by LAURA HARNER
People were still screaming, and the icy fingers slid over them once again, bypassing Elena, seeking the man. She felt the cold as it surrounded her would-be savior. He stiffened, his feet jerked practically to a stop, and his grip tightened painfully on her arm.
Elena could not summon a projection to protect him and she still couldn’t properly form words, so she thought loudly and with all her heart and soul. Fight it. She used her feeble legs to try to force them forward, shouting with her mind, fight it, fight it. Her mouth tried to form the words too, and she whispered, “Fight.”
Gabhran shuddered, shook himself, and propelled them through door, and out of the building. The darkness was within him, fighting for control of his soul, coming with them into the night. The cold air hit Elena like a tonic, slapping her awake, but she still couldn’t completely control her body.
He half dragged, half carried the women, until they reached the street near the front of the restaurant. He was trying to get to the black BMW a few cars away.
Elena thought she might be sick, whether from the drugs, the fear, or the blackness she knew not. Their lives were in Gabhran’s hands, and blackness was in his soul. God help us all. He was fighting the black, Elena could feel the struggle within him, but she had no idea which was stronger, his own soul or the black seeking to claim him. He leaned her against the car for balance while he opened the door, to lower Lilly into the back seat.
A sound so unexpected in the middle of Edinburgh reverberated into the night… a feral growl so menacing it brought him to an abrupt stop.
Gabhran grabbed Elena again, trying to push her into the car. Instinctively she pulled back and said, “Wait,” but the word that emerged was unintelligible. Elena tried to turn toward the growl and lost her balance, falling towards Gabhran.
Then everything slowed, time shattered, each event became its own shard of glass, splintering into the night. Lilly slumped against the back seat, still unconscious. Elena fell forward and her sluggish muscles prevented her from catching herself. Blood splattered over Gabhran’s chest. The sound of a shot exploded, echoing off the empty storefronts.
Chapter Forty-one
Alone Again, Naturally. The world’s most depressing song played over and over in her head. Her Grandda used to play that song on the jukebox in his bar. The poor singer, left at the altar, his parents dead, thinking of suicide…all sung to a bizarre, poppy little beat.
Now she understood why her Grandda would listen to that song, pouring himself shots, and wiping his eyes. His heart had been broken so completely he would never be able to love again. Elena knew how he’d felt. Her heart was broken beyond all possible repair. She’d been back on the farm for nearly three months now and she could never have imagined being so alone. She let her mind drift back, deliberately cloaking herself in pain. It was an exercise in grief that she’d performed every day for the last twelve weeks.
****
“Elena, can you hear me? It’s time to wake up now, Elena.”
Elena had tried to look around, but the tubes restrained her, tubes in her mouth, in her nostrils, in her arms. Dear God, what happened to me?
The doctor was speaking to her, but Elena had panicked, her throat working at trying to expel the invasive tube.
“Elena, stop fighting now. I am going to remove the breathing tube, but you have to stop fighting first. Do you hear me?”
Elena had fought to control her panic, looked the doctor in her eyes, and nodded, as much as she could. Once the breathing tube was removed, Elena had tried to ask questions, but her throat wouldn’t work.
“Don’t try to talk yet. You’re in the hospital. There’s been an accident, but you’re going to be fine now. I’ll talk to you more when you wake up again.” The doctor had nodded to the nurse on the other side of the bed, and he injected something into the IV line. The warm feeling took effect immediately and sleep had become inevitable, despite her desperate need for answers.
The next time she’d woken, she’d been more coherent. Elena had needed to know what happened. She’d found the call button and pressed it, desperately needing to talk to the doctor.
The lovely young doctor had offered her a tissue and held her hand as she told her what had happened. Elena and her husband had been mugged, and both of them had been shot. The bullet had pierced her lung and nicked an artery.
“You lost a lot of blood. It was touch and go for a while. If that doctor hadn’t found you and called for an ambulance, it would have been much worse. He tried to stop your bleeding while he waited with you for the ambulance. Don’t worry, Elena, you’re a fighter. You’ll be all right now.”
A roaring started in Elena’s ears, and the world began to shrink until it was no bigger than a pinpoint on the doctor’s face. Elena stared at her as if her last hope depended on the answer to her next question.
“Faolan?”
“No, dear, I had my hands full with you, but I checked when I was finished with your surgery. I am sorry, he didn’t make it. He jumped in front of you and was shot through the heart. He died at the scene. There was nothing that could be done. He must have loved you very much; the police said he died trying to save you.”
The black around her edges had threatened to overtake her. She’d had to know the final piece. She’d tried to reach her stomach, but her arms were restrained by tubes and probes, but the doctor knew what she was hoping for and delivered the news Elena had dreaded.
“No, you lost too much blood. Your body just couldn’t sustain the stress of the pregnancy, too.”
Elena had stayed in the hospital for nearly two weeks recovering while mourning the loss of Faolan, their baby, her happily ever after. She’d asked about Lilly, but the doctor knew of no one else found at the scene. What had happened to Lilly? Red and Lilly were the closest thing left she had to relatives, and yet she’d heard nothing of them since the day she’d been shot. Was Lilly okay?
She had no family, no friends. No one called. She was alone in her grief. The social worker tried to get her to talk about her support system and who would care for her once she returned home. In a dead voice, Elena had told her there was no one.
When the police had visited her, she’d had no information to give them. She didn’t know how she had come to be shot, she never saw her assailant, and she didn’t remember any events leading up to the shooting. The doctor was sympathetic and told the officers it was trauma induced amnesia, and she would call them if Elena remembered anything.
Elena actually had remembered some of what had happened, at least that which she’d seen. None of it made sense and it just wasn’t information anyone would believe. It was information that needed to be protected.
Upon being released from the hospital, Elena had rented a car and driven directly to Fairth to Brigid’s shop. Brigid was now her mother-in-law; surely they could share their grief. The store was empty, and the grocer next door, sensing an opportunity to tell a juicy story approached Elena.
“Aye, old Brigid up and died last week. Her niece or summat came to pack up her things, and they buried her behind the church.”
All signs of her happy life were gone, wiped away by the cruel hand of fate. Numbly, she’d turned the car toward home.
Her heart rate sped up on the drive, hoping against logic that when she got there, everything would be back to normal. She would find Faolan. Red and Lilly would be there waiting for her, Shadow would be crying for her attention.
Opening the door to the kitchen, Elena braced herself as she entered. She was driven to her knees by overwhelming loss. Howling to the fates, she raged, shaking her fists, screaming in the emptiness that was now her world. How could she have found her love, her destiny, only to lose him so cruelly? How could any God have taken him and the baby they had made, the evidence of their love?
Faolan had spoken to her soul from the very first, and she had wasted precious time fighting it. Why hadn’t she turned around the moment she smelled him that first day and claimed him as hers?
Why had they spent one minute outside each other’s arms?
It didn’t matter if you believed in the gods and goddesses or the one great God, Elena knew it was all a lie. There was no God. No all-caring, all-powerful being would be as hateful and cruel as to take her love. To rip her body apart rather than let a baby form and grow. No God could have left her so barren and bereft.
Then as suddenly as it had come, the rage had left her, replaced by tears that seared her eyes and closed her throat. Great wracking sobs had wrenched her body, consumed her, ripped from her throat in an agony of the soul. Elena had collapsed on the floor in her overwhelming grief, and stayed there.
She’d awakened the next morning still on the kitchen floor, and struggled to get to her feet. Her body was weak from the injuries and the cold, hard floor had offered no comfort. She couldn’t face another day; she needed protection from the realities of her life. She taken her pain medication with a large glass of water and found her bed.
It still smelled like Faolan. Dear God, what was she going to do? Before a fresh wave of tears overtook her, she lay on his side of the bed, buried her face under his pillow, and breathed the scent of him, waiting for the drugs to take her to oblivion. It was how she had spent her first week at home, drugged, in bed, barely drinking and eating enough to stay alive.
It had taken another week before she’d discovered the rest of it. She’d woken one morning to find Shadow lying on the bed with her. Shadow? How had he gotten there? She’d jumped out of bed and run through the house calling for Red and Lilly, her voice cracked from disuse. Shadow’s meow was the only reply as he followed her from room-to-room.
She’d run across the yard in her pajamas and bare feet and raced up the stairs to their flat. She hadn’t even thought of looking in the flat since she’d returned. They must have returned from wherever Red had taken Lilly to heal. Lilly must be all right now!
Elena banged on the door with all her might. Her knock echoed back, the flat was silent. When she tried the handle, the door swung open. It was as though Elena had gone back in time. All of Red and Lilly’s things were gone. The only sign they’d ever been there was a note propped on the counter in Lilly’s neat handwriting.
Elena,
We packed while you were in the hospital. We are glad you will be all right in time. We waited to bring Shadow until you were well enough. We won’t be returning. It’s too painful.
Forgive us,
Lilly and Red
Returning to the house, Elena realized they must have checked on her while she was in the hospital. They’d known how long she was there and they’d known she’d lost the baby. Yet they hadn’t come to visit. Instead, they made sure they never had to look at her again. Faolan’s death was her fault. Losing the baby was her fault. It was all her fault, she should have returned the farm to Worthington from the very beginning. Now she had paid for trying to get the best of him, with the loss of everything dear to her.
She’d wondered if Lilly and Red had returned to Beauly, the island, or somewhere different. Somewhere without such painful reminders of the past.
****
The days had turned into weeks, and Elena realized the awful truth was she didn’t have the courage to die. She would live with her grief, afraid all the while that if it lessened in time, she would no longer be able to see Faolan. She never wanted to feel better; she would always want to keep Faolan in her heart.
As the months passed, Elena realized that having Shadow to care for had probably saved her life. He depended on her to feed him, to give him water. He followed her incessantly, never leaving her side. They engaged in those silly conversations between cat and human that left no doubt which one was smarter. He gave her unconditional love at a time she thought she would never know love again. Of course, it wasn’t the same as her feelings for those she’d lost, but it was love, it was returned, and it kept her sane.
****
She’d tried to track Martin III down not too long ago. Not to talk to him, just to see if he’d made it out of that ceremony alive. To see if she still needed to worry he would come after her. After a few useless Internet searches, she’d finally just called the firm. She’d posed as a potential client. Yes, Mr. Worthington was still the senior partner, and of course, he was still alive. However, when she’d asked to make an appointment with him, she was told he was currently on a leave of absence due to a medical condition, and could someone else help? No, thank you!
If he was still around, then she was still in danger. Somehow, her life had become important to her again, and she was not willing to have Worthington steal anything else from her. Not her life and not her farm.
Tonight at midnight, the farm would become officially hers. No more strings attached. She’d once vowed to Faolan that Worthington was not going to kill her before the six months was up. So now, here she was, three months after losing everything, ready to think about saving herself.
At least she could give Faolan that much. She was a MacGailtry now, and the farm would return to the MacGailtry hands. By God, it would not go to Worthington.
Elena had been expecting him or one of his underlings all week. She believed he would send someone tonight. He would make one last effort to reacquire his land. If so, Elena was ready.
Chapter Forty-two
Elena. Liam had been trying to get her out of his head for the last three months. Something had happened at Beltane. Something he couldn’t explain, and something he’d worked hard to keep hidden. He’d let Elena sense just a little of his feelings, but he knew it hadn’t been the time, nor the place.
When he’d put his hands in her hair, his lips to her neck, everything had changed. He’d wanted to pick her up and carry her off to his house, to keep her, to make her love him, and to claim her as his. Nothing about Elena ever went smooth for the Worthingtons, he thought wryly.
Liam had been trying to get at her for the past week. He’d tried everything he could think of, and still he couldn’t get near her. His father had understood. He’d tried too. That didn’t make it any easier to take. They would give it one last try tonight, in order to take advantage of the legal loophole his father had left. If she died before midnight, the land reverted to his father.
Actually, it didn’t matter much when she died, the land would always come back to them. He was confident that his father could make whatever necessary paperwork appear in the appropriate land office. Killing her tonight would be more expedient. Now that Martin was in charge of the Order, they had nearly unlimited resources at their hands. There were people from judges to clerks who would be happy to do a favor for the Master. Still, it would be better if no one else knew about the farm.
Liam had decided that if it didn’t work tonight, all bets were off. He would approach his father, tell him of his feelings for Elena, and seek permission to take her for his own. His father was the most powerful Druid alive, and if they worked together, it was well within their power to make Elena care for Liam. If he were her husband, what was hers would be his. Either way, the Worthingtons would have this farm.
Someone had placed protective wards around the farm shortly after Beltane. The wards were one of the things that kept them from getting too close to Elena. Neither of them had been able to approach the perimeter of the farmhouse without bumping into an invisible field that turned them away despite their own intentions. Each time he’d tried to cross the boundary, he found himself suddenly facing the opposite direction, momentarily forgetting where he’d been going. He had walked the entire perimeter last week, looking for a weakness. There was none.
The wards weren’t the only things causing problems for him. After confirming that the wards were actually in place around the entire farmhouse, Liam had returned with a rifle. Last night he’d come up close to the boundary, hidden behind some bushes and sighted his weapon. He was able to aim it through the window, but she wasn’t in the room. He would wait. Then two of those fucking wolves had jumped him. He’d been lucky to get out alive.
He was going to try once more tonight, but he had an extra weapon tonight that should take care of the wolf infestation. He’d brought a tranquilizer pistol. He’d have preferred something larger, but the small handgun version was all he could find on such short notice. He’d broken into the zoo and stolen it from the keeper’s office. He knew he would be lucky to get a dart into each of them, but it was worth a chance. He didn’t want to kill them. They could be valuable bargaining chips, if he got to keep Elena.
****
Elena wasn’t exactly sure she was right in her head, but sometimes there’s a lot to be said for being a little crazy. She had arranged everything so that her library window offered the only clear view of her in the house, just in case one of Worthington’s men was out there trying to kill her tonight. She closed all the shutters except for those on the library windows. She turned on timers for the lamps, so lights came on and went off in different rooms of the house at different times. The goal was to make it appear from the outside that she was moving through the house as she made dinner, ate, and then finally ended the day, as she did every day, in the library.
Elena pulled a chair in front of the windows with the front of the chair facing away from any prying eyes. Her final step was to put a wig on top of a pillow in the chair, so it would look like someone was sitting there reading. She had been putting the pillow there every night this past week. Someone was coming. She could feel him.
It wouldn’t be an easy shot, not with the way she had angled the chair. She knew exactly where the killer would have to set up in order to take his shot. Only Elena wouldn’t be in the library as he would expect. She would be right behind him, in a spot between an outcropping of rocks and hidden by bushes.
In Great Britain, acquiring a gun is a lot more difficult that it was in the Wild West state of Arizona. Unless you’re a hunter, of course. Elena had bought a shotgun shortly after returning to the farm. She didn’t want to have to aim, and she wanted the bad guys to know she didn’t have to aim.