Highland Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set

by Unknown

  She was dominant over Rin. It was how a Traveler survived with powerful predators. She controlled his mind and his actions. Usually she did not exercise this power, because she and Rin had grown close. Usually they worked as a team. Not now, though. Now she had to make him go back, make him get better, save his life.

  "Rin. I command you! Go through the Abyss, if you can. Get help! Do you hear me, my sweet boy? You must obey."

  She heard him cry out and she felt his unusually powerful resistance. She pressed on his mind. She forced him to bow to her will even as the tears were streaming down her cheeks.

  And she felt him go. It was a horrific jolt to her mind as he slipped away and their bond shattered. For a moment, she thought she would be sucked away with him. Their minds and hearts were linked. Were their souls linked too? Wherever he was going, she would follow.

  But no. She was here. Intact. Alone. Rin was gone.

  She wept.

  Chapter 4

  Colin didn't find a sea dragon, but there had clearly been one in the waters around Mallochbirn this evening. It had left the musk of its passing, a scent that no other creature could mistake. A male. But there was another scent that lingered in the sea, even as the tides dissipated it—the scent of a female.

  As he examined the female's scent, something jolted him. Not physically. His body flashed hot in a manner that he had never experienced before. At the same moment, he felt a powerful foreboding. It was as if a darkness had enveloped the sea, even though his perception of the dim light around him was unchanged.

  The sea dragon had not come through alone. But the female with him was not another zrakon. She was human.

  Was that even possible? The Barrier was fairly deep underwater. A swimmer on the surface wouldn't be able to access it. And a diver would have to know exactly where to dive, especially on the far side where the Rift was far from any land mass.

  Had the female been a Traveler?

  Colin knew of them, although he had never seen or met one. They were the main message carriers and diplomats in the parallel world. They possessed the ability to meld their minds with sea dragons and other giant predators. They could order them to take them to wherever they wished to go.

  That is, if the stories were true.

  Had a Traveler come through the Barrier? Why? To explore? To spy? Fancy that. He penetrated the Barrier in the other direction to explore, so why shouldn't people from Dunya do the same?

  Even so, Colin knew this sort of incursion could not be permitted. As a Malloch of Mallochbirn, he shared a responsibility to guard the Barrier. If something came through, he would have to find it and send it back. Or kill it.

  That was the risk of crossing between the two worlds. If he were ever caught, he would expect nothing less.

  Colin knew where the Rift was located, but few others did. He might never have found the entrance to the Rift if Ross—the Zrakon—hadn't shown him. As for how Ross had known, he'd told Colin it was instinctive. Something to do with bearing the responsibility for the Barrier on his shoulders. Nobody knew where this ancient duty derived from, although Kate, Ross's wife, had been researching it. There was a lot they still didn't understand.

  The scent left by the creature led Colin to a rocky stretch of shoreline a few miles north of Mallochbirn. The sea was deep here, but a sea dragon with a woman for his partner would have to stay on or near the surface.

  Such a pair should not be in this world. In their own world, sea dragons still lived and ruled the seas. But here it was a very different story. The seas had been claimed by modern commercial and military shipping. Fortunately, the stable part of Rift was located deep in an underwater cavern where nothing like a nuclear submarine was likely to penetrate. Colin shuddered at the thought of advanced technology falling into a world that was still stuck in the Dark Ages.

  Carefully, he surfaced and looked around. In this day of miniature drones and ubiquitous CCTV, you never knew who might be spying on you. So he swam cloaked, which gave him protection from everything but the most sophisticated detection methods.

  Mallochbirn was a few miles to the south, and the area was sparsely populated. There was no moon. The stars were bright, but nowhere near as brilliant as they were in the other world, which was still unclouded by industrial air pollution.

  On the surface, he sensed something else. Something dark, foul, and evil. He knew that scent signature, too. Vampire? Had the Traveler popped into this world only to be seen and attacked by a vampire? Fuck. As if things weren't complicated enough.

  A few more meters and he was swimming in blood. It was not what a human would imagine as swimming in blood; the sea had not turned red, but all his chemical receptors could sniff out the molecules that had been loosed into the water but a short time ago. He wasn't the only one who smelled it, either. Fish of all types were already moving into the area. Something or someone was either bleeding or dead.

  He dived. He was almost afraid of what he might find—a magnificent but dead creature who was not of this world. His great sea dragon heart pounded at the thought of seeing a zrakon dead on the bottom, torn apart by sharks. But he found nothing in the depths except the scent of more blood.

  This site was close to the Barrier. Had the creature slipped back into the other world? Had he taken the Traveler with him? Was she still alive? He thought so. Her scent was still strong in this world.

  Her body was not here, and Colin did not smell her blood.

  He wondered about her. She wouldn't be like him—a human/sea dragon shifter. In Dunya, sea dragons weren't shifters; in fact, as far as he knew, there were no shifters there, although he reminded himself that shifters didn't exactly make themselves obvious. They were in the closet here on Earth, too.

  Did she know what had happened to her animal companion? What would she do now? How could she get back to the Barrier and back to her own world if her sea dragon was dead? Surely, she could not swim back through the Barrier, which was deep underwater, alone.

  He scanned the shore, looking for the girl. If his perceptions were accurate, she had to be nearby.

  Chapter 5

  Ariane had to find shelter. At least until she could gain some information about this place.

  She had always liked to think of herself as resourceful. Travelers were taught to survive. Living through a calamity and getting back to Zanovar with her report were fundamental to her training. But she had always imagined that she would be with her animal companion, and that any scrape they got into they would escape together. It was unnerving to be lost in a strange world alone.

  At least, she hoped she was alone. She hoped the darkling hadn't entered this world with them.

  She remembered the odd feeling that she and Rin were being herded. Had she been driven toward the gateway? Had he intended her to fall into this world?

  From what she could see around her in the dark, this land seemed beautiful, if a trifle stark with its dry grasses and stony mountains. There weren't many trees in the area, but there was plenty of scrub. There were rocks and hills, some even high enough to be called small mountains, not unlike the geographical features of Arralon.

  It was cool here, too. Nothing like the hot clime of Zanovar. She would need warmer clothes. Food and water. A place to sleep. Her supply pack, which was waterproof, had contained fresh clothing and other items she would need in an emergency, but it had been torn away.

  Once she met with other people, she would need currency. She would have to learn their language. Her facility with language had been one of the things that had helped her during her training as a Traveler. She had a good ear and the ability to make any sound. But even if she learned fast, she would initially be unable to communicate. And that would make her suspicious.

  Oh Mother. The tasks ahead of her seemed impossible.

  There was a hill rising away from the shoreline not far to her right. It marked one cusp of the small crescent bay. If she climbed up there, she would be able to see what lay to the south. I
t looked high enough to give her a good view. The night was dark but not black. The sky was cloudless and the air seemed fresh and sweet. The sea had that briny smell that she loved and the breeze wafting over the hills conveyed the scents of plants and wildflowers.

  She hoped it wouldn't be far to the nearest village or town. There were many dangers in mixing with the local folk, but she would not be able to survive alone for long unless she found a source of food and water.

  The climb to the top of the headland required more energy than she had expected. But what she saw in the distance down the coast reassured her. There was a fortress built on a small island just offshore. It appeared to be made of stone, and it had towers and battlements.

  Near it, on the surrounding land, she saw evidence of habitation. There were houses and other buildings. She could dimly see lights. She also saw rectangles that denoted cultivated fields. Farms. There would be food, animals, people.

  She hoped they wouldn't be hostile to strangers.

  * * *

  Colin was swimming at the surface, still keeping careful watch for anyone who might be watching him. He was headed back down toward Mallochbirn when he passed a bend in the coastline. He saw something. Someone. On the headland. A woman. She was turned partly away, gazing up at the sky. He did not think she would be able to see him, even if she looked directly at him, because of his low profile in the water.

  It was the Traveler. He knew instantly from the way his blood leapt in his veins.

  He reminded himself that in fact he didn't know this was a Traveler. She could be anything. There were many beasts and monsters capable of assuming human form. Here in Scotland, the range of supernatural creatures was broad.

  Still. He felt sure she was the Traveler.

  Her clothing appeared to be shiny and wet, clinging to her lithe body. At first, he'd thought she was naked because it was molded to her form. Her hair, which bound in a braid that fell all the way to her waist, was a soft, shining metallic color. Not silver, but pale gold. She was young. At least, her body looked young. She had a subtle glow that had made her visible to him at a distance at which he oughtn't to be able to see her.

  What the fuck?

  Maybe he was imagining things. She couldn't be glowing. He was probably just a little starry-eyed with his own excitement. This slender nymph standing high on the Scottish coast was not from this world. He almost wished he had not found her, because he had a bad feeling about this. If he could find her, his brothers would also be able to do so. Cameron and his wolves would sniff her out, hunt her down, capture her.

  She was an incursion.

  She was lovely.

  But what was she doing here?

  When they caught her, they might have to kill her.

  Chapter 6

  Once she had scrambled down from the headland, Ariane kept to the shadows. She was hiking along the shoreline in the direction of that castle or keep. She had puzzled over its appearance, because everything she'd read about the world called Gaia suggested that it was a more advanced culture than her own. She would have expected them to build with newer materials and in a different style. Yet the structure on the spit of cliff jutting out into the sea looked like a fortress from her world.

  She felt safer down beside the water, even though the coastline was rocky and difficult to negotiate. She didn't want to get too far from the sea, in case Rin came back for her.

  Stop that. He's injured, maybe dying. He can't come back for you.

  She heard something approaching long before she understood what was happening. A distant droning that she could not identify. As she withdrew into the shelter of a large boulder, the sound resolved into a rhythmic whop-whop. Then she saw a dark shape in the sky. The darkling? She cowered behind the wet rock. Would it be able to see or smell her?

  But no, it wasn't a darkling. The sound was mechanical. As she stared out to sea, she saw the shape more clearly. It hung suspended in the sky, flying without flapping any wings. It moved along the shoreline, heading in the same direction she was moving, but much more rapidly.

  What in Karth's name?

  Whatever the thing was, it was not alive. There might be people inside it, though. Sweet Mother, guide me, she prayed silently. Her scant knowledge of Gaia did not run to flying boats. If people could take to the air in machines here, they wouldn't have much use for a Traveler of Zanovar.

  When the flying thing disappeared in the distance, Ariane ventured out from behind her rock. She was shivering. She needed shelter from the chilly wind. She had to get to that village. Even if she couldn't find anybody willing to help her, she hoped she could at least steal some food, water, and suitable attire.

  She knew how to do this, she reminded herself.

  Somehow or other, she would manage.

  .

  * * *

  Colin was pondering what to do when he heard the helicopter.

  Damn Cam. Bringing out the heavy artillery. Colin had expected him to send his wolves.

  He wasn't sure what the fuck was going on with Cam. Lately his older brother had been more difficult than ever. Even at Ross's wedding, when everyone else had been having a fine time, Cam had seemed brusque and preoccupied. Ross had hinted that his twin had had some sort of unhappy love affair, but Colin didn't believe it for a moment. The prick was incapable of falling in love.

  He knew his brother had a tough and important job. As head of the Council, it was Cam who was ultimately responsible for patrolling the Barrier. If there were incursions, Cam was usually the one who tracked them down and dealt with them. By whatever method he saw fit.

  It wasn't the woman that the helicopter was after, Colin realized as he watched them searching offshore. They were looking for the creature. They probably didn't know yet that the sea dragon had brought a human through.

  Traveler or no, this girl was in need of assistance. She must be freezing. Her beautiful long hair was shiny with wetness from the cold sea. That garment she was wearing might help her retain some of her body heat, but not indefinitely.

  She would also have to be questioned. If he could snatch her, Cam would carry her off to his compound of horrors and do it there. He'd seen his brother conduct an interrogation once. Colin had a strong stomach, but it wasn't something he wanted to observe again.

  No, now that the posse had arrived, there was only one solution. He had to take her back to Mallochbirn. As laird of the region and head of the Malloch clan, Ross could overrule Cam. And Ross had a heart where his ruthless younger twin had naught but an icy stone.

  But first, he needed to find her.

  Colin had shifted back to human form and come ashore near the headland where he had seen her standing. She was no longer there. He stood still to concentrate, trying to get a bead on her. His human senses were not as good as his sea dragon's. He considered shifting to his wolf form so he could track her swiftly, but shifting took magical energy that he might need later.

  He wished he'd been able to locate the sea dragon. Hopefully none of the ords would find the body. If they did, things could get messy fast. As far as anyone outside the shifter community knew, there was no such species of sea creature alive today, and sea dragons did not figure in Earth's evolutionary record.

  It would be like finding a unicorn or a centaur. The last thing they needed at Mallochbirn was a bunch of crazy conspiracy theorists or paranormal weirdoes claiming to have found a mythical creature.

  Cam liked to think of himself as a pragmatic man. You couldn't control everything, so you did what you could. He could do nothing right now about the creature. But he could deal with the woman.

  And he had better do it fast, before anyone else, either Cam's men or the ords, found her. She would not be likely to fare well with either.

  When he'd gone back to human form, he'd lost her scent. Damn human noses—they were bloody inferior. He needed his wolf. Using a small amount of energy, he did a minor shift—just a bit of the forebrain where the nasal receptors were. There. Oh
aye. Now he had her.

  Rich, hot female musk flowed along the shore toward him. She was down near the water now, among the rocks, moving toward the crag that marked the far end of the little cove.

  Her spicy scent made his blood pound. He wasn't sure what was so alluring about it, but he was almost glad to be hunting her. He was a predator, after all—both in his sea dragon and his more common wolf form.

  She had concealed herself, but she would not be able to hide from him for long. If she ran, he would catch her. If she hid, he would sniff her out. He moved more quickly toward her position, still maintaining his human form except for the accentuated canine senses.

  There was a kind of joy about hunting her. Something primitive that he couldn't account for. She was a Traveler of Zanovar. In her world, the Travelers were revered. Demi-godlike, if he could rely on what he had heard during his excursions in her world.

  With the help of books he had smuggled back through the Barrier in a waterproof casing, Colin had learned to speak a language they called the Common Tongue. It was spoken everywhere among educated peoples, as Latin had been during the Middle Ages on Earth. It was also popular among seamen and commoners in port cities, which had been the chief places he had visited in the other world. So he'd had plenty of opportunity to practice.

  He ought to be able to communicate with the Traveler. Once he captured her.

  He did not know what to expect when he approached her, though. Would she be armed? Was she capable of some sort of magical defense? Travelers were seen by commoners as immensely gifted and powerful. Magical beings. They could fly and swim beneath the sea in a world where mass transit and communications had not yet been conceived of.

  His nostrils caught the sharp unmistakable female sweat.

  Her.

  She was moving. But not quickly. If she had been in the water, she must be cold, and that was probably slowing her down.