Highland Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set

by Unknown

  A vision sucker punched me just then, coming out of nowhere. I gasped and fell to my knees as white hot pain twisted through my head. I saw women, a group of them and they were full of magic. The witches. It had to be. The energy’s flavor was the same as the storm, which now that I was focused on it, I realized it matched what I’d felt in Rome.

  They gathered around their prize, but shrieked with fury when they saw it wasn’t me. Malcolm lay in a motionless heap, unaware of the stir he’d caused. The witches pawed at him, moving almost as one, like they shared some kind of hive mind or some other weirdness I could really live without learning about.

  They weren’t in Inverness. Not even close, although I couldn’t pinpoint a city. I had a sense of yawning distance, a jump through time and space followed by a hard landing. Somehow their magic had circumvented the curse anchoring the dragon shifters in place. I wondered if that meant Malcolm could now shift.

  Taking a cue from my thoughts, the scene changed, spinning like a whirling top before settling on another moment in the future, one where Malcolm lived in a dark stone room with a tiny slit for a window. His clothing was tattered and his ribs ran in a raised row up and down his chest. He’d been starved.

  Shift, I thought at him. Escape.

  He stirred, raising his head and looked at me as if he could see me. “I canna, lass. You must save me another way.”

  And then the vision was gone. My consciousness returned to the turret, the floor feeling unsteady and uncertain beneath my feet. My eyes closed, I folded in on myself until I huddled on the floor, hands pressed against my temples.

  Someone kneeled next to me and touched my shoulder. “What did you see, lass?” Alec asked, his voice gentle.

  I whimpered. My temples throbbed, pain sizzling through me like hot fireworks. For all that the vision had cost me, I’d accomplished nothing.

  “Please, lass. Tell us. He’s our brother. Our flesh and our blood.” This was Niall and the pleading sincerity in his voice twisted my heart. I remembered what it was like to have a family and I knew too well the agony of having them all ripped from you, destroyed to serve someone else’s mad whim.

  “Not to mention our mage. We will lose our way out without Malcolm,” added Gavin.

  I shuddered as the headache grew to include my back. Electric tingles zapped along my nervous system as if I had my own personal source of lightning. I’d seen the future, but I had no answers.

  Taking a small breath, sipping at the air so as not to aggravate my head further, I searched for the voice, that coil of presence living inside me, but it was silent. I would have to force it to speak.

  Raising my head, I willed my eyes to open. “I need alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.” So much for running. On this one, it looked like I was going to be all in. The thought terrified me, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I turned my back on Malcolm.

  Alec nodded to Gavin who took off down the stairs. “What are you going to do?” Alec’s hazel eyes had gold flames in them now.

  “I need to get drunk.”

  Niall started to protest, but I cut him off.

  “You don’t understand. I didn’t see enough. He’s alive. I can tell you that much, but I don’t know where or when.”

  “What will the alcohol do for you?” Alec remained still while Niall began to pace back and forth.

  I gestured to my head, miming an explosion. “It blows things wide open.” I reached for Alec, grasping his warm hand in my cold one. I couldn’t say why, but I chose him. Maybe it was that destiny bullshit or maybe it was simply that we’d kissed and it had been special enough for me to feel safe with him. “You have to watch me. I might go a little nuts.”

  “Define nuts.” Niall paused in his pacing and peered at me.

  “I might try to leave. I might…,” I closed my eyes again and remembered how the knife had slipped into my stomach. “Try to hurt myself. Someone needs to spot me.”

  “I’ll do it, donna fash yourself, lass.” Alec squeezed my hand.

  “And we need a safe space. A small room without too much furniture.” I pulled on Alec’s hand, trying to stand up, but my strength had evaporated with the vision. The throbbing in my head swelled until I felt like a balloon with too much air. The pressure of the pulsing inside my skull threatened to blow me apart. I sank back to the floor just as Gavin arrived, a metal flask in his hand.

  “Here.” He handed it to me and then produced a second. “I filled two. If you need more I’ll go back down.”

  I unscrewed the flask’s lid, my fingers fumbling so much that Alec made to swoop in and help me. I pushed him away and finished opening the dratted thing, which, apparently, had been made so long ago it no longer remembered it was supposed to open and close. Tilting my head, I let the alcohol sear my throat until the flask was empty. Shoving it back toward Gavin, I said, “Give me the other one.”

  This time he opened the flask for me before handing it over. I drained it faster than the first. “Do you need more?” Gavin asked, poised at the top step, ready to bolt down if I said yes.

  “No.” I turned my head until Alec was in my field of vision. The world swam around me and I knew soon I would be gone, lost to the power that had decided my body was a good place to call home. “Take me somewhere safe.”

  He didn’t hesitate and quickly scooped me up in his strong arms. His gait sturdy despite my added weight, he descended the staircase. His brothers trailed after us, and peeking over Alec’s broad shoulder, I noted their expressions were a mix of confusion and concern.

  Well, join the club, I thought.

  The world went black around the edges. I didn’t have much time. “Hurry,” I slurred to Alec, urging him on with a pat to his shoulder.

  “We’re almost there, lass. Hang on.” He rounded a corner and ran down a hallway until he reached the end. Then through a door and we were in a small room with only a bed, a chair and a small table to occupy it. Alec set me on the bed and went to shut the door, saying to his brothers, “I will stay with her. You two keep watch in case they decide to come after her again.”

  What Niall and Gavin thought of this plan, I didn’t know. I was gone.

  Chapter Four

  First there was darkness. A sleek blackness that ate light and pressed close against my skin, soft as fur. I waited for it to transform, to mutate into what I needed to see.

  Malcolm. Show me where he is. I whispered those words over and over.

  The voice unfurled, slithering through my consciousness until we were tangled into a tight knot. I lost track of the line between me and not me. We had blended into one.

  I panicked.

  Let me go, I yelled into the blackness.

  The voice wrapped itself even closer, speaking in complete sentences now. I’m under your skin, in your heartbeat, nesting in your mind. I’m you.

  No. I tried to strike out and hit the voice, but there was no gravity in my mind and nothing to push off of.

  I will show you everything. I am what you need. Who you are supposed to be. You aren’t complete without me.

  Then show me, I spat. Make yourself useful and find Malcolm or I swear, when I wake up, I will cut you out with a fucking chainsaw even if it kills me.

  That must’ve impressed the voice, or maybe it just remembered the stabbing, because the darkness gave way to Malcolm’s face. He appeared huge, as if projected onto a large movie screen and I was just an audience member.

  Where is he? I paced inside the auditorium the voice had constructed, wishing I could jump into the screen. Maybe I could be with Malcolm that way, perhaps even save him.

  New York, whispered the voice. An address flashed in my mind, a jumble of letters and numbers. I chased after them, but they dodged me, sliding away before I could put them in order. I gave up, deciding it was futile and let them fade.

  I thought I was done then, thought I could walk away, but the booze must’ve hit me harder than I’d realized because the voice wasn’t finished with
me. I wanted to go, but I wasn’t the one in charge. The screen flickered and the next image came up.

  First, I saw Alec’s naked chest, smooth skin taut over hard muscle and his copper hair licking down his torso like a live flame. He was with someone: Me.

  My breath caught in my throat. What is this?

  He is your future. Meant for you.

  I shook my head back and forth, trying to shake the vision loose, but the image stayed.

  Alec kissed my throat as I sighed and ran my hand over his shoulder, twining my fingers in that glorious hair. Even in my disembodied state, I felt a flush of wet desire wash over me. Alec stroked his hands along my body, teasing my breasts and then the cleft between my thighs. I echoed my own gasp, somehow feeling the sensations from the vision.

  To my relief, the scene finally changed. We were even further into the future. I could tell because I had aged. Little lines crinkled around my eyes when I smiled. Alec and I stood on the castle turret, our fingers intertwined. Not only was I happy, I was older and in the same place.

  What does this mean? I demanded.

  It’s time to change your journey, sighed the voice. To set you on the path you were supposed to walk.

  I wanted to ask more questions, but lips covered my mouth, stealing my air. I couldn’t breathe. The vision faded, the voice receded and I fell into a black void.

  #

  Someone’s mouth was pressed against mine, gently plucking at my lips. I moaned and the kiss ended. Now a hand smoothed my hair from my face. Whoever it was, held my hand, too. Their thumb caressed the back of my palm over and over, the pattern fast and jittery with worry. It annoyed me. I wanted smooth, reassuring strokes, not this bouncy agitation of my nerves.

  The only way to stop it was to wake up.

  I cringed before I even opened my eyes. Right on cue, the throbbing in my head resumed. Between the voice and the alcohol, the word ‘hangover’ wouldn’t come close. Try more like ‘how you feel after being mauled by a sledgehammer and a flu virus at the same time’ and that still wouldn’t quite cover it. The word I needed hadn’t been invented yet. Maybe no one else had ever felt this bad.

  The world had passed through night into day while I’d been arguing with my paranormal infestation. Just to be contrary, the sun shone bright as a helicopter spotlight. Someone had hunted me that way once and the garish light had left me half-blind for a good hour afterwards.

  I missed the gloomy pre-storm weather of the day before.

  Alec sat beside me on the bed, my hand clasped in his. He’d been the thumb that had irritated me into consciousness. I snatched my hand away and frowned at him.

  He knitted his brow at my reaction. “Everything okay, lass?”

  “Were we…kissing?” I touched my lips unable to tell the difference between what had just been a vision and what had actually happened.

  “Aye,” he said with a curt nod.

  Anger heated my belly, but before I could burn him with it, he added, “You asked me to.”

  “Oh,” I said, taken aback.

  “You were screaming.” He twisted his hands. “Something had you and wouldn’t let go. You begged me to do it. I hope that was okay.”

  “It was fine,” I said, my voice short. I couldn’t get the vision of his naked body covering mine out of my head. It made the real kiss mean more than it should have.

  “Did you see anything?” His eyes met mine, filled with so much worry, the copper flecks had gone dark.

  “Yeah.” I moved to sit up and Alec helped me, steadying me with one hand as I swung my legs over to hit the floor. I opened my mouth to tell him where to find his brother, but my stomach had other ideas. With one massive contraction, my abdominal wall yanked me out of bed and to the floor where I vomited up what was left of the Scotch I’d drank.

  Alec, moving as fast and graceful as a cat, gathered up my hair just in time.

  “Sorry, sorry, sorry,” I mumbled. For some reason, tossing my cookies always made me repentant. Like an apology would make it stop.

  “Shush, lass. Tis not a surprise after all ye drank last night.”

  I sniffed and then heaved again, purging way more than I’d eaten the day before. Maybe it was the voice finally leaving me for good. I hoped so.

  Alec kept my hair back and when it seemed like I was finally done, he lifted me to the bed, perching me on the edge. Standing up, he went to a pitcher sitting on the small table under the one window in the room. Pouring some water into a silver goblet, he offered it to me. “Here, drink this. It will help.”

  I accepted the goblet and took in tiny amounts of water, having learned long ago that too much of anything too fast when I was in this state was bad news. In between sips, I said, “He’s in New York. I have an address.” The numbers and letters arranged themselves in my mind’s eye and I rattled them off, but Alec gave me a blank look.

  My shoulders slumped. “Oh right. You’ve haven’t been outside of Inverness for a few centuries.” I straightened back up. “I’ll go with you. You’ll want someone around who knows the world outside of this castle.”

  “I canna go, lass. You’ve forgotten the curse.” Alec raised his eyebrows at me.

  I sighed and fought the urge to slump again. I would not be weak, that would not help me. “I know. I’ll be your maiden or whatever.”

  His eyes lit up and his entire expression became bright and happy. I’d never seen him like that before and it transformed him from handsome to utterly gorgeous. His eyes danced with glints of copper and his smile showed off sculpted cheekbones. Add in his body and why was I so worried about being his maiden again?

  Oh yeah, the voice in my gut was a sociopath.

  I held up a finger, hating to burst his bubble, but not wanting to give him false hope either. “But I make no promises beyond breaking the curse. We barely know each other and I might not be safe here.”

  He kneeled next to where I sat, looking at me as if I was all that mattered in the world. “I will keep you safe, lass. You donna have to worry.”

  “You said that before and look what happened to Malcolm. There are people out there like those witches who will do anything to have me.”

  Alec shook his head. “Once Malcolm is here, between his magic and our strength we will make sure no one ever gets close to you again.”

  “Just promise me one thing, Alec.”

  “What? All I have is yours.” He took the empty goblet from me and set it on the floor so he could cradle my hands in his.

  “If I say I have to run, don’t stop me.”

  He frowned. “I’ll run with you then.”

  “If I’m running it’s because none of you can protect me. You have to let me go.” I looked down, noting the way our fingers had interlaced, same as that moment on the turret I’d seen in my vision. We cleaved together as if we’d been made to fit each other’s curves. The intimacy of it rattled me. I hadn’t been this close to anyone since before the lightning strike. “I can’t take you with me. I don’t want to be responsible for anything else bad happening.”

  He was silent for a moment, unhappy with my request, but he finally acquiesced with a curt nod. “All right, but I will spend my life making sure you don’t have to hold me to that promise. I will keep you safe. You’ve been alone for so long, Sara, you’ve forgotten what it means when someone has your back.”

  I didn’t argue with him. He was probably right. Instead, I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to release the weight of the world on my shoulders. It didn’t work. “So what do we do now?” I freed my hands and moved to lift my shirt over my head, but Alec caught the hem and held it down.

  “Not here, lass.” He glanced around his bedroom. “It’s too small in here.”

  “Okay,” I said, drawing out the word. How much room did Alec need?

  “And you’re soaked with sweat and probably starving. You’re not ready.” His gaze briefly flickered to the pool of vomit on the floor, but he tactfully said nothing.
>
  “We don’t have a lot of time, Alec.” I pressed my lips together until they thinned.

  “Aye, you’re right. But we have a few minutes to set you right.” He stood up. “I’ll show you where the bathroom is so you can clean up while I go find something to break our fast.”

  I followed him out of his room and down another interminable stone hallway to a bathroom barely big enough to fit me let alone Alec or his brothers. I turned to Alec, bumping the sink with my hip as I did so. “How do any of you use the bathroom?”

  I couldn’t even stretch my arms out without whacking a wall. The guidebooks had warned me of tiny bathrooms in Europe and I’d seen enough to know they weren’t exaggerating, but I still found it astonishing. Had Europe originally been colonized by tiny little fairy folk or what?

  “There’s a bigger one on the other side of the castle.” He flicked a switch, turning on a light over the sink. “This one wasna made with us in mind.”

  “Then who did you build it for?”

  “You or whichever maiden showed up first.” He opened a narrow cabinet by the toilet and pulled out a pile of towels. “Although apparently we underestimated your size.”

  I took the towels and hung them on the hooks next to the sink. “I’m not even a big person. I’d say your scale is way off.”

  “Well, the water will get you clean no matter the size of the shower.” He smiled at me, eyes twinkling. “And you donna have to share with me or my brothers, so there’s that. Now I’ll take my leave and find us some food. Come down to the kitchen when you’re done.”

  ***

  The shower stall produced a trickle of water and I kept bumping into the wall, but I managed to wash off the grime of the night before. While I had towels, there were no toiletries, but I had managed to keep my backpack with me through all the chaos. It had the essentials I needed to freshen up, including a change of underwear and a clean t-shirt.

  As I brushed my teeth with my flimsy travel toothbrush, I tried not to think about what was going to happen next. Alec and I were going to consummate the magic that had brought us together. Remembering the kiss we’d shared when we first met, I couldn’t deny that there’d been a tingle, but the idea of something permanent and stable seemed impossible. Those words hadn’t defined my life in a long time.