Highland Defiance (The MacLomain Series- Early Years)

by Purington, Sky

  Adlin let peace settle over, used his magic and locked eyes with Jim. “I think you’re mistaken, lad. You became interested in the rock and Mildred wandered off. Then you found her here.”

  Jim’s shoulders tightened then he seemed to relax. “Maybe you’re right. Not sure how I missed that.”

  David spoke up, confused. “You didn’t miss anything, Jim.”

  Adlin locked eyes with David. “Are you quite sure?”

  David blinked rapidly then frowned. “Maybe you’re right, Jim. She is hard to keep track of sometimes.”

  Mildred looked in amazement between the men then back at Adlin. He winked. Her eyes rounded. The power of absolute persuasion was amongst the very least of his ‘magical talents.’

  “So are you done being upset with me, Mildred?” he asked innocently. “After all, a Scotsman can get a wee bit lost on occasion.”

  Her eyes rounded further, just now taking in his pants and shirt, his nineteen-forties garb.

  “I’ll take that as a yes. But now that we’ve found each other, I’d like to go back to your house.”

  “Off course,” she said softly. It took several moments before she repeated in a far more confident tone. “Of course.”

  As if she didn’t know what else to say she looked at her friends. “Jim, David, this is Adlin. Adlin, my friends, Jim and David.”

  Her friends seemed less than impressed, their eyes crawling over him like two predators more than willing to work together to bring down the prey. When Mildred continued to hold his hand when they left the ancient Stonehenge and headed through the woods, he was well aware of the dark looks cast by the other men.

  Good. They should want to protect her from what they perceived as a threat.

  As he walked, Adlin marveled at actually being in a place he’d only ever dreamt of. This was his first time in Salem, New Hampshire and knew it would not be his last. When her house appeared through the woods it was, in its own way, a homecoming for him.

  The old colonial with its sturdy Oak tree out front seemed to patiently await his arrival like an old friend. This had already been and would be for hundreds of years to come, an important part of his life.

  He wasn’t surprised in the least when the front door slowly opened and Mildred’s mother stood in the doorway waiting for them. Eyes both tortured and relieved, she stepped out and whispered, “Adlin.”

  “Sarah,” he replied. “It’s so good to see you again, lass.”

  Eyes as round as her daughters, she shook her head and touched her cheek, “You haven’t aged a day.”

  Adlin smiled warmly and embraced her. When he pulled back he said, “Well, it hasn’t been all that long.”

  Only then did it occur to her that Jim and David were there. “Of course not. Only a few years or so.”

  “That’s right,” he responded and winked.

  Mildred turned to Jim and David. “I’m so sorry but the family needs to catch up with Adlin. Can we get together later?”

  The men nodded and agreed but Adlin didn’t miss the steady, untrusting look Jim shot him as they walked away. Nor did he miss the waves of jealousy coming off the man.

  But that was the least of his concerns right now.

  What soon became more pressing was the way he felt when he entered the front door. Time wavered and for a split second he saw what this house looked like when he’d walk into it both in its past and in his future. Not only that, he’d walk into it in its far future. It was a complicated feeling and certainly not the first of its kind.

  This house was most certainly part of his life thread pre-laid by the gods.

  With low ceilings, he nearly had to duck to go through the doorway. As if he knew exactly where to look his attention swung to the man and woman sitting in the kitchen to the right. Their eyes narrowed.

  They’d known he was coming.

  “Jonathan, Irene, this is Adlin,” Mildred’s mother said.

  Both stood. Both were more powerful witches than their sibling.

  Irene, tall and attractive in an earthy way, looked at Mildred. “It’s him.”

  “Of course it’s me,” he replied.

  When Irene strode his way and slapped him in the face, he remained still. Nose to nose, her eyes narrowed further. “Arrogance might work with Mildred, but not with me. You put my sister through hell for years. Shame on you.”

  Mildred’s mother, Sarah, sunk slowly into a chair. Jonathan stepped forward but froze. Mildred clutched the doorway.

  He deserved everything Irene threw his way. “Aye, I am sorry, lass. So verra sorry.”

  Long and hard she stared at him until she finally said, “Not nearly sorry enough.”

  Disgusted, she turned and set to making tea. This gave Jonathan his opportunity. Arms crossed over his chest, he said, “It’s always a bad sign when Irene’s temper erupts. Looks like she knows a lot more about you than I do. Explain to me who you are or get out of this house now.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Mildred piped up.

  Adlin cocked a brow at her. “Doesn’t it?”

  Jonathan looked between them, his brooding gaze settling once more on Adlin. “It does.”

  It was hard not to inwardly applaud this lad’s courage. Though sturdy and well-built he wasn’t nearly Adlin’s size. That he stood up to Adlin as he did spoke volumes. That he did so without a shred of fear in his eyes spoke more. Aye, he was a man of war. When he fought—and he would—it would be with the bravery and conviction of a man who understood both himself and the enemy.

  Eyes deadlocked with Jonathan’s, he replied, “I first met Mildred in a dream when she was but a babe. For years I’ve been there, meeting her in dreams as she aged. She was around seventeen when I realized that I’d fallen in love with her. She was twenty when Fate decided that we were meant to meet beyond the dream-state. That was yesterday in this time.”

  Before Jonathan could reply, Adlin continued, clenching his fists. “I have been alive for over five hundred years and currently live in what you call medieval Scotland. I dinnae know why exactly Mildred traveled back in time to see me but she did and not for a second will I ever regret it.”

  Eyes locked hard and long, her brother wasn’t one to be easily convinced. “It’s clear you’ve already hurt her. My question, have you the power to erase yourself from her memory?”

  “No,” Mildred blurted but Adlin put up a hand and shook his head, never losing eye contact with Jonathan.

  “Aye, if that is what she ultimately wants.”

  “Is that what you ultimately want?”

  Adlin appreciated this man more by the second. He thought well considering his short eighteen years. “What I want won’t matter.”

  “What do you want, Adlin?”

  “I want her to want me for the rest of her life.”

  “What about the rest of your life?”

  “It willnae be worth living without her.”

  Adlin felt Jonathan’s magic stir as he looked deeper then found something. “Age,” he whispered. “Slowly but surely. Without her, age will now find you.”

  A warm wind blew within his mind and Adlin closed his eyes. This witch had just seen far beyond what even he could. Stunned, he opened his eyes and nodded. “Aye.”

  Jonathan broke eye contact and stumbled back against the counter. Sarah ran over to him. “Son, are you okay?”

  He nodded and shook his head. “Theirs is a true love, Mama,” he whispered. “A love that will be much harder on him.”

  Adlin stood up straighter, disconcerted and on guard.

  “Well deserved I’d say,” Irene spat.

  “No.” Jonathan shook his head, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead. “Let him be, Irene.”

  No war would ever be the same if Jonathan was fighting in it. And Adlin knew full well that World War II was one that’d go down in history books.

  Mildred was about to chew her nail but pinched the bridge of her nose instead. “I need to understand everything that ju
st happened here.”

  “Of course you do.” Content her son was okay, Sarah went to her daughter. “Come sit down.”

  Mildred did, plunking down at the table.

  “I’ll make everyone some tea,” Sarah declared because Irene clearly wasn’t.

  Irene sat next to Mildred and took her hand. “Are you alright?”

  She shook her head but said, “Yes.”

  Stumped and a bit off center, Adlin leaned against the wall.

  “He’s too powerful for us to get rid of but I can still give him a tongue-lashing if you want,” Irene said.

  “If I want,” Mildred muttered, her eyes rose to Adlin’s. “Today’s all about what I want.”

  “Today and all the days after,” Adlin murmured.

  Jonathan sat as well. “Tell us about your experience traveling back to Scotland, Mildred.”

  Her eyes stayed locked with Adlin’s and she softly said, “He’s my experience. There’s little else to tell.”

  “I find that hard to…”

  “Enough!” Sarah said while she made tea. “Your sister just told you her experience and what she took from it. Leave it at that.”

  “But,” Irene started.

  “No.” Sarah turned. “No, Irene. Despite how much you love us all, you cannot change what is.” She held her daughter’s gaze. “You simply cannot.”

  Adlin felt heartache and confusion rock the room but Sarah’s words kept everyone silent. Sick to his stomach, he watched the family try to cope with all he’d introduced with a steely, silent determination. Shame on him, indeed. What had he done? True, he’d never expected to find her in his time but then again… hadn’t he?

  When the gods had told him she was coming and where’d she’d be he’d rushed there, eager to finally see her, touch her. All along, he could have ignored the temptation. He could have sent another to meet her and take her far from the MacLomain clan. He could have been away, visiting another clan.

  There were so many ways he could have avoided this.

  Her.

  Adlin folded his hands and breathed deeply. The truth was the world would’ve no longer mattered had he not been there when she traveled back in time. The truth was he was selfish and so much in love it physically hurt. Did the harm outweigh the good?

  Never.

  He had been so wrong.

  For him. For her. For everyone who mattered.

  Her eyes shot to him and he knew without doubt that she had heard his thoughts!

  “No,” Mildred said, shaking her head. “No.”

  Surprising even him, Mildred vanished from her chair.

  A look of horror crossed everyone’s face. Sarah looked at him. “Adlin, where’d she go?”

  Petrified, he stared at the empty chair. For all the magic inside him, he felt nothing. “I’ll find her. She’s alright,” he promised and fled the house.

  Blind with fear, terrified, he ran.

  And ran.

  Not traveling nearly fast enough, he shape-shifted into his familiar.

  Wide wings flapping he flew through the forest until he arrived at the Stonehenge and banked a sharp right into the cave in which they’d arrived.

  Then he flew directly into the small Highland Defiance carved into the wall.

  Chapter Ten

  I’m going to die!

  Mildred held onto the ledge, her body swinging high above the crashing waves. While thrilled to be back it hadn’t been her intention to fall to her death upon arrival. But staying in her time knowing that Adlin might somehow swipe him from her memory was terrifying.

  What would it be to never have known him?

  Did he really have the power to make that happen?

  Obviously.

  As she gripped the rock, her chest tightened. Now her family knew. Now she knew. Adlin meant so very much. And she refused to let him let her go.

  A wind whipped up and blew her sideways. She cried out.

  Suddenly, a huge white eagle landed above her. Before she could wonder at its beauty it vanished and Adlin appeared. With a painful grip, his hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her up as though she weighed nothing.

  “Foolish,” he muttered severely as he pulled her into his arms.

  “No,” she cried, holding on tight. “It’s never been foolish. None of this.”

  “Every. Inch. Of. The. Way,” he ground out and crushed her against him. “Why, Mildred? Why?”

  Tremors rocked her body but she held on tight. “Because I do love you. I think I always have. You’re a confusing, complex, oftentimes irritating man, but I understand that about you. Somehow I think I always have.”

  “No.” He buried her head against his chest. “You barely understand a thing.”

  “You don’t have everything figured out.” She wrapped her hands into his hair, small sobs breaking from her body. “I’m sick of you thinking you do. It’s presumptuous and rude.”

  “Do,” he muttered, seeming to lock onto the word. “What do we have?” he asked, burying his nose in her sweet hair. “What will we have?”

  “This,” she breathed, her body quieting next to his. “Is exactly what I want. You asked me earlier what I wanted. This is it, you are. How else can you explain me coming back here? I feared losing you and suddenly I returned to the Defiance.”

  Adlin wrapped his arms around her tighter. Defeated but determined he said, “You’re exactly what I want as well, Mildred. It seems your magic is powerful in matters that most count, matters of the heart.”

  For all she cared, time could cease to exist. Those moments minutes ago back home nearly a thousand years from now had mattered. They’d changed everything. Or had they? Tilting up her head, she brought her lips against the warm skin on his neck and breathed deeply. Spice, sweat, worry, she brought her lips against the vein throbbing in his neck.

  His hand cupped the back of her neck and held tight. “Let’s have our day.”

  Mildred focused on breathing. She’d do just about anything to have ‘their day.’ Carefully, she pulled back and looked up, surprised to see his eyes concerned, desperate, nearly wet. “Yes, let’s do that.”

  Needy, impatient, his lips crushed hers in a kiss that outdid all kisses. If the moment never ended, she’d be fine with that. Their tongues swooped and searched, wanting the moment to never end.

  Before he could, she pulled away and nodded toward the meadow. “Back that way, right?”

  Tall, gorgeous, kilt once more intact, he nodded. “Aye, that way.”

  The moment seemed almost surreal as she sat then jumped off the ledge. Ready to run, be free, she jolted. Highland grass swooshed around her as she ran across the meadow. When Adlin caught up, running alongside, she laughed. Late day sun seemed to follow them in a mad chase. Halfway across the small valley his arms wrapped around her and took her down.

  When they landed it wasn’t jarring but soft, ready, delayed.

  “Too soon, just did this,” he whispered.

  He spoke of her recently loss of virginity.

  “Then use your magic to make it easier,” she whispered back, desperate to unclothe.

  As if the very gods heard her request the winds died and grasses stood still. Their clothes were gone and she had no hardship to face but the feeling of his warm skin against hers. His calloused, curious, weapon-roughened hand skirted over her shoulder then cupped her neck while his fervent body pinned her down.

  And, as easily as his eyes met hers, the sun vanished and night appeared.

  “What did you do?” she whispered.

  “Nothing,” he murmured. “Time is but catching up with itself.”

  Concerned but mesmerized, she watched the full moon rise and blow its lunar light over them. “But Bruce.”

  “Isn’t here yet,” he growled and gave a bruising, delicious kiss.

  Mildred relished the way his muscled legs felt against hers and dragged her inner thighs along them. When he jerked in response, she gave a small womanly smile and wiped her
heels up the backside of his shins. With a sharp inhale of breath from Adlin, she proceeded to tip-toe back down.

  “Lass, you’ll be the end of me,” he moaned and clenched his hot mouth over her tight, expectant nipple. When she cried out his hand grabbed her hip and locked securely in place. He would control. The feel of his long, strong fingers curling around her hip as his tongue manipulated her breast was almost more than she could handle.

  “Here,” she pleaded, her tongue wetting eager lips. When his mouth found its way back to hers, he was given the opportunity to put his member close to her hot center. She pushed up, determined to keep him from escaping.

  “Adlin!” she gasped when he took exactly what she’d offered and grabbed her legs.

  Rolling them until she sat on him, he answered. “Aye.”

  Too late, she sunk. Her eyes rolled back in her head. Full, amazingly alive, she settled into the feeling as his lips skimmed the corner of her lip, cheek then neck.

  At last, he said, “Sit up, lass.”

  Because listening to him seemed so natural, she did. The movement alone caused a flood of pleasure to ricochet through her limbs. There existed nothing more intense than opening her eyes to see him below her, eyes half-mast, his lips apart.

  She was in control.

  Only because he wanted her to be, because he thought her amazing and worthy of…controlling him. Unable to stop herself, she bit her lower lip and closed her eyes. Who cared about having little magic when such a magnificent man was between her legs?

  Mildred breathed in through her nose then out through her mouth.

  Hard and muscled, his masculine body waited, curious about what she could offer it. His hands were so large that they nearly spanned her waistline. His shoulders so wide beneath her that they reflected the moonlight from above, chiseled and making obvious every little sinew of muscle.

  Wind returned. With it rolling clouds and scattered light. The pure energy of it all made her come alive. When she lowered and kissed him she shifted her hips. The slight movement made pleasure skitter through her body. Adlin’s eyes closed. Somehow seeing the unexpected bliss on his face made the sensation rippling through her all that more intense.