Heart Of A Highland Warrior

by Anita Clenney

  “You got him,” Faelan said.

  “The other demons?” Tavis asked, stepping away from Voltar for a moment.

  “All dead but one. He got away.”

  “We’ve got to find Anna.”

  “Where would Tristol take her?” Duncan asked. “Back to the chapel?”

  “The rest of you go find her and Tristol. I still don’t trust him. I’ll take care of Voltar.”

  “I’ll stay with you,” Faelan said.

  Brodie’s eyes widened. “You’d better hurry. Your demon’s getting away.”

  Tavis turned. Voltar was trying to run, more of a lumbering gait, a testament to the demon’s power that he could still move. “Damn.” They chased Voltar and caught him a hundred yards away. “You go on,” Tavis said to the others. “We’ve got him now.” And to be sure, he summoned another pair of shackles and put them on the demon. They pulled Voltar to his feet.

  He looked at them with fury in his eyes, but under the paralyzing effect of the shackles, all he could do was put one foot in front of the other. He couldn’t even speak.

  “You killed our father,” Faelan said. “And our brother when he was just a child.”

  “And you raped Anna’s mother.” He couldn’t think too long on the fact that if Voltar hadn’t, Anna wouldn’t be here. “You’ll pay,” Tavis said.

  “Not today.” A demon stalked toward them, holding a box in his hand. He raised it, and light flashed out fast as a bullet.

  Tavis felt like he’d been struck by lightning. He fell to the ground, unable to move anything but his eyes. Faelan fell beside him on the ground, suffering the same fate. He threw Tavis a frantic look as the demon went over to Voltar. He started to work at the shackles. Tavis didn’t know if he could remove them or not, but either way, unless there was a miracle, he and Faelan were dead.

  “Voltar!” Anna’s voice boomed through the trees.

  Tavis tried to signal her with his eyes. She wouldn’t know that the other demon had the stun gun. It didn’t matter. Anna didn’t let him get close enough. She pulled out a gun with a huge barrel, raised it, and shot the demon between the eyes. He vanished into nothing, leaving only Voltar there.

  Anna hurried over to Tavis and Faelan. “Are you OK?”

  He couldn’t answer, but enough feeling was coming back to his body that he was able to roll over and move his head.

  “I love you.” She dropped down beside him and kissed his lips.

  Just past Anna’s shoulder, Tavis saw Voltar rolling over, and he realized what he was doing. Trying to reach the stun gun. He was only a few inches away now. Tavis tried to motion with his eyes and head. He didn’t know if Voltar could do any good with the thing since his hands were shackled behind his back, but he didn’t want to find out.

  Tavis tried more furiously. Faelan, who had also seen what Voltar was up to, was also motioning. Voltar had the stun gun in his hands. He rolled to the side so that it was pointing at Anna. She turned and looked at Voltar just as a streak of light burst forth. Tavis had some movement in his legs, so he kicked Anna, hoping to knock her clear. A black mist got there first and moved Anna aside.

  “That’s not nice, Voltar. Trying to kill your own daughter.”

  Voltar looked confused.

  “You don’t remember her mother,” Tristol said. “She was a warrior. You raped her in the back of a little bar.”

  Voltar’s eyes widened, and he stared at Anna.

  “Your own daughter, half human, and a warrior at that. So much for your pure race.” Tavis motioned for Tristol to get Anna to safety. For the second time, he grabbed her and vanished.

  Voltar still had the stun gun in his hand. He didn’t speak. It was clearly taking all his effort to hold the stun gun in the awkward position, but his eyes were filled with hatred. He looked at Tavis, and then turned the stun gun toward Faelan. Tavis struggled to get up. He didn’t know if another hit would kill Faelan or just knock him out.

  Again, he didn’t get a chance to find out. A noise that sounded like a herd of elephants came trampling through the woods. Matilda burst onto the trail holding the big cat. “Attack,” she said, and flung it at Voltar.

  The cat leapt at Voltar and midway through the air shifted into a man wearing a long white robe as white as his hair. He landed on his feet as gracefully as a deer and knocked the stun gun from Voltar’s hand.

  “Oh my God!” Matilda was gaping at the man.

  Tavis and Faelan were both struggling to stand.

  “Tavis!” Anna rushed out of the woods. “Oh God. I thought he’d killed you. Who’s he?” she asked, looking at the man.

  “The cat,” Matilda said.

  “Old Elmer,” Cody said, shaking his head. “Where’s Tristol?”

  “He disappeared,” Anna said.

  The other warriors arrived, and in the confusion, Old Elmer disappeared. Tavis and Faelan couldn’t stand without help, but with Anna supporting them, Tavis summoned a time vault, and he and Anna and Faelan put Voltar inside. His eyes flashed with hatred.

  “I could have destroyed you,” Tavis said, “but that would have been too easy. You’re going to wake again to face Judgment, and before you’re destroyed for good, you’ll remember that your daughter is a powerful warrior. She’s carrying a child who will be a powerful warrior.”

  Faelan leaned over the time vault. “This is for Liam and my father, a parting gift.” He stuck Voltar’s stun gun between the demon’s eyes and pressed the button. Voltar’s eyes bulged.

  “Go to hell, Voltar.” Tavis slammed the lid.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  I CAN’T BELIEVE he slept in my bed,” Matilda said. “I thought he was a cat. A powerful cat, but here he’s a man. I feel traumatized. I can’t imagine what other secrets you all have.”

  “I told you, Matilda, none of us knew he was a man,” Nina said.

  “Old Elmer,” Shay said. “My God, I’ve known him since I was a kid.” Old Elmer had lived in the woods behind her house for as long as she could remember, but he kept to himself. Every now and then he’d show up just when she was in danger and rescue her, or sneak and help Nina with projects like some kind of elf. But he didn’t look like an elf, not the little pixie kind. Shay had always thought he was more like Merlin or Gandalf with his long white beard. “How is this even possible?”

  “Demons can shift,” Bree said.

  “Old Elmer’s not a demon,” Shay said.

  “Obviously, but if demons can shift, why not some…thing else,” Bree said.

  “But what?” Shay asked. “What is he?”

  “Maybe he’s a sorcerer,” Matilda asked. “He looks like a sorcerer.”

  “No. Not Old Elmer,” Nina said. “We’ve known him forever.”

  “We didn’t know he could turn into a cat,” Matilda said.

  “We’ll ask him what he is when we see him again,” Nina said.

  “Has anyone seen him since he attacked Voltar?” Bree asked.

  “No,” Shay said. “Matilda, why were you there?”

  “The cat and I were just sitting up here in the room thinking about vampires, and I had this thought out of the blue. Go into the woods. I thought it might have been God talking to me, but with all the craziness going on, I wasn’t about to go alone. So I grabbed the cat. When I saw that Voltar creature, I thought he was a vampire, so I sicced the cat on him. I guess it protects against demons too.”

  “Old Elmer always did have a way of showing up when someone was in trouble,” Shay said.

  “Like a guardian angel. Or a guardian cat.” Matilda patted her hair, which was still wild after her mad dash through the woods. “I wonder if he dates.”

  “You look every year of your age,” Faelan said, hobbling toward the infirmary.

  “You don’t look any better. I don’t know what was in that thing, but I ne
ver want to see one again.” Tavis hobbled beside him. They could walk, but not well.

  “It must have been sorcery.”

  “I’m going to check on Anna,” Tavis said.

  “I’m going to find a bed.”

  Coira was just coming out. “How is she?” Tavis asked.

  “Physically, OK,” Coira said. “Mentally, not so well.”

  “The bairn?”

  “It’s too early for us to know, but assuming Bree’s right, and she usually is, there’s no sign of problems.”

  “Good. Do you think she needs more bed rest?”

  “I wouldn’t want to be the one to suggest it.” Coira rolled her eyes. “Anna wants out of there. Come on, sit down. I need to take a look at you. This bandage needs to be changed.”

  “I have to see her.”

  Coira patted his arm. “She doesn’t want company right now.”

  She didn’t want to see him. “I don’t care. I’m not waiting any longer.” He went into the infirmary where Anna was resting.

  She looked up when he came in.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  She nodded. “You?”

  “Aye. Why did you run off from the wedding?”

  “I never went. I was reading Angus’s notebook and found out who my father was. That was what Angus was trying to call me about. Not that he’d found your time vault. I went for a walk to clear my head. Voltar found me. I’m sorry my father destroyed your family.” Her voice was bitter.

  “I don’t know if you’re Voltar’s daughter or not, but I do know that I love you. And that’s my child. If I have to take a piece of Voltar to get the two of you, I will.”

  Anna’s mouth trembled. “But I’m part demon.” Her mouth twisted with disgust. “The demon that killed your brothers and your father.” She touched her stomach. “This is part demon.”

  Tavis leaned over the bed and put his hands over Anna’s. “This is part you and part me. Part of my father is in there too. Part of my mother. Part of your mother. I won’t lose you. I won’t lose my bairn. Voltar’s gone. I’ll be damned if I let him win after he’s dead.”

  Anna stared at Tavis for the longest time. “I need to think. Then we’ll talk.”

  Tavis nodded. “But don’t take too long.”

  When he went back to see her, the bed was empty. He found Coira. “She left about half an hour ago. I thought she was going to see you.”

  Tavis felt a rush of panic. “Did you see where she went?”

  “No. I was on the phone with Tomas.”

  Tavis ran to her room and found her packing. “What are you doing?”

  “Packing.”

  “Get your head out of your arse.”

  Her eyes widened. “What?”

  “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Look at Bree and Shay. Their whole lives were a lie. No one knows what Bree is, or Shay. They move like they’re part vampire. Tristol, he’s as evil as hell, but he just helped save you. He’s helped us several times. There’s a lot of gray in the world, not just black and white. We all have issues. We’re all scarred. Get over it. You’re a good warrior, you’re a beautiful woman, and I love you.”

  “Even if I’m the daughter of a demon?”

  “Even then.”

  “Even if that demon destroyed your family?”

  “Even then. Who or what your father was doesn’t matter. It’s your heart that makes you human. Makes you a warrior.”

  “You’re a bloody good man, Tavis Connor. You’ll make someone a good husband.”

  “I’ll make you a good husband.”

  “I don’t want a husband.”

  “Tell Michael that.”

  “What?”

  “He sent me to protect you.”

  “He did?”

  “He showed me your face even before I went into the time vault.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I wasn’t sure what to make of it myself. But he knew this was supposed to happen.”

  She frowned. “I think you were right about Voltar being your demon. I was supposed to help you. That’s what Michael wanted me to do. He told me that you needed me.”

  “He was right about that. I think we were supposed to do it together. Bree said my battle marks say, His brother’s keeper will find his heart, and together they will put the past to rest. And I did find my heart. You. And together we’ll put the past to rest. I’m supposed to be here. Like Faelan is supposed to be here. You’re my mate, and I want to marry you. I don’t care who or what your parents are.”

  Anna smiled. “If you’re willing to marry a demon’s daughter, who am I to refuse?” She pulled up the back of her shirt.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Look at my battle marks.”

  “They’re different.”

  “I know. Coira noticed it when she was checking me over. I have a mate mark.”

  “You seem excited. Why were you packing?”

  “I was going to invite you to go away with me for a while. Someplace quiet. Private.”

  Tavis thought he might burst with happiness. He picked Anna up and swung her around. Life was good. He was in love, and he was having a bairn. “I want to go home. Will you go to Scotland with me?”

  “I will.”

  “You did tell Ronan you weren’t going to Montana?”

  Anna nodded. “He said he’d never planned to actually take me. He knew we’d work it out.”

  “He’s wiser than I thought.”

  They went to Scotland by jet, which was much better than by ocean. He was still amazed at the advances of civilization. It was wonderful, if a bit frightening. There was something alarming about having computers thinking like human brains.

  He and Anna landed at the airport and traveled to Beauly. The land had changed, some for the better, but he missed the way it was. It couldn’t go back. He couldn’t go back. And he didn’t want to. He belonged here with Anna.

  Faelan was right. It was meant to be. There had been some suffering. He would always wonder if he could have stopped Voltar sooner and spared the world his atrocities. Just like Faelan and his guilt over the Civil War. Sean had talked to Tavis for a long time. So had Ronan, both telling him that he couldn’t bear the blame for those things. That there were other factors involved, not just Tavis’s part. Tavis had confided to both men about his and Faelan’s dreams of battles they couldn’t have fought. Sean was convinced that Michael’s assignment for both Tavis and Faelan had been intended for this time, and not the past, and that perhaps they hadn’t been sleeping the entire time. It didn’t make sense, but Tavis hoped Sean was right. That lessened some of his guilt. They’d also talked to Anna, convincing her that it didn’t matter who her father was. It still troubled her, and Tavis knew it would.

  “Are you sad?” Anna asked.

  “No. I’m glad. Very, very glad,” he said, punctuating each “very” with a kiss.

  “If you don’t stop that, we’ll have to pull over.”

  “All right then.”

  Anna smiled and pulled the car onto a small road that was surrounded by fields and sheep. She smiled and ran a hand up his leg. “I’m glad you’re wearing a kilt.”

  “Are you now?” he asked as her hand slipped underneath to his thigh.

  “Aye, I am. So I can do this,” she said with a wicked grin and moved her hand higher.

  “Bollocks.”

  “I think that’s about right.”

  “And I think if you keep doing that, we’re gonna be late for the wedding.” Far from fearing intimacy, Anna was thriving on it. She was almost wearing him out.

  “It’s a good thing I’m wearing a skirt.” There was little talking for the next few minutes, just grunts and gasps. “You’re killing me,” he said when they’d finished.
/>   “Should I stop?”

  “No. That would kill me too. I can’t live without you.”

  “You’re just saying that because I saved your life in the dungeon.”

  “Ha. I would have saved you first if that damned guard hadn’t tortured me. I would have wrapped those cell bars around his cursed neck.”

  “I know you would have, but Tristol saved you the trouble.” Anna climbed back over to her side and grabbed a napkin to clean up and adjusted her skirt.

  “I do owe you my life,” Tavis said.

  “It’ll take a long time to pay me back. I’m thinking seventy or eighty years.”

  “I was thinking eternity,” Tavis said. “And I believe you owe me your life too.”

  “I can live with that,” Anna said, squeezing his thigh. “Actually, I think we both owe the hybrid,” she said softly. “He saved us.”

  “What do you think happened to him?”

  He woke in a bed. Not his bed. His bed was in a dungeon, in the darkened back room of a dungeon. This bed was in the sunlight. It was almost blinding. There was a comfortable mattress underneath him and a soft comforter covering him. He was naked. But clean. He could smell the soap on his skin. He didn’t recall bathing. The last thing he remembered was a whirring sound. He could smell something else nice. Like flowers.

  “You’re awake.”

  He turned toward the window and saw a woman sitting there. It must be her smell that he’d caught. “Who are you?”

  “I am Josephine.”

  “Do I know you?”

  “No. But I know you.”

  “From Tristol’s fortress?”

  “Yes. I’ve watched you for some time.”

  “Do you work there?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “Where am I?”

  “Austria, for the moment. But we can go someplace else if you’d like. France, Italy. Your choice.” Her voice was soft, almost magical.

  “I don’t have any money.” He didn’t have anything, not even his sanity.