Spellbound by the Angui - Cipher's Kiss Book 2

by Walker, Heather

  “What stuff?” he asked.

  Ellen’s mind spun through a thousand possibilities. If that document is real… Oh, Christ! How could it be real? If it is, that means this man met Ree in 1740 at the Aberdeen garrison. How is that possible?

  All of a sudden, she yanked her arm away and came face-to-face with Louis Kirk. He gazed down on her from above. His smooth face wavered in front of her eyes. In that moment, she couldn’t bring herself to believe he had anything to do with lying to her or hiding anything. Something about him…maybe he wasn’t like all the rest. But he’d still never fill the hole in heart, so why bother?

  She chose her words carefully. “Tell me something, will ya?”

  “Anything,” he murmured.

  “When was the first time you met Ree Hamilton?” She watched his features for the slightest hint of deception.

  He only smiled a quiet smile. “Do you want to know the truth? I met her a long time ago.”

  She observed the internal struggle fighting to break out from under his reserve. “Have you ever been to Scotland?”

  “Many times,” he replied. “I worked there for a number of years.”

  “As a chemist?” she asked. “Or did you have some other job?”

  A wicked grin spread over his face. He picked up her hand and pressed it, his touch sending a strange shiver through her. “Listen. I want you to know all about it, so why don’t you come out to dinner with me tonight? I’ll tell you everything you want to know, and I won’t hold anything back. You have my word of honor.”

  She stared up at him. For some reason she couldn’t define, she believed him. He would tell her everything. He would explain how his name got on a document from the 1700s, and he would explain how he first met Ree. All she had to do was go out with him.

  In the blink of an eye, her doubt and oppression lifted away. “All right. What time?”

  Chapter 4

  Checking the time on his phone, Louis knocked on the door at Ree’s apartment. 5:36 p.m. He had an hour and a half before he met Ellen.

  What was he going to tell her? He certainly couldn’t tell her the truth. He couldn’t tell her any of it, and yet he gave his word of honor that he would tell her everything. How could he keep it from her when he knew what he knew? She wouldn’t believe it. He might wind up driving her even further away.

  The door yanked open and he came face-to-face with Ree. She swept her arm to one side. “Come on in.”

  He followed her into the living room, where he met Ned standing by the window.

  Ned turned around to face him. “What’s up? What did you want to tell me? Is everything okay with the lab?”

  “The lab’s fine. It’s perfect,” Louis replied. “It’s the staff we’ve got a problem with. They’re all full of questions about the project, and Mila is suspicious about the ingredients.”

  “I told you this would happen,” Ree interjected. “We can’t go on keeping everyone in the dark. The more suspicious they get, they could turn against us and then we’d be up the creek.”

  “We’ve got another big problem,” Louis continued.

  “What’s that?” Ned asked.

  “Ellen.”

  Ree snorted. “Tell me about it! She found that document from the Aberdeen garrison.”

  “She needs answers,” Louis replied. “I can’t keep lying to her. If she asks me, I’ll tell her the truth.”

  “No!” Ned gasped. “You can’t do that.”

  “I have to,” Louis countered. “I gave her my word, and there’s a lot more at stake than just one human finding out the truth. If she runs away, she can’t harm us, but we can’t keep her around not knowing. If I had my way, I’d tell everyone the truth.”

  “Everyone!” Ree exclaimed. “Are you out of your mind?”

  “Not everyone,” he corrected. “Just your five friends. That should be enough. You’re the top chemists in the company anyway. Tell ’em all. That’s my vote.”

  “That would certainly make it easier,” Ree agreed. “I don’t like lying to them, either. I can’t stand driving Ellen away, especially when she’s so close to knowing the truth anyway.”

  “No way!” Ned threw up both hands and spun toward the window. “You know the stakes. We can’t risk it.”

  At that moment, someone else knocked on the door. Ree opened it, then stood in the doorway and stared out into the hall. Louis got a perfect profile view of her from the living room but couldn’t see who stood outside.

  Ellen’s voice drifted in. “Look, Ree, I’m sorry for the things I said to you before. I shouldn’t have threatened you like that. I just can’t stand the thought of losing your friendship. Do you mind if I come inside so we can talk about it?”

  Louis’s heart twisted in knots at the sound of her voice. That rushed statement must have cost her a lot to say, and now she stood there with Ree staring at her in stark horror at the prospect of letting her inside. He would have given anything to go to her and comfort her, but he couldn’t. He had to hold himself distant and let this future play out.

  Ellen spoke again, buried anguish cracking her voice. “I get it. You don’t have to forgive me. I’m sorry. I’ll leave now.”

  Ree lunged into the hall. “No! Don’t leave. You might as well come in.”

  Ellen took a few tentative steps into the entry. From there, a person could see into the kitchen, the dining room, and the living room. One flick of her gaze and she would see Louis standing right there.

  Ree and Ellen came face-to-face.

  “Look, Ree,” Ellen began, “I really didn’t mean to—” Her eyes skidded a fraction of an inch to one side and she saw straight into the living room, her gaze locking on Louis and Ned standing at the window. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. She glanced back and forth from one face to the next.

  For an instant, Ree’s expression froze in blank terror, and then her shoulders relaxed. Her face became calm and determined. “I think you better come in, Ellen. It’s time I explain everything.”

  A thousand questions warred in Ellen’s countenance. Then, just as fast, they all melted to nothing. She eased back and confronted Ree in perfect tranquility. “Yes. I think you better do that.”

  Ree waved toward the living room. “Come in. Please. We were just talking about telling you everything.”

  Ellen jerked away. “I’m not going anywhere. Tell me now and tell me fast. I’m about out of patience with the three of you.”

  “Listen, Ellen,” Ree said. “I can tell you—”

  Another knock rattled the door.

  Everyone exchanged glances.

  “Who is it this time?” Ree muttered. She stormed across the room, seized the doorknob, and gave it a vicious yank.

  The door flew open and Malcolm Gunn barged in. He strode straight into the living room and started talking before he bothered to look around. “We’ve got a big problem. I blame myself for not noticing it before, but now that I know about it, we have to act fast. There’s no time to—”

  Ned gestured to one side of the room.

  Malcolm cast a sidelong glimpse around the room and saw Ellen standing at the back of the sofa.

  Time stood still, and they all stared at each other in astonishment.

  Malcolm opened his mouth.

  Ellen stiffened, then narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “Start talking. What are you up to, and what’s that doing here?” She pointed her chin at Malcolm.

  Louis couldn’t stay away from her anymore. Ellen was his responsibility and he had to help her. He walked up to her and took her hand. “I gave you my word I would tell you everything, and now I will. I lived in Scotland for over twenty-five years. I was Major Commodore of the Aberdeen garrison, and that’s where I first met Ree.”

  “That document you found on my desk is original,” Ree added. “I washed up on the Isle of Lewis, and Malcolm Gunn rescued me.”

  “Malcolm Gunn!” Ellen croaked. “He’s CEO of Allied Chemical!
”

  Ree held up her hand and closed her eyes. “Just hang on a sec. Let me explain.”

  “You better!” Ellen fired back. “How could you wind up back in eighteenth-century Scotland—all of you?”

  Ree drew closer to her and murmured, “Ned sent me there. He sent me back in time.”

  “What!” Ellen shrieked. She whirled from one to the next and tried to pull away from Louis, but he held her hand tightly.

  “It’s true,” he told her. “It’s all true.”

  “But how is that possible?” Ellen cried. She turned to one person and immediately shrank from them. She did this again and again, no matter who she turned to.

  Ree sighed and waved at the couch. “I think you better sit down.”

  Ellen didn’t move.

  Louis’s heart ached to watch her. He waved to Ree and Ned, and they retreated to the window and left him alone with her. He massaged Ellen’s hand and rasped in her ear, “Come and sit down. I’ll explain everything.”

  Her legs jerked as she staggered into the living room. He guided her down on the couch. She stared around the room without seeing anything. He had to take hold of her elbows and twist her to face him. “You wanted to know, and now I’m gonna tell you. Do you still want to know?”

  Her eyes darted to his face, and she sank in on herself. Lowering her gaze to her hands, she nodded.

  “Listen to me,” he breathed. “I was born about seven thousand years ago, somewhere in what is now Afghanistan. So was Ned, and Malcolm too. Our people rose to power and controlled the whole world until disaster struck. Our females were wiped out in a plague, and all of us men have been wandering ever since. We cannot die natural deaths, we can’t get sick, and we don’t age. Do you hear me? We can’t die except by violence.”

  She listened without reaction.

  Louis studied her, waiting for the roof to cave in, but she didn’t flinch. She stared down at her hands in her lap, his fingers twined in hers. After what seemed like hours, she looked up at him and they gazed into each other’s eyes. He couldn’t regret telling her. She had to know. He couldn’t keep any secret from her if he hoped to ever win her heart.

  She glanced at Ree and Ned across the room and blinked, but she still said nothing.

  “The Prometheus Formula is a recipe for an elixir that we hope will turn human females into immortals like ourselves.” Now that he’d started, the story came tumbling out. It wouldn’t stay bottled up any longer. “Ree told us your company could create the formula and test it. Once we change some women into immortals, we can reproduce and increase our population.”

  Her gaze skipped back to him. “Is that what this is all about? You want females to breed with? Is that it?”

  “We’ve been alone for thousands of years,” he replied. “We don’t just want to breed. We want partners—counterparts. We want women to share our lives with, as equals. You can understand that, can’t you?”

  “If you want to get mad at anybody,” Ree chimed in, “get mad at me. I’m the one who got them inside Primary Industries. I turned our company into a tool to make this elixir. I’m responsible for this.”

  “Ree knew nothing about this before I came along,” Ned added. “I sent her back in time that first day I came to work at the company. She told me back in Scotland to track you down so we could use your chemical knowledge to make the Cipher’s Kiss.”

  Ellen shook her head and then looked away, but she said nothing.

  Louis gauged her reaction. He’d known something like this would happen. If only he could have found a way to make this easier for her, he would have in a heartbeat.

  A terrible silence followed. No one spoke. The truth hung tense and menacing in the air between them. Louis and Ned and Malcolm looked back and forth between themselves. They’d told her the truth. Now what?

  All at once, Malcolm blurted out, “Listen, none of this means anything. We’ve got a much bigger situation, and we have to act on it now before it blows up in our faces. I just found some documents in the Falisa archives. I never knew they were there, or I would have done something a long time ago.”

  “What’s up?” Ned asked.

  “They found me,” Malcolm panted. “They’re onto me. I found a letter from 1743. It’s from Obasi Jelan. He suspected me of being an Angui infiltrator and wrote a letter to the Grand High Chieftain in Lyness to inform him he was traveling to Aberdeen to execute me.”

  “But he couldn’t have succeeded,” Louis pointed out. “You wouldn’t be standing here right now if he had.”

  Malcolm shook his head. “He wrote the letter in 1743. By 1743, we already knew our future lay in America. I had already left Europe for the colonies. He says he planned to use the time travel spell to go back to Aberdeen in 1740 when he knew I would be there. He also suspected Major Commodore Louis Kirk and planned to eliminate both of us at the same time. He also planned to track down a certain wizard in Aberdeen who he thought might have information about the Cipher’s Kiss.”

  Ellen looked around at everyone. “What in the world are you talking about?”

  No one paid any attention to her.

  “I still don’t see the big deal,” Ned returned. “You’re both standing here. That means he didn’t get to you. It’s ancient history.”

  “Someone must have warned us,” Malcolm replied. “Someone who knew all about it must have gotten to us in time. I don’t know who—not yet.”

  “What…what are you suggesting?” Ned stammered.

  “Someone’s got to go back and warn us,” Malcolm told him. “Someone’s got to go through the portal and tell one or both of us that Obasi is onto us. It’s the only way.”

  “Forget it,” Ned snapped. “I’m not sending anybody back there. It’s too risky.”

  “The Falisa unmasking me would be far worse,” Malcolm countered. “We would lose our foothold in the organization. We would lose all the information I’ve ever given you over the last three hundred years. I’ve been able to run interference in a thousand of their operations for generations. I’ve been able to stop hundreds of our people from getting killed. We can’t lose that.”

  “Who do you propose to send?” Ree asked.

  He turned around to face her, his features softening. “You’ve been there before. You know your way around. You can blend in, and Louis and I both know you. We would believe you when you bring us a message from the future.”

  “I can’t go,” she replied. “I’ve got to meet that professor of Entomology. This could be our only chance to find out about the brandywine tundra beetle.”

  “Can’t you send someone else to meet him?” Ned asked.

  “You go back,” Ree returned. “You’re a Highlander. No one will suspect you.”

  “I can’t go,” he countered. “I have that meeting with Ben Harris tomorrow. No one in your organization or in Allied can do that.”

  “You’d be back before then,” Ree argued.

  “Neither Louis nor I can go,” Malcolm pointed out. “It has to be one of the two of you.”

  “Not necessarily.”

  Everyone whirled around to stare at Ellen.

  She straightened up and returned their gaze with a steady confidence.

  “I’ll go.”

  Chapter 5

  Ellen squared her shoulders at the four people staring at her. She couldn’t explain what possessed her to say she’d go back in time, but it felt right, now that she’d gotten the words out. Was it possible that this man wanted an equal? Did such men really exist? She wondered for a moment if she’d fallen asleep reading a romance novel. Something had to explain why she was considering traveling back in time and at the prospect of their being someone she could find happiness with after all.

  “You can’t go!” Ree exclaimed. “You don’t know anything about Scotland at that time.”

  “Nonsense,” Ellen fired back. “I know a lot more about the situation than you did when you went. Like you just said, neither Malcolm or Louis can go, an
d you and Ned can’t go, either. It has to be me. Besides, I want to see this for myself. If you expect me to believe that you’re all immortal and were in Highland Scotland in 1740, I need proof. You wouldn’t have believed it if you hadn’t seen it for yourself, would you, Ree?”

  Ree blinked. “I suppose not.”

  “I’m guessing that’s why Ned sent you back in the first place,” Ellen went on. “Now it’s my turn. If I’m gonna do this, if I’m gonna keep working on the Prometheus Formula at Primary Industries, I have to know everything, and that means going back. The only alternative is me walking out that door and quitting the company, and you all keep on doing your jobs without me. Those are the only two options.”

  The others exchanged glances one more time until Malcolm sighed. “I guess this is the way it has to be. Just be careful back there. The Falisa will do anything to stop us. If they find out who you are and what you’re up to, you’ll be as much a target as the rest of us.”

  “Who are the Falisa?” Ellen asked.

  “They’re a secret society bent on destroying the Angui, the immortals,” Ree told her. “They’re masquerading as Clan Gunn from Orkney. They poisoned the Angui women to bring down the immortals’ power.”

  Ned scratched his head. “You know, this could be the best way to approach the situation. No one knows her. They won’t be looking out for her, and she’s going back with full knowledge of what she’s getting into. That’s a lot more than you had, Ree.”

  “I envy you,” Ree murmured. “I was terrified going back.”

  Ned put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a hug.

  Ellen surveyed the little party. Now that she’d made her decision, it settled into her heart and mind. She made her peace with it and even looked forward to it. She was going back in time to Highland Scotland and would fall smack-dab in the middle of an immortal war. She’d have a matter of minutes to orient herself and blend in, and then would have to accomplish her mission. Now that she’d gauged the task ahead, her spirit rallied to meet the challenge. She could do this. She could kick ass back there and do the job justice. She could make this work and contribute to this project.