“No. You’re going down and staying down. We honestly don’t have time for a fight right now, not when I’m needed elsewhere.” He whipped his sword free and slammed the hilt down on the MacKenzie’s head.
The warrior slumped head first into the waves.
“Damn it.” Sheesh, he didn’t have time for a drowning either. He clutched the warrior by the back of his cotun, hauled him up onto the beach and dumped him on the sand. “You can thank me for saving your butt later.”
A pretty trill sounded. Iain’s warning.
With his sword in hand, Kirk dashed back into the trees.
A fierce battle cry rang out and he picked up his pace.
The hefty sound of steel clashing reverberated through the forest. Ahead on the trail, his brothers stood back to back with four MacKenzies battling them. Not the best of odds, or odds he’d allow to remain in place.
He bounded into the fray and whipped his blade into one of the warrior’s sides.
Grunting, the warrior fell back a step. He grasped his side and eyed the long slice in his steel-studded war coat, a cut that hadn’t quite drawn blood. Snarling, he eyed Kirk. “You, I will gladly kill.”
“Death isn’t on my agenda for the day, but a good fight is.” He thrust his sword high and blocked the MacKenzie’s swift blow. “Where’s Joseph?” he called to Iain.
“I tossed him into a tree.” Iain slammed his blade down on the MacKenzie he fought, metal clanging. “Glad you could join us.”
“You don’t get to have all of the fun, all of the time.” He ducked his opponent’s next blow then kicked the man’s leg out from under him. He went down and knocked his head on a protruding rock. Skin split and blood gushed. Ouch. That had to have hurt.
He checked the warrior’s breathing then assured he lived, tore a strip from his bottom of the man’s plaid, wrapped it around his head and knotted it to help stem the blood flow.
“Kirk!” Finlay caught his adversary’s blow then bounded out of reach of the second’s swipe. “Would you cease saving the enemy and come over here and help me.”
“On my way.” Battling, he thrived on, but taking a man’s life, he didn’t. If there was no need to kill, he didn’t. With his sword in hand, he jumped the low brush and came in beside Finlay. “What’s taking you so long in bringing these two down?”
“They’re incredibly persistent, and keep your eyes on the fight.” Finlay twirled his blade as he advanced on the warrior closest to him.
The MacKenzie snarled at Finlay. “I’m no’ leaving here without the boy, so you’d best get out of my way.”
“He’s an innocent child, and you’re not taking him anywhere.” Finlay met the MacKenzie’s fierce strike and they battled, hard and fast.
With both his brothers at his back, Kirk fought. Sweat poured from his body while high in the canopy above, Cherub’s presence and the need to get her and Joseph back to safety, rode him hard. This fight needed to end, now.
The warrior he battled swung and Kirk rocked back on his heels, barely missing the man’s deadly strike. They were a blood-thirsty lot, their intention to fight to the death clear to see.
“Kirk!” Cherub cried out his name then shimmered into sight behind the warrior and swung a tree limb at him. It grazed the man’s side and he snapped around and bounded toward her, his blade whizzing through the air as she disappeared in a blink.
Battle lust roared through Kirk and he attacked. No one would harm his woman and get away with it. He struck the warrior with one deadly blow after another until he swayed backward then with one swift shove, Kirk sent the MacKenzie toppling into a massive thorny bush.
The warrior yelped, tried to roll free but only sank deeper into the barbed scrub.
Cherub reappeared and dropped a rock on the man’s head. He slumped, arms limp and his sword sliding free from his drooping fingers. She rushed into his arms, her hands sweeping over him. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, and you were supposed to stay put in that tree.” Within the bow of the closest one, a wide-eyed boy with dirt-smeared cheeks and rumpled brown hair, shivered. “You must be Joseph. Are you hurt at all?”
“Nay, sir.” The lad clutched ahold of the trunk.
“Prepare to die!” The MacKenzie fighting Iain lunged at him and Iain struck, pushed him back into the trunk and speared the man’s arm to the tree.
Finlay knocked his opponent onto his knees, their two blades crashing a mere breath from the MacKenzie’s nose. “Concede to your defeat,” Finlay barked as he loomed over the man. “Or die if you don’t.”
“Who are ye?” The MacKenzie heaved in a deep breath, his arms shaking as he tried to keep Finlay’s blade from slicing into him.
“We’re the ‘power of three.’” Finlay shoved his blade down harder, right against the warrior’s throat. “And I want you to return to your chief and ensure he knows we stand by Gilleoin’s side. We’ll never allow you to harm one of our kin, or trespass on our land again. Do you hear me?”
“Aye. I concede.” The warrior slowly lowered his blade then dropped it.
“A wise decision.” Finlay kicked the weapon into the brush. “Now take your wounded and leave. With all haste.”
Iain hauled his blade free of the warrior he’d impaled and the man seized his bleeding arm and stumbled to keep on his feet. “Grab those two and be gone with you,” Iain snapped.
The two warriors heaved their downed men over their shoulders and lurched down the trail toward the bay. Iain followed them, his sword pressed to the back of the one at the rear.
* * * *
With the battle over, Cherub ran her hands over Kirk’s body once more. No nicks or cuts. He was clear, had told her the truth that he hadn’t been harmed. Needing a moment to calm herself, she clung to him.
When he’d left her sight to deal with the warrior on the beach, she’d been unable to remain in the tree and had instead breezed after him. At the bay, he’d struck the MacKenzie with a perfect stone’s throw then a blow to the head that had knocked the warrior out. Although instead of leaving his enemy to drown, he’d hauled him from the surf and saved his life. So too, none of his brothers had killed the men they’d fought against. They’d unarmed them as quickly and efficiently as they could. They honored a man’s life, no matter who he was, as did she. “I cannae lose you, no’ ever.” She buried her nose in the V at the top of Kirk’s war coat and dragged in his deliciously spicy scent, one that had become essential to her senses.
“I’m not going anywhere, other than wherever you go.” Gently, he stroked the back of her head, each soft caress tugging at her heart and opening it ever wider to draw him inside. Her very soul rejoiced at being this close to him, of having him all to herself, and she desperately wished to tell him of her growing feelings only this wasn’t the right place or time.
Iain returned and nodded. “They’ve left, all of them.”
Slowly, she pulled away then knelt next to Finlay as he checked Joseph over.
Finlay affectionately rustled the boy’s mop of dark curls. “These scrapes on your knees and palms should heal fairly quickly.” He eyed her. “What do you think, Cherub?”
“Aye, they’ll heal within no time at all.” She held Joseph’s hands in hers as she looked into his wide brown eyes. “Why is it you allowed yourself to be taken by the MacKenzies?”
“I saw them in a vision. They wanted Mama.” He sniffed and tried to hold back tears pooling in his eyes. “They knew she could take people backward and forward through time. I told them she couldnae anymore.”
“You sought them out on purpose?”
“So they would leave.” A tear slipped free and trailed through his dirt-smeared cheek. “Instead they took me and said they’d make certain Mama got her skill back.”
“Oh, Joseph. I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through all of this.” She held the boy close, rocked him gently against her chest. “You are as loyal and as protective as your mother is, but should you have another vision, y
ou must tell her and your father all.”
“I will.” He wrapped his scrawny arms around her. “I’m so sorry.”
“You’re safe now, and that’s all that matters.” She kissed his damp cheek.
Kirk squeezed Joseph’s shoulder then drew her back to her feet and into his arms. In her ear, he murmured, “He’s well and now it’s time to go home.”
“Aye, home we shall go.” She spread one hand over his heart. Her mate, the other half of her soul. He was a gift she completely adored and would keep safe, just as she kept her people safe.
Chapter 8
After returning to the castle and collecting Amelia and Olaf along the way, Cherub walked into the dark of her chamber as night fell. Such relief filled her. Her closest now remained safe behind these castle walls. Through her open window, moonlight streamed in and played over her golden canopied bed while a gentle breeze blew and lifted strands of her hair. All remained quiet within her element, no stirring of need from even one soul.
She stepped in behind her silk dressing screen propped in the corner, removed her gown and tossed it over the top. In her shift, she crawled into bed and rolled under the fur bedcovers.
“Cherub?” A rap sounded at the door. “It’s Kirk. Can I come in?”
“Aye, of course.” She’d left him below an hour ago while he’d been speaking with his brothers and Gilleoin. Plumping her pillow, she sat up as he strode in, his war coat and fur vest tucked over one arm and a traveling bag swinging from his hand. “Is all well?” she asked him.
“As well as can be. Gilleoin still has warriors patrolling the village and the coastline, and now an additional team have also been dispatched to the inn and will remain on alert there. If Colin MacKenzie makes a move, this time we’ll surely see it.” He closed the door, slid the bolt across and set his belongings on top of the wooden trunk near her window. With one brow lifted, he asked, “Have you had a chance to eat?”
“Aye, with Amelia and Olaf afore they tucked Joseph into bed. Nessa joined us. They’ll remain here until the threat against them no longer remains.” She plucked at the sheet draped over her lap. “Amelia asked me again if I can aid her in her retraining and I’ve given her my word I’ll do so just as soon as possible. She must restore her skill, and to its strongest once more.”
“That’s great news.” He knelt at the hearth, his white tunic stretched taut over his broad shoulders as he bent to the task of lighting the fire. Quickly and surely, he pulled stringy bark off a log, struck flint with his dirk then coaxed the sparks to life. He built a roaring fire with twigs and wood from the basket until the flames licked up the flue. Slowly, he rose, drew his shirt over his head and crossed to the side table. He unbelted his sword and weapons, propped them against the wall then poured water from the jug into the basin. Cloth dipped, he wiped his arms and chest, his golden skin gleaming in the firelight. His muscles bunched and moved as he bathed, every inch of his hard body making her fingers itch to touch him.
Heat flooded her below and she licked her lips, wishing she could lick him instead. “You are too far away.”
“So are you.” He dried himself, unlaced his boots then prowled toward her barefoot, his rawhide pants riding low on his trim hips. “Are you tired?”
“No’ since the moment you walked in my door.” She tugged the covers back on her side and wriggled over to make more room for him.
His golden gaze, so hungry and needy, devoured hers as he slid in beside her. “I’m a little worried you’ll suddenly disappear again.”
“I shall try to give you more warning the next time.” On her side, she cupped his cheek and blew out a long breath. As much as she wished to complete the bond with him, one last glaring issue remained between them. “Kirk, I…” How did she word this?
“What’s worrying you?”
“There is something we must discuss.” She brushed her fingers back and forth over his stubbly jaw. “There is pain in living an endless life, and you’re so very close to your brothers. Should we move forward with this bond, then you’ll need to accept that one day they will age and pass away and you willnae.”
“That thought crossed my mind, right after you told me Amelia spoke a spell to bind a piece of Olaf’s soul to hers, that he too had now become an immortal as she was.”
“Aye, they will walk the same path for the rest of their lives, together as one.”
Looking into her eyes, he lifted a lock of her hair and twined it around his finger. “Which means I’ll always be here on this Earth for my brothers, their children and their grandchildren and so on. That’s a gift of reassurance I can give them, for all of us to treasure. As for the pain, I know the good times to come will far outweigh the bad and since we’ll be able to travel through time, whenever I truly have a desperate need to be with them again, then it’ll be possible to return to them. Won’t it?”
“Aye, should you ever wish to see them, I will gladly take you to the time you need to travel to. I do so for myself with my own kin, so I need no’ suffer too greatly either.”
“See, then I’ll never truly lose them and that in itself is yet another gift.” He touched his heart. “So too, my brothers will always reside right here, where all my kin do, no matter where I am.”
“As my kin do as well.” Her heart lightened, the final fear which had been niggling at her winging away.
“There isn’t anything we can’t tackle, provided we do so together.” He set one hand on her outer thigh, his warm palm like a brand against her skin. “We will always be one.”
“All I want is to be yours, in every way.” She spoke the words directly from her heart.
“As I wish to be yours.” He eased her shift up until he’d exposed her entire leg then gently, he caressed her flesh, right over her thigh and around to her bottom. “Your skin is so soft, so dazzlingly bright even in the moonlight.”
“If you find it too much of a distraction, I can cloak myself.”
“Try it, and we’ll be having words, harsh words.” He leaned in and kissed her, his mouth moving over hers with a delicious demand that made her ravenous for so much more. “Cherub, I want to complete our bond and join with you in all ways. I long to form the merged link of the mind my shifter kind can, to speak to you at will, for us both to always know where the other is at any moment in time. I need that, and it can’t wait any longer.”
“I need that too. I also need to speak the spell to bind a piece of your soul to mine, so that I can keep you safe, from this moment forward and throughout all of time.” She spread her hands over his wickedly wide chest. His warm flesh held a smattering of hair, the same glorious shade as his head, and his muscles, they rippled as she touched him, so strong and unyielding. He was all warrior, all man, and all hers. “There is no other for me, other than you.”
“Aye, and no one can keep us apart, not even time itself.” He dipped a finger along her shift’s neckline. “I want to see all of you.”
“Aye, please. I want that too.” She couldn’t halt her need, didn’t have a chance of doing so.”
“Arms up.”
Slowly, she lifted them and he slid the white linen up and over her head. He tossed it aside, nudged her onto her back and with his gaze on hers, he traced one finger around her beading nipples. “Never did I ever imagine I’d be gifted with a mate such as you.”
“Or I you.”
“We’ll remain together, from this moment forward. No one can ever separate us again.” Gently, he eased her breasts together then dipped his head. The raspy stroke of his tongue across the sensitive tips sent a wicked bolt of pleasure straight to her core and he rumbled his pleasure, the vibration in his chest deep and throaty and giving evidence his bear sat close to the surface. “Me and my bear want to saturate you in our scent.”
“Then you need to finish undressing.” A trickle of hair narrowed down between his firm abs and disappeared below his waistband. She loosened the ties of his pants. “May I take these off?”
“Allow me.” He seized the waistband and shoved the leather down his thickly muscled legs and off. One impressively large cock bobbed free and brushed his belly, the head a ripe raspberry color that made her mouth water for a taste.
She tip-toed her fingers down the long length of his shaft then brushed across the dark thatch of curls covering the apex of his groin. “From the moment you stood afore me on the beach, my desire for you rose and will now never abate. Thank you for coming for me, even though at first I chose to run.”
“All I’ve wanted these past five years is to find you, to hold you in my arms and never let you go. Now that wish has come true.” He knelt between her legs, his balls drawing firmer and higher, his shaft thickening and lengthening even further. “Although I do fear this night, and hurting you. It’s the last thing I wish to do.”
“I can handle a little pain. I’m also a woman who knows what she wants and that’s not to wait another day until we join as one. I want you, and only you, for you to come deep inside me and join us together in a way I’ve never experienced afore.”
“In a way I’ve never experienced before either, although I intend to see to your pleasure first.” Licking his lips, he gazed at her below. “I’m also losing my mind right now at just the sight of you.”
“As I’ve already lost mine.” So many emotions tumbled through her, as well as a myriad of new sensations, all filled with longing, desire, and complete and utter need. She’d lived a lonely life, one mostly unseen, but she’d never need to remain that way with Kirk. She had opened her heart to him and now she intended to meld their lives together, in all ways. No more hiding. ’Twas time embrace her mate and her new future. “I want to touch you, just as you touch me, Kirk.”
“I’m all yours.”
“Aye, all mine.” She stroked down his arms and over his sides then back up again, his body all superbly honed muscle and smooth skin. She cupped his face in her hands, ran her thumbs along his scrumptious lower lip, his warm mouth and hot gaze drawing her ever deeper under his spell. Completely breathless and a whole lot dizzy, she murmured, “I wish I’d known of our bond five years ago.”
Highlander's Seduction (The Matheson Brothers Book 3) Page 9