Winter Solstice: An Immortal Highlander Novella (Druid Series)

by Mandy M. Roth

  He unbuttoned the sleeves of his dress shirt and cuffed them. As he rolled them up, Chelsy’s gaze swept over the many Celtic symbols he had tattooed upon his skin.

  She touched one meaning eternal. “This is nice. What does it mean?”

  “What makes you think it holds any meaning?” he asked, liking her skin upon his.

  She gave him a knowing look. “Tell me about it. Please.”

  “Means eternal.”

  “And this one?” she asked, her fingers tracing another.

  He lifted his other hand and touched her hair. By Goddess it was soft. “Menw, the experience of it.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He grinned, knowing it was a look that screamed he wanted sex. “Do you really want to know?”

  She leaned closer to him. “Gordon?”

  He tugged on her hair, bringing her even closer. Her lips were near enough to kiss. “Yes?”

  “What did those men really want with me?”

  His lips skimmed hers. “I already told you the truth of the matter, lass.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered, her body now pressed to his. “For not letting them sacrifice me.”

  “Aye, yer most welcome,” he returned, drawing her mouth to his. He could resist no longer. He tasted her lips on his and the darkness in him tried but failed to rush to the surface. Gordon held it together as he slipped his tongue into her mouth—this kiss slower than the others they’d shared. He wanted to explore her, get to know every inch of her.

  She melted in his hands, pressing to him. Her tiny fingers began working the buttons of his shirt open. He made no move to stop her as she bared his chest. She pulled back and stared at him.

  “You’re covered in tattoos.”

  “Aye,” he said, attempting to cover them. “They’re not all something I’m proud of, lass.”

  “No.” She caught his hand, stopping him from shielding the markings from her. She bent her head and shocked him by kissing one of the symbols, just above his heart.

  Chelsy couldn’t seem to stop the wanton feeling rushing through her as she kissed another of the tattoos on Gordon’s body. The man was sinfully delicious. She slipped her tongue out and traced it along one of the ridges of his muscular chest. He stiffened and leaned back more, giving her even better access to his body.

  “Lass,” he said, his voice shaky.

  She couldn’t stop herself. She didn’t want to. She’d never been so forward with a man, so demanding. But, she wanted Gordon, and there was no way Chelsy would look back on the moment with regret.

  Moisture pooled at the apex of her thighs, signaling just how much she desired the man. He sniffed the air and grabbed her hips, pulling her up and over him. Chelsy yelped and then laughed.

  Gordon grinned and a dimple formed on his cheek. She bent, kissing it. “I like when you smile.”

  “And I like everything about you, lass,” he replied.

  Boldly, she sat up on him and tugged her sweater and shirt off. He stared up at her bra covered breasts with nothing short of glee in his eyes. When his large hands palmed them, Chelsy tipped her head back, letting him fondle her breasts. He tugged at her hardened nipples and then reached around her, unclasping her bra. He eased it from her and cast it aside.

  Chelsy should have felt bare, so exposed before him. She didn’t. She felt free and right. She met his gaze and Gordon pulled on her shoulders. When she leaned on him, he captured one of her nipples in his mouth. Moaning, she began to rub her lower half against him.

  Gordon moved to her other nipple and Chelsy cried out as her pussy spasmed. He wasn’t even in her and already she was on the verge of coming. She hurried off him and he sat up slowly, his hand going to the front of his slacks. “Lass?”

  Chelsy undid her jeans and kicked them off. She then remained in place, standing before him with nothing more than her silk panties on.

  Gordon came up and off the sofa with a roar, exciting her. He grabbed at his belt and hastily yanked his slacks off. His long, thick cock sprang forth. Her mouth watered.

  No underwear.

  She shouldn’t have been surprised. There was a hell of a wild streak in the man, even under all the designer clothing. She smiled and moved forward, to her knees.

  Gordon gasped as she took hold of his cock. For a moment, Chelsy simply soaked in the sight of it. She’d not seen many. Only a couple actually but neither of them looked like this. This big. This long.

  She gulped and then licked a line down his shaft.

  Gordon jerked and when he spoke, it wasn’t in a language she recognized. He reached down and put his hand into her hair. She smiled up at him before slipping her mouth over the head of his cock. He tasted as good as he looked. Manly, yet fresh and oddly, like power.

  Gordon stared down the length of himself at Chelsy on her knees before him. She was a little minx. A wild cat. She eagerly sucked on his cock. Each time her mouth moved up and down on him, he thought for sure his knees would buckle and he’d lose control and come. The little lady had gifted fingers, running them the length of his shaft as her mouth took him as deep as she could.

  His balls began to tighten and he jerked free from her lips. A wet popping noise sounded. He bent fast and lifted her with ease. She weighed nothing. Chelsy gasped as he spun her around and laid her out on the sofa before him. He went to his knees next to it and tugged her panties down the length of her.

  “My turn,” he said.

  Her eyes widened. “Gordon, no. I’ve never had a man’s face there before.”

  He grinned. “And you’ve nae ever been hunted by dark mages afore. See, ‘tis a night for firsts.”

  She giggled and opened her legs for him. Her sweet scent assailed him. He dipped his head and licked her slit. It was already wet with her cream. Good. She’d need it to fit his cock in her. She was tiny. So tiny compared to him he had to be sure she was ready to receive him.

  Gordon opened her slit more and put his face to her core. He inserted his tongue into her whole, needing first and foremost to taste her fully. Her vagina muscles tightened around his tongue and his cock throbbed with anticipation of getting to plow into her.

  He eased up some, his mouth going to her clit. He worked it gently with his tongue, flicking it just enough to make her squirm. And squirm she did. When he thrust a finger into her cunt, he thought she’d go right up and over the end of the sofa to get away from him.

  “Stop,” she panted. “Feels too good. I can’t take it. Stop.”

  He chuckled into her pussy, adding a second finger to the mix. Chelsy arched her back and stiffened. Her body convulsed and she cried out as her orgasm struck. Gordon moved up and over her.

  He stared down the length of her as he held his cock in his hand, stroking it, preparing to take her. By Daga, she was beautiful. All woman just as he thought she’d be. He aligned his cockhead with her damp pussy.

  Chelsy tugged at him. He bent and put his lips to hers. She kissed him as he eased into her cunt. It was so tight he thought it might very well thrust him right back out. Somehow he managed to push in more.

  Fuck. She’d make him come if she didn’t loosen her hold on him. He kissed her tenderly and squeezed her nipple between his first finger and thumb. Chelsy returned the kiss and traced her hands over his upper arms. She broke the kiss a moment.

  “You’re so big,” she whimpered.

  “I know, lass,” he offered. “I’ll stop. I’ll nae hurt you.”

  She shook her head. “Don’t leave me, Gordon. I need you.”

  I need you.

  No one had said those words to him before. Women told him they wanted him, desired him, longed for him, but none had ever needed him. Not like Chelsy.

  He eased into her more and her body began to ease around him, enough for him to move in and out slowly. He strained, hoping to keep away his pending orgasm. He’d only just started. He didn’t want it to end. He never wanted it to end.

  “Chelsy,” he whispered.

/>   Bucking against him, she nearly made him lose control of himself. He wanted to do what he’d never done with a woman in all his seven hundred years. He wanted to release his seed in her, share himself, his essence with her.

  He stopped kissing her welcoming mouth and moved his kisses over her jaw as he continued to pump in and out of her tight cunt. He met with the veins in her neck and the darkness in him hammered at him, wanting to taste of her. It wanted more than a simple suck and fuck. It wanted to claim her, to own her for all time.

  His fangs distended as he shoved balls deep into her warmth. Her pussy clenched around his shaft, holding him, demanding he remain. He couldn’t stop himself as he bit the tender flesh of her neck. Her warm, coppery blood filled his mouth and slinked down his throat, invigorating him. It breathed new life into his thrusts and he went at her like a depraved man.

  Chelsy clung to his arms, her fingers biting into his skin. It spurred him onward as she panted and whispered for him.

  “More. Harder,” she moaned.

  Gordon’s power flared and foreign power greeted it. His cock twitched, wanting to empty in her as her magik met his head on. The lass was powerful. More powerful than he’d ever guessed. Her magik wrapped around him and his hers. It was as if they’d been made for one another, even with his darkness there, hovering just below the surface.

  Gordon forced his teeth from her neck and licked the spot. It healed instantly. She tugged at him, pushing up with her hips as her cunt held tight to him. “Yes!” she yelled. “Yes!”

  His magik refused to release its hold on her and hers didn’t seem like it was going to end either. He’d heard of this, an ancient claiming, the sharing of power and life forces. But that couldn’t be. To do so, Chelsy would have to be his true love, his perfect match.

  As his body released into her, jetting seed into her womb, a pleasure like he’d never known settled over him. She ran her foot up his leg and smiled a lazy little smile that tugged at his chest. A strange peace came over him. The knowing loneliness and constant feeling of isolation seemed to lift.

  “We should try this again but in my bed,” she said.

  “Did I hurt you, lass?” he asked, fearful he’d taken too much blood or had been too rough with her.

  “No, and if that’s what you think of as hurting me, by all means, take me to bed and hurt me all night long.”

  “With pleasure,” he stated as he withdrew from her. He stood and lifted her. She pointed towards her room and he headed in that direction. “Lass, thank you.”

  “For?”

  “For needing me,” he said softly.

  Chapter Four

  “Took you long enough to answer,” Coyle said, his lilt lighter than Gordon’s. “We were worried about you, cousin.”

  “I’m fine,” Gordon said, leaning against the doorframe to Chelsy’s bedroom, watching her sleep peacefully.

  First light wasn’t far off and he needed to leave before he was trapped in her apartment. He knew as much but couldn’t seem to bring himself to leave her.

  “We had a report of a dark mage incident in your area,” Coyle said. “Know anything about it?”

  “Where do you get your information from?”

  Coyle laughed. “This one was my wife. She dreamed it, and when she described the druid confronting them, you fit the bill.”

  “She said the druid had fangs and a dark heart?” he asked, only half joking.

  Coyle sighed, long and deep. “No, cousin. Yer nae dark of heart. We know it, but you seem to be the one who is refusin’ to believe the truth.”

  “Coyle,” Gordon said softly, his gaze transfixed on Chelsy’s sleeping form. They’d spent the night making love to one another, exploring each other and pulling endless amounts of pleasure from each other. “When you met Deri, did you know she was yer mate?”

  “I knew she was something important to me, but I wasn’t positive at first,” his cousin said. “Why?”

  “Think it’s possible I still have a destined one or do you think the Great Goddess took that from me too?”

  Coyle was silent for a moment. “Come home, Gordon.”

  “Home is the motherland, cousin. Not where yer reside now.”

  “Then come here,” Coyle stated. “Korey and his wife and Deri and I would love to have you stay with us.”

  “That would be unwise. I attract evil elements. I’d nae want it brought around yer family.”

  “Tell me why you had questions about Deri and I,” Coyle said.

  Gordon thought about hanging up on his cousin. He didn’t. “I met a woman. A bonny lass who is quick to question me on most everything. She’s so tender and innocent yet full of spirit and courage.”

  “You with her now?”

  He nodded and then remembered Coyle couldn’t hear his head move. “Aye. She sleeps under a spell of mine. Worry not, I only cast it to calm her because she was scared of dark mages returning for her even when I swore they could nae.”

  Coyle huffed. “She’s the dark mage target? We got word there was a powerful female of magik decent there and that the mages had an interest in taking her. Gordon, you need to get her out of the area. Bring her here. Korey and I will protect her.”

  “She’s nae going anywhere without me,” he snapped loudly. “And I’ll nae let harm befall her. She’s mine and no dark mage will be settin’ foot near her.”

  “Yours?” Coyle questioned.

  Gordon tensed. “I mean… well…och, shut it, O’Caha.”

  “You think she might be yer mate, right?” Coyle asked.

  It was absurd. He was about to say no when his chest tightened. “Aye. I cannae bring myself to leave her even when I’m well aware the sun is about to rise and her dwelling is nae safe for me during high light hours. I do nae care if I burst into flames so long as I know she is safe and protected. And, cousin, being in her is like…like nothing I have ever experienced before.”

  “Worked yer charms on her already, huh?”

  “Aye.”

  A long silence stretched between them. Coyle cleared his throat. “I’ll have guardians sent to her location within the hour. Give me the address and then get somewhere safe. They’ll watch over her until you can return.”

  Gordon protested.

  “You’ll do her no guid dead, cousin. For the day, seek shelter and she will be guarded. You’ve my word.”

  “Others, outside of family, do nae share yer high opinion of me. I do nae wish them to give this half an effort and something bad to happen to my Chelsy.”

  “Gordon, yer family, yer blood and I hold a hell of a lot of pull over the territories. If I put an order out to have an innocent protected, it will be followed to the letter regardless yer affiliation with her. Understood?”

  “Aye,” he said. “And thank you, cousin.”

  “Thank me by marrying her and bringing her here to meet the rest of the family.”

  With a snort, Gordon gave Coyle the information needed to send backup. The prickle indicating the sun was rising started. It tugged at the back of Gordon’s neck. He knew he had to leave Chelsy. That was easier said than done. He finally forced himself from her apartment and then double checked the locks and wards on the shop before hurrying off to the darkness of an alley. He made his way through back areas, keeping to the shadows all the way home.

  Chapter Five

  Chelsy dabbed a tiny bit of lip balm onto her lips and went to the window once more. All day she’d felt as if someone was watching her but she saw no one. So far, no more dark mages had come for her.

  Her gaze went to her bed. She’d remade it after her shower and when it became very clear Gordon was gone and not returning. The bed looked empty without him in it. She thought about what it had felt like to have his powerful arms holding her and how safe he’d made her feel.

  Lies.

  He’d left without even waking her to say goodbye. No note. No anything. He simply vanished. She tugged at the tiny tank top she wore. She’d not bothered
to dress beyond it and her panties. There didn’t seem to be much point. It wasn’t as if she’d dare open shop today or go out and about. And Gordon’s vanishing act made her want to crawl back into bed. She’d been a fool falling for his charms.

  The accent.

  The muscles.

  The tattoos.

  The magik.

  The man.

  She closed her eyes and a lone tear trickled down her cheek as the sun set for the day.

  Gordon’s blood beat furiously in his veins. He could feel Chelsy’s sadness all day. Her confusion and now her anger. He didn’t need to be told it was directed at him. She had to feel used and violated. She was anything but. Leaving her had been the single hardest thing he’d ever done.

  As the last of the sun’s rays finally dipped below the horizon, Gordon hurried from his home. He didn’t bother with one of his vehicles. He leapt up, going quickly to the rooftops, leaping from them with ease. He could fly. It was part of being a blood drinker, but it was still light enough out to draw attention to such a thing.

  He made it to the bookstore in record time. As he landed in the alley near it, he was met quickly with magiks. They stepped out, each eyeing him as if he were the enemy.

  He jutted out his chin. “My woman?”

  The lead man sneered. “The woman is safe. No dark mage sightings. Though, we did get to see her standing in her window wearing next to nothing all day.”

  Gordon considered killing the man on the spot. He exhaled a shaky breath and clenched his fist. “Leave. Yer services are no longer needed.”

  “We were told to remain here until you bring the girl to Coyle.”

  Gordon cursed under his breath and pushed past the men. He hurried to Chelsy’s and used his magik to unlock the shop door. Walking through his own wards was a breeze. He strolled in and suddenly, something struck him hard in the midriff.

  Shocked, he looked down to find a bat there. “What the bloody hell?”