What was this?
“Holy crap, is that you Tait?” Nicole cried.
The strange world she had nearly sunk into with Rònan snapped shut, and another reality opened. They stood at the end of a long pier and Nicole was being swung around by yet another tall, well-muscled dark-haired man.
Except this guy was no Scotsman.
Or so she assumed based on the way he was dressed.
Erin shifted her hand to the hilt of the blade tucked into the back of her pants, grateful it had reappeared. She backed away from Rònan and took in her surroundings. Dozens of piers ran alongside theirs. Inland, a massive group of buildings stood well protected between a high wooden wall and behemoth white-tipped mountains. But that’s not why she kept her hand on her weapon
No, that would be because of the towering men surrounding them.
Bearded men clad in fur and leather, with heavy boots and tons of tats.
It was a good thing Darach spoke because Rònan still seemed caught up in lust.
“’Tis nothing to fear, lass,” he said. “These are our Viking ancestors.”
Vikings.
Sonofabitch.
Nicole had mentioned traveling back to ninth-century Scandinavia. So she tuned into Nicole and Tait’s conversation. Maybe in his mid-twenties, he seemed pretty happy to see her. Tait. Hadn’t Nicole mentioned that name? And hadn’t she said he was a little boy when she met him?
Erin eyed him up and down.
He wasn’t a boy anymore.
As if he sensed her watching him, Tait’s gaze swung her way. When their eyes connected, a low growl came from Rònan’s chest. A warning. The other Vikings shifted, their muscles flexing, and Erin suddenly got the feeling she was surrounded by animals, territorial beasts...wolfs?
No...something else altogether.
Dragon-shifters.
This is what Grant had meant when he said Rònan needed to be around those with like blood. His Viking ancestors.
Tait eyed her for another second before he broke the tension.
“Uncle Rònan.” He held out his arms. “Welcome.”
Uncle Rònan? Damn, they couldn’t be more than a few years apart.
Gotta love time travel.
While Rònan might have gone all alpha moments before, he snapped out of it and embraced Tait, laughing as he patted him on the back. “Good to see ye, Tait, my lad.” Then he pulled back, eying him. “Ye’ve grown a wee bit since we last met.”
“Yes.” Tait chuckled, clearly glad to see Rònan. “Now we are the same height.”
“Where’s Heidrek?” Nicole asked, positively beaming. “I can’t wait to see him.”
“He’s visiting a nearby village right now.” Tait’s brows arched. “I’m surprised you recognized me. It has been almost twenty winters since we last saw each other.”
“You’ve got your dad’s eyes, kid,” Nicole said. “There’s no mistaking them.”
Tait grinned. “So I’ve been told.” He embraced Darach with as much vigor as he had Rònan. “Good to see you again, Uncle Darach.”
“What about your Uncle Naðr Véurr, the King?” Nicole asked.
“My father will be returning soon,” another Viking said, his voice deep and gravelly as he eyed Erin. For that matter, all the Viking men watched her a little too closely. So she stood up straighter and narrowed her eyes.
“And you are?” Nicole asked, straightforward as ever.
“Bjorn Sigdir,” the man responded, his posture tense. “First born son to Viking King, Naðr Véurr Sigdir.”
Erin recognized a die-hard soldier when she saw one, and he was just that. Watchful, distrustful, ready to fight at any given moment. And, like the rest of them, handsome as sin.
“Oh, no shit,” Nicole exclaimed as she looked him over. “I can totally see it now. All quiet wisdom, good looks and repressed fierceness.”
“And who are the guys heading back down the dock?” Nicole asked.
“My brother and cousins,” Tait said.
“Your brother?”
Tait ignored her question and refocused his attention on Erin. “And you are?”
Rònan and Darach responded at the same time.
“This is Erin,” from Darach.
“She’s mine,” from Rònan.
Bjorn’s eyes narrowed. “Is that so?”
Rònan’s eyes narrowed as well. “Aye.”
Tait chuckled, and Niall rolled his eyes.
Losing patience, Erin set them all straight. “Like Darach said, I’m Erin.” She frowned at Rònan. “Unlike Rònan said, I’m not his nor am I any man’s.”
Tait cocked a brow and looked from her to Rònan before he spoke. “Might I walk with your woman, Uncle Rònan?”
Seriously? Erin shook her head and started down the dock, throwing over her shoulder, “If you wanted to walk with me, you should’ve asked me. Now you’re shit out of luck.”
Who did these men think they were? She didn’t slow down in the least but kept walking. It didn’t take long for Rònan and Tait to catch up. The next thing she knew Rònan walked on her left side and Tait was on her right.
So Erin stopped short. She could feel someone else’s presence close behind her. Too close. She whipped around.
Bjorn.
“All right, you bunch of deluded screwballs.” Erin held up her hands and walked backward. “You all need to step off, you hear me?” She pointed at Bjorn and Tait then narrowed her eyes on Rònan. “Especially you.”
Before they could argue, she spun around and strode down the dock. She didn’t care how foreign this place or its people were. She wasn’t about to deal with bullish men or show an ounce of fear. Her world might be turned upside down, but she still had her shit together.
She always had her shit together.
One long stride. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. She looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was following her. But when she started to take her seventh step, a sudden wind whipped overhead and blew her hair forward. On instinct, she pulled her blade free and crouched.
But nothing could’ve prepared her for what flew overhead.
Mammoth, long, serpentine and black scaled, something far beyond her wildest imagination. Dear God. No, not God. He had nothing to do with this. But the Devil surely did. Her heart hammered and her throat closed.
When the beast landed, Erin didn’t hesitate. She faced her childhood nightmare the only way she knew how. She ran and whipped her dagger at what could only be a dragon.
Chapter Four
RÒNAN SCOWLED AS HE eyed Erin on the bed. When she flung a blade at Naðr, the Viking King had made sure she went right to sleep.
“She knows I’m a dragon shifter. Bloody hell, she knows they are too, and it was obvious they weren’t the enemy,” Rònan muttered. “Yet she still threw a dagger at him. At the bloody King. What was she thinking?”
“This is sensory overload for her,” Nicole said. “And for Erin, that means to fight and defend then fight some more. That’s just who she is, and I think it’s great. She’s fierce.”
“Aye, fierce.” He sighed. “And none too bright.”
That brought her around.
Though Nicole had no idea Erin was awake, he did by the slight tension that rippled up her body.
Her small, curvy body.
He needed to get his mind off of the way she looked lying on that bed. Not sprawled out and sensual but curled into a ball. Needing protection.
Worth protecting.
But hating any that came too close.
She called to him. Hell, she called to all dragon-shifters, and he had only just discovered it when he traveled through time with her in his arms. Something about the magic of the tree combined with them actually touching. Now he and every other male dragon sensed her and were drawn to her for various reasons.
Protecting her wouldn’t be easy. She believed she was strong...that she could take on anyone. Maybe she could. Maybe she couldn’t. Either way, she was vulnerable an
d tuned into dragon frequency. She didn’t understand how bad that was. Dragons were lusty and territorial when they spied something they wanted. And they would all want her.
The thought made Rònan’s blood boil. She was his. But she wasn’t. How could one man be torn between two women? The one that saved him and the one that needed saving. He should focus on Jackie.
Erin would never accept his help.
There was a fire in her besides her headstrong, feisty attitude. A fire born of magic. A fire that she had no idea she possessed. And there was something more. Something that called to dragons above and beyond. But what? Whatever it was, it was extremely strong and unbelievably compelling to his kind.
Did Grant know? Is that what he meant back in the cave when he told Rònan to choose his battles wisely? That a lass like Erin wasn’t one who could be ignored. Did he sense that she would appeal to dragons? And if he knew, why would he send her here of all places? It was one thing for Rònan, a Highlander shifter to sense her but another thing altogether for the Viking shifters. They worked on a different level, their genes not necessarily less advanced but far more...aggressive?
Then there was her astounding beauty.
That didn’t help.
Because it was a wild beauty that brought out the beast.
“Erin’s awake,” Rònan said softly.
Nicole glanced at the bed. “Then you need to get out of here so I can talk to her.”
“She wears a ring now.” He ground his jaw and shook his head. “So no, I cannae.”
“Nor can I,” Darach said.
Rònan didn’t bother glaring at his cousin yet again but kept his eyes on Nicole when she perched on the side of the bed and touched Erin’s shoulder. “Hey, girl. You awake?”
“Obviously,” Erin murmured, eyes still closed.
“Then get up and talk to us.”
Erin cracked open one eye, and it landed on Rònan. “Sure, once he leaves.”
Why did the lass dislike him so much? Yes, she had an issue with fire. Yes, she had seen terrible things. But why was it landing on his shoulders?
“No,” Nicole said firmly. “You need to sit your ass up and talk to us before we deal with the Vikings who have been nice enough to offer us protection.”
Erin cracked open the other eye and frowned at Nicole. “You always were a bitch.”
“Yup.” Nicole shrugged. “Some things never change.”
“Get off.” Erin sat up, mumbling, “You know I love you but hell, woman.”
“I know you do. Just like I love you.” Nicole squeezed Erin’s hand then returned to Niall’s side.
Erin pulled a fur around her shoulders and eyed them with distrust. Though she appeared disgruntled as she gained her bearings, her features soon smoothed over to that emotionless mask she wore so well.
Her eyes narrowed on Rònan first. “Stop looking at me like that. You don’t own me.”
Then her eyes shot to Darach. “And you’re running a little too sweet. I don’t go for sweet so don’t bother if you’re making a play for me.”
Erin’s eyes met Nicole’s. “And you.” She shook her head. “You’re too caught up in all this crap to see straight.”
At last, her eyes landed on Niall. “That means you’re the guy most likely to give me straight, unbiased answers.” She wrapped the fur tighter. “So tell me exactly what’s going on and what I can expect from these Vikings.”
Rònan almost shook his head but realized Erin was doing what worked for her. Finding someone who didn’t need her and didn’t desire her. That meant Niall was the only one she trusted to give her the unfiltered truth.
“You are safe here, lass. At least for now,” Niall said. “You’ve traveled back to ninth-century Scandinavia and are with our Viking ancestors. Nobody means you any harm.”
“But they’re like him, aren’t they?” She nodded at Rònan. “Dragon shifters.”
“Aye.” Niall’s eyes flickered from Rònan to her. “All the men born to the King and his brothers save Heidrek are dragons.”
“See, that’s no good.” She patted her body as though looking for weapons. “Seriously not good.”
“I willnae hurt you,” Rònan ground out. “Nor will the Vikings.”
“Uh huh,” she muttered as she gave up looking for blades and grabbed a few off the wall beside her.
“I’m sorry,” Nicole mouthed at Rònan and frowned before she spoke to Erin. “Seriously, Sweetie, nobody’s gonna hurt you. You don’t need those.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” Erin tucked several blades into her pants and boots as she stood. When she rocked a little both Rònan and Darach went to steady her.
Erin flipped the last blade she grabbed outward, her voice not quite threatening but firm. “I’m good. Thanks.”
While Rònan wasn’t pleased that she loathed him, he felt comfort knowing Darach seemed to be in the same boat.
Like too many times since he’d met Erin, Rònan wasn’t quite sure how to handle her. She had no soft side, just hard edges. That’s if you weren’t looking at all her curves. His eyes fell down her body as she tucked more blades to the point of ridiculousness. So many tight, little curves in all the right places.
He didn’t realize he growled with need until Nicole batted him upside the head. “Stop it, dumbass.”
Rònan frowned, but Nicole managed to snap him out of his sudden stupor. Meanwhile, Darach took advantage.
Ever debonair and too suave for the likes of a decent dragon-shifter, the bloody wizard managed to get close enough to hold her elbow as she regained her balance. Had it been Rònan, he would have done what he did back in the Defiance’s cave and brought Erin against the wall. He would have caged her in and demanded answers.
He would have shown her how different their bodies were.
How much control he had over her.
Rònan blinked at his own thoughts. They were so different than the ones he usually had with lasses. Especially with one he recently learned watched her father burn alive. What was the matter with him? His behavior made less and less sense.
“Really, I’m good,” she snapped at Darach then shook her head, softening her voice as she stepped away. “I got this.”
Erin was so incredibly different than Cassie or even Nicole that he knew his cousin didn’t know what to make of her. Getting close to the lass would be nearly impossible. She was too defiant, too distrusting.
Yet Rònan wanted her.
So much that it alarmed him.
What alarmed him even more was how he seemed less focused on saving Jackie. Assuming she needed saving. But she would at some point, and he needed to remember that.
“So I’m surrounded by Vikings and dragon-shifters,” Erin murmured.
Nicole nodded, concerned. “Yeah.”
“Okay,” Erin said under her breath and rested her backside against the bed. It was a subtle yet defensive stance to make her seem relaxed. But Rònan saw the way she braced her legs and the way her muscles remained tense.
She was set to lash out.
“I’ll sit tight until we’re ready to head out.” Erin gestured at Nicole then the bed beside her. “Why don’t you sit with me until I get this figured out? I can protect you as well if not better than most, and you know that.”
“Our Viking ancestors mean to welcome us,” Niall said, tone low and even. “And we’ll let them.”
“Maybe you will.” Erin’s tone was just as even. “But not me.” Her eyes went to Nicole. “And not anyone with me.”
“I trust these people, Erin,” Nicole said. “Just as much as I trust you.”
Erin’s brows didn’t shoot up or draw together. Instead, her face remained emotionless. “You’ve met them what, once? And now the one Viking kid you met is a full grown man. One who hasn’t seen you in nearly twenty years.” She shook her head. “Why do you trust him or any of them for that matter?”
“I told you what the Viking King and his brother did for me the last time
I was here,” Nicole said. “How could I not trust them?” She frowned. “Besides, they’d do anything to protect the MacLomains and anyone related to them. They’re blood and that means something. Simple as that.”
Erin eyed Nicole for several long moments. “You really trust them?”
“I do,” Nicole replied. “With all my heart.”
“Even considering I tried to kill that...” She cleared her throat, obviously having trouble saying it. “That dragon.”
“His name is Naðr Véurr, and I consider him a friend,” Nicole said. “One I know would never hurt you even in light of your actions.” She shrugged. “My guess? He already knows exactly why you did what you did.”
Something Rònan would love to know as well. Sure, dragons might be frightening at first, but for Erin, they were downright terrifying. Not only was it obvious in her actions but in her random thoughts flickering through his mind. Thoughts he tried to block so she could have her privacy but was unable to shut out.
“I’m sorry that I came up behind you when we traveled here, Erin,” Darach said. “I only meant to protect you, not upset you.”
Leave it to Darach to take advantage of Erin’s slight softening.
Erin nodded but frowned. “Don’t do it again. I’m not into tight spaces.”
“Aye, of course,” Darach said.
Though her eyes skirted around Rònan, he knew she wanted an apology from him too. And while a part of him was tempted, a bigger part, the dragon within, refused. He meant to keep her safe, and he did. If he got aroused in the meantime, there wasn’t much he could do about it. She was a beautiful, tempting female and he was feral.
Rònan scowled.
Feral?
Where had that thought come from? Rònan had a lot of reasons for pursuing lasses, but that word had never popped into his mind.
“The Viking King and younger male dragons have stayed here to help protect us,” Nicole said. “His brothers, their wives, and daughters are at the dragon lair. Female dragons are even rarer than males, and they want them kept away from any potential harm.”
The MacLomain Series: Later Years - a Scottish Time Travel Romance Boxed Set Page 58