Heart Of A Highland Warrior

by Anita Clenney

  After she was finished, she climbed inside the burial vault with him and lay down. It was a tight fit. She had to turn slightly toward him to make it work. She didn’t close the lid all the way. She wasn’t going to be here long. Besides, he had a death grip on her hand. She tried to leave a couple of times, but each time he would rouse and wouldn’t let go of her hand.

  “I know my name.…” His voice trailed off, and his eyes closed.

  Anna leaned closer, trying to hear. “Tell me.”

  He whispered his name as a muffled roar came from outside. “Anna!”

  Voltar. She pulled her hand free and climbed out of the burial vault. He was unconscious. She couldn’t let Voltar find him. Her fingers found his pulse—strong—and he wasn’t bleeding now. Leaning down, she kissed his cheek. “I’ll come back after I call Faelan and Bree,” she whispered.

  She pulled the lid closed, hoping he wouldn’t wake until she got back or until she had Faelan or someone come for him. Taking care to close the door quietly, she slipped from the crypt, moving silently past the headstones to the fence near the back of the graveyard.

  “Anna!”

  The hair on her arms stood as a huge shadow melted from behind the chapel. He couldn’t come in here, but how long could she wait him out before he sent in his minions to do the work he couldn’t do? She had to draw him away so he didn’t realize they’d been here. The clouds were thick, blocking the moon. She climbed over the fence and ran quietly into the woods. When she was a good distance in, she cried out as if she’d fallen. She waited until she heard the trees cracking and limbs smashing in his wake, and then she started running.

  “Do you think she was inside the fortress when it disappeared?” Faelan asked.

  “I hope not.” Though Ronan had sensed someone watching him. Anna would have let him know if she had been there. “Her car was gone.”

  “She must have escaped,” Shay said.

  But why hadn’t she called?

  “How could a bloody fortress just disappear?” Brodie asked.

  “I don’t know.” Ronan rubbed his tired eyes. “But it did.”

  “And stone wolves coming to life.” Brodie scratched his head. “What happened to the days when a warrior killed his demon and went home and had dinner? Now we’ve got vampires and stone wolves coming to life and ancient demons trying to kill us. I’m getting sick of this warrior stuff.”

  “Your duty won’t be up for a while, so stop whining,” Sorcha said.

  Duncan glared at Sorcha. “Do you have to be such a bitch? What the hell’s wrong with you?”

  “You know what’s wrong with me,” she said to Duncan.

  His jaw clenched.

  “Are you still pissed about the traitor thing?” Declan asked.

  Sorcha shrugged.

  There were whispers, but Ronan didn’t think that was her problem. Her problem was her thick head. “If you run into one of those wolves,” Ronan said, “it’ll give you a new appreciation for Duncan.”

  She snorted. “So what are we going to do? We’ve got a wedding, a funeral, a missing warrior, and now a vanishing fortress with monster wolves. Which do we tackle first?”

  “I think we need to postpone the wedding.” Shay touched Cody’s shoulder. “There’s too much going on.”

  He didn’t look happy, but he nodded. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but Ronan knew Cody would be on edge until he and Shay tied the knot. They’d been in love with each other for most of their lives, and separated most of that time because of demons and deception. Ronan didn’t blame him for wanting a ring on her finger. Say what you might about marriage being just a piece of paper, but it was a hell of a lot easier to walk away without that paper.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Shane said.

  Everyone looked at Shane, who usually didn’t offer his opinion on matters that didn’t directly concern him.

  “Why?” Cody asked. “Shay’s right, there’s too much going on.”

  “The elders are planning to take Shay away.” Shane’s voice was controlled, like the rest of him. “They want to study her.”

  “Study her!” Cody boomed. He advanced on Shane. “What do you mean?”

  Shane didn’t move from his perch by the door. “They want to know why she can move like the vampires.”

  “Calm down before you explode.” Ronan turned from Cody to Shane. “How do you know the elders want Shay?”

  “I heard them talking. They had a secret meeting.”

  “You were there?” Faelan asked.

  Shane almost smiled. “They didn’t see me.”

  “When were you going to tell me this?” Cody asked.

  Shane looked nonplussed. “Now.”

  “What’s this got to do with them getting hitched?” Niall asked.

  “Because they want Bree too,” Shane said.

  “Bree!” Faelan said, looking like he’d been hit by a rock. “They want Bree?”

  Shane nodded. “But they aren’t going to take her. Yet.”

  “Yet?” Faelan said. “Yet!”

  “Because she’s married,” Shane said. “And pregnant.” He looked at Shay. “You need to be married soon. Or pregnant.”

  Cody started pacing. “We’ll get married now.”

  “Now?” Shay said. “We can’t do it now. We can’t throw something together this fast. We need wedding plans.”

  “Wedding plans,” a loud voice chimed. “We’re just in time, Nina. They’re making wedding plans.” Matilda and Nina entered the room. Nina looked frustrated as she usually did when she was with Matilda. When he’d first met her, Ronan didn’t know how Nina kept her sanity around her crazy cousin. But Matilda grew on a person, kind of like a wart. And after her run-in with the vampire in the Connor castle secret passageway, she insisted on staying near the warriors. And the cat.

  “We would have been here earlier, but Matilda was looking for the cat,” Nina said.

  “I’m sure the poor thing is traumatized after the little incident in Washington,” Matilda said.

  “I heard about your little incident,” Cody said. “That’s why Jamie sent you here in a hired car. What I’d like to know is how the cat got inside the White House?”

  “You don’t want to know,” Nina said, easing onto a chair.

  Cody groaned.

  “I think it’s a great idea to get married now,” Matilda said. “We need a celebration to get our minds off those vampires…and other unpleasant things. Nina and I will plan everything. You won’t have to worry about a thing.”

  “No!” Shay clenched her hands. “Thank you, Matilda, but it’s OK. Bree, Sorcha, and I have a lot of the plans in place already. Don’t we, girls?” She threw a panicked look at the women, who looked blank, then quickly nodded in agreement.

  “That’s right,” Bree said. “We just have to speed things up. You worry about writing your book, Matilda.”

  “I’m stuck on chapter two. I can’t focus. Has anyone seen the cat?”

  “The last time I saw it was at the grave,” Bree said. “Tavis’s grave.”

  “What grave?” Nina asked.

  They explained to Nina and Matilda about the grave and about Anna. Matilda didn’t know all the clan’s secrets, but she had seen too much to keep everything hidden. Bree reached for Faelan’s hand. “We have to bury Tavis properly first. And find Anna.” She looked at Cody and Shay. “Then we’ll throw the biggest wedding the clan has ever seen.”

  “Lachlan and Marcas took some warriors back to the fortress site tonight. Maybe they’ll find her,” Ronan said.

  “If not, we’ll call in a Seeker,” Declan said.

  Ronan grimaced. “Not the same one.”

  “Did you get that short asshole?” Declan asked.

  Ronan nodded. “That’s the one.”

 
“Can I interview him?” Matilda asked. “Maybe tag along and get some good material for my book.”

  There was a resounding no from everyone in the room.

  “Well, then,” Matilda said, looking almost offended.

  “I thought you were writing about vampires,” Shay said.

  “I’ve decided to write my memoirs. I’m not famous, but how many people have encountered a vampire and know real live warriors?”

  Cody gritted his teeth. “You can’t write about warriors. Remember, we told you about the secret.”

  “Oh, I won’t use real names,” Matilda said.

  Cody clenched his hands together, and Shay patted his chest.

  “And I’m including a chapter on reincarnation,” Matilda said.

  “I didn’t know you believed in reincarnation,” Nina said.

  “I just started. I think the cat was human once.”

  The day of the funeral dawned gray, which to Bree seemed an indicator that nothing was going right. The minister was running late—not that it mattered since Faelan had vanished. Anna still hadn’t shown up, which was really troubling. The Seeker who was coming had gotten delayed. And Matilda had some kind of mishap that had Cody ready to scalp her and everyone around them.

  Faelan had planned to reschedule the funeral, but Ronan and Bree had convinced him to continue. Whatever was happening with the vanishing fortress and Anna was big. Faelan was the oldest and strongest warrior the clan had. They needed him to be one hundred percent, not mired in grief.

  “Stop pacing,” Ronan growled at Bree.

  He was in a foul mood too. He was worried about Anna, afraid he’d gotten there too late to save her. “If he doesn’t show up soon, he’s going to miss his brother’s funeral.” Bree plopped down on the sofa, the same one Grandma Emily had used for years. Everything in this room was just like it had been when Grandma Emily lived here. Had Layla sat here? Layla had died when Bree and her twin were babies, so she couldn’t have known her mother anyway. But it hurt more knowing everyone had kept the truth from her.

  “He’ll show up.”

  Bree laid her hand over her stomach, trying to feel the tiny life growing there. “He didn’t even come to bed last night.” Faelan always came to bed.

  Ronan dropped onto the seat beside her. “We were out late helping Lachlan and Marcas search for Anna. He probably didn’t want to wake you.” He cocked one eyebrow, and a slow grin started across his face. “But if he’s slacking on his conjugal duties, darlin’, all you have to do is ask—ouch.”

  Bree pulled her hand back after smacking his chest. “You’re not fooling anyone. You’re feeling as guilty as Faelan. You’re just flirting to distract yourself.”

  He touched his chest and shrugged. “You’ll have to stop hitting me after my nephew is born. You don’t want to set a bad example.”

  “If you don’t stop tormenting Faelan, you won’t be around to be an uncle to the baby. And you know very well we don’t know if we’re having a boy or a girl.”

  “I’ll take either,” he said. “Or both. Twins do run in the clan. And didn’t you have a twin? I’d say your chances are pretty good.” Ronan put his hand on Bree’s stomach, and the baby—or babies—jumped.

  “Did you feel that?”

  “Yeah.” Ronan stared at Bree’s belly and then looked away.

  “You could have one of your own,” Bree said softly. He must want children, at least subconsciously. He touched her belly every chance he got.

  “No thanks. Yours will do just fine. I’ll have my hands full keeping your ancient husband in line.”

  Bree looked at her watch and stood. “I’m going to find him. He probably took a walk in the woods.”

  Ronan stood next to her and put his hands on her shoulders. “No you don’t. I’m under orders to keep you here.”

  “I’m worried about him.”

  “He probably needs to settle his head, you know. This is hard for him, thinking Tavis died at sea, now finding out he died here. And in his mind he lost him just a few days ago. Finding the grave has brought back all the guilt. God knows he’s got enough guilt anyway.”

  “Huh,” Bree said. “You’re one to talk about guilt. You still believe you’re responsible for Cam’s death.”

  “That’s different.” A muscle ticked, just in front of Ronan’s ear. “I know I got my brother killed.”

  Ronan’s phone rang before Bree could lecture him on his guilt over Cam. He pulled it out, answered, and Bree watched his face harden.

  “What is it?” she asked, clutching his arm.

  Ronan hung up. “The blond vampire escaped. What could go wrong next?”

  Faelan finally arrived, and the warriors gathered under a cloudy sky to pay their final respects to Tavis Connor. His brother’s final resting place would be the burial vault where Bree had found Faelan. The warriors stood somberly in front of the crypt, waiting as Faelan and Sean spoke to the minister. It wouldn’t be a long service, so they hadn’t even put out chairs. He’d grieved for his brother once, and now he had to do it again.

  “I still think he should have done the DNA test,” Shay said to Bree.

  “Faelan doesn’t want to wait. He’s certain it has to be Tavis. It’s his dagger,” Bree said. “The man is wearing a kilt. The coffin is the right time period.”

  “Sucks for Faelan,” Cody said next to Shay, idly playing with her engagement ring. “Like losing his brother twice.”

  “Wait,” Shay said. “Isn’t that the minister you said had a nervous breakdown?”

  Bree sighed. “Yes, but he was the only one available on short notice.”

  Sean and Faelan joined them, and Faelan stood beside Bree. He reached for her hand as the minister took his place in front of the group. The wood coffin rested in the shadows behind him. Faelan had insisted on burying Tavis in his original coffin, though it was rotted in places. Faelan said his brother wouldn’t have wanted to be buried in a fancy box.

  “We gather here today on a sad occasion,” the minister began. “But one that isn’t without hope.”

  Bree held Faelan’s hand tight as the minister continued. A minute later, something thumped in the crypt. “What was that?”

  “I don’t know,” Faelan said, looking at the crypt.

  The minister looked at the coffin. He turned back to the crowd, cleared his throat, and spoke again. “This isn’t the end, but the beginning. Death is not final.”

  There was another loud thump, and the minister jumped. Bree wasn’t sure, but she thought he cursed. He swiped a hand over his thinning hair and glanced behind him into the crypt. He sped through the rest of the funeral, periodically looking back at the coffin. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

  “Don’t mention dust,” Brodie muttered. “Bloody vampires.”

  A crash sounded inside, followed by a roar. The minister screamed and knocked over the makeshift podium as he raced across the graveyard. The warriors moved toward the crypt with one motion, drawing their swords.

  “What was that?” Niall asked.

  “It’s coming out of a crypt,” Brodie said. “It can’t be good. I hope it’s not that blond vampire.”

  “He’s in the dungeon in Scotland,” Shay said.

  “Not anymore,” Bree said. “Ronan said he escaped.”

  “You watch the front, I’ll take the back,” Shay said. She and Bree were the only ones able to track the vampires’ quick movements, where the others just saw streaks of light. And they could fight the vampires better than the warriors could, as if something was programmed inside them to battle the creatures.

  A shadow darkened the door, and a figure stumbled out. He had long, dark hair and wore a kilt and a blood-soaked shirt. There were shouts of alarm as warriors hurried toward the man.

  Bree turned to her husband, who looked like he’d seen a ghost.
He was gripping her arm so hard it hurt. The man in the crypt let out a wild cry and rushed at the warriors. Bree was the only one close enough to hear Faelan’s shocked whisper.

  “Tavis. How can you be here?”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  TAVIS WOKE TO darkness. The time vault. He was trapped. He clawed at the lid, and then remembered he wasn’t inside the time vault, but a burial vault. Anna! She was gone. He shoved the lid with his hands and feet, and it fell onto the floor with a crash.

  He heard a man’s muffled voice outside. Voltar? He must have found them and taken Anna. Tavis bounded out of the burial vault with a roar. The sunlight was so bright he couldn’t see, but he could hear the voices. Voltar and his demons. Without waiting until his vision had adjusted, he rushed toward the sounds. He heard someone closing in on him, and he fought blind, using his hearing and his sense of smell in place of sight. Strong arms wrapped around him, holding him fast. The cold blades of several swords pressed against his neck and chest.

  “Stop!” someone shouted. The bodies surrounding him vanished, and someone knelt beside him and grabbed his face. “Tavis. How can it be?”

  He knew the voice and the smell. He leaned back and saw a man with dark hair and a familiar face. A guttural cry rolled from his own throat as he looked on his brother’s face. “Faelan.”

  He raised his eyes. A crowd surrounded him, including four men who’d been holding him back, but he paid them no mind, focusing instead on the face he’d feared he would never see again. Faelan. Looking just the same as the last time he’d seen him, over one hundred fifty years ago. “Brother, you’re alive.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I came to find you.”

  “But how? Who…?”

  “Ian. We had to make sure you were…safe.”

  “Daft fool. I should have known you wouldn’t stay behind.” Faelan gripped Tavis’s head and grabbed him in a hug. “It’s my brother,” Faelan said to the men who had stepped aside. He turned to the stunned crowd. “It’s Tavis.”

  “The one we’re getting ready to bury?” a red-haired woman asked.