Highland Darkness

by Lilian Jade

  Occam was there with Kate as well. Their skin was glowing a light shade of violet as a faint humming noise came from the magic coursing through them and around them. Neither one noticed Lilith’s presence.

  Lilith looked toward what they were staring at through the window and gasped. There were men all over the front yard and on the road fighting. Some just stood there, still as death, waiting. What in the hell was going on here? Lilith thought.

  Lilith found herself swinging open the front door, her heart in her throat as she scanned the area for Angus. But it was too difficult to tell with all the strange men moving about. What stood out to Lilith was the two figures being lifted into the air and slammed back down to the ground repeatedly with such force that it was sure to smash every bone in their bodies.

  Was that her grandfather’s gold armor they were wearing? Next time she would remember to round up all her belongings and put them away in her room. She looked from one armor-clad body to the other—could Angus be one of the two figures? At that thought, Lilith felt her entire body beginning to shake as she ran toward the men, not caring about anything else but them. She felt as if her heart was being yanked from her very body. She couldn’t lose him. For some reason, Lilith knew that she needed him. Without him, she wouldn’t be able to breathe. Angus was hers, and nobody was ever going to take him away from her.

  Even as Lilith thought the words, she couldn’t fathom the reason why she felt so strongly about a man she didn’t even know. “Angus … Angus!” Lilith screamed out as she ran across the yard. From where she was, it looked as if the bodies weren’t moving. Panic took over, and Lilith screamed again, “Angus! Please … no!” Lilith felt bile rising in her belly. Taking a deep breath, she swallowed it down. When she finally noticed the oddly beautiful men standing around her in a tight circle. They were so beautiful, just looking at them hurt. They were like nothing she had ever seen before. Some were in full white suits, some in black. And others were bare chested, dressed in tight-fitting denim jeans and boots. Their torsos were something even Da Vinci would marvel at. The otherworldly beauty of the men led Lilith to believe they were something not quite human.

  Lilith snapped out of her trance as she heard an agonizing scream coming from one of the armoured men. Or perhaps they were both screaming … she couldn’t focus on a damn thing with all of the very sexy creatures hovering over her like she was some kind of exotic fruit. Lilith knew the better word for them. They were fae—just like her.

  In that moment, Lilith felt her entire body shifting inside of itself. Pain shot through her like a million sharp blades slicing into her flesh. Lilith screamed so loudly, she was sure her ears bled from the sound. Lilly could feel her body heat up as a strange warmth coursed through her like honey on a warm scone. Something was inside of her, pushing through her, filling her with feelings so intense they were palpable. Power, energy, love, pain, hate, lust, envy, and magic. They kept pushing outward trying to shape her. More and more it felt like she was almost invisible, like she was on top of the world.

  Lilith could hear herself screaming even as her vision blurred; allowing the darkness wrap its long black talons around her, pulling her under into the void of nothingness.

  Angus watched as his heart slammed somewhere into his throat. When he heard her scream his name across the yard over and over again, he felt his stomach constrict at her words. He could hear the pain and panic in her voice, but Angus couldn’t see her past all the fae bastards.

  Did she even realize that she only wore nothing but his silver pinstriped shirt? Her long, raven hair waved through the air in an angry mass. Her sweet, sun-kissed skin which he now knew felt like a bed of silk was revealed for all to see. Groaning, Angus tried to break free of whatever magic held him in place as he heard her scream again. Did she think that Angus was one of his brothers, and that he was being hurt? Did she truly have feelings for him? Nay, why would she, after all he had done to her? Even so, Angus struggled more just to get to her.

  The one thing Angus knew for sure was that he didn’t want her dead. Looking around, he noticed that many of the fae surrounded her in a tight circle. He couldn’t see her, but he knew she was there. He wouldn’t let them kill her or his brothers. Angus focused all his magic, gathering as much as he could muster and pouring it all into the shield that held him tight. He felt it grow more and more powerful as he poured all of his strength into it.

  Angus felt a sharp pain in his ears as a familiar sound ripped through the area. Only this time, Lilith’s screams were so much more terrible than the ones he’d heard before. Angus tried to cover his ears with his hands, but still he could not move. Looking in the direction of his fae, Angus could see that her screams were affecting every other creature in sight. The other fae dropped to the ground, holding their heads in their hands. Some had a gold liquid seeping out of their eyes, noses and mouths, the same color he had seen on his hands after touching Lilith’s head wound. Just as a blissful moment of silence brought Angus a sweet moment of relief, she let off another banshee scream far worse than the last.

  Angus felt blood sliding down his face. More importantly, he felt the magical restraints that held him in place loosen just a bit. Angus gathered his strength to strike—he had to do it now, while whoever was holding him in place was stunned by Lilith’s blood-curdling siren. Angus focused his magic outward and pushed with all his strength. He heard the static zapping and popping as he finally broke through the shield and fell to the ground. Getting to his feet, Angus felt a power beyond any he had ever felt before. He looked up and gasped, mouth agape as he witnessed the sight before him. He was transfixed by his fae as her entire body glowed a white, shimmering-gold color—so bright he could barely see her past all the light.

  Now naked, she looked to be the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. She stood, tall and voluptuous with long, sleek legs. Her tribal tattoos were shimmering a bright silver. Her belly was smooth, her breasts round, her hardened nipples peeking out between her flowing black hair. Her hairless mound made Angus instantly hard. He watched as she moved with such animal grace. Then she began to speak, but it was in a tongue Angus did not understand. He wanted to tell her that these fae would kill her, but deep down he knew they wouldn’t touch a single hair on her body. They needed her.

  She walked the small distance and bent down next to one of his brothers. She touched a finger to his gold helmet and Angus watched, flabbergasted as the armor folded back into its original sphere shape. The sight of Duncan made Angus see red. He wanted nothing more than to kill whoever had harmed him. Angus knew from where he stood that his brother was in bad shape. His limbs were twisted at odd angles, and blood covered his entire frame.

  Angus watched in awe as Lilith placed Duncan’s head in her lap. She cradled him as a mother would her own child. He wanted to call out to them, but he didn’t get the chance as he felt something sharp suddenly pierce his back again and again.

  The force of the pain sent Angus to his knees. Not once did he take his eyes from the fae and his brother. Angus watched as she cast a bright, white light over Duncan. Then she walked to Kevan and retrieved his armor before kissing him softly on the top of his head. The same white light glowed over Kevan.

  All of a sudden, she moved as quick as lightening, Angus almost missed it. She stood toe to toe with another fae, staring him down. Angus could see her lips moving, but he couldn’t hear a word she uttered. In one quick motion, the fae instantly burst into white-hot flames. Grabbing another fae within reach, she punched him through the chest, ripping out what looked to be the creature’s heart. In that same moment, the screaming began again.

  The faes were so deadly still, Angus realized that some magic must be holding them against their will, just as he had been held. They stayed their ground and didn’t try to escape, even as they were each being flayed alive, their golden blood spraying everywhere.

  His fae killed without remorse, using her bare hands like double edged blades their blood mar
ring her sweet perfection, again and again she snapped out a leg forcing her brethren to the ground before smashing their skulls into the earth with a resounding CRACK.

  Angus watched in utter disgust and awe in the same moment, he witnessed as she grabbed one of the fae in a lovers embrace, petting the face of a cowering fae before she sent him to his death ripping his head clean off his shoulders.

  Angus’s vision was slowly blurring over as he watched his fae kill every single male fae around her. Except for one—the one who now stood next to him. Angus heard him yell out something in a strange, ancient tongue. Angus couldn’t understand a word of it, but Lilith appeared to. She walked to the male with a predatory grace, smoothly and stealthily, like an animal in all her nakedness. Angus growled as he watched the male fae touch her rump, its fingers splayed wide. The creature began stroking her skin, as if she was his for the claiming.

  The fae spoke to her in their shared language. Angus hated every second of it—the way the bastards other hand reached up to caress her soft cheek, or the way she leaned into his touch. Angus saw her nod in agreement. Followed by a small yet significant kiss shared between the two. As short as it was, it still filled Angus with complete and utter rage. How could she kiss another man in front of him? Didn’t she have a clue about what it would do to him? Angus ached to rip that dirty fae bastard’s head right off his shoulders.

  Just as quickly as the kiss had happened, the male fae disappeared into thin air. At the same time, Angus watched helplessly as Lilith collapsed to the ground in front of him.

  Shocked, Angus tried to crawl over to her so he could cover her nakedness with his own body.

  “Angus! Angus, are you okay?” Angus watched as Kevan and Duncan ran the short distance to him.

  “How the hell?” Angus tried to ask. How was it possible that they were able to move, let alone run to aid him? Their injuries had been devastating—the kind that called for months of healing in bed. He was missing something in this picture. “How are … you two … walking?” Angus croaked out. Even now, he felt his body aching miserably.

  “It was Lilith,” Kevan said. “I don’t know how, but I know it was her. Look around you.”

  Angus did. It was because of her that all of the faes were … “Gone. Where have they gone?” Angus choked out.

  “Duncan!” Elle came yelling. “My God, I saw everything. I watched, knowing there wasn’t a thing I could do … I saw what Lilith did. She … she healed you.” Panic etched his sister-in-law’s face.

  “And kissed you,” came the soft growl of Marissa as she placed a thin blanket over Angus and his fae. Then she planted a solid kiss to Kevan’s waiting lips.

  “Och, don’t be mad, lass. You know there is only you,” Kevan teased.

  “I know, my love. And I suppose if it wasn’t for her, I would be playing nursemaid for quite some time,” Marissa teased back.

  “Someone get Angus while I get the lass.” Hunter bent down, arms outstretched as he was about to pick up the unconscious woman. But paused just a fraction of a second, long enough to look to Angus, silently asking permission. Angus gave the tiniest of nods. Hunter scooped up the fae and marched her across the yard and into the keep.

  “Well, come on then. You lot help me up. I don’t want to be out here when more of them turn up.” Duncan and Kevan stood on either side of Angus and helped him back into the house.

  Once inside, Angus started looking around for Lilith. But she wasn’t in the main hall or the kitchen. He couldn’t see Hunter or Kate—maybe they were with his fae. Would she be awake yet? Angus asked his brothers to take him up to his room—but they refused. Duncan thought it best to fetch Marcus and get the arrows out before they caused infection.

  Angus grumbled his agreement. He’d get that part out of the way, and then he could go check on her. “Fetch him, and hurry. I want to see to the lass.”

  “Here he is,” Marissa said as she rushed back into the entryway, Marcus following close behind her.

  “Well, well, well. Don’t you lot know how to make friends, aye?” said Marcus. There was a faint grin on his old face, but it didn’t hide the worry in his eyes. “Angus, I know you want to see the lass,” Marcus went on. “But right now, she doesn’t want to see nor speak to anyone, and she said especially not you.”

  Two hours later, Angus still hadn’t seen her, and he was fuming. All he wanted to do was reassure himself that she was okay. Was she too embarrassed to face him after kissing that fae bastard? She should be, Angus thought acidly to himself. “What is she ashamed of? I know you all saw her kiss that fae and let him put his hands all over her, the scum” Angus yelled. He knew even before he spoke the words that something felt off. She wasn’t truly his; they weren’t even an item. She was a fae. And, well, he wasn’t. She didn’t even belong to him, so who was he to say what she could or couldn’t do with a man? But he felt it deep down to his very soul that she belonged to him—that was the problem.

  “Um, Angus … she doesn’t remember a damn thing, okay? The least you could do is give her some space,” Kate’s angry voice sounded as she came down the last flight of stairs with a grim-looking Hunter who followed behind. “She has gone through a lot since the second she stepped in Scotland. She’s gone from losing her family to being shot at while spreading her grandfather’s ashes. Then she runs into the lot of you with your big fists and your guns, while she discovers that she has to save the world. She battled her own kind to save you two from weeks of healing, and she’s killed her own species without even being conscious of doing so. She’s up there crying her eyeballs out because she doesn’t have a damn clue about what’s happening to her. She doesn’t remember anything after seeing the two of you thrown around in the air like rag dolls and thinking that one of you was Angus. I told her everything that happened outside—she even knows about lip-locking with that fae out there. So please give her a damn break.”

  Hunter was looking good and ready to kill someone. If there was one thing Angus hated, it was an unhappy Kate. And right now Kate was upset thanks to him. “Ugh, I’m so sorry Kate. I don’t mean to be so ungrateful. I …” Angus trailed off, trying to sort through his own damn feelings about everything, and about one person in particular. “I just wanted to see for myself that she was okay.”

  Kate sighed as she slowly made her way past him. “Angus, we all know that you have some kind of feelings for Lilith—I don’t know what it is exactly, but I know you worry for her. Only now is not the time, okay?”

  Angus was about to ask another question when Hunter spoke up. “Kate is right, Angus. The woman …” Angus watched as his brother frowned and shook his head. “She really is messed up at the moment; even I’m hurting for her. And you know the funny thing about it is, Angus, I would kill to protect her. How weird is that? She’s not even human and … and she makes me feel as if she’s Kate’s baby sister or something. I mean it, Angus. That woman up there—she is truly special. Just ask Kate—she feels it too. And not only that,” Hunter leaned in. “Kate told me that all Lilith’s injuries are gone. It’s as if she’s never been wounded.”

  Angus was shocked at Hunter’s words, but somehow he knew they were true. When he thought back over seeing her in all her naked glory, he remembered that her sun-kissed skin had shown flawless.

  “I agree with Hunter,” Occam spoke up. Strange his brother hadn’t uttered a single word about what had happened up to that point. He must have been lost in his thoughts. “What she did out there,” Occam pointed in the direction of the front door. “It was weird. Well, not so much killing her own kind that is, I can understand putting an end to those bastards … but healing you two? All that energy, all that magic and power—I have never felt such force in all my days. And I have encountered a lot.” All the men nodded in unison.

  “That is because she is unique.” Everyone watched as Kate held a platter of food, fruit, and scones. She balanced it with a bottle of juice under her arm. “Ready,” she said to Hunter.

 
; Why could they go up and he couldn’t? Kate must have seen the expression on his face, because she turned to Angus with stone-cold eyes and said, “Not yet.” She turned and climbed the stairs. Hunter followed, taking the platter out of her hands to carry. As he did so, he kissed Kate on the cheek. Angus heard Hunter utter the very words he ached to hear some day.

  Kate was acting like a mother hen to his fae, when all Angus wanted to do was make her feel like she was safe and at home. “Oh, and Angus, I wanted to tell you. It’s as if our barriers, as well as Devlin’s, were put there only yesterday.” With that Occam turned and left the room. Angus stood there in the hall, watching as Occam made his way to the main hall. How in the world had their shields become so strong? The older the shield, the weaker it became. That’s why they boosted them up every three weeks.

  He really needed to talk to the Lilith, Angus thought. After dinner—that would be a good time to chat. “I’m going up to shower. If anyone needs me, I will be in my room,” Angus shouted to no one in particular. Angus took the stairs two at a time, trying not to cause himself any pain in the process.

  Forty minutes later, shaved and showered, Angus made his way back to his room. He heard Kate—and by the sound of things, every single one of his sisters-in-law—having a good old yarn in the spare bedroom as Hunter slept on the floor in a sitting position. Obviously, the other women had snuck past the guard.

  Angus smiled to himself and considered kicking Hunter to wake him from his nap. He decided not to, knowing that Hunter needed the rest. Angus pushed open his door and shut it behind him. When he entered his room, the fire was ablaze and crackling loudly. The linens on the bed were freshly changed, growling Angus wanted nothing more than to clobber Marcus over his old head for changing his bedding. If only he could breath in the woman’s scent, frowning at himself for the direction his thoughts were going, she wasn’t his the better he learns now rather than be under the glamour of that fae. Angus stood at the foot of the bed, thinking of what he would say to the woman.