Highland Shift (Highland Destiny: 1)

by LAURA HARNER

  Sleeves rolled up and hair tied back, Elena dragged an iron headboard, three dressers, and two brass lamps with filthy leaded glass shades that made her heart beat fast, to a corner of the room she mentally labeled the ‘Save’ pile. A sled without runners, a box of broken dishes, and three rusted bicycle frames went into the ‘Toss’ pile. She’d even started an ‘Unsure’ pile in a third spot, so she could delay making a decision on an old bookcase and some rusted farming tools.

  Several hours later, most of the junk was sorted into her three separate piles. The boxes at the very back of the barn would have to wait until she had more light, so she could see the contents. She stretched her back, then twisted from side-to-side in order to relieve the ache she’d begun to think might be permanent. Just as she decided she’d done enough for one morning, Lilly called out that lunch was ready.

  Lilly ladled homemade chicken soup into bowls and ordered Elena to wash up in the kitchen sink. Elena moaned with her first taste; it was like heaven, rich and loaded with vegetables. Served with thick slices of fresh baked bread with butter, she swore it was the most delicious meal she’d eaten in her whole life. Lilly beamed, and Red’s eyes sparkled.

  Red and Lilly took turns telling Elena stories of the previous owners and tenants. Then they shared a quick glance, and Elena suspected there was more to the story. Lilly admitted as much and said, “I hope you aren’t the superstitious type?”

  “Not at all,” Elena replied quickly.

  “Good, ’cause there’s them that think this place is haunted,” Lilly said, with a wink.

  Elena laughed delightedly, “Even if it is haunted, it won’t scare me away. This place feels like home deep down in my bones. I don’t know how else to describe it. It calls to me.” This time the glance Red and Lilly exchanged was longer, but they were not inclined to share.

  ****

  Saturday morning found Elena working in the north wing. She’d decided to spend the weekend cleaning out the corner where the junk pile had started. All week trucks had hauled in appliances and furniture and carried away the unwanted items from the steading, so she had much more room to spread out.

  The week had passed in a flurry of activity. Elena worked with Lilly to clean the remaining rooms, and Red had the floor polisher going non-stop, bringing the oak floors to a gleaming shine. The house was still sparsely furnished but she wasn’t sure which of the other pieces of furniture she’d found could, or should, be salvaged. There was plenty of time to decide, and she thought she might like to fill any gaps with pieces from local antique shops. With Red and Lilly away until Monday, she could work on the items she wanted to restore.

  Late that afternoon, she’d moved enough boxes and furniture to notice that the rear wall of the north wing had a slight downhill slant. It was very dark in the back corner, but she discovered a dirty metal plate against the back wall, tucked into the corner. Elena examined it as best she could in the dim light. It looked like two pieces of metal, attached somehow to a boulder that formed the back wall.

  Realizing she’d found the source of the warmer air, Elena placed her hand on the metal and felt a slight vibration beneath her hand. It was almost as though there was a breeze blowing behind it. The air wasn’t exactly warm, but it was certainly warmer than the frigid outdoor temperatures. She wondered just what secrets those panels were hiding.

  Elena wanted to pry the metal panels apart, but her meager flashlight just wasn’t bright enough to illuminate the dark corner. She was ready for a little field trip anyway. She locked up the house, grabbed her shopping bags, and a few minutes later, she was on her way to the Village of Fairth.

  ****

  All conversation stopped the second Elena walked through the door, and every person turned to stare. The barkeep broke the silence first with a hearty, “Welcome to Fairth, Miss MacFarland!”

  “It’s Elena.” She grinned as she approached the bar. Several voices called back, “Elena,” and she experienced an absurd moment of feeling like Norm on Cheers. Apparently, there were no secrets in small Scottish villages, she thought.

  Conversations resumed, and Elena pulled up a stool. The pub was small and dark with three booths on each of the long walls. It was split down the middle by a classic bar, complete with a brass foot rail and heavy stools of burgundy leather and oak. Glasses and copper pots hung above the bar, and the barkeep stood at the front end of its horseshoe shape, grinning at Elena as though they were old friends.

  “Lovely to meet you, Elena. We’ve been wondering when you might show up and bend yer elbow with the likes of us. Name’s Michael, but you can call me Mike. Everyone does.” Mike was a little taller than she was, with broad shoulders and massive forearms, covered in ink. A trident on one arm and a sea serpent on the other, she noted and hazarded a guess.

  “Nice tats. Were you in the Navy?”

  “Aye, I was, but it didn’t stick. Missed my Highlands.” Then, without asking Elena’s preference, he shouted, “Bar wench, bring me a special!” and then roared with laughter a moment later as his wife backed through the door carrying a tray laden with a crock of bean soup, homemade bread, and an enormous salad.

  The woman snapped Mike on the butt with her bar towel, looked at Elena, and said, “Never you mind him, darlin’. He’s as full of blow as the Nor’wind. Name’s Kate. Welcome to the Lone Wolf. It’s our pub and none finer in these parts or others. We saw you arrive last week. And of course, our Mr. Burns told us of meeting you. I see you hired Red and Lilly. No one better to take care of you. Will your family be joining you?”

  Nearly as round as she was tall, Kate had curly brown hair surrounding her rosy cheeks. When she finally paused to take a breath and wait for an answer, her bright light blue gaze seemed to be taking inventory and Elena had no doubt that by tomorrow morning the rest of the village would know every detail of what she’d been wearing.

  Elena decided to answer the last question first, and then figure out if anything else needed a response. “I have no family; it’s just me.”

  “Good golly, lass. Are you not lonely out there by yourself? I have just the thing for you.” She bustled from the room without waiting for an answer. When she reappeared a few minutes later she carried a cloth-lined covered picnic basket on her arm. She thrust it at Elena and turned back toward the kitchen. Just before she disappeared behind the swinging doors again, she shouted out, “Leave them here until you’re ready to leave. Mike, doona’ forget the first meal is on us. Doona’ worry, dear. We’ll get our money out of you later.”

  Mike roared again, as did most of the regulars in the pub. It seemed everyone was in on the joke but Elena. After quickly scooping the last spoonful of the soup into her mouth, she lifted the edge of the cloth to so she could be in on the joke. She peeked cautiously inside and instantly her heart melted. Curled up together were two tiny kittens, one black and the other an orange tabby.

  Elena looked up to find Mike’s eyes twinkling. “My Katy girl likes you,” he declared.

  Elena laughed. “How can you tell?”

  “Och, lass, ye’d be payin’ for your meal if she didn’t!”

  With a promise to return for her kittens, Elena stepped out into the cold to find the hardware store. Outside the air was freezing, and a cold fog had settled in, shrouding everything in the mist. There were rapid footsteps behind her as she crossed the alley behind the pub. The fog was so thick, Elena couldn’t see anyone, but she could hear muffled voices. Probably other pub-goers calling it a night, she thought. She turned the corner and pulled up short. Two men stood in front of her, wearing dark sweats and hoodies pulled tight around their faces.

  “Excuse me,” Elena said, as she tried to step around them. They blocked her path while two others came up quickly behind her, all apparently with bad intentions. The men surrounded her, clearly herding her toward the open door of the brown panel van next to the sidewalk.

  Girls who grow up moving from one foster home to another have two choices: become a victim or a s
urvivor. Elena was a survivor. She didn’t wait to see what they had in mind. Screaming like a wild woman, she ran straight at the smallest guy and jammed her knee hard into his groin. She put every unproductive ounce of fear into generating enough force to drop an elephant. She was rewarded by his soft “Oomph,” and then he fell like a stone to the ground, hands clutching his privates.

  Elena knew that taking one male out with a good swift knee to the groin made every other male in the vicinity lose momentum and bend slightly forward. Yet another form of male bonding. Go figure.

  Still screaming like a banshee, she charged one of the other men, aiming her backpack at his head and connected solidly. She grinned as another of her would-be attackers fell to the ground. Elena turned to look at the two remaining men, and her heart sank. Although the third man was on the small side, the fourth was a monster of a man. She couldn’t see their faces, but she sensed from the way they were inching forward, retreat was not on either of their minds.

  Elena let loose another war cry, surprised and definitely pleased to hear another female voice join hers. Kate entered the mix with a broom in her hands, swinging and yelling to wake the dead.

  “You lousy, chicken-hearted bastards. Get out of here. Back off, before I send Mike out here to kick some more arses!” She connected with the backside of the one who seemed to be the leader.

  Suddenly in full retreat mode, the big man began yelling orders. “Grab Reggie, and let’s get out of here!” Then he turned to face Elena directly, “You’ll pay for this, bitch!” He jumped into the driver’s seat, and the van sped away.

  Suddenly the street was busy with patrons from the pub spilling out, looking for a fight. Kate pulled Elena into a victory dance, whooping and hollering, “Doona’ be messin’ with these badass babes! Mike, you shoulda seen this young one. She was kickin’ ass and takin’ names. Where’d you learn to fight like that? Who were those punks anyway? I’ve never seen any of them ‘round here afore. Did anyone get the registration number? Has anyone called Officer Davy yet? Darlin’ Elena, you need to come back inside and have a cuppa.”

  Kate finally took a breath, and others had a chance to be heard. Everyone spoke at once, and no one knew anything. Not who the men were, why they’d attacked, or where they’d gone. The consensus was they’d come from a bigger city and randomly targeted Elena because she was a young woman, walking alone. No one believed they’d be back.

  Mike personally walked Elena to Murphy’s Hardware to get her lanterns and flashlights, and of course, kitten food. When they returned, everyone came out to wave good-bye and see Elena and the kittens safely on their way.

  ****

  “What do you mean, you didn’t get her?” the voice asked over the phone.

  Liam stammered, trying to make it sound reasonable that four men hadn’t managed to throw one woman into the back of a van. “Master, she charged Reggie, and her screaming brought half the town. We only just got away. If only you would let me use—”

  “I want her tonight. She lives alone. Get to the farm before she returns. Don’t bring her to headquarters; this is personal. Call me when you have her, and remember to make it look random. Whatever you do, don’t get caught.”

  ****

  Elena took the kittens in first so they wouldn’t get cold. When she came back out, she went to the far side of the Rover to get the lantern and flashlights. She shifted a fraction of a second before she was hit. The bat caught a bit more shoulder than her attacker probably intended. One moment Elena was bent over the back seat picking up a lantern; the next she was falling to the ground, trying to remain conscious.

  A stabbing pain shot through her shoulder, and Elena’s right arm went numb. It hung uselessly by her side as she tried to catch herself. It was a testament to her jumbled brain that her first thought was that she hoped her arm wasn’t broken. Men were talking as though from a great distance, and although she couldn’t swear to it, she had a sneaking suspicion there were four. She pushed back against the wave of unconsciousness trying to pull her under. She was half inside the Rover but still on her knees in the snow, aware of a presence behind her, but unable to turn to face her assailant.

  Elena grunted with pain when a booted foot kicked her hip. Then, using her hair as a handle, the one behind her lifted her to her feet and laid a cold blade of steel against the tender skin of her throat. Elena was face-to-face with the monster from the alley.

  “Remember us, sweetheart?” he asked, his voice cold as the night air.

  “Get away from me,” Elena said, trying for fierce, getting feeble, instead. Fear threatened to overwhelm her, and she pushed it ruthlessly aside.

  The hand in her hair tightened painfully as he lifted her off her feet, forcing her to balance on her toes. He pushed Elena back against the frame of the Rover and pressed himself hard against her.

  There was laughter as he caressed her cheek with the knife, and then slowly stroked the blade down the column of her exposed neck, then down the front of her shirt to her waistband. “Thought you were too good for me, did you?” he asked silkily.

  One of them said, “Go on, Liam, get a move; I want me some, too.”

  He had a name, Elena thought. Liam. She wouldn’t forget. She struggled to catalog identifying characteristics, such as his cultured speech pattern, the smell of tobacco, and sound of his voice. Belatedly, their words penetrated and she realized these men intended to rape her. There would be no help this time. Her farm was several miles from the village, and her closest neighbors would never hear her, even if she could scream.

  “Shut up, or you’ll be going last.” Then Liam whispered something only Elena could hear, “Maybe I’ll keep you for myself.” He slipped the knife under Elena’s sweater and laid the blade flat against her bare skin, terrifyingly close to her breasts. His breath was hot and moist on her neck. “There are depths to you, lass.”

  The smallest one—Reggie, she thought—yelled out, “You ain’t too good for us; we’ll make you forget any man you ever had. You willna be wantin’ no other man neither. You’ll be beggin’ me for more before I’m done with you.” The other two men were laughing at Reggie’s boldness, making excited sounds. None of them seemed to realize their leader had gone quite still at their remarks.

  “Don’t worry, Elena,” Liam whispered, as intimate as any lover. “If you please me, I won’t share you with them. Convince me it should be just the two of us.”

  He ran a tongue along her neck, then squeezed her breast painfully, before moving his hand to grip her face. He kissed her brutally, and Elena kept her eyes and mouth tightly closed.

  She’d never been moved enough by a relationship to make love with any man, and now these bastards were going to take that first moment from her, rip it away as if it were nothing. To them it was nothing. This was about power. If they knew she was a virgin, it would give them that much more control over her. She would keep that secret to herself.

  When she refused to yield to his kiss, Liam pulled the knife back savagely, splitting her sweater from waist to neckline. She gasped but wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of hearing her scream. Liam grabbed her roughly by the hair again and then kicked her legs out from under her.

  “I see you would rather share with everybody, you fucking bitch.” Liam shoved Elena face first into the back seat of the Rover, and slid the knife into the waistband of her jeans. With a jerky yank of the handle, he cut her jeans open from waist to crotch.

  A feral growl rent the night air, raising hair on the back of Elena’s neck. It was impossible to tell from which direction the growl came; it echoed throughout the yard and bounced off the walls. Everyone froze, and Liam’s grip on Elena’s hair loosened. She took advantage of his momentary distraction and kicked out with her boot, catching him in the shin.

  The growl reverberated around the yard again, and then a disembodied voice said, “Leave!” Elena tried to twist and aim a kick at Liam’s groin, but he recovered quickly and slammed her head into the Rover’s d
oor with a resounding thunk. It was the last thing Elena remembered.

  Chapter Four

  When Elena regained consciousness, she was in her own bed, and a fire was roaring in the grate. She reached with her mind to find the last thing she remembered…her hand went to her forehead. There was a huge knot there. With a moan, she touched the back of her head, and found another knot, and her scalp was sore from having her hair pulled so hard. Her right arm felt dead from the shoulder on down. The palms of her hands were raw, as if she had fallen and tried to catch herself.

  Questions whirled in her mind. Who were those men, and why had they attacked her? How did they get to her house before her? Her quick inventory had revealed she was naked underneath her fluffy robe, and she had no recollection of how she’d gotten undressed or in her bed. Who’d put her to bed? More importantly, who’d taken off her clothes?

  With sudden panic, Elena realized it was likely that Liam and his thugs were still here. They probably brought her inside where it was warmer and there would be no one to find her until Monday when Red and Lilly returned.

  Footsteps sounded in the hall. Someone was walking toward her room. There was nowhere to hide; they’d find her easily if she tried to escape through the window. She grabbed the fireplace poker and stood behind the door, ready to bring it down on whichever of them came in first. Heart pounding erratically in her chest, she stared in horrified fascination at the doorknob as it turned and the door slowly opened.

  “Elena?”

  “Faolan?” She’d never expected to hear that unforgettable voice anywhere again, but especially not in her own bedroom. She stepped out from behind the door, but she didn’t drop the poker. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Apparently, saving your life again, lass,” he said softly. He approached her slowly, as if she were a skittish animal ready to bolt. He moved closer, and held both of his hands palms up, as if inviting her to put her hands in his. Elena couldn’t quite bring herself to trust him that far, and after a moment he dropped his gaze and his hands.