriting perfectly matched his own. Lilith hesitated, before picking up the book with both hands. She was surprised by how heavy the book really was. “The entire book must be made of gold,” Lilith whispered to herself as she opened the text. She was taken aback to find that the first page was addressed to her.

  My dear Lilly,

  I hope you are not overly angry at me with the decisions I made to keep you safe. I take it that if you are reading this, then you are safe on Scotia soil, with the very men I have assigned to guard over you as your protectors.

  I assume they have done part of their job by finding you. But my dear Lilly, you are still in grave danger. There is some of our kind who are out to harm you. If you still don’t understand yet what you are, lass, let me briefly explain.

  You were born a fae, also known as a faerie. But don’t go thinking that all fairies are harmless

  we are a far cry from harmless. We are dangerous. We can be cold-blooded murderers.

  Some are good and some are bad, but both can be equally deadly.

  The (Tuatha Dè Danann) are the people of the goddess Danu, known as mythical beings who settled in Ireland before the arrival of the Milesians.

  The good are Seelie,—that is us— divided into two courts the seelie were considered to be the true aristocrats of the Daoine Sidhe, our court were the judges administering true justice. Our kind served as arbitrators of the many fairy disagreement.

  The Unseelie are very bad, and extremely dangerous. They are of the most malicious, malevolent and evil of all the faeries, they harbour some of the most monstrous and fearsome abilities over all who take great pleasure in killing humans and other creatures. Lilly, you are one of many gifted beings who can sense or kill whatever fae you are up against. You will always know when you come across one. We are at war—the seelie and unseelie, and our kind are in dire need of female offspring.

  Over the years, our fae men have become sterile, and can no longer impregnate our fae women. So now the women go outside the fae realm to conceive with men of the human realm. Once they are with child, they return home to the faerie. Lilly, you are the only full-blooded fae child left untouched, the only one who has never before conceived a child.

  The Seelie want you back so that they can impregnate you with as many fae as they can, and they will do it until you can conceive no more. And the Unseelie want you dead because you are a danger to them if the Seelie population multiplies. They will come after you, and they will try to kill you.

  But you have all you need right here with you. I left you with this book I made for you—

  take care of it, the book holds power. The two blades can kill faes and other beings.

  Beware of the two gold spheres—they are your armor. Just one touch and they will cover your body in a lightweight, impenetrable gold armor. I gave you two—just in case you had a need for the other.

  There are spells that you may find useful; Lilith, more of your history is written in the pages of this book. One day you will be summoned by our queen, and when you do, do not decide to live there. There is more to you than I could ever find out; I jumped time over and over again trying to figure you out. There was much your parents did not mention to me before they died. All I knew was that you and the others needed saving. But I wasn’t able to find the “others” your parents were talking about. I presume they were killed or taken captive.

  You are the key to stopping all of the havoc, and the key to bringing new life into our realms.

  If the Seelie queen asks anything of you, grant that you will conceive one child, and

  that the child stays with you. Both the Seelie and Unseelie queens will pursue you to make their own deals with you—they may want more children or other wishes from you, but do not stay in their realms, whatever you do. Make sure when you do make your barter,

  that it is precisely the way you want it. Write it down to the finest detail—our kind can be very deceiving. They will twist the truth in many ways.

  There is so much more you need to know about, but the most important thing is this: know that your parents died protecting you and your quest, and so did I. There are few relics that can kill our kind, and you, my love, are one of them.

  I’m truly sorry that you are all alone in the world, lass, but I know that when the time is right, you will find a man worthy enough to love you.

  I love you, Lilith. Keep safe.

  Papa.

  Lilith was at a loss for words. She needed to get out of there. Her eyes turned blurry with unshed tears.

  She could feel Angus’s body heat radiating off of him from behind her. To her shame, Lilith knew he had read every word in that letter. Now he knew why she was being chased—to either be killed or be used as an egg donor. Never in a million years would she give up one of her babies to those mad men.

  Why did her family never tell her, if they knew she would be hunted? Why hadn’t anyone prepared her for any of this? Lilith dropped the book and left the room. She couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. It was never her way to cry in front of people—it was something she did in private, or in her papa‘s arms.

  Lilith could hear someone calling her. It sounded like Angus, but she didn’t care. She ran up the three flights of stairs, stumbled into her room and slammed the door behind her. She jumped on the bed and curled up under the blankets and cried her heart out.

  Why didn’t anyone say a damn thing? No wonder she never fit in anywhere, Lilith thought desperately. Lilith sobbed, and it wasn’t pretty. She was sniffling like mad, her nose wet, eyes puffy, face tear-streaked and her hair in tangles. Lilith heard a faint knock at the door. Two seconds later, she heard the door close.

  “Lass,” came the deep, husky voice of Angus McClain. “I brought you dessert and something to drink.”

  Lilith couldn’t seem to stop crying. Not even to respond to him. No, not couldn’t. She didn’t want to stop crying at all. Her entire life had gone from quiet and peaceful to a fucking hurricane. Everyone and everything she ever knew was gone. Her life was made of lies. The men here in this castle were supposed to be her guardians, not hurting her every time she turned around. Who did Angus McClain think he was, manhandling her like he owned her? She despised the way he growled at her like she was some animal that should bow to his every whim. Just thinking about it made Lilith cry even harder.

  Angus hurt for the fae woman as he read the words her grandfather wrote. She was being pressured, told that she was destined to bring peace to her kind. On top of that, she was being hunted by others of her kind, to be killed or impregnated with their seeds. To hell with all of them, Angus thought. He would never allow them to do such a thing to his fae. Angus decided that she might cheer up to a little dessert. He prepared a plate of French vanilla cheesecake, two spoons, and two glasses of milk before climbing the stairs two at a time.

  As he opened the door to his room, Angus heard her cries. She was hurting, and he didn’t know how to make it stop. It made him want to slam some fae bastard’s head in, but instead he decided to try something else.

  Placing everything down on the bedside table, Angus sat on the edge of his bed where his fae lay curled up under his blankets crying. Damn it all to hell. The more she cried, the more he started to want to pound on someone. Before he could get a word out, she spoke. He could barely understand her faint murmur with all the tears. “Why … are … you … here?”

  He smiled at her question. “Well, first of all lass, I wanted to
check on you. Secondly, this is my room.” Angus whispered next to the area under the blankets he hoped was her head.

  Suddenly her body propelled upwards. He dodged a second too late, and her head smacked into his jaw. He growled low in his throat while she squeaked out a curse, sputtering, “Agh! What is with you all? Does my pain amuse you? Do you like getting off on others’ pain?” She pulled back her bedraggled, raven-black hair, cheeks flushed pink and eyes glowing like silver-black diamonds. They were a little swollen from crying, but it made her look even more appealing to him.

  Her chest heaved from her rapid breathing. To Angus, she looked downright edible, with three unhooked buttons revealing more of her breasts to him than she probably knew. But he wasn’t going to tell her that.

  “This is your room?” she squeaked out. Angus watched her as she scanned the room from left to right.

  “Of course it is.” He noticed a small frown marring her face.

  “Why would any of you want to put me in here?” she asked. “I’m like the scum of the earth, right? Wouldn’t a basement have been more fitting for me?”

  Angus couldn’t believe she had just said that. Well, maybe he did after the way they had treated her. He could see the pain, the hurt and anger in her eyes even as she said the words.

  He was mad at himself for allowing her mistreatment in his home. No, Angus thought to himself. Not in his home, in her home. Angus silently vowed that he would treat her with respect and look after her.

  “I put you here,” Angus said, not meaning for his voice to come out so husky.

  She looked up at him, surprised. “Why?” Concern and distrust flickered across her features. Angus stared back at her, not liking the fact that she did not trust him.

  “Because I wanted to.” Angus watched as the woman thought. He could see the clockwork ticking as she prepared a retort for him. Angus decided to distract her with dessert. “Food,” he said loudly. He cleared his throat again. “I was hungry and, well … would you like some?” Angus picked up the plate of cheesecake and the glass of milk, presenting them to her like peace offerings. He watched as she assessed both items, eyes twinkling in delight at what Angus had to give her. He watched carefully as she licked her lips.

  “Yes, please,” she answered. With that, Angus handed her the plate with the delicate cheesecake, along with a glass of milk. “Enjoy.”

  Lilith sat up and scooted over to the other side of the bed so that he could sit down beside her and eat. They both ate in silence, left to deal with their own thoughts. Lilith loved all sweets. She had always had a soft spot for cheesecake—and French vanilla was by far her favorite. Scottish cheesecake was a little different to what she was used to eating back home, but it was still divine. Though if this was his way of trying to make up for all the things that had happened to her during her captivity there, well, it wasn’t even close.

  Lilith licked her lips clean after eating every last crumb of her dessert and half a glass of milk. She placed her plate and glass on the bedside table. “Thanks for that,” she said as she scooted back under the blankets. She was shivering from the draft in the room.

  Angus must have noticed, because he abruptly got to his feet and headed toward the fireplace. Lighting a twig from a candle that burned on the mantle, Angus put the twig to the fireplace. Within seconds it roared to life. Lilith watched him as he made his way back to the bed. He walked with predatory grace and stealth, like he was everything women couldn’t have. “It will warm up shortly,” he told her. “I’m going to take all of this back downstairs; Angus raised his hands slightly empathising the dirty dishes he held.”

  Before he made his way out of the room. Lilith waited till he had left before she pulled off her borrowed jeans, leaving them to fall to the floor. She climbed back under the blankets. It had been a long, awful day, and all Lilith wanted to do was sleep and not have to worry about a thing.

  Angus was tired. All he wanted to do was crawl up under his blankets and go to sleep. Being around that fae kept doing things to his body. It was as though his body was calling out for hers. But she was wreaking havoc on his emotions as well, he knew, recalling the way he wanted to attack his younger brothers for startling her, causing her to hurt herself and reopen her head injuries.

  Listening to her cry was like being burned in the fires of hell. But worse than that was watching the way her eyes lit up at the sight of sweets—the way she licked her lips with each spoonful of cheesecake. The way a small sigh would slip past her lips in delight.

  Angus had to stop all this nonsense before he caused himself some unnecessary discomfort. He headed downstairs and put the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. As Angus turned, he was confronted by Occam, Hunter, and Kevan.

  “Angus, we need to talk,” said Occam.

  “What is it?” said Angus in a low voice.

  “It’s about the girl,” Kevan replied.

  “And what about her?” Again Angus felt himself becoming defensive, like he wanted to jump to the woman’s rescue. But at the same time, he didn’t want to betray his brothers’ trust.

  “She is your soul mate,” Hunter said flatly. “You can say what you will, Angus, but I know better. I see love the way nobody else sees it. I know that she is meant for you, even though you’re still fighting what you feel for the lass.”

  Angus looked dumbfounded at his brother. “What?” Angus said, acting repulsed even though he knew that his brother was most probably right. He couldn’t quite explain what the idea of that … that fae being his soul mate made him feel.

  “Angus, we saw it tonight. The way you acted—”

  “Quiet!” Angus roared. “You cannot see it! I do not have feelings for that fae. She isn’t my soul mate; it is the way she is made. It is what she is born to do. It’s her glamor …” Angus looked at his brothers. He knew they wanted to say more, but thought better of it.

  Angus changed the subject, knowing it was a more important task to stay up and plan how they could best keep the fae safe and kill her enemies. The brothers agreed that Duncan and Kevan would use the faerie armor as well as the two blades in order to attack the bastards who hunted her. They would sneak out during the early morning and take the fae by surprise. Angus, Hunter, and Occam would stay within gunshot range, keeping their sights on a clear shot at the fae bastards. Kate would help as well, remaining inside and using her strengths in magic to their advantage. Plans in place, they all said their goodnights and headed off to bed.

  As Angus climbed the stairs, he realized that all the beds in the keep had been stripped clean of all linen and taken to the cleaners due to all the guests from Connor’s wedding. So Angus headed for his own room, realizing he’d have to camp out in front of the fireplace on the small sofa.

  Pushed open the door to his room, Angus froze where he stood. The room was too warm, but what had him frozen in his tracks was a very round and very naked backside. Angus let out a low growl. Now all he could think about was waking this fae up and taking her from behind there in his very bed. Before he even realized it, he was shutting the door behind him and making his way across the room to the bed.

  The blankets were crumpled at her feet, the borrowed pair of jeans discarded on the floor. All she wore was his button-up shirt, which barely covered her luscious ass. Why that sight brought a smile to his lips, he didn’t know. Angus had to force his eyes shut, taking a few deep breaths to calm his breathing before he opened his eyes again. Angus grabbed one of the blankets and covered her with it, taking the other for himself. He walked to the fireplace and put a few more logs into the dying fire.

  Trying and yet failing to make himself comfortable on a couch that was much too small for his large frame, its edges digging into his back. Oh well He’ll just have to deal with it, knowing that the fae would most probably fry him where he stood if he tried to get under the covers with her. Just thinking about getting under the sheets with a half-naked female was enough to make him hard. To make matters worse, his blanket smelled
of her. It was an intoxicating and erotic scent that only she had, and it made his head swim. Angus didn’t even notice that he was taking deep, gulping breaths of the aroma. He couldn’t seem to get enough—it was like honey mingling with a womanly, sweet musk.

  Angus licked his lips, craving the woman who slept mere feet away from him. He shook his head to clear his mind of her. Maybe … maybe his brothers were right, and she was his soul mate. Nay, Angus thought. She cannot be. Even if she had the same marking as the woman in his dreams—but he had never seen his dream woman’s face. It was the one part of her that was never revealed to him. Everything he felt for the woman in his dreams was right in so many ways. She felt like coming home, like she was made just for him. Like their heart, body, and soul were one.

  Angus listened to the fae breathe softly and calmly as she slept. It was a long while before Angus felt himself being pulled under by sleep.

  Lilith awoke with a start. Her frequent nightmares were becoming so surreal that she almost feared going back to sleep. Her borrowed room was pitch black and completely silent.

  Where was that colossal brute when she actually needed something? She had to find out where the bathroom was. Unless of course, the inhabitants of the castle still practiced the old ways with chamber pots and shit, she thought with a smirk.

  Lilith moaned low in her throat as she stretched. Pushing the blanket aside, to get out of bed. Padding across the floor, squealing when her feet hit the concrete. Lilith was about to make a run for the door when she heard a rustling noise. Stopping in mid-stride, Lilith turned in the direction of the sound. She stood completely still, waiting to see if the noise was truly a noise, or just her imagination.

  The room was quiet. But just as Lilith resumed walking toward the door, the noise started up again. She wondered if perhaps Angus was asleep somewhere in the room. Could whoever wanted her dead be in that room with her at that very moment? Where was Angus when she needed him the most?

  No, Lilith told herself. She didn’t need him. She had come this far in life, and she could sure as hell watch her own back. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than Lilith felt a pair of strong arms band around her waist.