by Sky Winters
Suddenly, Broc clamped his huge fangs around James, drawing blood from his neck and shoulders. Broc pulled back, swaying smugly, no doubt relishing in the hit he got, when James surprised him with a powerful tackle, biting him fiercely on the neck. Broc roared in pain, the sound becoming gurgled and weak, until suddenly the bear went limp under James. James roared victoriously, shaking the foliage of the trees around him, and shifted back into his elegant human form. He walked toward Sadie, completely nude, his handsome, muscular body glowing golden in the firelight. The clan was hushed, quietly accepting his victory, and he took her by the hand, leading her into his tent.
***
“James! Are you hurt?” she exclaimed, the moment they were inside. Broc's teeth had punctured his shoulder badly and scraped his neck. It was still bleeding profusely, and she dabbed it with a cloth, tending gently to the wound as he hissed in pain.
“Nobody can keep me from you now, lass,” he said with a grin, sweat beading his brow.
“No, not ever again,” she said gently, and they fell asleep entwined in his cot.
***
Sadie spent the next day tending to James as he recovered and regained his strength. The council told her that the battle had changed everything, but she would still be allowed the portal if she were to provide them an heir as James' mate.
She ran to him with the news and he smiled, sitting up good-naturedly despite wincing in pain.
“Well, that's good news,” he said, his charm returning in full along with his strength.
She nodded and was surprised when his arms, arms she had declared weak and injured, gripped her and lifted her with so much force that she cried out in shock. He had lifted her and pulled the blanket off his nude body, tracing her face with his hands. She trembled with desire, gripping his muscular shoulder tightly.
“James,” she whispered.
He grinned at her and slipped his hand up her thigh, under her dress, pressing his skilled fingers lightly against her, rubbing gently and filling her with a hot, urgent longing. She could feel it as his arousal began to take root, and he rubbed the length of himself against her as he stripped her dress off, kissing her wildly, passionately. She tried to be careful of his arm, but she had wanted him for so long that they were losing all sense of propriety.
“Aren't we supposed to wait for—”
“Shhh,” James said, pressing his hot mouth over hers and maneuvering himself between her legs, pressing tantalizingly against her middle. “No more rules. They almost took you from me once, I'm not taking my chances.”
She moaned as he kissed her breasts and pushed his cock deep inside of her. She buckled against his strong body, gasping softly as her entire being was filled with pleasure. He was still somewhat weak, and his love brought a tenderness to their lovemaking that sent pulses of heat all through her. He trailed his tongue against her neck as he pushed fully inside of her and groaned when she sighed, her hair falling in front of her face. He brushed it away and they kissed as he thrust himself in and out of her gently, until she was so overwhelmed that she closed her eyes and felt herself coming against him.
Her climax milked a sweet, hot explosion from deep in his loins, and he gripped her hard as they came together, their bodies in unison. When Sadie opened her eyes, panting heavily, she knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that she was pregnant. They lay peacefully beside each other, their bodies entwined.
***
Suddenly, the world around erupted in a commotion. James struggled to get to his feet but Sadie shushed him and gently pushed him back down.
“It's all right,” she said, pulling her dress back on. “I'll go see what's going on.”
“All right,” he said, frowning deeply. “Hurry back, love.”
“I will,” she said with a sexy smile.
When she ran out of the tent, the smile on her face quickly faded. Lord Lachlan was standing in the bushes behind the tent, hidden behind the trees. Horses in the stables were whinnying, and the birds were all fluttering as if in warning to the Highlanders. She opened her mouth to cry out, but a hand gripped her tightly and waved a vial under her nose. The last thing she saw was Lord Lachlan's sickening smile before she blacked out.
Chapter 18
“James!" Sadie tried to scream, but Lord Lachlan had his hand over her mouth, peering down into her eyes with sadistic glee.
“Nobody is going to help you, lass. You have done it this time. I'll have my revenge yet.”
She could feel his erect shaft against her back, and it brought shivers down her spine.
“Get your filthy hands off me," Sadie demanded, biting down on the fleshy part of Lord Lachlan's thumb. He howled in pain and anger and shoved her away. She took the opportunity to try to run, through the forest and back toward the Highlander camp. Unfortunately, he had brought reinforcements as he explored, and one of the brutish guards gripped her hard by the shoulder before she could make her escape.
“You will never get away with this, not a single one of you," Sadie cried. “They will know it was you who took me and you'll regret the day you did, as it surely marked the beginning of your last.”
“Will you please shut your wench up?" the guard growled, pushing Sadie into Lord Lachlan, who sneered down at her.
“I would gladly put her in her place," Lord Lachlan said, licking his lips. “Right now, we have a long trip back to the fortress to worry about. I’d like to get her there in one piece. There is something special that I have planned that I'm sure will make a very, very sorry woman of her.”
Sadie’s skin crawled in fear at the thought of whatever the brutal Lord Lachlan may have in mind for her. She had been informed of some of his sickening appetites by the brief tour that she had taken of his castle in the future, and even just a brief description had made her shudder. That was when she had heard the strange voice calling her name, a voice that now, she realized, sounded vaguely familiar.
She didn't have time to think about that as Lord Lachlan pushed her ahead of him, whistling an ominous tune that gave her goose bumps.
“You're really going to regret this,” Lord Lachlan said pleasantly. “You see; I have thought of everything. Those damn bears are not going to know which way we came from. They will be busy hunting you down in the wrong direction. And I can see that the damn rebel James has taken a shining to you, and I bet nothing will make him angrier than knowing that I have his woman in the palm of my hand. Do you have any idea what I do to the women in the palm of my hand?”
He said this part close to Sadie's face, and she could count the pock marks on it. Her stomach churned, and she tried to pull away from him. But he was too close, and his nauseatingly bad breath wafted in front of her, bringing the bile to the back of her throat. She wished that she could will herself to throw up all over him, but she knew that would get her into even more trouble.
“I really outsmarted those miserable creatures this time,” he bragged. “If the council heads have noticed that James' beloved is missing by now, they're probably hot on your trail in the opposite direction. Which means, now you're mine. And when you are mine, I think you will find that bad things start to happen.”
Lord Lachlan stuffed a gag into her mouth and gripped her by the delicate wrists. She looked ahead of him urgently at the blue sky, wishing for a miracle. She hoped that James would find her in time.
Chapter 19
James rolled over onto his side with a moan. He had fully recovered from most of the minor cuts and scrapes that he had suffered from challenging the Alpha bear, but there was one deep wound that still gave him a whole lot of trouble. He grunted as he sat up, alert and waiting to hear from Sadie, who had disappeared a while ago. He was used to her coming and going, getting caught up in helping the clan and doing her best to socialize and fit in among the bear shifters. And she was doing a great job of it, too.
He had known since the moment that he laid eyes on her in Lord Lachlan's dungeon that she had a fiery heart and a noble spirit. Even if
she had the body of the Lowlander, she had the heart and soul of the Highlander, and it shone through like fire. He had been instantly attracted to her, but when he saw she was wearing the pendant of the chosen, indicating that she would be the next wife of the Alpha of his clan and bear his shifter children, he had been crushed. James wasn't the Alpha of his clan, although he had been an important and high-ranking official on the committee. If he wanted anything to do with Sadie, there would be hell to pay.
When they had been in the dungeon together, James had remembered hearing her speak and thinking to himself of the legend of the Highland wisp – the woman with the strange accent and the unearthly good looks. When he was a boy, he'd had his own encounter with the woman, and now that he laid eyes on Sadie in person, and not just the memories of the Sadie from the song and his childhood, he couldn't take his eyes away.
“I don't know why you're looking at me so strangely,” Sadie had said to him. He'd simply grinned at her, bringing a bright red flush to her already rosy cheeks.
“Maybe I think you're interesting,” he'd said.
In the time that Sadie had grown to trust him, he had listened to her tale of traveling through time and pursed his lips. He knew the world was full of strange, inexplicable things, and Sadie appeared to be one of them. For it was only when he was singing her song in the dungeon, after he had been caught by Lord Lachlan's men, that Sadie appeared in the castle, in the flesh. He had never considered that she might be a real person before and had thought back to the Highland lore of spirits wandering the world, sometimes helping the living and other times playing cruel tricks on them. Maybe the spirit world was going to have some fun with Lord Lachlan.
The thought had delighted him, until he found himself in the dungeon with the beautiful woman, who was just as confused about how she had gotten there as everybody else.
“I know this is crazy,” Sadie said, “But please try to believe me.”
It was easy for James to suspend his disbelief, and listening to her helped him put together a theory about what had happened to her. He didn't want to tell her what he knew until he'd spoken with the elders of his clan, especially when he realized that she was wearing the Tur Aheil – the pendant that was only to be worn by the chosen women of his clan, those who could bear children with the same unique ability to shapeshift into bears that he had.
Still, he felt guilty for keeping his theory to himself, even though he was sure that he had been right. She was so lost and confused. He almost told her that night, by the campfire, but instead, they had given in to their unbearable longing, and he'd gotten himself too distracted by guilt and worry to explain his thoughts to her.
“Lord James” was a title he never thought he would have, and he sipped his water as he thought back to the strange encounter he'd had with Sadie and the even stranger encounter he had experienced when he came to the council with news of her arrival.
“You must send her away at once,” one of the elders had said.
“Send her away?” James asked, frowning. “But why?”
“Maybe it's for the best that we go extinct,” the man said. He was very old and very bitter, and the others chuckled softly and patted him on the shoulder.
“It's possible, James, that this is some kind of a trick. Maybe a trap. We will need to test her before we can really welcome her as part of the clan. I'm sure you understand,” Ivar said.
“No, actually I don't. She is who I say she is, that should be good enough for you. I know what I saw. I know what I heard!” James was angry and not bothering to conceal it. The committee members glanced at each other, quietly amused but tolerant of his outburst.
“It might be good enough for us if you were the Alpha,” Ivar had said carefully. “But as it stands, Broc is away and these matters are left in our hands.”
James glowered but said nothing, afraid they might somehow find out about the horrible secret he'd buried in his breast – he'd slept with the Alpha's fated mate. If they knew about this, it might mean he lost his place in the council, maybe even in the clan itself. He didn't know what he would do if he lost his home. It was all he had ever known. All that he cared about.
“So what should we do with Sadie then? I promised that we would help her. You do realize that she's the wisp, don't you? From the stories? She arrived when I sang the song.”
“James, we are considering the potential truth of what you believe. Please don't take this the wrong way, but we should do our best to seek the truth at whatever cost, even if it is your loyalty to us. There is still the possibility that it is all part of an elaborate hoax by Lord Lachlan and his men, a way to lead them to our camp. It's been a great secret until now, but if she has led them to us, we cannot forgive that. Until Broc is here to look after her and we know if fate is coming to pass, she must stay with the council.”
“I understand,” James said begrudgingly, and left the tent.
After that it had been difficult for him to look at Sadie, and he knew she'd been hurt by his coolness. But she could have been there to undo his clan, take away his entire family. Lachlan was ruthless and murderous, and if he could do it, he would. James hated it, but he knew he the council was right, and he would have to be careful.
Of course, the poor lass hadn't known any of that, and she certainly would have looked at him like he was crazy if he'd tried explaining that she was the wisp of the Highlands, come to life to help save the Highlanders and their most precious bear clan. None of that would make sense to a woman from another land, who would think everything he said was all part of some fairy tale. His heart still burned with guilt when he thought about how he had concealed the truth from her, and he sighed, staring out the open flap of his tent.
It was letting the fresh air in, and he kept staring outside expectantly, waiting for Sadie to pop in and smile at him, the smile so full of love and promise that he had come to cherish so much. Knowing her made him feel fortunate that he'd been a screw up when it came to fulfilling his orders by the council.
“We need a yew branch, James. One from a special tree in the Lowlands. We want to do a ceremony to increase the odds of our clan's survival.”
The elders had stared at him solemnly, and James nodded. “Of course.”
He had always hoped to hold a high position in the clan, and because he knew there was a slim chance of being the Alpha, he had worked hard to work his way into a position of importance with the council. They had ultimately decided he was noble enough to work with them and used him as their errand boy. He was strong, humble, and willing, and it worked in everybody's favor.
“Look what we found,” a seedy voice said from behind James as he was poking at the yew tree.
James sighed, prepared for a fight as he shifted into his bear form. Unfortunately, the men who had surrounded him had been hunters and trappers from Lachlan's army and outnumbered James by a multitude. He was dragged down to the dungeon kicking and screaming, unable to fulfil his obligation to the council.
He was dejected and humiliated. And although he didn't want to admit it, he was terrified. Lord Lachlan was a monster and had killed his parents and sister when he was a boy. The council had taken pity on him and raised him the best that they could, but it was all to no use. Lachlan’s men were going to finish what they started and get their hands on James. He might as well have died with the rest of his family.
Legends of the wisp cluttered his mind and he sang her song, a desperate plea for help. It must have been around the same time that the council was performing their ceremony, and the castle began to quake around him. A bright light flashed, and the guards all shouted in fear and anger. And then news of a woman appearing out of thin air, sleeping in the room reserved for Lord Lachlan's wisp came to him in broken shouts. And then the wisp was in front of him, and he had never seen anybody more beautiful.
But someday she would return to her own world. The Highlands was no place for the wisp. And he would have no choice but to tell her the truth – that he had
suspected how she got there from the beginning. That he could have spared her the confusion and the pain and helped her convince the council to send her back home. Love demanded this sort of honesty, and it took a courage he hadn't known about to brace himself to tell the truth. And he would, he was sure he would. Just not yet.
Chapter 20
James was startled from his thoughts by Gail, who popped cheerfully into his tent with a fresh basin of water.
“Good morning, Lord James," she said with a small bow.
James shook his head, finding the new title funny. She returned the smile but did not backtrack it. Even though they had been friends since they were young, the name suited him and she was going to make sure that everybody in the clan addressed him formally.