Edane: Immortal Highlander, Clan Mag Raith Book 3

by Hunter, Hazel

  Dive and her mate circled over his head, their sharp eyes showing him his own rigid back and clenched fists.

  “You’ll find no trace of the portal,” Broden’s grating voice said. “Earlier Edane all but plied a sledge to that wall, but it didnae again appear. Or would you say the wench bewitched his senses?”

  “’Tis no guessing what she may do.” He stepped back from the wall as the trapper stopped beside him. “I thought you’ve the watch tonight.”

  “Aye, but the chieftain bid me first patrol the outer walls.” Broden gestured to the trail surrounding the stronghold. “Walk with me.”

  Kiaran fell into step beside him, braced for yet another tongue-lashing for speaking against Nellie. When the trapper remained silent, he grew even more annoyed.

  “Dinnae you wish to persuade me to see Mistress Quinn’s innocence? Such a harmless and sweet lass, and I the unfeeling brute for accusing her.”

  Broden halted and regarded him for a long moment. “I tried to seduce her in the barn this morning. She refused me, out of love for Edane. Then she told me how she felt, being in Dun Chaill.”

  Kiaran listened to him recount Nellie’s words, and in them heard a truth he knew only too well. When the trapper finished, he finally had to admit defeat.

  “She’s no’ a spy, then.”

  “No more than I, Brother.” Broden continued on the path. “Now ’tis time for you to confess what you’ve long concealed from us.”

  Kiaran nearly tripped over his own feet. “What?”

  “You do naught without cause. I’ll wager your ire toward the lass came from your distrust of Galan.” At Kiaran’s quick look he nodded. “Aye, I saw how you watched him from the moment he entered the ash grove after our escape, to spin his tales.”

  “I didnae care for the facking dru-wid.” He moved his shoulders. “Neither did Domnall.”

  “Why?” The trapper halted outside the granary where Kiaran slept. “He provided us with haven and purpose. You wouldnae cross him or question his orders. Indeed, ’twas ever your habit to avoid the man. I’ll wager if no’ for the rest of us, you’d have left the enchanted forest long before we found Jenna.”

  “I kept my oath to protect the Moss Dapple,” he said flatly. “In that I honored the chieftain’s wishes.”

  “Now you lie to me.” Broden stepped in front of him as he reached for the door latch. “You sensed something amiss with the bastart, didnae you?”

  “’Tis of no consequence now. He’s shown himself our enemy.” He took hold of the latch. “Fair night, Brother.”

  A fist rammed against the door, slamming it shut. “You saw through Galan’s lies from the very beginning, and yet never uttered a word to any of us. Such honor, Kiaran.”

  “I but suspected.” He rubbed his brow, and then dropped his hand to meet the trapper’s hard gaze. “All the dru-wid said obliged us to him, and destroyed any reason we’d have for leaving. As the centuries passed his interest in our immortality and our powers swelled, and in the last century reeked of covetousness. I did wish to tell you, but ’twasnae my place to gainsay Domnall.”

  “You might have told him,” Broden said.

  Kiaran shrugged. “I’m no’ Mag Raith by blood. You and I arenae Mael or Edane. We’re outsiders, tolerated for our skills.”

  “So you mean now to redeem yourself for your silence.” Broden pointed beyond him toward the greenhouse. “’Tis why you’ve tried to turn the clan against Nellie. You ken you should have done so before, with Galan. Your anger and disgust with him have poisoned you against the lass.”

  “No, Brother.” Kiaran thought of the day he had first stumbled into the Mag Raith’s settlement, filthy and starving, the rags of his garments crusted with dark Pritani blood. “’Twas a betrayal long before that.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  THE PEARLS FELL down to Nellie’s waist, and stroking her fingers along them sent flashes of Edane’s hands creating the necklace through her mind. Yet when his fingers covered hers, all she could see was him beside her, the sky in his eyes bright with pleasure, as if he’d been given the gift.

  She couldn’t let him do this. “Did you forget that the demons gave you to me as a slave?”

  “Aye.” Edane stroked the necklace with her fingers and his.

  “Don’t be a wise guy.” Why wasn’t he still angry with her? As he bent his head down, she gripped his tattooed arm, and the ink on the back of her neck grew hot. “This is a big mistake, fella. You don’t want a no-good floozy like me.”

  “You’re my peyrl,” he murmured, his mouth hovering over hers. “’Tis naught I want but you.”

  Some of the candles flickered out, pulling the shadows around them. Nellie gave up and met him the rest of the way, her lips trembling against his, her fingers curling over the glyphs on his skin. She’d make this her thank-you for all the lovely things he’d said. When it ended, she’d say she felt worn out and needed to sleep. He would curl up with her, and hold her through the dark hours. Having him wrapped around her would be enough.

  She just had to stop kissing him now.

  Only his mouth on hers felt too good, and where his hands stroked her back a delicious warmth spread. He groaned against her lips, the hungry sound humming through her. She let it go on, parting her lips for his tongue, drinking in the taste of his desire. He wanted her so badly that she could feel how much. Every corded muscle in his body coiled, and his skin grew hot where she touched him. Her breasts ached against his hard chest, her nipples pebbling, eager for his touch. Between her thighs everything became full and drenched and throbbed madly, as low sounds spilled from her mouth to his.

  But it wasn’t her that ended the kiss. Edane pulled back and cradled her face in his hands. “You’re too hurt for more, lass.”

  “That what you think?”

  Nellie couldn’t feel a single ache from her cuts and bruises as she stood, and tugged down the too-large bodice to her waist before dropping Rosealise’s dress to her boots. Stepping out of both, she straightened and stood naked but for a few bandages and his pearls.

  “Not bleeding. Nothing hurts at all.” She turned around slowly and fanned herself with her hand. “But I do feel kinda hot.”

  Edane looked up at her, a sweet torment in his eyes. “You neednae do this tonight, lass.”

  “That’s the thing.” She straddled his legs and reached for the bottom of his tunic. “We could have died today. We should do this for us.” She hesitated. “But if you don’t want to–”

  He used her hands to tug off his tunic.

  Baring his chest led to stroking the hard walls of lean muscle cording it, which then she had to kiss. The scent of him engulfed her, so good she never wanted anything but him as her breath. She felt him rub his hand over her curls, and twined her fingers in his long scarlet mane, drawing the bright strands over her face. Through that veil everything looked as if it were webbed by golden spiders spinning tangerine silks.

  He shifted, easing her down to lay beside him on the wool blanket. “You should ken that as immortals we cannae sire bairns, my lady.”

  “You mean make babies?” As he nodded Nellie felt a wrenching sadness, not just for him but for all the men. Then she realized he was reassuring her that she wouldn’t end up pregnant from this. Then she knew what to say. “Probably for the best. Kiaran would say that I stole the kid and hid him in my belly.”

  That startled a laugh out of him. “I wager he would.”

  Nellie grinned and slipped her hands around his waist, pulling him close before she tugged at his laces. “Time to let me see what you look like naked, fella.”

  He reached back to help her, and then rolled away to remove his boots before he stripped off his trousers.

  Every long, strong inch of him made Nellie’s fingers itch to touch him, but she could have just looked at him for the rest of the night, too. He didn’t have the bulging muscular bulk of the other men, but instead looked lean and tough, like his bows. Would he make love
like his arrows flew, straight and sure? Scarlet curls adorned the base of his long, erect cock, which stood up straight against his belly.

  Could she take all of him? Nellie wondered as she reached out to stroke the hard shaft. Yet the moment she touched him she felt the hot, wet softness between her thighs tighten with anticipation, not fear. Then she thought of the erotic end of the memory they’d shared, and smiled to herself. Maybe he’d been her slave once, but now she wanted to be his, and she knew exactly where she wanted him inside her.

  “Do I please you?” he asked, as if he were actually worried about it.

  She brushed her lips against his. “Let me take a closer look.”

  The pearls pooled on his thighs as she leaned closer, pressing her lips to his straining crown. He felt like iron but tasted like his scent, and she had to have more. She caressed him with her tongue, licking his cockhead like a delicious sweet, the throbbing heat of him luscious. When she parted her lips and bathed him with her breath he jerked and then let out a deep groan as she took him into her mouth.

  “Oh, lass.” Edane’s hand shook as he stroked the curls back from her cheeks. “’Tis too much.”

  She would have explained why it wasn’t, but licking and sucking him absorbed Nellie entirely. The intimate act brought from the shadows in her mind a sense of having done so many times. She wished she could remember, just for him, for in the underworld she must have known ways to give him the most pleasure.

  On and on Nellie loved him, lavishing all the sensual hunger she had on his hard cock. He shook and swore softly as she discovered how to tilt her head to take him deeper. She never wanted it to end, for in this way she had him as no one else ever would. This was theirs, only theirs, and no one could be part of it but them. As selfish as she was, she’d never felt delighted to give instead of take, except for this.

  “I’ll soon spend.” His thigh muscles tensed as his shaft swelled between her tugging lips. “Nellie.”

  She wanted that part of him, too, and held on and took him as deeply as she could. His hands fisted in her hair and his cock pulsed and jerked in her mouth. She swallowed the jets of seed that came from him, thick and silken, and wallowed in the deep sounds he made with each one. At last it ended, and when she let him escape her lips, she kissed the head of his shaft one more time.

  Falling on the fleeces with him made her chuckle a little. She felt so strange, almost as if some terrible weight had been lifted off her chest. As Edane gathered her against him she wondered if she might take them both floating up to the thatched roof.

  “I’d vow I’ve never felt such pleasure, my lady,” he murmured as he studied her face. He ran his thumb along the swollen curves of her lips. “Yet I believe I have. ’Twas how you meant to love me in the vision.”

  She kissed his hand. “I’m glad you like it, because it’s my new favorite thing to do with you.”

  “Ah, but I’ve no’ had a chance to offer the same.” He ran his hand from her shoulder to her hip. “I want to bring you to bliss with my mouth, and my hands, and my cock. I’ll fill your nights with so many joys you’ll never wish to leave my bed.”

  Nellie felt the lightness recede, and something else took its place. It felt like water, dark and cold, just a thin trickle that ran down from the back of her neck to follow the length of her necklace. The sluggish chill of it made her shiver.

  “I’ll warm you now,” Edane said, pulling her closer.

  “Love me.” The words popped out of her mouth before she could stop them, and she saw the answering pleasure in his eyes. “I mean, yes, please, do anything and everything you want. I want all of you.”

  He rolled over her, bracing his long body on his elbows as if he thought he weighed too much. She laughed and pulled him down, relishing the press of his hard chest on her breasts, and the sinuous twine of his legs with hers.

  “I’m not going to break,” she promised, stretching her arms over her head. “Have all the fun you want, fella.”

  “I hardly ken where to begin.”

  Edane’s gaze shifted over her face before he kissed her, his mouth firm and hungry. The heat of his breath made her feel a little drunk, and then he stroked her tongue with his. The way he kissed her stirred everything inside her back to full, aching need again. She arched under him, lifting her hips so she could rub herself against his swelling erection.

  “My lady,” he muttered against her lips, and then followed the line of her throat down to her breasts.

  Oh, why had she told him to do whatever he wanted? Nellie looked down to watch him kiss her nipples, and then he was sucking and licking and driving her out of her skull. He did things to her with his mouth that made her shake, and the only breathing she could do was in tight, frantic gasps. When he would have continued down to kiss her belly, she gave into her own desires and tugged at him.

  “I take it back,” she told him as he smiled at her. “I need one thing, right now, and it’s not your mouth. Next time, anything and everything, I swear.”

  Edane gathered her up with one arm and reached between them with another. He brought his cock between her thighs so gently and carefully she groaned, and then notched himself against her. She’d grown so wet he sank into her softness, his shaft so smooth that it glided into her like someone had wrapped it in satin.

  “Lass.” His jaw tightened as he tried to slow his penetration. “You feel…as a maiden.”

  He probably meant virgin. Nellie didn’t remember if she was, knew it was unlikely, and frankly didn’t care.

  “Okay. I’ll find a shotgun and make you marry me. Tomorrow. Or maybe the next day.” She rolled her hips under his. “Please, please, please.”

  Edane got that message, and gave her a long, delicious thrust. No pain came with it, just slow, silky satisfaction. He stroked out and in, filling her deep, his shaft so hard now she felt herself melting around him. Oh, but it was so good, so perfect. He felt so long inside her she wondered if she had taken him all, and then found out she hadn’t when he plowed even deeper.

  She tried to kiss whatever her lips could touch, his neck and chin and mouth, and then pressed her mouth to his shoulder as he began pumping into her. The muffled sounds of her whimpering seemed to unleash some beast in him, for he gripped her hips and stroked into her faster.

  Nellie held on as long as she could, her nails dragging down his arms as he fucked her, but the bliss took her over and tore at her until all she could do was surrender. The hot rush of pleasure grew tight and then blasted out, flinging the ecstasy he’d promised into every part of her body. Nothing could be this enthralling and destroying. She might just die on the spot.

  Edane held her through the shaking, and then thrust twice more before it was his turn. He spilled this time, filling her with such fountaining warmth Nellie shuddered with delight. Then they lay together, trembling now and then as their bodies cooled. At some point she realized she was still wearing his pearls, and lifted her fingers to touch the strand.

  Now you’ve gone and done it.

  Nellie hated that coldness inside her. She never wanted to hear from it again. She was with a guy who made her feel happy and satisfied and definitely not a virgin. Didn’t she deserve that, after all she’d been through? Demons and monsters and falling walls? Couldn’t she just have this?

  “You must tell me of shotguns,” Edane said as he propped himself up and looked down at her. “Why do they make men marry?”

  “Not tonight, fella,” Nellie said, her eyelids fluttered as she tried to keep them open. The pearls seemed heavier now, almost dragging at her neck, but she was too tired to remove them. “I’m sorry, but I’m really beat. Let’s get some sleep.”

  “Aye, if ’tis your wish.” Edane sounded puzzled, but pulled her close and covered them with the blanket. “You never said if I pleased you, my lady.”

  “You’re the bee’s knees,” Nellie murmured, cuddling against him as she closed her eyes.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  IN ED
ANE’S ARMS Nellie fell into a cold river of memories. They swept her along until she found herself in New York City, and the speakeasy where she’d spent her last night as a flapper. The joint, called The Doll’s Drum, had been Nellie’s last stop on her long, ugly journey.

  Like all the underground clubs in Manhattan it looked like a ramshackle version of heaven or hell. Which one depended on how drunk the patrons got.

  On this night smoke from countless cigarettes rose like thin ghosts toward the punched tin ceiling, which trapped it in a diaphanous, malodorous cloud. Sequined dresses and painted lips flashed in the light from the big bulbs strung like crepe overhead. Trails of French perfume followed the flappers tottering back and forth to tables to gossip with friends or flirt with their men. Now and then an argument would break out, drawing one of the big goons posted by the club’s walls and doors.

  A quiet word from one of them usually shut up the loudmouths. If it didn’t, they walked them back to a private room no one ever had to visit twice.

  Sipping a glass containing water with only a splash of whiskey, Nellie leaned back against the bar to take in the show. The glaring stage lights made her new dress glitter like a column of gilded ice. Her clothes and the long pearl necklace she wore kept the plugs from thinking her a pro skirt. Nellie had studied film actresses Colleen Moore and Louise Brooks as she’d polished and perfected the image of a vibrant, fun-loving flapper.

  You can’t just look the part, Cap had warned her. You have to make yourself a good-time girl.

  Nellie had and, over time, slipping into her part had become effortless. Tonight she’d clipped some fresh tiger lilies to her three-tiered head band, which kept her fringe slanted saucily over her kohl-rimmed eyes. Her silver t-strap shoes had the highest heels she could walk in, which helped show off her thin, svelte figure. She smelled of the lilies and the hooch she’d dabbed behind her ears and on her lips to complete her ritzy masquerade.