Highland Shifter

by Catherine Bybee

  The women quietly pondered Helen’s words.

  “I like the way you think,” Lizzy said.

  “That might work.”

  “We have to try. There’s no telling how long this battle will continue. I hate to see Amber suffering.” Myra glanced at Helen with hope in her eyes.

  “Constructing a circle with the Keep full of knights is risky,” Lora said.

  “More risky than losing Amber?”

  Lora shook her head. “Nay.”

  “Then talk to Ian while we plan our next move. It will do us good to be doing something to help someone. Besides, if Amber were needed now to use her gift to detect a spy among us, she wouldn’t be able to.” Leave it to Lizzy to cut everything down to the basics. No wonder Simon had grown up so well adjusted even in the mist of time travel and magic.

  “I’ll be back.” Lora stood to leave.

  “So, what’s all this about a circle?” Helen glanced between the three women and waited their answer.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Helen sat on the floor in a circle with Myra, Liz, and Tara. Lit candles surrounded them and in the center of all of it was a plain brown cloak. The goal was simple. Light the candles, join hands and therefore forces, and draw upon their individual power before forcing it into the cloak. Liz was apparently the Druid of the hour. She had the knack to come up with rhymes or spells, or whatever the heck they called them, that worked.

  Unable to leave her own chamber without enduring physical pain, Amber remained in her room. Joining hands, even with family, was too much for her senses to bear. She filled their thoughts even though she wasn’t with them.

  “We need to hurry,” Tara said, glancing toward the door guarded by Cian. Outside Duncan watched and planned to divert any people who might be wandering around the Keep.

  Lizzy presented her hand to Helen, which she took. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.”

  “Just listen to my words and believe them. Concentrate on the cloak.”

  “And don’t let go,” Myra added with a slight edge in her voice.

  “Even when we start to levitate.”

  Levitate? Helen felt her eyes grow wide. Liz squeezed her hand.

  “Sorry, forgot to tell you about that. Whenever we do this, our gifts merge to some extent. Since I’m the flyer in the family, you guys come along for the ride.” Liz spoke as if she was talking about a trip to the supermarket.

  “What do you mean by ride?” Helen asked.

  “We just hover. Nothing too drastic.”

  Myra placed a protective hand on her protruding belly. “It’s not dangerous or I’d be sitting this one out. Besides, Lizzy has more control over the hover thing. We only levitate a few inches now.”

  Tara laughed. “We soared to a couple of feet at times in the beginning. The drop sucked.”

  Helen’s hands grew damp. Even with the casual tone in the conversation, her anxiety about what was happening peeked. “Dropped?”

  “We don’t fall any more. Lizzy controls our descent.” Tara smiled at her sister when she spoke.

  “Oh.” They sounded so breezy about all this. Helen’s pulse tapped too fast, her breathing raced.

  “If you’re done tutoring Helen, you might want to move along,” Cian suggested without a hint of a smile on his face. “Everyone waits.”

  Scolded for their chatting, Helen shifted her focus to the cloak lying in the center of their circle.

  “Ready?” Lizzy asked.

  A chorus of yeses was her answer. Helen watched the others and attempted to mimic their actions, all the while hoping her presence wasn’t going to muck up the operation.

  Lizzy lifted her voice and squeezed Helen’s hand. “We cast our circle by candle light and seek great help for our sister’s plight. Her gift has weakened her mortal self and all we ask is for the Ancient’s help.”

  As Lizzy’s singsong voice lifted, so did their bodies. Sure enough, all four of them levitated slowly from the floor. Strange, her body didn’t feel a loss of gravity, or even the missing floor beneath her, but her dress now hung below her bent knees as did the others in the circle. The flames of the candles spiked like some special effect on a movie screen. Something in the air felt electric and the hair on Helen’s arms stood on end. It was hard to concentrate on Lizzy’s words with the strange sensations rolling over Helen’s skin, but she tried. Helen stared at the cloak and repeated Lizzy’s words in her head. She added the words, for Amber, and did her level best to ignore the fact that she was floating above the ground.

  “Give her peace and tranquility when wrapped inside the cloth you see. If the Ancients will it so, give us a sign so we will know.”

  They all held their breath and waited. Just when Helen didn’t think she’d see anything of importance the air in the center of the circle warmed and blew her hair behind her shoulders. Like any time in the past when her own gift led her to what she wanted to find, her skin tingled and a deep sense of knowing she’d find what she looked for settled over her.

  As the air swirled and heated, the cloak drifted from the floor and stretched itself out taut. A blast of light spun with the heat, streaking amber and silver flecks that looked a lot like pixie dust Helen had seen in animated films. Sonofabitch this is gonna work. No sooner did the thought leave her head the cloak drifted slowly to the floor and settled between them.

  “Wow,” she whispered.

  “In this day and in this hour, we thank the Ancient’s for our power.” Lizzy tilted her head to the side and with slow measured movement, Helen felt her backside touch the floor. The flames on the candles made a small snapping noise and all blew out at the same time. The light cast by the fire was the only glow in the room.

  Lizzy let go of Helen’s hand and patted her knee. “You did well.”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Yeah, I think you did.” Tara stood and helped Myra from the floor. “We’ve been doing this for a while and I don’t ever remember feeling my skin sizzle as much.”

  “Oh, aye, I felt it, too.” Myra rubbed her bottom as she spoke.

  “We all add to the circle. We can do some things solo, but together we’re just better. Don’t know why, we just are.”

  The door behind them clicked as Cian left the room without saying a word.

  “What’s up with him lately?” Tara asked.

  “Wish I knew,” Myra said.

  “Is he acting odd?” Helen thought it was his stoic personality and not a new behavior. He seldom smiled or even acknowledged her presence, let alone tried to talk. He only really said something when it was important. No chitchat from that one. He embodied the textbook Highland warrior image.

  “He isn’t himself.”

  Tara moved the candles around the room while Lizzy picked up the cloak. “Whatever’s eating at him is getting worse. I wish he’d talk to someone. He used to open up to Simon.”

  Lizzy folded the cloak over her arm. “He needs a girlfriend to knock him out of his funk.”

  Helen smiled. “Is there such a thing these days? From what I see, people are either married or flirting.” She’d seen a fair number of sideway glances and raised eyebrows from the huge men downstairs but nothing else.

  “There isn’t a club scene or a movie to go to if that’s what you mean, but courting in this time isn’t a whole lot different than in the twenty-first century,” Tara said.

  “We don’t call it courting.”

  “And casual sex isn’t all that acceptable here either,” Lizzy explained. “But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. With all the extra girls running around, you’d think Cian would find someone to hook up with, even if it’s temporary.”

  Helen shrugged her shoulders and said, “Privacy is at a premium around here. Kinda hard to find a secluded place for a quiet thought let alone an intimate moment.”

  The words no sooner left her mouth, then she realized what she’d said. And to whom she’d said them. Heat filled her cheeks, and she was cert
ain they turned a deep shade of scarlet. Holy cow, she’d just told Simon’s mother about her desire to steal a few minutes alone with Simon. Talk about awkward.

  “And on that note,” Tara chuckled. “Let’s get this to Amber and see if it works.”

  Lizzy lent her a smile as they left the room. The woman really was a gem. Too bad she and the rest of his clan lived so far in the past. They’d be a lot of fun to hang out with in the future. A future Helen was having a hard time picturing going back to as they walked down the long candle lit hall connecting the bedrooms, or chambers, as the maids called them.

  Myra knocked softly on Amber’s door before they walked in. More pale than Helen had seen her, Amber sat by the small fire burning in the hearth with a wan smile as they approached.

  “We have something for you to try.” Lizzy unfolded the cloak from her arm for Amber to see.

  Amber glanced at each of their faces. “You’re all so hopeful.”

  “We think it’s going to work.”

  “If flashing lights and a breeze coming out of nowhere is any indicator, something happened.” Helen sat on the edge of the bed as she spoke.

  “Try it on,” Myra said.

  Amber lifted herself out of the chair much like a woman three times her age. “Even if it doesn’t, thank you all for trying.”

  “If it doesn’t, we’ll go back and try again.”

  Amber turned away and presented her back to Lizzy.

  Lizzy shook out the garment and hesitated for a moment before placing it over Amber’s shoulders.

  Amber drew in a deep cleansing breath and blew it out with a sigh. Her frame started to tremble and Lizzy placed her hands on Amber’s arms. “Are you okay?”

  “Aye.” When Amber turned around the tired lines that had etched her face since Helen had met her started to fade. A tear ran down her cheek. “Aye.” She took a step and nearly fell.

  Helen shot to her feet.

  Lizzy caught her and Myra rushed forward. Tara reached Amber first. “What’s wrong?”

  “Something didn’t work.”

  “Nay, I’m fine.” They assisted Amber back into the chair. “’Tis like the weight of Scotland has lifted is all. I’m a wee bit dizzy.”

  “Do you want to take it off?” Lizzy asked.

  Amber pulled the edges of the cloak further around her. “Nay. ’Tis working. The images from the minds below are fading, slowly...but they are fading.”

  “It worked. Thank God it worked,” Myra latched onto Amber’s arm and smiled when Amber didn’t pull away in pain.

  Helen watched the sisters fuss over Amber. One offered her water while the other placed another log on the fire. Such a loving family.

  Not her family.

  This was a family Helen was destined to leave. Temporary, like everything in her life had always been.

  “I’ll go find Simon and let him know what’s happening.”

  Lizzy spared her a glance as she left the room. The others hardly realized when she left.

  Outside the chamber door, the hall was relatively quiet. A low rumbling of voices drifted from below. Somewhere in the past hour, her head started to pound, and now the pain edged toward migraine status.

  Helen tugged out the binding from her hair and let it loose, removing some of the pressure. A couple of aspirin would be helpful, but she doubted there was anything like that available. She pushed away from the door in search of Simon.

  More than one set of eyes followed her as she entered the main hall. Men clustered in groups. Some sat before the fire to keep warm while others dozed on blankets. It was strange seeing so many men in one place. Helen knew the men protected the Keep in shifts. Most likely those who slept had kept long hours during the day while the rest of them found their rest.

  The kitchens never seemed to cool. It wasn’t yet dinnertime and a large group of people were outside in the courtyard. Helen ignored their stares the best she could as she searched the room for a familiar face. Seeing none, she pivoted in the direction of Ian’s study.

  Shadows played on the wall of the dimly lit hall en route to Ian’s study. Helen knew instantly that someone followed her.

  “What a bonny lass ye are. Where’ve the MacCoinnichs been hiding ye I wonder?”

  Helen turned and nearly ran into the huge chest of the man behind her. He must have been six four on a bad day, his body sheer steel. A body that hadn’t seen fresh water in a very long time. She took a step back to let the man know he was way too far into her personal space. The warrior’s hard features were covered by a short beard and a scar that ran down the left side of his face.

  “I’m looking for Laird Ian,” she told him. Best to name-drop the biggest one of the house to avoid any unwanted attention. The way this man’s eyes rounded over the curves of her body made her skin itch.

  “Are ye a MacCoinnich?”

  “No,” she answered without thought.

  “Ye’re dressed too fine to be a servant.” Scarface stepped forward and touched the edges of her hair.

  Helen stepped back and felt the wall on her back.

  “I’m not a servant, and I’m not interested.” Even with a castle full of warriors, Helen felt more vulnerable than she did walking in Hollywood after midnight without a friend.

  “Yet ye speak like a woman.”

  What the hell was that supposed to mean?

  He reached for her hair again and she batted his hand away. “What part of not interested did you misunderstand?”

  “Feisty. I like that in a woman.” As the man reached for her again, Helen lifted her hands to push him away. Her hands never made contact.

  Scarface flew across the hall in a blur of movement.

  Simon stood between Helen and her unwanted admirer with a set jaw and a hand resting on his sword. “Is this man bothering you, Helen lass?”

  She wasn’t sure how to answer the question. Tension in the hall filled every crack as both men squared off on each other. Simon looked like he wanted to kill the guy. Fighting when a war simmered outside their doors seemed ridiculous.

  “I didn’t know she was yours, Lord Simon.”

  Lord Simon? What is that all about?

  “Now ye know.”

  Scarface relaxed his stance and tilted his head toward Helen. “My apologies, my lady.”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  Scarface turned and left.

  “So, I’m yours, am I?”

  Simon removed his hand from his weapon and pivoted her way. “’Tis best they all believe you’re under my protection.”

  “And I don’t have a say in this?”

  Simon’s brow pitched together. “Do you want the attention of Geer, or any of the others?”

  “That’s not the point.” Her voice hitched higher as the energy from the confrontation with Geer started to seep from her pores.

  “It is while you’re here.” And apparently that was the end of the discussion. At least according to Simon. “What are you doing down here anyway?”

  “I was looking for you. Amber is….” Helen glanced beyond Simon to the empty hall. “It worked. She’s doing better.”

  He nodded. “I’ll tell the others.”

  “Fine.”

  Neither of them moved.

  “You should return above stairs. ’Tis safer. Next time bring another woman with you.”

  “I need an escort?”

  “For now.”

  “This is crazy,” she said as she brushed passed him, pissed at the inequality of the times. She wasn’t a women’s libber, but an escort? Please!

  She made it to the opening of the main hall when Simon’s voice stopped her.

  “Helen,” he all but barked.

  “What?” She turned, ran into his big, yummy chest. She tried to push him away but his arm snuck around her waist and captured her close. He kissed her firmly and all too quickly, and then set her aside. “Tell Amber to be well. I’ll tell the others.”

  Someone nearby chuckled, and Helen reali
zed they had a large and attentive audience. Good God, Simon had marked his territory right there in front of an army.

  “Of all the stupid, crazy—”

  He kissed her again and shut her up.

  This time when he released her, his hands spun her around and he patted her ass. “Go, lass. You’re distracting me.”

  She spun on him and gave him a hard shove. “You’ll pay for that.” Then she marched up the stairs, leaving behind the laughter and boasting of men.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Simon watched the sway of her ass as she stormed up the stairs. She was pissed, but she’d get over it. He knew his testosterone-charged display would push her twenty-first century buttons, but it couldn’t be helped. There would be many more Geers before they could safely return to her time, her world. Best they all know now she was not available.

  And she wasn’t.

  He didn’t dwell on the thought longer than thirty seconds before he found Todd and Ian huddled over a map in the study.

  They offered him only a glance before returning to the map. “If I were hiding out I’d want shelter, water, and food. Only two places we’ve not looked meet those needs. Here and here.”

  “Sounds like you have my night planned,” Simon said as he walked into the room.

  “Only if you’re ready. You’ve had a long day.”

  He’d flown over fifty miles in three days. He was exhausted.

  Still, his family needed him, and he wasn’t about to let them down. “I’ll eat and rest. I’ll be ready.”

  Ian nodded and patted his back. “Don’t overextend. You’re of no use to anyone ill…or worse.”

  “I’ll be fine.” Simon ignored the look between Ian and Todd and added, “Speaking of ill, the women’s plan worked. Amber is feeling better apparently.”

  “You’ve seen her?”