Highlander's Claim: Time Travel Romance (The Matheson Warriors Book 2)
Page 1
Cover Copy
He seeks the one his heart desires...
Ailith, the granddaughter of the King of the Fae, travels through time when needed to aid her half-blooded Earthbound kind. Her ability allows her to see visions of war and destruction before it unfolds, and now death is coming for one of the fae warriors she is called to protect, except to save him, she must first discover exactly who he is, and which time he might come from.
Warrior shifter Hunter Matheson is intrigued by Ailith when she arrives through a portal into his twenty-first century time from the year 1211. A feud rages over eight-hundred years in the past between his fae-blooded shifter clan and their neighboring enemy, and now he’s driven in his desires for her, would give his life to protect hers. His fierce need for her strikes him deep within. He’s certain she’s the woman who holds the other half of his soul and now there’s nothing he won’t do to remain right by her side, no matter what war she seeks to halt, or if he’s the very warrior she must save from certain death.
Can Ailith keep Hunter safe, or will he perish exactly as she’s foreseen?
Also by Joanne Wadsworth
The Matheson Brothers Series
Highlander’s Desire, (Book 1)
Highlander’s Passion, (Book 2)
Highlander’s Seduction, (Book 3)
Clan Matheson Series
Highlander’s Kiss, (Book 1)
Highlander’s Heart, (Book 2)
Highlander’s Sword, (Book 3)
The Fae Series
Highlander’s Bride, (Book 1)
Highlander’s Caress, (Book 2)
Highlander’s Touch, (Book 3)
The Matheson Warriors Series
Highlander’s Shifter, (Book 1)
Highlander’s Claim, (Book 2)
Highlander’s Courage, (Book 3)
Highlander’s Craving, (Book 4)
Highlander Heat Series
Highlander’s Castle, (Book 1)
Highlander’s Magic, (Book 2)
Highlander’s Charm, (Book 3)
Highlander’s Guardian, (Book 4)
Highlander’s Faerie, (Book 5)
Highlander’s Champion, (Book 6)
Highlander’s Captive, (Short Story Book 7)
Regency Brides Series
The Duke’s Bride, (Book 1)
The Earl’s Bride, (Book 2)
The Wartime Bride, (Book 3)
The Secret Bride, (Book 4)
Princesses of Myth Series
Protector, (Book 1)
Warrior, (Book 2)
Hunter #2.5, (Short Story)
Enchanter, (Book 3)
Healer, (Book 4)
Chaser, (Book 5) Coming Soon
Billionaire Bodyguards Series
Billionaire Bodyguard Attraction, (Book 1)
Billionaire Bodyguard Boss, (Book 2)
Billionaire Bodyguard Fling, (Short Story Book 3)
~∞~
HIGHLANDER’S CLAIM
by Joanne Wadsworth
The Matheson Warriors, Book Two
Table of Contents
Cover Copy
Also by Joanne Wadsworth
HIGHLANDER’S CLAIM
The Legend
Cherub –
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Bonus Scene
Coming Next – Book 3
Want More of These Characters?
Author’s Note
Joanne Wadsworth
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The Matheson Warriors Series
Other Series by Joanne Wadsworth
Copyright: Highlander’s Claim
The Legend
In the twelfth century, a man named Gilleoin became the first and only known man to hold bear shifter blood, an ability gifted to him by The Most High One. His clan was called Matheson, and when he mated with a woman carrying faerie blood, they created a line shrouded in secrecy, a line guarded by the immortal fae princess, Cherub. Through the endless streams of time, she will be there for them, never forsaking her people, either in the present or far into the past.
Cherub –
The Fae Angel of Love and Guardian to her Earthbound Kind
The ancient House of Clan Matheson, led by Gilleoin, the Chief of Matheson, Scotland, 1211, midnight.
Standing on top of the battlements of the castle, Cherub slid her fingers through her warrior mate’s as a light breeze blew in over the night-shrouded waters of Loch Alsh. The surface rippled with the reflection of the moon and a glittering array of stars. In the distance, farther along the curve of the bay, the fae village sat, the homes cloistered tightly together and surrounded by a tall stone wall. Puffs of smoke escaped the thatched-roof abodes and sparks flared from the central fire pit. Cherub leaned her cheek against Kirk’s shoulder and softly sighed. “I wish there was more I could do to bring those of my fae kind who are soul-bound together. I’m always anxiously awaiting the next full moon to rise, for the air itself to bring to me the secrets it holds.”
“Then we wait, and while we do, we keep an eye on our enemy.” Kirk brought her hand to his mouth and gently kissed her fingertips, his lips whisper-soft and his touch warming her heart and soul. As he turned his gaze back out over the water, he surveyed their enemy’s war galley with its taut sail out at sea. The Chief of MacKenzie’s crest flapped from the center mast, Colin MacKenzie himself captaining his vessel from the bow.
Their warring enemy was a thorn in their side, a ruthless chief and warrior determined on staking his claim both on their Matheson land here at the tip of Loch Alsh, and their half fae-blooded people within the village along the loch. MacKenzie was ruthless, a man who fought to the death to take what he wanted, and they’d come up against him time and time again over the years. He was a deadly threat, but she and Kirk, along with her three nieces who’d offered their aid, would turn the tide of this war in their favor. Even now her nieces remained at the warrior encampment farther along their land to the east, where their land bordered Colin MacKenzie’s. Ailith, Cairstine, and Lilias would never falter in their duty of ensuring their Matheson kin continued to hold this land, but most of all, they wouldn’t falter in protecting those of their fae blooded kind who lived here on Earth.
Kirk raised a leather gauntleted hand to the guardsman on duty in the gatehouse and called out, “Alert the point watchman to maintain a vigilant eye while our enemy sails these waters.”
The guardsman lifted his horn and blew. One long blast echoed out over the water and once the MacKenzie had sailed around the corner, an answering trumpeted blast carried to them on the breeze from the point watchman. One blast only, which meant the MacKenzie had continued toward his own stronghold where Loch Alsh met Loch Long.
Cherub blew out a long breath and relaxed into Kirk’s side as he wrapped his arm around her. “We are always on tenterhooks where Colin MacKenzie is concerned. I wish we could be done with him, once and for all.”
“I wish for the same, but thankfully we’ve won each battle he’s instigated thus far and
we’ll continue to do so. We’re Mathesons and we’ll fight until we no longer can.”
“I wholeheartedly—” Three elusive golden threads suddenly swirled all about and she stretched her fingertips toward them. They fluttered all around her hands, threads belonging to her three nieces. She’d never mistake them, not when her nieces were tied to her very essence through their deep family bond.
“Do you see something?” Kirk searched her gaze. “Is something wrong?”
“Nay, but I can see Ailith, Cairstine, and Lilias’s essences, three beautiful golden tendrils.” Her nieces were the beloved daughters of her brother, Cian, the greatest healer amongst their people beyond the veil. Her nieces had also been awaiting their chosen ones these past eight-hundred years, but no bond had yet taken ahold for them with another of their full-blooded fae kind.
Arms raised, she searched out farther with her fae senses as the wind rose and rushed all about. As an immortal time-walker and the faerie king’s daughter, ’twas her duty to see any soul bound matches made, and she did so by opening portals in time and bringing together those who were mated, no matter how many centuries separated them.
With her regal red skirts brushing her ankles, she lifted free from the stony walkway of the ramparts and breezed higher. She swished through the air, her long draping satin sleeves brushing over the backs of her hands as she settled down gently within the closest crenellation.
Kirk bounded up behind her onto the thin ledge, wrapped him arms tight around her middle and held her close, his shifter body a wicked wall of heat at her back and his forearms rippling with fur below the rolled cuffs of his tunic. With his leather-clad legs braced wide apart and his dark hair brushing his shoulders, he was every inch her warrior protector. “Don’t let me disturb you,” he murmured. “Seek the knowledge you’re after.”
“I need to see where their essences are drawn to.” She swished her hands through the air and the three golden threads belonging to her nieces whisked away on the wind toward another place in time, Murdock’s time. “Oh my, they’re being drawn to your twenty-first century, Kirk. I’m certain of it.”
“Interesting.” Kirk licked her neck and nipped her throbbing pulse point.
“It has been three years since I last took my nieces to visit Murdock, but I clearly need to again.” Her eldest niece’s essence whipped ahead of her sisters’ essences and disappeared first into the glittering array of the stars. Excited, she bounced around and wrapped her arms around Kirk’s neck. “Aye, my beloved nieces are certainly next. I need to discover who they’re soul bound to.”
“You can’t sense who they’re mated to yet?”
“Nay, I cannae tell, but I shall once the next full moon rises, when the men they’re mated to will be driven to begin the hunt of their chosen one.”
“Then it sounds like we have another mission ahead of us. I’ve actually been silently hoping your nieces would be next. They’re so courageous, strong, and fiercely independent. They’ll be a good match for any of my clansmen from my own time, likely run them ragged too, just as their aunt did with me.” Pressing her back against the edge of the crenellation, he trapped her between him and the craggy stone. With his hands sliding around her upper torso, he brushed his thumbs along the undersides of her breasts, and made them ache in a delicious way.
“I love it when you touch me like this.”
“I believe I love it more.” He cupped her full breasts in his hands and the ache intensified. Heat coiled low in her belly and flared out. Oh my, she needed even more of his divine touch. “Cloak us, Cherub. I intend on having my wicked way with you right now. Say aye.”
“Aye.” With a mere thought from her mind alone, she cloaked their forms and lifted them free of the ramparts and sent them soaring skyward, right over the loch where the stars twinkled the brightest. She caught her mate’s mouth and kissed him with all the love and devotion she held deep inside her, and he kissed her back just as ravenously.
High enough now that they couldn’t be seen by anyone below, she uncloaked their forms and stroked her fingers along his stubbly jaw. His beautiful golden shifter gaze devoured hers, his mind tunneling deep inside her own mind along their merged link, one he’d created the night they’d first joined together, a link inherent in his shifter line.
“You are my everything, Kirk,” she whispered to him.
“I couldn’t survive without you. You are the light of my life, the woman I live for, love without question, and wish to hold close for the rest of our lives.” He tipped her back in his arms and as he did, she swept them higher and higher toward the heavens, giving herself completely over to the depth of their bond and the intense love they held for each other.
This was the soul bond.
This was what she wanted for all her fae kind.
This was eternal love.
Chapter 1
The Matheson warrior encampment, the next night…
Wispy streaks of fog clung to the still surface of Loch Alsh along the pebbly shoreline of their Matheson land edging their warrior encampment. Not a ripple marred the surface, the darkened waters holding the mirrored image of the sliver of moon high above and a smattering of glittering stars. Ailith thumbed her chin as she eyed Cherub and Kirk, who seemed to have strange smiles on their faces tonight, like they did when they knew something she didn’t. “Are you two going to spill the beans? What’s causing those smiles?”
“We’re smiling?” Still smiling, but now covertly, Cherub leaned back against Kirk and her mate encircled his arms around her waist, his chin resting on the top of her aunt’s golden head.
Witnessing the intense love which flowed between her aunt and Kirk always brought such a sense of wonder to her very soul. Cherub had been alone for a thousand years before finally finding her chosen one, and oh, what a journey her aunt had experienced when Kirk had begun his chase of her. Never had her aunt imagined she’d be able to continue doing to duty while mated to her warrior shifter, but Kirk had given Cherub his vow to always remain at her side and offer her his aid, and hadn’t faltered. She and her sisters had stepped up too, helping to ease the burden by remaining here at their warrior encampment. “We share everything with each other. You must spill.”
“Well, what if I told you that last night I sensed yours and your sisters’ essences forming a soul bond with men from the twenty-first century, within Murdock Matheson’s clan?”
“Please, dinnae say you’re pulling my leg.” She and her sisters had remained unmated for centuries upon centuries, and they’d all but given up the hope that they’d ever forge a mated bond with another. ’Twas what they desired though, with all their hearts.
“No leg pulling, I promise.” Cherub crossed her heart. “I’m not exactly aware of who the three of you are mated to, but I certainly saw your essence and your sisters’ being pulled through time. Yours soared through first, quickly followed by Cairstine’s then Lilias’s.”
“’Tis another three weeks until the full moon rises, and we both know it takes a full moon for you to sense any mated bond actually taking form between a mated pair.” How irritating. She had a mate awaiting her in another time, only she would have to wait three weeks before the chase could begin.
“Aye, that is true, but ’tis only a matter of time now until we discover who you’re mated to. Those three weeks will pass in a blink of time. I’m certain of it.”
“Whenever my sisters or I have traveled to the twenty-first century, you’ve never allowed anyone other than Murdock, the Chief of Matheson, to see us. Will that change?”
“Aye, of course. You would be permitted to show yourself to all within Murdock’s clan now.” Cherub settled a hand on her shoulder, her gown’s rich ruby skirts embellished with white lace swishing in the gentle breeze. “If you wish to go sooner rather than later, I will gladly take you. ’Twill give you a chance to meet Murdock’s kinsmen and get to know them afore the full moon rises.”
“I’m needed here at the warrior encamp
ment at present, to be alert for any visions.” One had struck her yesterday, but the images had remained too grainy to decipher. The vision should return soon though, stronger and without any issue. When it did, she would discover exactly what she needed to do to protect her kin here at the encampment. Lowering to a crouch in her black leather breeches and loose-sleeved cream tunic, her wrist daggers sheathed and sword belted at her side, she gently laid one palm against the land. This was how she connected to her visions, by touching the soil beneath her feet.
A gentle hum emanated from the fae who lived at the village farther along the loch, the sweet cadence one that spoke to her very heart. Searching farther afield with her combat skill, she followed the curve of the land for several miles until she reached Colin MacKenzie’s stronghold. She sent her senses down deeper and hit an oily residue, one which blackened her vision. Pushing past it, she sought more.
Images swirled, a barrage rolling one over top of the other and she clutched ahold of the strongest of the images and locked it in place. No graininess. Far better than yesterday. Exactly what she was after. Colin MacKenzie stormed along a darkened passageway deep within the lower bowels of the earth, his fists clenched and the two war braids plaited in his shaggy brown hair swaying. He rounded a corner and stepped up to a guardsman on duty, the dank and musty recesses of the passageway clogging the air and her throat. Keeping her focus though, she stayed with the MacKenzie as he snatched a ring of keys from the guard, selected the right one and slotted it into the lock of a thick cell door with panels of steel. These were his dungeons, of which she and Cherub had never been able to trace the exact location of, an annoyance for certain, although one day they would find them.
Metal scraped against the stone and dirt floor and the MacKenzie swung the door open and stepped inside. She followed him and entered a cell which reeked of blood and death. A single candle, almost burnt to the wick in an iron holder in the corner, cast its flickering glow over the blackened stone walls, and in one corner, a man hung from the ceiling, his wrists clamped and chained high, his body caked in dirt from head to toe. Only the whites of his eyes showed as he narrowed them on the helmed guardsman exacting his torture. The guardsman slammed his fists into the captive’s side, then swung him about on the chains and landed more punches into his back. Brutal hit after hit landed, and the prisoner’s pained grunts echoed within the cell and squeezed at her very heart. He got wrenched about, his tunic and breeches torn into shreds.