Time was running out and instinct had her taking flight, she braced herself along the wall and hurried, as best she could in the dark, down the remaining stairs.
Dawn couldn’t be found and while the search continued as if there was all the time in the world to find her, Cree knew differently. He looked at the clock in the large foyer, draped in cobwebs and spiders and a crow sitting on top of it as if daring anyone to look at the time.
It was eight minutes before midnight.
He was going to lose Dawn and, according to the fortune-teller, this time it would be forever. A dread rose up inside him that tore at his heart and tortured his soul. There was no life without Dawn. There had never been any life without Dawn.
An image of her floated in his mind’s eye. She smiled and ran to him and he caught her, hugging her tight, his heart swelling with a joy he had never known in this life. Had Old Mary been right? Had he known Dawn before? Did they share an infinite love? And had Fate used this strange night to reunite them and seal that love for all eternity?
He shook his head. He had failed her, failed them.
He stormed out of the castle, his temper raging, and a chilled wind whipped at him as if striking blow after blow and he raised his face, a scowl so potent that the wind tempered in fright. His strides turned anxious as he made his way up the hill, his dark eyes warning the heavens to hold back time, to not let this day turn into tomorrow.
He stood on the top of the hill, anger churning, building, his heart feeling as if it was about to shatter. The loss, the helplessness so overwhelming that he thought he would burst. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t let it and yet he couldn’t stop it.
Time ticked by, he could almost hear the hands on a clock tick closer and closer to striking midnight. The wind picked up again, swirling around him as if ready to carry him away, separate him forever from the woman he loved beyond all reason.
He threw his arms up, his hands fisted, dropped his head back, and roared with the forceful strength of a mighty Highland warrior going into battle.
“DAWN!”
Dawn reached the bottom of the stairs and was met with a door. She scrambled to turn the knob, sensing midnight was only minutes away, but it wouldn’t budge. She felt for a lock of some sort and finding it, turned it, only to be met with more resistance somewhere else along the door. Her hands moved quickly along the seam, finding two other latches. Her heart pounded, her stomach churned, and her wrist throbbed unmercifully as she struggled to open the stubborn latches.
It took another struggle to get the door open enough for her to squeeze out. A strong wind greeted her and a chill wrapped around her. She looked around, trying to determine where she was when reality hit her.
She would never find Cree on time. Time had run out for them.
Dawn shook her head and tears hurried to fill her eyes and roll down her cheeks. She couldn’t lose Cree. She couldn’t. She started running. She didn’t know where, but even if there were only seconds left she would fight to find him, fight to reunite with him.
“DAWN!”
She stopped abruptly. Had she heard her name being shouted? Or had it been the wind playing tricks on her?
“DAWN!”
It wasn’t the wind or her mind.
It was Cree.
Dawn knew in her heart where he was and she ran with all the strength she had in her, begging the wind to speed her steps. She saw him up on the hill as she rounded the castle and in her head she could hear a clock tick closer to midnight.
Run! Run! She urged herself.
Dawn’s name spewed from Cree’s lips in one last roar and his head fell forward. He saw her then, running toward him, fighting with everything she had in her to get to him.
He took off down the hill and saw that she gestured as she ran, repeating the pattern over and over. She patted her chest, crossed her arms over it, then pointed toward him.
She was telling him that she loved him.
He could hear the clock in his head ready to strike midnight when he reached her, his arms going tightly around her and he claimed her as he had done once before. “You are mine. You belong to me. I will never let you go.”
Chapter 12
13th century Highlands, Scotland
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Dawn bolted up in bed, breathing rapidly, her hand going to her chest. She glanced hurriedly around the room. The stone walls and wood floor were a welcoming sight as was the fire burning in the fireplace and her cloak hanging on a peg by the closed wood door.
She breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a dream, strange as it had been, but still a dream. Her breath caught once again when she realized Cree was not in bed beside her. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts, the dream having left her feeling confused.
Samhain. The festivities. A joyful night, if not worrisome since spirits lurked about. She tried to remember. Had she and Cree not retired together?
She shook her head and hurried out of bed, slipping into a nightdress that hung from another peg on the wall and was rarely worn since she slept naked beside her husband whose bare body kept her warm at night.
She gave no thought to shoes, she was too anxious to find Cree and make sure he was there with her. The dream had frightened her. What if it had not been a dream? What if it had been real and she had been too late, and she and Cree were no more?
No. She shook her head. She would not entertain such a foolish idea. Besides, it had been a dream, nothing more. But Old Mary had been there warning her, reminding her. Could it possibly have been real? Could some magic have journeyed her through time? Could what she had seen possibly been the future?
The more she thought on it, the more frightened she became and the more anxious she became to find Cree.
Dawn flung open the door and rushed to the stairs, taking them quickly her feet barely touching each step. Lady Ann came to mind. She had not only intended her harm in this life, but in the future as well. At least in a future life, she had not been her mother as she had been in this life.
Cree had protected her in her dream just as he did here and now. They belonged together, they always would. Her concern grew, worried that somehow, someway she might have lost him. She had to find him, had to know she had not been too late in that dream, that Cree was still there with her and always would be.
She almost stumbled, she was moving so fast, her bare feet flying over step after step and her heart pounding against her chest with fear. She screamed out his name over and over in her head, wishing, hoping somehow he would hear her.
She turned the last curve in the staircase and there was Cree, his arms shooting out to scoop her up and hug her tightly against him.
“What is wrong? Are you in pain? Not feeling well?”
Dawn shook her head, trying to calm her ragged breathing and her worries.
“Slow breaths,” Cree said, climbing the stairs quickly.
Dawn dropped her head on her husband’s shoulder. She was relieved he was there and she was in his powerful arms. She had not lost him. And if her dream had been more than a dream, then had they sealed their love for eternity? That was something she hoped would prove true.
“You will tell me what upset you once you can speak,” he ordered as he entered their bedchamber.
She smiled, loving him more each day for always speaking to her as if she actually had a voice that could be heard.
“The Samhain festivities have been too much for you,” Cree said, sitting on the bed with her still in his arms, and his hand going to caress her rounded stomach.
She brought her head up off her husband’s shoulder, her hand going to rest over his for a moment, their bairn quiet inside her, not due for another few months, before she gestured.
Cree watched her hands move and nodded in answer to her question. “Aye, Samhain is over.” He took gentle hold of her chin. “Did you have a troubling dream? It would be no wonder if you did with all the tales that were told of spirits returning to walk the earth
this special night.”
Dawn laid her head back on her husband’s shoulder. A dream. It had to have been a dream with all the strange things she saw. But there had been so many familiar faces there with her and such an abundance of feasting.
Old Mary had been there. What was it she had said?
You must declare your love for Cree by midnight, then nothing or no one, will ever come between you two ever again. If you do not, he will be forever lost to you. When it is done, tonight’s magic will be made known to you.
Had it been real? Had it been magic? Or had it been Fate? She would speak to Old Mary first chance she got.
“Tell me what troubles you?” Cree urged, keeping his arm firm around her.
She lifted her head off his chest and gestured.
“A strange dream.”
She nodded.
“Was I there with you?”
Dawn nodded again.
Cree kissed her, a brief kiss, but strong and demanding. “As long as we were together, that is all that matters. You are mine and always will be. Our love is forever and nothing can take that from us.”
He was right. Their love was too strong, too deeply rooted in their hearts and souls to ever be taken from them. Not a dream. Not the future. Not even Fate could rob them of that.
He stood and quickly rid her of her garment before discarding his own, then he lifted her in his powerful arms once again and placed her gently on the bed.
“I believe I mentioned earlier that I would have you more than once tonight, and I am a man of my word.”
Cree slipped over her and Dawn welcomed him.
* * *
THE END
Also by Donna Fletcher
The Cree & Dawn Series
(in order)
Cree & Dawn Series
Highlander Unchained/Forbidden Highlander
Highlander’s Captive
Cree & Dawn Short Stories
Highlander’s True Love
Highlander’s Promise
Highlander’s Winter Tale/Highlander’s Rescue
Highlander’s Magical Love
A Cree & Dawn Novella
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My Highlander
A Cree & Dawn Novel
Book 4 available November 2018
For a complete list of Donna’s titles, visit her website.
About the Author
For a complete listing of Donna’s books visit her website.
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