by Kara Summers
Chapter: X
"Eva, if you are going to continue to click your pen incessantly like that, please take it outside of the meeting room," Eva's boss snapped at her.
"Sorry," Eva said sheepishly. She quickly stopped the nervous clicking and set her pen down. She refocused her attention back on the room, and away from the events of the night before that continued to play like a reel in her thoughts. She felt a blush creep up her neck and mottle her already embarrassingly red cheeks as she noted the stares of her coworkers.
"And since you seem to be so set on being the center of attention," her boss continued, "how about you tell us about the book I asked you to edit and review?"
Shit! Eva thought. She had completely forgotten about the book that her boss had asked her to take on as a project. She had been too busy trying to figure out the events from the previous night; like how she had been pulled into a different world by the call of a cursed highlander and then narrowly escaped being murdered by crazed druids! A book review was the last possible thing on her mind when she was too busy questioning her whole reality.
"I, um," Eva stuttered. She had no idea how she was going to get out of this.
"Don't stutter," her boss chastised. "It's clear that you didn't do it," he stated. "I'm not even sure why we hired you to be honest, you are completely incompetent."
Eva gaped. She could feel the heat return to her cheeks, while her eyes started to sting. She refused to cry in front of her boss and coworkers.
"You know what," her boss continued, "how about you go home and think about whether or not you should even be working here," he sneered. "And if you don't come back tomorrow with the finished project, then don't bother coming back at all," he said harshly.
Eva was shocked by the severity of his words. She knew her boss had never quite liked her, but she didn't think he would go so far as to mock her in front of her coworkers. She looked around at their faces, but no one dared make eye contact with her.
Eva rose, and it took everything in her to hold back the sob that welled up in her throat.
But just as she was about to leave the meeting room, something within her snapped. With a calm strength that she had not known she possessed, she turned to face her boss. "You are right," she stated coolly. "I am not meant to work here," she held her head up higher, bringing her steady gaze directly on her boss before she continued. "I'm too good for a place like this, and it is not worth the level of crap I am forced to put up with from you." She felt the edges of her mouth turn up in a triumphant smirk. She was done with being talked down to, chastised, overworked, and underappreciated. No amount of money could justify the way he treated her, or any of his employees. "Good bye," she said with an air of finality. And with that, she turned on her heels and left.
Eva didn't stop even once on her way out of the building. She didn't care about the trinkets that she had decorated her desk with in an attempt to liven up a dreary workspace. All she could think of was getting herself out of this place as soon as possible. She felt dizzy with the adrenaline from telling her now ex-boss exactly what she felt; she shook with the aftershock of standing up for herself.
Yet, even as Eva exited the door, her mind began to drift away from the exhilarating moment of quitting her job. Instead, she began to focus on a thought that had plagued her since the moment she realized she was back at her house — how to get back? Something within her had awakened the moment the highlander had touched her. There was an intense pull between them that transcended all reason, and she needed to feel it again. But at the moment, she had no idea how she would be able to return to him.
Chapter: XI
"What are you doing?" Jamie asked curiously.
Eva stopped what was probably her tenth time opening and closing the storage room door — her half haphazard attempt to recreate last night's events. "Umm, nothing," she said. "Don't you have some homework or something to do?" she asked him.
Jamie gave her a blank expression. "I don't have homework, I'm six."
Eva couldn't help but giggle at his deadpan response. "I see," she smiled down at her precocious cousin.
"You said you would play a game of manhunt with me!" Jamie reminded Eva.
"Oh, that's right," Eva snapped her fingers and she remembered her promise. "Okay, how about right now?" she asked. "Do you want to wait for Maggie?" she asked.
Jamie shook his head. "Now, I want to play now! Please?" he pleaded.
"Oh alright," she gave in. "You are it," she tagged him and then quickly bounded down the stairs.
"I'll get you!" Jamie called after her.
Eva slowed down in order to give Jamie a fighting chance. They played a few rounds, alternating between who was "It" before finally collapsing in the living room, thoroughly exhausted from running through the house.
Eva was so tired — not just from the game of Manhunt, but from the events of the day — that she didn't even notice when her aunt walked in.
"What have you two been up to?" she asked.
"We played Manhunt and I won three games out of five!" Jamie announced proudly.
"That's wonderful sweetie," her aunt told Jamie encouragingly. "Would a champion like yourself come and help your father and I make dinner?" she asked.
Jamie jumped off the couch. "I can do anything!" he announced to the room before bounding off to the kitchen.
Once she was alone, Eva finally began to process the oddity of the past twenty-four hours. However, her mind still felt overloaded with information and she could feel her eyelids grow heavy with exhaustion. She figured she wouldn’t get any answers while her mind wasn't firing on all cylinders.
She headed toward her room, prepared to call it a night. As she walked through the archway that led to her bedroom, she was gripped by a sickening feeling as the world around her tilted away and she felt herself falling.
She reached out to try and steady herself, but her hands clawed at the open air. This time, she held her breath and braced herself for the chill of the water.
Even with the anticipation of the icy pool, it still came as a shock to her system when her body was enveloped by water. Her body froze as she felt herself submerged. Yet this time, she knew that there was an escape. With a fierce determination, she fought to swim to the top. As her air supply faded away, she used the last bit of strength to kick her legs to propel herself up. With a gasping breath, she broke through the surface.
Eva treaded water while she filled her lungs with full breaths. Slowly, her senses returned as she recovered from the shock of the sudden journey. I don't think it will ever not be a surprise, she thought lightly. She was excited that she was back.
Yet Eva's joy was short lived, as two familiar voices carried over the water to where she was swimming in the middle of the pond.
"Yes," one of the hooded figures hissed. "She has returned."
Fear gripped Eva the moment she realized that the two druids she had so narrowly escaped from, were waiting for her on the bank.
"Now we can finish what we started," echoed the second one.
Eva knew she needed to get out of there, fast. She didn't want to risk letting them "finish" what they had started. With a wild, determined look, Eva glanced around at her surroundings. The pool was small, almost hidden from where it was nestled in the woods. She figured if she could swim to the other shore fast enough, she might be able to out run them on foot in the woods. Eva didn't have time to consider whether or not her plan was a good one, she had a split second to put it into action.
With a quick kick, Eva leaned her back into the water and began kicking her legs to propel herself to the other side. She wasn't much of a swimmer, but with her life at risk, she managed quite well. It only took a few kicks before she was grasping at the embankment and pulling herself out of the water.
As she stood, she didn't even look back before she started running into the woods. She could hear the druids calling something, but she didn't care to hear, she just kept running.
She
ran until her legs gave way and she collapsed on the soft ground, gasping. She no longer heard the druids behind her, and she prayed that she had outrun them. She attempted to rise and find a place to hide when suddenly, her world went dark.
Chapter: XII
Eva groaned as she rolled over onto her side, and opened her eyes. She was enveloped in darkness.
Panic seized her as she opened her eyes wider; she was no longer in the forest. They caught me she thought wildly.
She sat up instantly, looking around her, but she couldn't make anything out other than that she was in a room somewhere.
"Ye surely how to make an entrance," said a seductive, familiar voice.
Eva's body relaxed at the sound, she couldn't see him in the darkness, but she could sense him. They had a strange connection that Eva couldn't explain. Although they barely knew each other, Eva sensed that he would never hurt her. Come to think of it, this would make the second time he had saved her life.
Eva laughed in response to his statement. "If you only knew," she added vaguely.
She heard footsteps and sensed him moving closer, her whole body came alive with the anticipation of his presence. She saw a glimmer of light appear as he lit a candle, illuminating the small stone cave.
Eva looked up at his face as Laird Drummond slowly came into view. The shadows made his face appear hard and dangerous. Eva knew she should be afraid — especially since she had witnessed what a dangerous beast this man was capable of becoming —but strangely, she wasn’t.. She cocked her head at him. "What happened to your castle?" she asked as she motioned to the naturally formed stone walls around them.
The moment the words left her mouth, Eva knew she had hit a nerve. She watched Bhradain's eyes flash a feral red for the briefest moment, before returning to their natural brown. "It was nae safe for the clan to be around me, they voted to send me away," he explained.
Before she had fully registered her actions, she had stood up and started to make her way toward Bhradain. The last time she had done this, she had reached out to comfort the beastly version of him — a beast that his own people appeared to fear. And like last time, he didn't shy away. As she brought her hand up to rest against his cheek, her gaze conveyed sympathy. She didn't know Bhradain very well and she didn't know why she had been brought here, but somehow she knew that she was supposed to be here in this moment with him.
As Eva hand came into contact with his rough jaw, Bhradain caught her wrist, pulled her forward and brought her into a passionate embrace.
Eva gasped as their bodies came in contact, and she realized that beside a kilt, he was wearing absolutely nothing.
His roaming gaze heated her cheeks, while her own body became aware of his in a more primitive way. She felt his free hand slide down her backside and cup her bottom. Eva often felt self-conscious about her size, afraid that men would judge her based on the fact that she shopped in the plus-size department. But when this man looked at her, his eyes hooded with lust, she knew that he appreciated every inch of her. . She felt empowered by her ability to incite such a carnal response in an Alpha like him; the awareness was almost intoxicatingly erotic.
"Lass, I burn with need for ye," he murmured seductively, while his hand continued roam her body freely.
Eva felt desire pool within her, her body responding to his strong touch. She slid her hands up his bare chest, enjoying the sensation of his defined, taught muscles. She laughed playfully as she glided her hands over his broad shoulders.
Bhradain groaned a moment before he lifted Eva up and pressed her against the stone wall.
The stone felt cool against Eva's backside, while the rest of her felt like it was on fire from the tension between them.
"Bhradain," she said softly. Her words incited Bhradain as he pushed her legs apart and guided them to wrap around his waist.
Eva could feel his thick manhood pressed against her most sensitive region through the wool of his kilt. She ached to help guide him into her. She longed to have their bodies joined in the carnal dance of lovers.
"Why did ye leave?" he asked roughly as he kissed a trail down her neck.
At the mention of her disappearance, Eva remembered the danger she needed to warn Bhradain about. With a gasp, she put her hands on his chest and reluctantly urged him to stop.
"Bhradain, I have to tell you something," she said with urgency.
Laird Drummond pulled back, his eyes hooded with lust. "Can it nae wait?" he asked darkly.
Eva shook her head. "I think the druids are trying to kill me," she said in a rush. She wasn't sure how to exactly explain the situation, so she decided to jump right in.
Bhradain suddenly pulled away, and Eva saw his eyes turn red for the briefest moment, before fading back to brown.
Bhradain quickly set Eva down and backed away from her as if his life depended upon it.
Eva was flustered. "Bhradain?" she said softly.
"Dinna come near lass," he said through gritted teeth. His voice had grown thicker and his breath came in heaves, as if he were struggling to hold himself together.
Eva heard the warning in his voice and refrained from pushing farther. She had seen how wildly his world could shift and how he could lose control over his body. He was the cursed one they were talking about, and somehow, they all thought she played a role in freeing him.
"Can I do anything to help?" she asked gently.
Bhradain laughed darkly. "Aye lass, there be plenty ye could do to help," he shot her a heated gaze from across the room, his eyes blazing an even brighter shade of red.
Eva wasn’t sure what he was insinuating so remained where she was, pressed up against the wall. She didn't want to push Bhradain too far as she heard his heavy pants as he struggled to hold onto his humanity. She took a step forward, aching to close the distance between them. "The druids said something about how I was the one," she said. She let her statement hang in the air, while her eyes remained trained on his movements, waiting to detect anything that might start explaining what was happening and why she was here.
His face flashed awareness. "Aye," he said softly, "and what do ye make of it?"
She tilted her head as she regarded Bhradain with curiosity. "That somehow I am here to help you break this curse?" she stated what they both knew. As she spoke, she noticed the tension had lifted from his shoulders as his body started to relax.
The candlelight flickered on the wall and cast intimate shadows around them. Although they were no longer touching, Eva still felt drawn to him in an instinctual way.
"They pulled a knife on me," she continued. "Had I not —" she broke off abruptly, she wasn't sure if she wanted to reveal to him where she came from. "I," she began again, "got away, but they found me in the woods," she let her voice trail off.
"Lass," he said in a dangerously controlled voice, "do ye realize what this means?"
Eva shook her head. "That's what I want to find out!" she said in a rush.
Bhradain muttered something under his breath that was indistinguishable to Eva's ears before he pushed off the wall and strode intently to a chest that was placed in the corner. He pushed back the lid and started to remove a varied assortment of weapons.
"Hold on," Eva interjected. "What is this all about?"
"Meddlesome creatures," Bhradain muttered huskily. "It appears that," he said as he retrieved a broad sword and tested the edge along his finger, "my mother's sorcerers are plotting against me." His voice held no emotion, but was laced with a dangerous undertone.
Eva shivered as her body acknowledged the intensity of Bhradain's reaction. "But why would they do that? Does it have something to do with your, um, special abilities?" She didn't want to outright say, Are you a shifter?
Bhradain sighed and ran his hand through his thick hair. "Upon my thirtieth season, I will cease to shift back into my human form and will forever be trapped by the beast within," he said darkly.
"Oh," Eva gasped. "But why? "
"This ability is not
a gift," Bhradain explained. "When I was babe, a witch cursed me with the ability to shift. As I've gotten older, it gets more difficult to return to my human form," he explained. As he spoke, his eyes continued to watch Eva's intently.
"Where do I come into all of this?" she added softly.
Bhradain regarded her for a long time before he spoke, as if he was deciding whether or not to trust her with the information. "There is a prophecy, that a witch will come through the crystal pond and aid me in breaking the curse." He let the implication hang in the air.
"Oh," Eva said. "“So I’m supposed to be this witch?” she asked skeptically.
Bhradain chuckled. "Lass, ye are the witch, I ken it," he spoke huskily. "But I do nae want to break the curse at the moment, for if I do, I will no longer have the strength needed to defeat my enemies."
Eva pondered his words for a moment. "But how do you break it? I mean, just in case we need to."
Bhradain moved closer to her from where he stood by the weapons chest. Once he stood before her, he reached out to gently caress her cheek. "When you are ready, you will know."
"Here we going with the cryptic statements," she said with exasperation. "So you are not going to tell me?" she asked just to clarify.
"In time," he laughed seductively.
Eva rolled her eyes at his elusive response. She was a bit tired of hearing only cryptic half-answers. "Well, since you aren't going to talk to me about your curse, how about you tell me what plan it is you have for taking back your castle or whatever?"
Bhradain gave her quizzical look.
Eva sighed; sometimes it was difficult communicating with a highland laird. "I mean," she started to clarify, "you are pulling out all the weapons and have a look in your eye that suggests you are out for blood. Are you going to tell me what that is all about?"
Bhradain laughed as understanding dawned on him. "I plan to take back my castle from the scheming druids," he said purposefully.
