by Riley Moreno
“She does!”
“I say it is so.”
“She is the Alpha!”
“She is our leader.”
Tears sprang to her eyes again as the pack’s shouts washed over her, but this time there were of joy. She looked over at Cora and the elders, and the old wolf sent her a small, wrinkled smile, nodding her assent.
All it took for one to become Alpha was the pack to accept her as so, and they had. They cheered her as several men broke away from the group, leading Dalton away, and he went with them like a child, not fighting, his shoulders slumped in defeat. She had won, she had finally won. And she was Alpha.
Jana glanced around the crowd as they swarmed her, hugging her, touching her shoulder, accepting her. Finally, she caught sight of what she was looking for. Adrian and Gabe, standing at the outskirts of the crowd, looking unsure for the first time that she had met them. Without a thought, she ran to them, throwing her arms around them.
“And who are they?” Cora’s voice had her releasing them and turning to face the eldest. Jana looked up at Adrian, his light grey eyes laughing down into hers, and Gabriel. So strong, so dark, but with a love so fierce shining in his gaze she felt a wave of warmth rush over her. Finally, she looked back at Cora, unable to keep the smile from curling her lips.
“They are my mates.”
Epilogue
They carried her into their new home held tightly in their arms. Each kissing her soundly before finally setting her on her own feet. Jana laughed as she swayed unsteadily, but luckily Adrian was there to catch her.
“I can’t believe it.”
“Believe what, love?” Adrian asked as he scooped her up again. Jana let out a peal of lighthearted laughter that soon turned sultry as he kissed her, soft at first and then deeper. Biting her lower lip, licking at her mouth as if he couldn’t get enough of her.
She pulled back just enough to whisper into his mouth. “We are mated. You are both part of my pack.” She paused, wonderingly, “and I’m Alpha.”
Gabe smiled down into her laughed face, his own gaze hot on hers as he helped Adrian shed her long, white dress, the same dress she had worn earlier that day as the elders had joined them together, twining the strands of their lives into one.
“You are forgetting one very important thing, my heart.”
She sent Gabe a look of confusion as he continued to smile before whispering hotly in her ear.
“The consummation.”
Her entire body tingly brightly at his words and she realized for the for time that she was completely naked.
They didn’t even make it to bedroom.
Gabriel’s mouth was on hers, sweetly demanding, and she responded because she had to. Her body could deny them nothing, and by her heart, and her wolf’s heart howled in joy as Adrien stepped up behind her, crowding her even closer to Gabe’s hot fingers and questing mouth.
In a second, they were on the floor, Jana on her knees in between the two men that had completely stolen her heart, had changed her forever. She helped them to shed their clothes as well, not satisfied until she had them both back again, only this time there was nothing but skin against skin.
The exquisite sensations had her calling out as their hands moved over her in rhythm as old as time, teasing her, bringing her to the brink only to ease back, until she was panting, begging them.
“Please. Please, Adrian.” She turned her head for one last soul-searing kiss before he tipped her forward, her hands landing on the floor and his hands on either hip. She looked up to see Gabe tilt his own hips forward, his heavy erection too tempting to resist as she sucked him into her mouth. He moaned, low and raspy, his hands tangling in her dark hair, pulling her even closer.
An answering moan was pulled out of her chest as she felt Adrian behind her, the head of his hot shaft teasing at her wet entrance. Unable to beg with words, she moved her body, arching her back in invitation and was rewarded as he grasped her hips once more, sinking deep, deep inside her.
They all paused for a moment, soaking in the sensations of being so connected. But Jana couldn’t stay still for long, the need to move against them hot and urgent.
Jana gasped in pleasure as Adrian pounded into her from behind, every thrust sending her further onto Gabe’s thick cock as he kneeled in front of her. Soon he found a rhythm that had her crying out with every movement, the tension in her body ratcheting higher and higher until finally, it burst, ripping a scream from her throat as her orgasm hit. Adrian stiffened behind her, his climax powerful enough to send another wave shooting through her.
Suddenly, Gabriel pulled away from her mouth, taking Adrian’s place as the other man collapsed on the floor beside them, his hands making lazy circles across her over sensitive skin. A long moan was drawn out of her as she felt Gabe behind her, grasping her hips, sinking all the way in, claiming her.
He leaned over her back until his mouth was at her ear.
“You are ours, now.”
Jana sent a look at Adrian, who was smiling up at her, and then back, her gaze colliding with Gabe’s and she swore she could see sparks fly.
“Always, my love, always.”
THE END.
MY JOURNEYING HIGHLANDER
Highlander Romance
Riley Moreno
CHAPTER I
Bridget made it to the top of the grassy knoll outside Duffus castle and bent over to pluck a sprig of heather. Below the knoll, barely visible, was the scattered group of students she had travelled with – people she felt completely alienated from as she stood on the hillock and looked across at the land which evoked an affinity that took her completely by surprise. She took a diary out from the bag slung across her shoulder and slipped the sprig of heather between the pages. Someone from amidst the gaggle of students was shouting out to her to get back down and join the group, but she was loath to do so. She turned back to the ruins of the castle with a sense of déjà vu and saw a figure standing by one of the walls. Bridget blinked. She had not noticed anyone climb the hillock with her, and certainly not someone whom she seemed inclined to walk towards, rather than away from. Her feet seemed to move forward of their own volition, even as the figure detached itself from the castle wall and drifted towards her, and she found herself standing before a kilted man. His untamed rugged good looks shook her equilibrium and Bridget stood silently staring at him, feeling, even more acutely, that she had seen him before.
‘Good morning!’ the man said, in a charming Scottish accent.
‘Good morning,’ Bridget answered haltingly, allowing her eyes to rove discreetly over his strapping frame. He wore a kilt of navy blue and green with fine lines of red, and a white linen shirt. His dark hair fell in wild waves about his sturdy shoulders and his considerable height required Bridget to raise her head quite high to look into his sea green eyes.
‘You have wandered far, twould seem,’ The man observed and Bridget shook her head.
‘No. I’m with a group of fellow students, come to visit.’
The man’s brow was wrinkled as he took in her drab skirt and blouse, long thick coat and fair hair tied back. For some reason, he felt like he should know who she was.
‘No, no, you have wandered far,’ He repeated, and despite herself, Bridget felt a shiver up her spine. She wanted to run down the knoll and rejoin the group of students but she was rooted to the spot. The man looked incongruous standing there – like a character from a period film; dark and mysterious.
‘I think I’d better go now,’ Bridget said, and turned around to walk back down the knoll, but the group she had come with were no longer there and the mood of the moor had changed. She turned back to the man who was surveying her with greater interest.
‘Where are you from?’ He asked her.
‘Well, not far, actually. We’re staying in…’ Her voice trailed away as she suddenly became aware that she was revealing information to a stranger. The man continued to study her unabashedly, his brows knit in confusion.
Bridget found herself wishing she had dressed up a little more – perhaps put on some makeup and done her hair; worn shoes that flattered her feet, maybe. Her brows came together in a confused but pretty crease. ‘I am a stranger, yes…but somehow I feel like I’m not.’ The man tilted his head to one side, his eyes piercing hers.
‘I must go and rejoin the group. They seem to have wandered off and left me behind.’
The man nodded, and watched as Bridget gave him a brief wave and began to walk slowly down the slope. She slipped on the way down, finding to her utmost surprise, that the man, in a few short strides, had broken her fall with one strong arm. As she was thrown against him, she felt a spark go through her body and she looked up into his face, her brown eyes filled with wonder.
‘Thank you! That was quick…and very chivalrous,’ Bridget observed.
‘You could have taken a tumble to the bottom of the mound,’ he said.
‘Well, thankfully, it’s not a very steep hill so I wouldn’t have been hurt,’ Bridget said, ‘But thank you so much…’
‘Kirk,’ the man said, ‘And by what name shall I call you?’
‘Ummm,’ Bridget bit her lip, hesitating. ‘Bridget.’
‘Ah, Bridget,’ Kirk intoned, giving her name a whole new dimension merely with the inflexion of his broad Scottish accent. She also realized that his arm still encircled her waist and she broke free hastily.
‘I must go now…Kirk…,’ Bridget said and fled down the hill.
The group she had come with seemed to be nowhere in sight, and Bridget looked desperately for them, her eyes combing the moors. She stumbled forward, suddenly afraid, and began to shout for her friend Allie.
‘Bridget! Bridget!’ She heard Allie answer and felt her body being rocked violently back and forth.
‘It’s ok. I’m here, Bridget!’ Allie’s voice was comforting though it held more than a hint of concern.
Bridget opened her eyes and looked into Allie’s frightened face.
‘What happened? Where am I?’ Bridget asked, her voice faint.
‘You slipped down the knoll near Duffus Castle and passed out.’
‘You all left me and went away while I was talking to that strange Scotsman.’
Allie crinkled her nose. ‘What strange Scotsman?’
‘The one on the knoll. Oh, perhaps you didn’t see him.’
‘Perhaps,’ Allie said, looking more closely into Bridget’s eyes.
‘I climbed the knoll by myself and talked to a Scotsman standing by the castle ruins,’ Bridget said emphatically.
‘Hmmm, Bridget, you need to rest,’ Allie said, ‘We all climbed down the knoll together and you slipped, probably on some turf, and passed out. We brought you back to the hotel and there’s a doctor on the way to take a look at you.’ Allie sighed. ‘I’m really glad you came to. I was terribly worried.’
Bridget closed her eyes. ‘I’m telling you, I met a Scotsman in a kilt – good looking, dark hair down to just above his shoulders; tall, sturdy…’
‘Bridget,’ Allie said gently, ‘That sounds like all the Scotsmen you love reading about.’
‘Only this one was real, I promise you.’ Bridget blushed. ‘I stumbled and was going to slide down the knoll when he put his arm out and broke my fall. I felt his body against mine.’
Allie grinned, ‘You did, did you? Bridget, that sounds like one of your fantasies.’ Her attention was diverted by a knock on the door. ‘That must be the doctor,’ Allie murmured, rising to invite the doctor in. ‘Dr. Gavin Mackenzie,’ she said, ‘This is my friend Bridget. The one who had a fall.’
The doctor proceeded to examine Bridget, shining a torch into her eyes and peering into her pupils. Bridget shifted uncomfortably.
‘Bridget seems to have had some kind of dream or hallucination about a Scotsman up near Duffus Castle,’ Allie said, ‘ She claims to have talked to him and doesn’t remember falling. She says she tripped and the Scotsman broke her fall.’
The doctor scrutinized Bridget’s face with greater interest. ‘I see,’ he said, ‘Would you call me please, if you have any further encounters with the Scotsman that you mention?’
He took Allie aside. ‘Is there anything about her medical history I should know about?’
‘Well, she has had seizures on a couple of occasions, but none recently. She’s also given to long periods of silence and perhaps even depression.’
‘Oh,’ the doctor said, ‘I see. A pity. She is very young to be depressed.’
‘She lost her parents in an accident – their boat capsized. And she’s not that young. She’s twenty two.’
Bridget grimaced after the doctor left. ‘He thinks I’m loony,’ she said, ‘and you probably do too.’
Allie grinned, ‘No Bridge, I don’t think you’re loony at all. You passed out and had some kind of weird dream, that’s all.’
‘Ok,’ Bridget said, ‘Think what you must.’
‘The fact is, we’ve all been reading too much Scottish history and seeing too many movies about the highlands.’
‘Hmmm…maybe,’ Bridget said, turning over in her bed.
‘Come have a drink with us. There’s a decent pub across the street.’
‘The doctor says I’m to rest,’ Bridget said, closing her eyes.
She woke to a darkened room. Allie wasn’t in the bed next to hers and Bridget shivered. She didn’t like the dark. Reaching out, she tried to turn on her bedside lamp but found she couldn’t, so she got out of her bed, felt about for the door and opened it. To her alarm she found herself in a strange environment, at the head of a lamplit stone stairway that led down to a large hall. Leading off from the hall was a room from where the sound of voices drifted up to her. Bridget padded down the stairs, apprehensive, and found that the doorway to the room, from where she heard the voices, was ajar. Through it Bridget saw the broad back of a kilted man deep in conversation with a man with rough features, also wearing a kilt.
‘We will strike under cover of darkness,’ the rough looking man was saying.
‘Let us continue this discussion tomorrow,’ the other man said and tossed his hair back. There was something familiar about the way he tossed his head, Bridget thought, panicking as the rough looking man strode out of the room. Bridget looked for some avenue of escape, but her feet seemed rooted to the ground and the man walked straight towards her, and seemed not to notice her at all as he strode past. Bridget’s heart was thumping in her chest; her eyes wide and fearful at the fact that not only was she in a strange place, but something had happened to make her invisible to the man who had just walked past her. The other man turned around as his companion left, and momentarily froze. It was Kirk. Bridget stepped back, but he rushed out of the room and stood before her, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
‘Bridget! You’re here again!’
‘Kirk! You see me! That other man…well, I think I was invisible to him,’ Bridget stammered, now quite scared.
‘Of course I see you! Why wouldn’t I? But why are you here?’
‘That’s a mystery that I need to unravel, Kirk. I don’t know why I’m here. Do you?’
Kirk shook his head, bemused. ‘No, though I am glad to see you. How did you find my castle?’
Bridget shook her head in confusion. ‘I really do not know, Kirk.’
‘Sip a wee dram with me,’ Kirk said and Bridget followed him into the room. The fire in the grate cast dancing shadows on the ornate tapestries and Bridget was mesmerized by them.
‘Come, sit,’ Kirk said, waving her to an elaborately carved chair.
Bridget lowered herself into the chair and looked up at Kirk, who seemed bigger than ever, looming above her.
‘Do sit down please,’ she said.
Kirk threw himself into a chair in front of her and leaned forward. ‘Where are you from?’ he asked.
‘I live
in England – London.’
Kirk took a deep breath. ‘And why are you here in Scotland?’
‘I’m a student of Anthropology and I’m here on a field trip – studying Scottish clans, mostly.’
‘Field trip?’
‘Yes…you know…we make visits to places that we are learning about to experience the culture for ourselves - firsthand.’
‘I see,’ Kirk said.
‘This castle is lovely and very old – archaic and familiar in an odd sort of way. Have you ever thought of renovating it?’
‘Renovating?’ Kirk asked, his brow wrinkled.
‘You know – restore it a bit, maybe change a few things around…’
Kirk looked aggrieved. ‘This is my ancestral home. Generations of the Sutherland clan have lived here, but it has never really required any major renovations as you call them.’
‘I never thought any of the clans lived in their ancestral castles anymore. This is the 21st Century after all.’
‘What did you say?’ Kirk stood up abruptly.
‘Nothing. I didn’t say anything. Sorry if I’ve offended you. I think I’d better go now,’ Bridget said.
‘No, no, no!’ Kirk said, taking her arm as she rose from the chair. ‘You just said something and I want you to say it again.’
‘I merely said that I never imagined any of the clans lived in their ancestral castles anymore…because this is the 21st Century after all.’
‘Come here,’ Kirk said, and waved Bridget to a writing desk. He pointed to a pen and a sheet of parchment paper. ‘Write on this paper…today’s date…if you will.’
Bridget nervously took the pen and started to scratch the paper with it.
‘You will need to dip it into the inkwell,’ Kirk said.
‘Yes, yes of course,’ Bridget answered and did as he bid her to. She then scratched on the paper again and clearly wrote. ‘August 23rd, 2012.’
Kirk picked up the paper and held it up, perusing it with an air of utter bewilderment.
‘I told you that you had wandered far, and so you have,’ he whispered, and Bridget felt her pulse race.