by Sky Winters
Still, he felt guilty for keeping his theory to himself, even though he was sure that he had been right. She was so lost and confused. He almost told her that night, by the campfire, but instead, they had given in to their unbearable longing, and he'd gotten himself too distracted by guilt and worry to explain his thoughts to her.
“Lord James” was a title he never thought he would have, and he sipped his water as he thought back to the strange encounter he'd had with Sadie and the even stranger encounter he had experienced when he came to the council with news of her arrival.
“You must send her away at once,” one of the elders had said.
“Send her away?” James asked, frowning. “But why?”
“Maybe it's for the best that we go extinct,” the man said. He was very old and very bitter, and the others chuckled softly and patted him on the shoulder.
“It's possible, James, that this is some kind of a trick. Maybe a trap. We will need to test her before we can really welcome her as part of the clan. I'm sure you understand,” Ivar said.
“No, actually I don't. She is who I say she is, that should be good enough for you. I know what I saw. I know what I heard!” James was angry and not bothering to conceal it. The committee members glanced at each other, quietly amused but tolerant of his outburst.
“It might be good enough for us if you were the Alpha,” Ivar had said carefully. “But as it stands, Broc is away and these matters are left in our hands.”
James glowered but said nothing, afraid they might somehow find out about the horrible secret he'd buried in his breast – he'd slept with the Alpha's fated mate. If they knew about this, it might mean he lost his place in the council, maybe even in the clan itself. He didn't know what he would do if he lost his home. It was all he had ever known. All that he cared about.
“So what should we do with Sadie then? I promised that we would help her. You do realize that she's the wisp, don't you? From the stories? She arrived when I sang the song.”
“James, we are considering the potential truth of what you believe. Please don't take this the wrong way, but we have to do our best to seek the truth at whatever cost, even if it is your loyalty to us. There is still the possibility that it is all part of an elaborate hoax by Lord Lachlan and his men, a way to lead them to our camp. It's been a great secret until now, but if she has led them to us, we cannot forgive that. Until Broc is here to look after her and we know whether or not fate is coming to pass, she will have to stay with the council.”
“I understand,” James said begrudgingly, and left the tent.
After that it had been difficult for him to look at Sadie, and he knew she'd been hurt by his coolness. But she could have been there to undo his clan, take away his entire family. Lachlan was ruthless and murderous, and if he could do it, he would. James hated it, but he knew he the council was right, and he would have to be careful.
Of course the poor lass hadn't known any of that, and she certainly would have looked at him like he was crazy if he'd tried explaining that she was the wisp of the Highlands, come to life to help save the Highlanders and their most precious bear clan. None of that would make sense to a woman from another land, who would think everything he said was all part of some fairy tale. His heart still burned with guilt when he thought about how he had concealed the truth from her, and he sighed, staring out the open flap of his tent.
It was letting the fresh air in, and he kept staring outside expectantly, waiting for Sadie to pop in and smile at him, the smile so full of love and promise that he had come to cherish so much. Knowing her actually made him feel fortunate that he'd been a screw up when it came to fulfilling his orders by the council.
“We need a yew branch, James. One from a special tree in the Lowlands. We want to do a ceremony to increase the odds of our clan's survival.”
The elders had stared at him solemnly, and James nodded. “Of course.”
He had always hoped to hold a high position in the clan, and because he knew there was a slim chance of being the Alpha, he had worked hard to work his way into a position of importance with the council. They had ultimately decided he was noble enough to work with them and used him as their errand boy. He was strong, humble, and willing, and it worked in everybody's favor.
“Look what we found,” a seedy voice said from behind James as he was poking at the yew tree.
James sighed, prepared for a fight as he shifted into his bear form. Unfortunately, the men who had surrounded him had been hunters and trappers from Lachlan's army and outnumbered James by a multitude. He was dragged down to the dungeon kicking and screaming, unable to fulfil his obligation to the council.
He was dejected and humiliated. And although he didn't want to admit it, he was terrified. Lord Lachlan was a monster and had killed his parents and sister when he was a boy. The council had taken pity on him and raised him the best that they could, but it was all to no use. Lachlan’s men were going to finish what they started and get their hands on James. He might as well have died with the rest of his family.
Legends of the wisp cluttered his mind and he sang her song, a desperate plea for help. It must have been around the same time that the council was performing their ceremony, and the castle began to quake around him. A bright light flashed, and the guards all shouted in fear and anger. And then news of a woman appearing out of thin air, sleeping in the room reserved for Lord Lachlan's wisp came to him in broken shouts. And then the wisp was in front of him, and he had never seen anybody more beautiful.
But someday she would return to her own world. The Highlands was no place for the wisp. And he would have no choice but to tell her the truth – that he had suspected how she got there from the beginning. That he could have spared her the confusion and the pain and helped her convince the council to send her back home. Love demanded this sort of honesty, and it took a courage he hadn't known about to brace himself to tell the truth. And he would, he was sure he would. Just not yet.
Chapter 3
James was startled from his thoughts by Gail, who popped cheerfully into his tent with a fresh basin of water.
“Good morning, Lord James," she said with a small bow.
James shook his head, finding the new title funny. She returned the smile but did not backtrack it. Even though they had been friends since they were young, the name suited him and she was going to make sure that everybody in the clan addressed him formally.
“Good morning, Gail,” James said with a smile. “Why do you look like the cat who caught the canary?”
It was true. Gail was smiling as if she had a secret. Something that she was just bursting to tell, but she wanted to wait until the time. It was just like the time when they were kids and she had shifted into a bear for the first time, before he had, and had drawn out the suspense all day long. Finally, she had broken the news to him and he had been jealous. She was pleased by this. Now, she had something else that he didn't know, and he was insatiably curious.
“I saw your mate," Gail said, drawing out the suspense.
“What about her?" James asked.
“I think that she is with child," Gail said, a large grin spreading across her face.
“Are you pulling my leg?" James said, sitting up painfully and flinching.
“No, and if you don't believe me, I even did a rite to make sure. You should be very pleased with yourself. The clan will live again. And it's going to be your spawn that litter the Highlands.”
James smiled widely, his handsome face lighting up with excitement. Sadie was pregnant, with his child. He was going to be a father, and his clan was saved. He felt a twinge of guilt however, and knew that it meant that he would probably have to tell her the truth about how she came to be in the past. He hadn’t been sure if he was right or not, but he knew he should have at least let her know about his theories. It would have given her some kind of truth to hold on to if all else failed.
He didn't have a chance to figure it out before another man pushed himself int
o his tent and looked around, narrowing his eyes in confusion.
“What's wrong, Kane?” James asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I smell Lachlan and his men. And your mate. Where is she? Do you think she's working against us?”
“That's ridiculous, Kane!” James spat, sitting up and forcing himself not to cringe at the pain. “You have no idea what you're talking about. I'll have your head for treason if you make an accusation like that again. Now get out of my tent!”
Kane frowned, but listened to his Alpha and left the tent.
“What the hell was he talking about?” James demanded. Gail had no idea.
Soon though, another man was barging into the tent and looking James into the eye. “Lachlan and his men have been here, I can smell it. Is your woman safe? I'm worried about the Savior. If they get their hands on her, that means the end of the clan. I don't know if they know this or not, but if they do, that's all the more reason for us to keep a closer eye on Sadie. Is she with you?"
James looked at Landon, whose dark and sincere eyes were staring at him for answers. Suddenly, he knew that Sadie was in danger. He sat quickly, realizing that she had been gone for far too long.
“Landon, I need you to start a search party. I'm worried that Sadie has been captured. We need to get to her immediately.”
Landon nodded and left the tent as quickly as possible. James rolled off of his cot and got to his feet, gasping in pain.
“My lord, what are you doing?” Gail cried. “You should stay in bed. You don't know what will happen to you if you go out there. What use will you be to your woman if you are dead?”
“What use will I be to our clan if my woman is dead?” James growled.
Gail backed up against the wall of the tent and sighed in exasperation as James rushed out, leaving a small trail of blood behind him.
Chapter 4
“Why in the hell do the Highlanders go so far uphill?” the guard gasped as he dropped to his knees panting.
“The bastards can go hundreds of miles in a single day on foot. You have to remember, the bloody animals can change into bears - bears of all things! - and move forward through this terrain like it is nothing.”
Lord Lachlan's voice rang out over the campsite where the exhausted guards were finally allowed to sit down and have a rest. He finally felt like they had been able to travel far enough that they would not be pursued any further by the camp of Highland bears.
“We have to make sure, you know, and although my mages have been able to concoct a way to make our scent seem as if it was going to the east to keep the Highland devils off of our trail, better to be safe than sorry. I'm sure you would rather climb a couple of hills for your own safety rather than lay out in the open without the assurance that you will be safe.”
Sadie was tied to a tree in the corner of the campsite, near Lord Lachlan, who was roasting a rabbit over the fire. Sadie thought back to the first time that James hunted for their breakfast and sighed sadly to herself, wishing that she was back in his arms safe and sound. She didn't know when she would be, but she believed their capable bear shifters would notice her absence and come to rescue her as quickly as possible. However, she was nervous about the fact that Lord Lachlan had supposedly found a way to keep the shifters off of their trail and prevent them from rescuing her. Somehow, their scents would be going to the east as they traveled further and further west, back toward the castle. But surely, they would know to go to the castle and not chase after random smells, right?
It was hard to be comforted by this, as the bear shifters showed a noticeable lack in judgment when they transformed. They followed their instincts above all else, making them vulnerable to attacks of strategy. She didn't want to leave her life in the hands of others, but if she had to, she was glad that she had thrown her lot in with the noble bear shifters of Lord James' clan.
“Tell me, wisp,” Lord Lachlan said, removing the gag from her mouth. “Why exactly did you choose to appear in my home if you didn't want to marry me?”
“It wasn't a choice,” Sadie said coldly.
“Oh no? I find that hard to believe. You surely knew that I had been pursuing you all this time, right?" Lord Lachlan said quietly, out of earshot of his men. The guards were already drifting into a deep sleep, as they had been worked to the bone by the demanding Lord Lachlan.
“I don't know what you're talking about," Sadie said, quirking her eyebrow at him.
“Sure you do," he said, moving toward her and pressing his face close to hers. It made her shudder and recoil, but she had nowhere to run. “I have been looking for you for so many years, when I finally spoke your name, I knew that you would be mine. It just makes sense. I knew you would be the one to help me take down the Highlanders. Without you and your power, they would rule forever. You don't know how terrible that would be. The world would be roaming with freaks of nature like those bear shifters. Half man, half animal. They have no sense of decency; they are totally evil."
“They are not evil. I think the evil is in the shape of a man who is willing to do anything to harm others and destroy their way of life.”
“Shut your mouth, wisp,” Lord Lachlan barked. “These are creatures without a God, and they should never have existed at all. They are freaks of nature; don't you understand? You are my ticket to eradicating them from this land once and for all. Without you, they will be free to roam and continue destroying life as we know it. Don't you think that's a problem?”
“I don't see why you hate them so much," Sadie said. “They keep to themselves. They don't hurt anybody.”
“They don't hurt anybody?!" Lord Lachlan exclaimed. “Haven't you seen that man James, that bastard, plowing through my men like they were nothing? How can you say that they don't hurt anybody? They would kill you just as soon as they would look at you.”
“The problems between the Highlands and the Lowlands are caused by fear and greed. And you will get away with mistreating and murdering these people simply because they don't fit into your small idea of what normal should be. It's completely unfair to expect that of them, when they are so much more than normal. They are better than normal. It is you who is the evil coward, causing problems between the Highlands and the Lowlands. You just want to control them all, but you are never going to be able to pull it off. If you want my help, I say you will have to kill me first.”
Lord Lachlan's face grew red, and Sadie flinched, expecting him to take his temper out on her at that moment. But as she had learned from her tour in the dungeon, he did not feel comfortable unleashing his wrath anywhere but the privacy of his own bleak dungeon. And that was exactly where she was heading. At the very least, she had gotten her last words in, and nothing could infuriate a tyrant like the truth.
Chapter 5
“What are you doing here? You should be in bed healing. Lord James, I don't think that this is safe for you."
James ignored the well-meaning protests of his clansmen and continued moving forward, running as quickly as he could in his ferocious bear form. The men watched him in admiration and concern, as blood leaked from his fur in the middle of his stomach.
“There is no time to be in bed right now," he snapped. “Not when Sadie is missing.”
“My lord, please reconsider. It may be just as useful to have you back at the camp to protect everybody else. If Lord Lachlan knows where our camp is now, that means that everybody is in danger. Who is going to protect the rest of the clan if we are all going after Sadie? This doesn't make sense and it might be a trap.”
James paused and thought about this for a moment. He was listening to a man named Dodd, who had always had a gentle voice of reason. James had come to respect him a lot over the years, and he stopped running for a moment to listen.
“Why don't you let us go forward and see what the trouble is? We can come back and report to you as the others move forward to deal with the situation at hand. We will bring Sadie back to you, or you can come and meet us and get her for yourself. But
I honestly think that it's a mistake to have the Alpha leaving the clan vulnerable right now.”
James could see the logic and what Dodd had to say made sense to him as the Alpha. He heaved a heavy sigh and turned around, heading back to the campsite with his mind racing. As he ran, a sudden and powerful feeling came over him. He felt Sadie was calling to him from the west, and as he turned around and headed west toward the campsite, it was as if his heart was soaring as he made his way closer to his beloved. He closed his eyes and willed the spirits of the forest to guide him, and instead of stopping back at the campsite, he continued moving with all of his energy toward the west.
***
“James is going to find you, you know," Sadie said quietly.
