STAG: MC ROMANCE (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 7)

by Samantha Leal

  “Why do I need the guards?” she asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

  Colin looked down at the floor and sighed. He had leaned against the mantle and the light from the flames were casting beautiful patterns on his skin.

  “Douglas,” he said with resentment. “He is not to be trusted.”

  “In what way?” Zoe felt herself tense.

  “He thinks you are a sorceress, a witch… Sent here to bring down Clan Campbell,” Colin half laughed. “I know he’s wrong, I know what I saw when I found you today. It was pure innocence and helplessness.”

  Zoe nodded. “I can assure you, I’m no witch.”

  “I fear he may come down here and take you to trial,” Colin said. “I have told him to leave you be, that he doesn’t have the final say in this castle, but it would not be the first time he has gone against me.”

  “So I’m not safe here?” she asked.

  Colin looked up at her but didn’t answer. Zoe swallowed down the fear and wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold.

  “I won’t let him hurt you,” he said. “Which seems so strange to me, seeing as I don’t even know your name.”

  Zoe looked up at him and smiled. “My name is Zoe.”

  Colin’s eyes seemed to light up the instant he heard it. “I’ve never heard such a beautiful name,” he smiled. “And it suits you perfectly… A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”

  Zoe felt herself blushing. “Thank you.”

  It was such a strange set of events, but she found herself feeling exactly the same way… She had only known Colin for a few hours, but it was as if they had some underlying connection, like something was pulling them closer together and joining their souls. Every time she looked at him, her heart seemed to melt a little more. Ross hadn’t even entered her head since she had woken by the loch, and it wasn’t just because she was experiencing something bizarre. It was because of Colin. He was everything she had ever wanted in a man, and so much more. He was different and so unbelievable sexy, she could feel the tingle of desire burning through her.

  “Colin?” she decided to be brave. “Will you come to the bed?”

  His eyes darted up to meet hers, and he seemed as nervous as she was. She didn’t know where she had gotten the courage to be so forward, but after such an intense meeting and unexplainable circumstances, she felt the need to be even closer to him still. She wanted him, all of him. Right then and there.

  Colin walked slowly towards her, not taking his eyes from her even for a second. Zoe felt as if she had stepped out of her body and was acting out her wildest fantasy. As he neared her, she rose to her feet and reached up to run her fingers through his thick, red hair.

  When Colin kissed her, it was as if they had been joined together forever, and as if they were always meant to be together. As he lifted her dress up over her head and exposed her breasts, he gasped as he saw her naked for the first time.

  “You are so beautiful,” he whispered. “I have to have you.”

  In an instant, his demeanor changed. His mild manner was overcome with pure animalistic lust as he picked her up and held her around his waist. He threw her down onto the bed and ripped off his armor. Beneath his clothes, his muscles heaved and rippled, and as he removed his underclothes, his huge manhood sprang free. Zoe’s sex twitched and gushed with need.

  Colin climbed on top of her and pulled her over so she was on top of him. Even though she wanted him to ravage her, she also wanted to be in control, and as she straddled him and positioned his helmet at the opening of her sex, he gripped onto her hips and powered himself into her. As he penetrated her, the wave of pleasure was like nothing she had ever known. Their bodies fit together so perfectly, and as she rode him and grinded herself up and down on his shaft, Colin grunted with lust.

  Zoe threw her head back as he reached up and cupped both of her breasts. She had never felt more liberated or desired. He held onto her and flipped her over onto her front, and she bit her bottom lip as he drove his hard cock into her again from behind.

  As he pumped himself in and out of her, Zoe knew she wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer and came hard and fast. She unraveled beneath him, her orgasm rocketing through her and her thighs trembled. As Colin saw her in a mess of pleasure beneath him, he too exploded and shot his load right up inside her, collapsing onto her back and grunting into the back of her neck.

  8.

  Zoe trembled with pleasure as she rolled onto her back and Colin swept her up in his arms. He nuzzled into her, breathing in her scent and kissing the soft skin of her shoulders.

  “Are you sure you’re not an enchantress?” he laughed as he turned her face to his and kissed her softly on the lips. Zoe smiled and giggled.

  “I don’t know what just came over me,” she whispered. “I’ve never done anything like that before. It just felt so… so right.”

  “Since the second I laid eyes on you down by the loch, I knew I would take you to bed,” he said as he ran his hands through her hair. “Maybe I just didn’t believe it would be so soon.”

  Zoe blushed and cuddled into him again. She felt so safe with him. It was as if they were the only two people in the world and nothing else mattered.

  As the fire crackled away and the embers burned down, they both fell soundly asleep.

  As dawn broke Zoe was woken by the loud squawks of birds and she reached out her arm to discover she was alone. Disappointment filled her and her stomach dropped.

  Where is Colin? she thought as she sat up and looked around the room.

  She was certainly alone. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and walked towards the door. She was about to reach out and grab the handle when she heard the loud clattering of footsteps and armor hurtling down the corridor towards her room.

  She backed away from the door and reached for the dress Colin had given her the day before. She pulled it down over her nightie and rushed up against the back wall. There was nowhere for her to hide. She was trapped.

  The footsteps came to halt outside of the room, and she prayed to any God listening that she would be saved. There was a loud hammer on the door, but she didn’t dare speak. After a second, the door came crashing open and Colin stood there with fear in his eyes.

  “Come, now!” he shouted as he dashed towards her and grabbed her by the wrist. “You must run! Douglas and a mob are coming for you!”

  Zoe and Colin ran down the castle’s cavernous hallways, followed by an army of armed guards. They split off in different directions throughout the castle to try and throw Douglas off the scent and disappeared down a thin corridor and into a long forgotten room.

  “I don’t think he will look for you here,” he whispered. “This room was our parents’.” He looked down with sorrow. “How I wish they were still here to stop him from going mad like this.”

  “He thinks I’m a witch,” Zoe said sadly. “Which means I can’t stay here.”

  Colin shook his head.

  “I’ll sneak you out of the castle tonight,” he said, “and I’ll come with you. We can run away and be together.”

  Zoe liked the sound of that more than she ever thought possible, but she knew she couldn’t take Colin away from his life, and she didn’t want to be back in ancient Scotland without him. Her heart began to race with panic.

  She turned and looked around the room, and with complete shock she saw something familiar. Something she had seen before and was more relieved than ever to be in the presence of again.

  “That door,” she said, her finger pointing to the small, carved door in the side of the room. “I know that door.”

  “Impossible,” Colin said. “No one has ever been in this room apart from my parents, myself, and my brother.”

  Zoe reached up and touched his cheek. She wanted to kiss him and tell him everything, but she knew he wouldn’t understand.

  “If I go through that door, I’ll be safe,” she said. “But I believe I will be able to return to you… We could
meet here every night, and that way you don’t have to worry about Douglas trying to kill me or your position here at the castle.”

  Colin looked confused, but he also seemed to understand.

  “I trust you,” he said. “Just promise you will come back to me.”

  He swept Zoe up in his arms as Douglas’s rage thundered through the halls not far from their hiding place. Their kiss was magic and it roused something in the room. When they parted, Zoe looked to the door and the familiar bright light was shining out from behind it.

  “Wait for me,” she whispered as she let go of Colin’s hand and knelt by the door. She reached out for the handle and opened it just in time before Douglas charged into the room with his own armed guards ready to take her to trial.

  She woke up on the floor of the archive feeling battered and bruised but full of love. Rebecca was standing in front of her with a look of horror on her face, and she dropped the clipboard that held the notes for their inventory.

  “What…the…fuck?” she said, her mouth gaping open. She looked at Zoe up and down and looked at her dirty feet and the tattered brown smock she was wearing.

  “Oh my God,” Zoe smiled. “You’ll never believe it…. But you were right when you said there were things down here that the world didn’t know about.”

  “Where the hell have you been?” Rebecca put her hands on her hips. “And what the fuck is that door? How have I never seen it before?”

  “Are you ready for the wildest adventure of your life?” Zoe raised her eyebrows. “Inventories are about to get a lot more interesting. How do you feel about journeying back to ancient Scotland and getting yourself a hot highlander boyfriend?”

  Rebecca looked at her as if she was insane. “I guess I could think of worse ways to spend the afternoon,” she shrugged.

  “Well,” Zoe began, “I’m about to tell you one hell of a story…”

  As she recounted to her new friend of where the door had taken her and of who she had met, her heart beat solely for Colin. She knew she had met someone who was going to change her life, and she now knew she had the means to reach him whenever she needed to. The library had shown her the path her life was meant to take, and she couldn’t be more excited. Existing in two different times was going to be challenging, but it would be worth it.

  She had tasted love, and she was never going to let it go…

  THE END

  Beyond the Highland Gateway

  Leela Ash

  Copyright ©2016 by Leela Ash. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Table of Contents

  1.

  2.

  3.

  4.

  5.

  6.

  7

  8

  1.

  Alisa Craig heaved a heavy sigh as she shelved the books left over on the cart. It was the end of the day, so everybody had left the library, which was normally a good thing. Today though, it wasn't. It meant that she was alone with her thoughts, none of which were particularly pleasant.

  Things hadn't been going well at home. She had married her high school sweetheart, and had believed that they were the perfect couple. She was a librarian and he was an accountant; two boring, meticulous people who only had eyes for each other.

  Lately though, she wasn't so sure. She had been getting a lot of signs that Carl might not be as honorable as she thought. He was being secretive and strange. She wondered if he might have hit his midlife crisis early. It was beginning to make her nervous. He had begun to surprise her with random gifts.

  In most relationships it would be a nice way to spice up the marriage, but it just made Alisa nervous. She couldn't help but wonder if he was feeling guilty about something. Carl was a man who held on to every penny that came into his grasp, and to see him parting so easily with his money on trivial things like flowers and jewelry was a huge warning bell.

  Alisa sighed. Where had she gone wrong? They had been married for six years, ever since they were both twenty. Maybe they had married too early after all, just as her mother had told her. But then, her mother had never really liked Carl. She said he was bad news, and claimed she knew through a mother's intuition. She took her Scottish roots seriously, and had a lot of superstitions that Alisa never really understood.

  Normally she would be able to take comfort in her appearance. If he was being fishy because there was another woman, did he think she was slacking off with it? The thought was absurd. She still turned heads wherever she went. Her long, golden blonde hair fell over her shoulders, making her look glamorous even on the worst of days. And most men couldn't take their eyes off of her full pink lips, even though she never painted them in seductive shades of red. And she could always rely on her soulful blue eyes to hold others rapt in her attention for as long as she wanted them there. Her beauty wasn't a gift she had found particularly useful though, and thought it attracted too many questionable people to her.

  She had been happy to settle down with Carl. He was the sweet, quiet guy of her dreams; a man she believed could see past her beauty and into her truest self. That was something he liked to pretend he could do, while the rest of the male population were busy tripping over themselves to check out her ass.

  No, she hadn't slipped up on her appearance. In fact, she found that she was getting more attention than ever lately. On a daily basis she could count on at least three library patrons complimenting her or trying to get her phone number. Most of the men didn't care that she had a wedding ring on. She knew it made Carl madly jealous. Maybe he had finally become so paranoid that he convinced himself that he wasn't worth her full attention, so she must be having it off with some other man who was more worthy of her than he was.

  It would make her furious if that was the case, and he was using it to justify cheating on her. She pushed a book into its place hard, nearly cracking the binding. She felt suddenly irresponsible as a librarian and pulled the book back out to make sure she hadn't damaged it, at least not too badly. When she saw the cover of the book, she was startled by a vibrant image of Scotland, a place she knew well from lore and paintings.

  She had been craving tales of Scotland lately. She used to curl up with her mother for hours and listen to her speak about the mystical and mysterious place. She would have done anything to listen to another tale about her distant highlander relatives.

  Unfortunately for her love of the old tales, her mother had shared the same love and succumbed to the deep, burning desire in her heart of hearts to use her retirement fund to move back to Scotland. This left Alisa alone, and saddened by the fact that she would no longer be able to listen to her mother weave the tales she loved so much.

  Maybe this book would help her to fill the void. It also gave her a comforting thought. Maybe, if worst came to worst with Carl, a visit to her mom's wouldn't be such a bad idea. If her suspicions were proven true, it would be a nice excuse to escape life for a while and soak up the intoxicating tales her mother shared with her.

  She flipped through the book, her eyes hungrily taking in the words. It seemed like a romance story, one that was captivating and engaging. It wouldn't hurt anything to take the book home. She could see to any repairs that might need to be made and use it as a way to distract herself from the emotional toll she was dealing with as a result of her suspicions of Carl's cheating. There was no way to know for sure, and sometimes she felt guilty for even considering it, but she was only human.

  ***

  That night, Alisa sat in her study, fingering a piece of ancient tartan cloth that her mother had given to her. Her mother had always kept a huge sheet of it close in a wicker basket beside her chair. It was a family heirloom, she had told Alisa, and although she wanted to keep part of it for herself, she had cut it up and divided it among Ali
sa and her four brothers and bestowed it upon them with its tale when they each turned sixteen. She had been the last to hear the tale from her mother, and had kept the cloth close by her ever since.

  As legend had it, a handsome Highland devil, Lord Blane Wyndham, had been traveling for days, hoping to wreak havoc on the lowland settlement that liked to try policing his clan's ways. He was rounding the bend, nearly there after his long journey, when he ran into a beautiful woman. She was unlike any he had ever seen, and her clear eyes held him still in his tracks. She saw he had a mischievous glint in his eyes. He could tell she was not highland stock, for she was scrawny and pale. Still, he had never seen anyone more beautiful.

  “You up to no good, highlander?” she asked him.

  “Aye,” he said with a charming smile.

  As it happened, the woman was a noble lady, daughter of Blane's most hated enemy. They began a forbidden, elicit romance, one that nearly started a war between the highland clan and the lowlander's settlement. Finally, highlander and lowlander came to an agreement – a peace treaty, if the two young lovers would be allowed to live in their own way.

  Everything was going well until, one day, the young woman was approached by a group of huge men.

  “You're making a mistake, getting involved with Lord Blane,” the leader told her. “He is already engaged to be wed, and to a highlander. We don't need lowlanders contaminating our stock.”

  “Nothing you can say will dissuade me from marrying him,” the plucky lass said, unintimidated by the three men. “He is my true love, in any time, in all ways.”

  “This is Lord Todd,” the leader said, gesturing to a stern man. “His clan outnumbers Blane's by hundreds. If you don't make yourself scarce, he will attack, and the blood will be on your hands.”

  The three men left, and the lass was left to ponder their threat. She wanted to speak to her betrothed about it, but before she reached him, she was intercepted by Lord Todd.