Highland Darkness

by Lilian Jade

  The man still didn’t believe that she had never seen that weird case before. Panicking, Lilith started to struggle all over again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Lilith could feel her mind fogging over. The strangers stood frozen in the hall, staring at her like she was an alien life form.

  “Och, fae, this is the case from your car,” said the arrogant pig. “My brother here ran out to your car to fetch it for you. Then, when we handed it to you … something happened. Do you not remember?”

  All Lilith could do was shake her head. What she wanted to see was the jewelry box that held the letter from her grandfather. She slumped over, ducking her head down low. “I don’t know,” she breathed. “I can’t recall what happened apart from being shot on top of Mount Peak…I mean The Mountains of Glencoe. I remember crawling, falling, repeating the same shit till I got to my car … then everything went black.” Lilith felt dark and dangerous hands fall away as he backed up two steps. She caught her balance, surprised at being freed. That’s when she saw one of the several women in the hall holding onto her jewelry box.

  “Can you not remember the book?” the man with the case said.

  Damn them all, making her feel like a caged bird surrounded by lions and tigers. “No, I’m sorry.” First she would ask for her belongings back. If they didn’t give them over freely, then she would die trying to take them back. Lilith was far from the weak pushover they were making her out to be. “Now can I have my things back?” Lilith felt so faint. She desperately hoped that they would comply. She would hardly be able to put up much of a fight for her belongings when she was dancing dangerously close to the edge of oblivion.

  “No,” came the prick’s simple response.

  With that, Lilith slammed both of her hands into the mammoth’s chest so fast and hard that he stumbled back. She ducked, just missing the butt of a gun that came flying towards her head by a few inches. Lilith heard the men spitting curses as she side-stepped their groping hands, running straight for the woman with her jewelry box.

  “Give me my fucking jewelry box!” Lilith screamed. So close, but not close enough. Something or someone yanked her hair back so damn hard that she flew right back against the wall, into the exact same spot she first started from.

  Searing pain split through her skull as it ricocheted off the wall. She tried to catch her balance, but slipped. She barely managed to hold herself upright, using the wall to steady herself. And just when she thought she couldn’t feel any worse, the prick slammed his entire body weight into her. Lilith’s breath left her in a great big whoosh. She felt both of his hands pressed against her chest just above her breast. All Lilith could do was wail in agony.

  “Angus what are you doing? Let her go … now!” screamed one of the women. “She’s bleeding … oh my God, what have you all done? You’re going to kill her!”

  That’s exactly what Lilith was thinking, because that’s how she was feeling: closer and closer to deaths finger tips. She was going to die far away from home. No family, no friends, alone. And worse yet, a virgin. With that, her body slumped to the ground with a thump.

  “Angus … We cannot have Mark come out to the sight of you killing a woman!” Elle stood there glaring at Angus, her usually creamy complexion now a ghostly shade of gray. Her gaze swept the lot of brothers, her eyes wide with anger at them for everything she had witnessed.

  What had just happened? Angus looked at his hands, which were covered in the fae woman’s blood … what the hell had come over him? The floor was covered in her blood, too. His pulse was beating way too fast. What the fuck had gotten into him? He’d been trying to save her, to protect her from her kind, and he may as well have just killed her and been done with it.

  “I will take her with me,” whispered Angus as he bent to take the fae into his hands; he hadn’t even noticed that she’d fainted. Realizing that she wasn’t breathing, Angus checked for a pulse and found none. Again Angus tried, and still no pulse. “Call for Marcus!” he bellowed to the group of them. He held her limp body gently. “I don’t care what you have to do to find him on his day off. Get him here, now!” Angus saw the horror-stricken look on Hannah’s pale face. He moved past her and climbed the steps two at a time. What had he done? No one ever told him how to deal with a fae. Not even Devlin.

  Angus hated the way his body responded to this fae. The way his body vibrated with anticipation just at the feel of her, the way his cock hardened to full thickness and rudely prodded at her belly, Angus was ashamed at the way his entire being begged to be sated by this fae; why it reacted the way it did, Angus couldn’t fathom.

  Pushing open his bedroom door, he placed her limp body across his desk yet again. He pulled off the beige sweater, now covered in her ruby-red blood. Angus wiped away the blood with a cloth. Her skin looked pale and was fast becoming bruised.

  He checked the back of her head and found some deep cuts that would need stitching. Angus doubted that this female would enjoy having bald spots. He would tell Marcus to glue the wound closed.

  Angus slid his gaze over her slim, gifted body. Her tribal tattoos continued to fascinate him. They were exactly the same as the ones he’d seen in his dream. The dream where some soft, feminine creature rode him like she couldn’t get enough of him, her sweat-slicked body sliding over his, her breasts swaying as she rode his hard shaft. He could almost hear her moans; almost feel her sex gripping him, milking him over and over.

  Angus suddenly had images of licking the tribal tattoo that covered the width of her hips right down to her clit and taking her into his mouth. Damn it. He had to stop thinking like that. This fae woman wasn’t the woman from his dream; he had to stop acting like a sick pup.

  Angus shook his head clear as a knock sounded at the door. “Come in.” Marcus walked across the room with his kit. Angus immediately backed away to let Marcus work his magic. Forty-five minutes later, the female was cleaned, stitched, and injected. She was breathing, but sound asleep in Angus’s bed—just as she had been earlier that evening.

  This time Angus decided he would wait next to the bed while she slept. He would find a way to talk to her without having to touch her. That was the best way. He couldn’t hurt her anymore. He owed it to Devlin, not to mention his parents. They hadn’t raised him that way. Angus had never laid a hand on a woman before. A woman is a woman, no matter the species.

  So he would wait beside her as she slept, and he would make her understand.

  Lilith woke to a soft, burring sound; her body was warm and tucked in soft blankets. She was in complete darkness apart from a soft glow at the other end of the room coming from the fireplace.

  Lilith turned her head to see if she could tell what was making the noise. Lilith gasped at the sight of the pompous ass who had handled her so roughly sitting inches from the bed. Her sharp intake of air must have been louder than she thought, because Mr. Dark and Dangerous stirred. His eyes flew open and his body went rigid, ready to pounce out of his seat. As his eyes bore into hers, Lilith shrank away from him, lifting the blankets as if they could protect her and keep him at bay.

  “Relax, I …” he trailed off. He cleared his husky throat before trying again. “I’m not gonna hurt you.” Lilith whimpered, though she hadn’t meant to. She hated that he got that reaction out of her. Dark And Dangerous winced as if Lilith had slapped him. He sighed. “Honest, lass. I promise I will not harm you. But you must promise not to try to leave or they will find you and kill you.”

  What was she supposed to do? Yes, Lilith believed someone was out to hurt her, but who? And why? If she needed medical attention, how would she get it if she were being held captive by this man?

  “Promise lass, you must not leave my keep,” he insisted.

  Would Lilith make that promise? She had to find out what was going on. She had to get her things back. Maybe she could make a deal with him. She’d promise to stay, but only if he promised to give back all her belongings. Yes, that would do just right.

  “La
ss?” he pushed. He looked as if he wasn’t sure if he was doing the right thing by offering some sort of truce with her.

  “Only if you promise me that you will go down and gather all my belongings and give them back to me. I want every single item that is mine returned—even the suitcase if it is indeed the one from my car. If you give everything back, I will do what you ask. Now if you don’t mind, I’m kind of hungry.” There. What would he say to that? Surely it wasn’t too much to ask for.

  “Belongings and food … fine. You promise to stay inside the keep and not step a foot outside of my doors?”

  Lilith nodded. “I promise.”

  Angus stood and walked to the chest at the front of the bed. He bent down to retrieve some clothes and tossed them at her. “Change into these. And lass—I want answers.” He turned his back to Lilith. She was puzzled by his demand, but she decided not to push her luck.

  Angus waited patiently as the woman slipped into the clothes he had given her. As the fae dressed, he could smell her sex like he could his own cologne. Angus felt his cock harden instantly. She smelled of all things forbidden. He found her scent to be so heady, it was as if he could get drunk just by the smell of her.

  He could hear the rustle of blankets, her light footsteps padding on the rug. The sound of a zipper being yanked up in haste. Thanks to Elle, the fae had a pair of women’s jeans, along with one of his button-up dress shirts. Angus wasn’t quite sure why, but the thought of her wearing his clothing was incredibly sexy.

  “Done,” the fae whispered, snapping him out of his daydream.

  Turning back to take a look at the woman, Angus became harder than before. Thank the gods it was too dim for her to see his fully engorged cock. She looked like she belonged in his clothing. His black and silver pinstriped shirt came to mid-thigh on her. It fell open to reveal her collarbone. Her hair was loosely platted, hanging over her right shoulder and down between her breasts. His shirt seemed to cling to her like a second skin, and he could see her pointed nipples through the fabric. Angus could tell she wore no bra under his shirt. His brothers would be able to tell as well. At that thought, Angus wanted to keep her locked up in his room while he went to fetch her food and belongings. He didn’t want anyone else to see her in such an intimate way.

  The jeans were a tight, snug fit that hugged all her curves, showing off her full, rounded backside. “Please stop that,” she said in a hushed tone.

  Angus shook his head. “Stop what?” he said in a low, gruff voice that almost didn’t sound like his own.

  “Looking at me like that.”

  “Like how?” Angus prodded, even though he knew exactly how he was looking at her.

  “Like you’re going to eat me alive … are you going to get my stuff?” Angus watched as her face reddened slightly. He smiled inwardly at himself. He liked how he had finally caused the fae’s body to react towards him. She’d been doing it to him all night.

  He would take her downstairs and eat with her since he had missed dinner. Then they would talk before he handed over the fae’s things. He would also find out what was inside that case. “We will both go down and eat,” he said. “When we’re done, I’ll gather your things for you.”

  Angus looked at the woman, waiting for her to find some argument she had regarding his plans. He was surprised to instead hear her say, “Lead the way, Master Yoda.” Angus glared down at her, because she knew damn well that he was neither green nor small. Instead of falling into the fae woman’s attempt to get a rise out of him, he decided to shrug it off.

  Opening the door, Angus led the way down the three flights of stairs, down the long narrow hall and into the kitchen. Angus made good work to keep an eye on the woman in case she decided to make a fast getaway. But the fae woman made no move to endanger herself by trying to run. In fact, she stayed right on his heels, as if she was shielding herself with his body from something or someone. Or mayhap she was hungry as he was. “Come, sit,” he offered.

  The fae woman sat at the table, obeying him like a dog obeys its master. Angus winced at the thought; their relationship would be nothing of the sort. If anything, he was dealing with a strong and independent woman—one who had fought bravely for her life when she thought Angus and his family were trying to harm her. She had been as determined to fight for her life as an untamed she-wolf ready for the kill. And that’s why Angus had to make her understand that he was there for only one purpose—and that was to keep her safe.

  Angus opened up the refrigerator and pulled out a tray of untouched lasagna. He cut two large slices, placing each slice on a plate. He popped one plate into the microwave and set the timer for two minutes. Angus didn’t know what to say to the fae. He wasn’t sure how things might turn out, and while he scrambled for the words to start a conversation, it was she who spoke first.

  “I know that I was hurt and left for dead. But I don’t know if I should trust you, because you have given me no reason to trust you … and I don’t get the rest.”

  Angus turned around to face her. Looking down at her, their eyes met. He said, “There are things that you will find very hard to understand, but you will … I will help you. We need to trust each other.”

  The microwave dinged, so Angus turned back to remove the hot plate. He popped the second plate in, then walked back to the fridge to retrieve the salad. He filled the first plate with salad, then moved to unwrap the garlic and chive loaf that had been left out on the counter. As he cut slices of bread, Angus felt the fae woman’s eyes on him. He knew she was watching him as carefully as he was watching her. He added the bread to her plate and placed it before her on the table. Angus heard her intake of breath at the sight of the meal, saw her licking her lips. Her eyes shut tight and she let out a low sigh. She dug into her meal.

  Angus watched quietly. With each bite she took, she moaned low in her throat. Damn, how the sight of her enjoying the food made him want to do things to her that he knew were wrong, as well as very erotic. He shook his head, forcing his thoughts back to the issue at hand. “I don’t know if you have been taught your history. I don’t know if you suspect anything of who and what you are. Either way, you are going to find out.”

  “Why do I feel like I have heard that before? For some reason, I know now that you and your family aren’t here to hurt me, despite how you … handled things.”

  Her gaze turned dark, reminding Angus of how careless he had been with her body before, when all he had wanted to do was keep her from going outside. “You are right to be angry with me. Things got carried away and I was far too rough. I am sorry for that, lass.”

  “Despite that,” she continued, “my gut tells me you aren’t the one I should fear. I can’t explain why … I just feel it.” Her eyes met his again. It was a challenge for Angus to look away, so he didn’t. “So, let me just start over.” He watched as the fae put down her knife and fork, licked her full lips, and then reached out a hand to him. “My name is Lilith McGregor. I’m from New Zealand, and the only reason I came here was to scatter my grandfather’s ashes. This was his home, and the rightful place for him to end up.”

  Angus was taken aback by Lilith. Her every word held the pure devotion of her love, a love that he envied. Angus could bet that she didn’t know a damn thing about herself. “Angus McClain,” he said. “Oldest of six siblings, protector of this keep.” But still he didn’t extend his hand out to her. Instead he crossed his arms.

  Angus saw the hurt in her eyes at his rejection. Hurt, but also a touch of anger and heat. Just as quickly it was gone. So much for trust, Angus thought. Why did he go and pull a stupid move like that? He couldn’t take it back now. He tried to fix it, biting his pride and extending his hand out to reach hers, but it was too late. She pulled away from his grasp and resumed eating.

  Angus busied himself with getting his dinner plate ready. He poured two glasses of Shiraz before sitting down and handing one to the fae. Angus felt at odds next to the creature. He wasn’t sure if it was because he knew how
powerful a fae could be, or if it was simply her, with her womanly curves and the sexual female prowess she didn’t even seem to know she had.

  “Thank you for dinner,” Lilith said, standing. Her sudden movement must have startled Angus; he was on his feet within seconds, the steely eyes of a natural born killer set on her and ready for action. Frozen to the spot by his sudden movements, Lilith wasn’t sure she should move or speak. But she didn’t need this intimidation. She wasn’t about to let anyone get physical with her again—even if it was this tall, dark, and dangerous manly-man who reeked of pure testosterone and sex. “Fuck, dude!” she yelled. “I was only going to take my mess to the sink. So much for trust, huh?” Lilith moved, not caring that he was still standing rigid on the defense, like he was about to pounce on her.

  Pushing aside her chair, she walked to the sink and began rinsing her dirty dishes. “Well, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go to the front hall, assuming that’s where the rest of you are. This time, I’ll try to avoid getting my head bashed in by the butt of a double-barrelled shotgun while I’m there.” Without waiting for a response, Lilith headed for the hall, turning to Angus just as she opened the kitchen door. “See you out there, big guy.” The big, sexy oaf stood there, looking pathetic with his clenched jaw and angry eyes. Lilith thought she saw a trace of pain in them—from what, she had no idea.

  For the first time, Lilith could see all the beauty to this hell hole. Well, maybe it wasn’t quite a hell hole—it just didn’t feel like some place she could call home. Old art pieces adorned the walls throughout the place. There were high-arched doorways, crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceilings, silver limestone floors, and polished stairwells lined with black carpet. Not exactly a cozy place—more a museum than a home.

  Lilith stood and stared at the double doors which would lead to the front yard, but it wasn’t where she felt she needed to go. For some strange reason, it was here in the castle that her body screamed for her to stay. She placed her hand on the doorknob. Lilith was torn. Some small, logical part of her warned her to escape this place, but the thought of leaving made the hairs on the back of Lilith’s neck stand on end. Gut rolling; she yanked her hand away from the door. Instead she moved towards the main hall, knocking before she entered.