Alisa's head was spinning and she drank the vial of pink liquid her mother had proffered. The headache suddenly disappeared and she felt whole for the first time since she'd begun reading that highlander romance from the library.
“You remember that legend I told you about Lord Blane Wyndham, yeah?”
Alisa nodded dumbly.
“The woman he loved was – no, is – you. You know it. You've just hidden the truth from yourself so well that it's taking a wee bit 'o time before it can come back. You sure surprised us all.”
“What are you talking about?”Alisa asked.
“During the wedding! Blipping out of there like it was nothing. Taking your whole self and not just your awareness. That's never happened before. All along the line, our family has had this power, but you're the first to completely disappear. I wanted to tell you so badly for so long, but you begged us to take the memory of your lost love away so you wouldn't come back and put him in danger. You were that afraid.”
“I'm still afraid,” Alisa said. “How do I know I'm not going crazy?”
“There will be signs,” her mother said with a wink. “But you may always wonder. That's probably normal.”
Alisa shook her head. Blane entered the tent, and suddenly the look he fixed upon her nearly brought her to tears. She believed it, deep within herself. Blane was the man she had loved, beyond time and space. And they had found each other again, despite her immense efforts to avoid that.
“They ambush you,” Alisa whispered urgently. “They take away everybody you love and you die. Don't ask me how I know. But I was in the future. I just feel it. We have to get out of here, now, and take everyone. We have to get somewhere safe.”
“What are you talking about?” Blane asked, suddenly pale.
“Lord Todd, he isn't just a pain in the ass. He's powerful. And I already tried telling you, those men, at least one of your men works for him. We have to smoke him out and save your clan. That's got to be why I came back.”
Her mother gazed at her proudly.
“You never fail to surprise me. I'll be waiting here with your true love.”
And with that, her mother left the tent and disappeared with the sound of galloping horses.
7.
“There's no way this is true,” Alisa whispered to herself when she sat up in bed. She stood shakily, still able to taste the sticky cherry flavored mixture her mother had forced her to drink. Water never sounded so good. It would wash the taste out of her mouth. Maybe it would wash out her crazy too.
When she felt a little more refreshed, after a long shower and some breakfast, she called her brother Simon, who she was closest to, both in age and geographically.
“Hey sis,” he said. She could tell he was smiling on the other line. “Been a long time.”
“Can you tell me if I'm crazy?” she asked, examining her reflection in the mirror.
“Certainly. But I have the feeling we shouldn't discuss this over the phone. Can you come by today?”
“Sure, Simon. No problem. We'll talk soon.”
“Great, bye!”
She hung up, feeling considerably more nervous than she had to begin with. She hurriedly got ready to leave and sped off toward Simon's house. He lived an hour away, so it was quite a trek, but she was willing to make it to discover the truth. Carl had left for work so he wouldn't be asking her what she was doing, not that he'd had much interest in her life lately.
She turned up the radio and began singing to herself, her mind swimming with images of Blane. His handsome body, rippling with muscles brought her heart rate up, and she closed her eyes for a moment to calm herself. She looked back at the road and cursed, realizing that she had missed her exit. She sped up to the next and did her best to turn around in a suburban area that she had never been in before.
Suddenly, there was Carl's car. There was no mistaking his bumper stickers, trying to make accounting fun. He was parked in the driveway of a small bungalow. She peered closely at it and could make out his form, kissing another woman passionately. Angry tears sprung from her eyes and she groaned, speeding away and heading to her brother's house.
“We all told you he was no good for you,” Simon said matter-of-factly when he opened the door and saw her in tears. “Mom always knows what's best.”
“That's actually why I'm here,” she said, sighing.
“She told me you'd be coming. Before you say anything else, here. Drink this.”
Simon disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared holding a small vial. The look on his face took her aback. It was as if he were saying, “Yes, it's exactly what you're afraid to believe it is.”
She took the vial and examined it.
“Where did you get this?” she whispered.
“Mom made it. When you got stuck here and told us all to make sure you didn't go back for Blane. None of us understood why until...well. We just thought you missed him too much and felt guilty or something. But it was more than that, you wanted to save everybody. It makes a lot more sense now. The potions have kept you from merging your selves under one primary consciousness. I mean, you shouldn't be too surprised. Mom is a highlander married lowlander so we're kind of a mix. You knew that though.”
“Slow down Simon...”
“Right. Sorry. Drink it and you'll see for yourself. You won't give a crap what happens to the California you when you're back with Blane though,” he said with an annoying, brotherly smile.
“I can't believe this is really happening,” Alisa sighed. She brought the vial to her full lips and drank deeply. Soon, the world was spinning and she felt like she was being torn in half. It didn't hurt, but it was strange enough to make her groan.
Suddenly, there was Blane.
“We've rounded up the clan, lass. We're moving camp.”
“They come from the north,” she said, taking his strong hand in hers. “We have to hurry.”
Blane paused and took a double take at Alisa. Her eyes were hard and serious, no trace left of the confused California girl who had been in and out of his life for the past week. He nearly wept when she leapt into his arms, allowing him to squeeze her and spin her around the room joyously. She was fully present, not just on autopilot as she had been before, when she went back into the future to visit her life with Carl.
“Let us go then,” he said, running forward.
“The best hope we have is to find an ally,” she said. “To the east. Your brother lives there. I think they would help us. We would outnumber Todd's men by at least 80. They'll know better than to bother us again.”
“Right,” he said, holding her hands in his.
“Any word on the spy?” she asked.
“I gave him a chance to turn himself in. We figured it out by learning who disappeared in the night. He had false information, Todd will be heading East.”
He mounted a steed and hollered for everybody to follow him. The clan moved swiftly on foot, able to cover a lot of ground in a single day. They made camp, leaving several men to keep watch over the clan as they migrated.
Blane made camp a little away from the rest of the clan, inviting Alisa to join him. He planned to stay awake for the whole of the night and wanted her to keep him company, but they hadn't been fully together in so long that he wanted some time alone with her. The rest of the clansmen understood and gave them their space.
“Where have you been?” he asked in a hushed whisper, once they were finally alone.
“The future,” she murmured. “I live a completely different life. The world of the Highlanders is where I originated, but my family, as you probably know, can bring any point in time to our awareness. I live here, but leapt into a new time altogether to protect you. We exist in all places and times at once. I mean, we all kind of do. We tap into them, but in the future, I couldn't find you there. My family protected me from you because it would be too risky and I made them promise.”
“I've missed you so much,” he said, tears brimming in his eyes.
/> She told him everything about her life, and the lore that her mother had told her about, and the actual experience she'd had when Lord Todd confronted her before the wedding, and showed up in the bushes as they were about to perform the ceremony. He listened intently, holding her hand tightly. When she was done, he pulled her close to himself, kissing her passionately.
She'd been waiting for longer than she knew, and melted under his skilled fingers as they roamed her body.
“Blane...” she moaned as his hot mouth kissed the sensitive flesh around her neck and down to her breasts, where he fingered the brass buckle over them and pulled the cloth down, exposing one and taking her pink nipple into his mouth. He groaned appreciatively and she could feel his urgent longing, pressed hard and growing against her thighs.
She slipped her hand up his leg, allowing herself to take the fullness of him in her hands. He shuddered in her grip and he slipped out of the kilt, fully naked and more beautiful than anything she had ever seen. His strong, rippling muscles glowed golden in the firelight, and nobody had ever looked so perfect.
She stroked his cheek as he stripped her slowly, devouring her body with fervent kisses and pulling her body on top of his when she was finally unwrapped. His large hands stroked her breasts, resting on the mound between her legs, toying with her clit and making her moan with deep pleasure.
And then he was on top of her, sliding inside, strong, powerful, and perfect. She closed her eyes and uttered a low moan, winding her fingers in his long hair and buckling under his body as he pulled out of her to thrust again. They both hissed with pleasure as her body enveloped him, his thick, engorged rod penetrating her again and again, filling her with more pleasure each time.
He spoke soft Gaelic into her ear, sending shudders down her body as his loving words pushed her over the edge and into her climax. He cried out as she contracted around his throbbing erection, coaxing him into a full explosive release. They came together, panting heavily and clinging to one another, kissing passionately.
Alisa sat up and felt the remnants of his powerful orgasm leak out of her body and onto the ground, and held her arms open for him to embrace her. They dressed lazily and curled up together, and she fell into a deep, sound sleep, better than any she'd had in years.
8.
“Brother!” Ronan exclaimed, running toward Blane. “Welcome! I see you brought company.”
Blane smiled sheepishly.
“It is the only way I could keep my lost love,” he said. “She insisted on saving our lives, but we wouldn't be able to do that without your help. Is that all right? My men are strong and we will pull our own weight.”
“Of course,” Ronan said, slapping Blane on the back. He suddenly looked profoundly surprised and a wide smile broke out onto his face. “The spirits don't lie! I thought I'd never see you again, Alisa.”
He approached her and held her in a tight bear hug, looking in pure joy over at his brother, glad that he would be able to move on in his life without being consumed by Alisa's disappearance any longer. Blane was somewhat angry that his in-laws to be would have let him worry so when they discovered the truth not long after the wedding, but they had promised their daughter their secrecy and he could scarcely blame them for that.
Suddenly, a familiar sound came from the distance, and everybody stood still, quiet and alert. Alisa was at first afraid, but as the sound grew nearer, her eyes filled with tears. It was a song, one she knew well. Soon, her mother and father appeared, wearing traditional Scottish attire, and they were followed by her many brothers, all of them grinning happily at her. They had brought with them a whole army of lowlanders.
“We'll make sure you're all safe, and when Todd makes his move, he'll wish he'd never been born!” her plucky mother cried out to her from the distance.
Alisa ran forward to meet them and her family embraced her, happy beyond measure that they were finally able to be together and get their lives back to normal.
“I'm so glad I won't ever have to hear about Carl again,” her mother said with a wink, and Alisa laughed.
“Me too,” she said, and meant it. She'd had no idea what she was missing out on.
“Now about that wedding...”
THE END
The Bear Wants Babies
Cynthia Wilde
Copyright ©2015 by Cynthia Wilde. 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.
Thank you so much for your interest in my work!
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 1
Aria looked out from the top deck of the ferry. She was on her way to somewhere in Alaska that she had never heard of, in order to take possession of a cabin she had inherited from a great aunt whom she had never known. She had been looking for a change anyhow, and so with the promise of free rent and adventure, she left behind the small town in Florida where she came from. There were a few tear-filled goodbyes, but they were balanced by the fact that Aria was more than ready to start fresh somewhere new. As she looked around her at the wide open wilderness on all sides, she realized that if the awe inspiring beauty of nature up her was any indication, she would soon have a whole lot of new things to get used to.
Everything had changed as she drove northwest through the expansive country. It got considerably colder, even for June, the closer she got to Washington. The houses were separated by wider and wider spaces, and those spaces went from holding a few trees each, to being made up of whole forests. Everything just got more natural as she headed further west. She had been overjoyed to get through what she felt was the vastly overpopulated South. The further she got from it, the more she realized how much she had disliked it. Aria was on a shoestring budget, and by the time she had gotten on the 3-day ferry up to Alaska she was already getting low on funds. Traveling like this actually cost more than flying, but there was absolutely no way she was going to get on a plane. Regardless of the cost, though, or the means of travel, she was excited to be on this new adventure.
It was the third day on the ferry and she had already spent two nights camped out on the front deck. Even though the price for an actual room was astronomical, she now kind of wished she had chosen that route. The air outside was far colder than she would have imagined for early summer. At least there were many others who had underestimated the temperature as well. On the bright side, they now shared a sense of camaraderie that had been forged through the mutual trauma they had endured in the deep chill of the last few nights. Many were ending their trip in Ketchikan, but Aria was pushing forward north to around Barrow. According to her map, even once she arrived there, there would still be two more days of travel by bus as well as by boat.
All she knew about where she was going was what she had looked up, and that had in no way prepared her for the vast majestic views that had awaited her. She also had had no way to anticipate how small such open spaces would make her feel. Nature definitely reigned supreme in Alaska. The paperwork in her knapsack said that she now owned a cabin and fifty acres somewhere up there. She could feel her destiny calling to her from the wilderness.
***
Aria finally arrived at Ketchikan and then almost immediately picked up a bus that was headed even further north. Even though the trip meant several more hours of driving, it was mainly coastal roads and the views kept her in a perpetually awestruck state. She sat next to a gentleman a little older than she was for the last leg of the journey and the two talked for hours. The conversation made the time pass quickly. At the next town, she got off to catch a boat to the northern coast. Everything had been pre-booked, so it was supposed
to be a smooth trip, but she was still genuinely surprised when each leg went off without a hitch. Aria decided that she would take that as a sign. Things were on the upswing.
Her first impression of Barrow was how small it was. Taking in the houses in a glance she figured that there couldn’t have been more than a hundred or so people in the whole town. But the thing that made it seem so much smaller she decided, was the way the town was so close to the shore. It looked dangerously close. She imagined it would only take one tantrum and the sea would swallow it all up in one angry surge.
Aria’s heart skipped a beat as she hopped off the boat in the uneven tide. Her legs were happy to feel the solid dock, and then actual ground underneath her. She only had one large duffel bag that the mate handed her as he waved goodbye. Everyone had been so nice and even the couple of hours on the boat had yielded several friends she would be happy to see again. It seemed to Aria that people were just different up north. She had admit that she liked the change.
Looking through her bag pockets, she found the piece of paper that had the address. She had bought a car through a man and she was supposed to pick it up. Vehicles were extremely hard to get, in large part because the cost of transporting one exceeded the value of the actual car. So she hoped that the car she had purchased was not a complete rust bucket and that it would at least get her to the cabin some 10 miles inland. Aria found it hard to take her eyes from the view though. She could see the icebergs just off the coast. It was just so … wild … and dangerous.
Aria shivered as she walked the several blocks to the address. It turned out to be a small house/restaurant and when she opened the door, several pairs of eyes were instantly on her. There was a small bar with a few stools and she went to sit down, smiling at a few people that kept her eye contact. A waitress quickly brought over a menu and asked what she wanted to drink.
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