Highland Protector (MacCoinnich Time Travels Book Five) (10 page)

Her eyes fluttered open and looked up
into his. His breath mixed with hers and caught in his chest. The need to keep
her safe mixed with a heavy dose of desire and not in a sleazy guy way as Helen
had so eloquently put it. But a need to taste Amber’s tears on her full lips
and drive all the pain, all the anguish, away.

Her eyes slid to his lips and she
caught her lower lip in her teeth.

Kincaid would probably curse himself
later, but tasting her wasn’t something he was willing to wait to do any
longer.

He ran his thumb over her bottom lip,
releasing it from her teeth and he leaned in and placed his lips on hers.

Amber didn’t gasp in shock or push
him away. No, the fingers caressing his neck kneaded his flesh and she moaned.
The tiny sound vibrated through his body and every inch of his skin sang for
more. He tilted her head back farther, parting her lips. He reminded himself he
was kissing a woman who’d probably never been kissed before. The tip of his
tongue licked her bottom lip, letting her get used to the sensation and
intimacy.

Shy at first, she opened for him, let
him explore, and then matched his actions. Some kisses were more innocent than
others. Their kiss went no further, even though Kincaid would have liked
nothing more than to touch more of her, taste more of her. This seductive kiss
was dangerous enough, but it did seem to be driving away the shadows in her
head. So he kept kissing her as his erection strained against his tight pants. She
hadn’t noticed…or if she did, it wasn’t bothering her enough to pull back.

Breathless, she broke away and stared
into his eyes. Innocent doe eyes blinked and brought him into focus. He loved
that he’d brought out the fullness in her lips with his own and could only
imagine what she’d look like after he’d made love to her.

He shook the thought from his head,
knowing she could read him if she tried hard enough.

“Do you feel better?”

“I do.”

He looked around them, noticed a
space free of unwanted birds. “We should go inside.”

Her gaze fluttered to the sky. She
shivered and wiggled off his lap.

Chapter Eleven

Millions of women throughout time had
been kissed, but Amber couldn’t help question if every kiss felt as earth
shattering as the one she’d shared with Gavin. The heat of his shield wrapped
around her, pulling her closer to the man holding her, and his body welcomed
hers like a lost member of a family. In Gavin’s arms, Amber felt like a woman
for the first time in her twenty-nine years.

At least if I die now, I’ll go to my
grave with some knowledge of passion
. She thought she’d never have an opportunity to experience
anything so intimate. The thought of dying wiggled in right behind the elation
of her first kiss. If it wasn’t for Gavin letting her go, she wouldn’t have
collapsed and he wouldn’t have needed to cradle her the way he had.

Amber knew protecting her might be a
two-handed job. What would happen next time?

We can’t hold hands forever.

Gavin hesitated on the steps into
Mrs. Dawson’s home and turned to her. “You’re not going to die.”

“Perhaps not today.”

Not happy with her response, Gavin
pulled her alongside him into the house. Once inside he yelled. “Giles!”

The door to the library was open and
the librarian ran from the room. “What’s wrong?”

“The perimeter has been breached.”

Alarm filled Giles’s face.
“Computer!” he called. “Oh, damn…that won’t work. What do we do?”

“Gather Simon, Helen, and Mrs. Dawson
and meet me in the safe room.” Gavin paused half way down the hall. “Wait…does
Mrs. Dawson have a safe room yet?”

“The iron vault in the basement?”
Amber asked.

“Perfect.”

Moments later, the six of them packed
into the twenty by twelve foot room with the vault door closed. Amber sensed
Gavin’s irritated state as he glanced around the small room. “This is not going
to work for long.”

“What isn’t going to work? And why
are we down here?” Simon asked.

Gavin toed one of the boxes and dust
plumed into the air. “When was the last time these provisions were rotated?”

Mrs. Dawson sat in one of the three
chairs in the room. “That would be back when Mr. Dawson was alive, I’m afraid.
I didn’t see a need after he passed.”

“Well, there’s a need now. The
property has been breached.”

“What does that mean?” Helen asked.

“Before we discuss this we need to
secure this room.”

“The room is solid, Mr. Kincaid,”
Mrs. Dawson told him.

He offered a patient smile and said,
“Not from entry, but from ears. Giles?”

Giles nodded and patted down his
pockets. “Oh, right!”

Gavin reached to his leg, pulled up
his pant leg, and retrieved a knife. He handed it to Giles who made a tiny cut
on his finger. He walked around the room, placing a print on every corner.

Amber and the others watched in
fascination as the stoic librarian prepared the room for something.

“Ready,” Giles told them.

Gavin then lifted his free hand in
the air and sparked a flame to each drop of blood. He squeezed her hand. “I’m
going to have to expand my shield to the others. Or at least try. If the pain
is too great I’ll pull back.”

Amber stiffened her spine and gave a
single nod.

Gavin turned to the others. “For
Amber’s sake, try and clear your minds.”

The blue light shielding Amber and
Gavin pulsated and grew. In an effort to ease her growing anxiety, Amber closed
her eyes and concentrated on the warmth of the hand holding hers.

She felt Giles first, then the hazy
presence of Mrs. Dawson.

I hope this works,
was the thought in Giles’s head.

Helen and Simon entered the circle at
the same time. Concern from Simon threatened to swallow her. Helen was chanting
the words.
Think of nothing, think of nothing.

“Amber?” Gavin’s soft voice had her
opening her eyes.

“I’m all right.”

He leaned close to her ear. “You’re a
terrible liar.”

A dull ache punctured her brain and
started to swell. “Just hurry.”

Gavin wasted little time. “From this
moment forward, inside this room, the protective arms of our ancestors, our
brothers, and sisters shall filter out unwanted ears, unwanted eyes. As I bid
it, make it so…give us a sign to let us know.”

The small flames glowing from Giles’s
blood expanded, and then burned out completely.

Amber slumped against Gavin and the
protective shield around the others returned to just the two of them.

He led her to a chair and sat her
down.

She cursed the weakness inside her,
hated the effort her body needed for a simple spell. Without the others in the
shield, the pain instantly eased to a dull ache.

“Better?” Gavin kissed the edges of
her fingers.

“Aye.”

“Protective wards are sealing in the
conversations in this room. I suggest if anything truly dire needs to be
discussed, it happens in here.”

“How do we know if the wards are
holding?” Simon asked.

“Place your hand over the edges of
the room.” Gavin instructed.

Simon moved to the corner, waved a
hand in the air, and drew it back shaking it as if it stung.

“Simple enough? It will take more of
us to place wards over the manor and property. With so few of us here, I’m not
sure how successful we’ll be. Though two of you are MacCoinnich’s, I assume
you’ll both be more successful than the rest of us.”

“You do this in the future?” Helen
asked.

“More like maintain. Wards are piled
upon over the years making them stronger with each generation.”

“What happened that prompted this?” Simon
asked.

Gavin glanced at Amber then the
others. “We noticed a crow watching us. When it didn’t scare away easily, we
both knew it was more than an omen. Before I destroyed it I heard it laughing.”

Amber hadn’t been sure if that had
been in her imagination or not. She shivered, liking it better when she thought
it was all in her head.

“Breaching this compound is as easy
as flying over or walking into it. We need to set wards and monitor—”

“Wait…the crow was laughing? How’s
that possible?” Helen asked.

“We heard the laughter in our heads,”
Amber told her.

“But I thought the shield was
protecting you from that kind of thing.”

Disgust rolled through Gavin and hit
Amber in her chest. “It wasn’t your fault,” she told him.

He shook his head. “I let you go. I didn’t
have to destroy the crow. It wouldn’t have been able to hurt us.”

“Your instincts told you to shoot.”

“You let Amber go?” Simon asked.

“For a few seconds.”

“I take it that didn’t work out very
well,” Helen said.

“The pain was instant and debilitating,”
Gavin told them.

“Let’s not lose focus here,” Amber
redirected them. “A crow, quite possibly guided by a Druid, was feet away from
us today. That hasn’t happened since…”

“Since Scotland…since Grainna.”
Simon’s words made those in the room pause.

“Controlling animals was one of her
gifts?” Gavin asked.

“She could shift, like Simon. But her
gifts,
as you call them, were too many to count.”

“Grainna is dead.” Simon started to
pace the small room.

“That doesn’t mean there can’t be
others out there like her,” Mrs. Dawson, who had kept silent, reminded him. “I
may not have read all the books in my library, but there are several tales about
evil like hers that have existed since before she entered this world. Let’s not
forget about Helen’s previous employer.”

“A Druid?” Giles asked.

Helen nodded. “He and his brother…and
yes, they were evil to the core. But they too are dead.”

“There are always more to take their
place. We can only hope none become as powerful as Grainna.” Gavin squeezed
Amber’s hand while he spoke.

“The crow couldn’t have been a
shifter. It must have been controlled by someone who could talk to animals.”

“How can you be sure, Simon?” Mrs.
Dawson asked.

“When a shifter is injured, they can
only hold the shift for a short time. You said you destroyed the crow.”

“I did,” Gavin said.

“Well, whoever decided to invade the
sanctuary of your home picked the wrong one. Simon is the most powerful shifter
ever known.” Giles said.

“We don’t know if that’s true,” Simon
said.

Giles shook his head. “Oh, I’m sure.
It’s well documented.
First son of Finlay MacCoinnich soars the skies, and
swims the oceans, surpassed by none other.
Other books state similar
themes. Shifters themselves are rare.”

“I’m sure there are others.” Simon
clearly didn’t like the praise.

“I remember everything I read, Simon.
You’re a rare duck…pun intended. Talking to animals, bending their will…that
sort of thing is much more common among Druids than your gift.”

“I could do that as a child.”

“And now someone is watching us. We
need to trace the power and find its source.”

“How do you suggest we do that,
Kincaid?” Simon asked.

Gavin turned to stare at Helen. “Do
you find objects, people, with your gift?”

“I have, but I don’t know if I can
follow power.”

“Have you ever tried?” Giles asked.

Helen shook her head.

It looked like she’d have her chance.

****

 Giles walked beside Kincaid and
Amber as they moved about the library securing wards. At one point, Kincaid
stopped beside Amber, removed the band she had holding her hair back, and
secured their wrists together with it. “To keep you from slipping away again,”
he told her.

Amber smiled and for the first time
since Giles had known Kincaid, the man’s face softened. The binding holding
them together triggered a thought hovering in his mind. A possible solution,
though he knew it wouldn’t be the favored solution.

Once the room was as secure as it
could be, Giles returned to the table in the center of the room covered in
books. “Kincaid, Lady Amber… I’d like to show you what I’ve found so far,” he
told them before they could follow Simon and the others out.

“Something hopeful?” Amber asked.

“Something interesting. I’m not sure
how hopeful.”

Once they were seated, Giles swiveled
several leather-bound books around so they could see the passages he’d found.
“These books are not in this library in the future, which is why they stood out
to me. This one,” he tapped on the one closest to him, “was the one I was
reading when Helen and Mrs. Dawson summoned me. Inside it speaks of your
parents, Lady Amber. About their strong bond and ability to lead armies. Of
course, it doesn’t say your mother led any, but my guess is she raised strong
sons who fought alongside their father. Most books of this time don’t outright
give women their due share of praise.”

“We understand how history works,
Giles. And we already knew the MacCoinnich’s raised a strong family, both for
the times and in their Druid abilities. What about this book struck you as
unique?”

Right! Moving on.
“You see, before you arrived,
Kincaid, Helen attempted to search for more information inside the book. Power
beyond us flipped pages inside, stopping often, and continued on.”

“Power beyond us?” Kincaid asked.

Amber sat forward. “You mean the
Ancients?”

Giles exchanged glances with Kincaid.
Neither of them had a strong faith in Ancient power, but he hadn’t seen such a
strong reaction out of a simple request before.

“That’s what Helen said. Anyway, last
night I read the pages where the book stopped. It talked about generations of
MacCoinnich’s and other strong Druid families.”

“A lesson about the family tree?”
Kincaid asked.

“At first, that’s what I thought it
was, but this afternoon I found these other books and attempted to cross
reference the information to see if there was something linking them together.
What I found was each of the couples both came from Druid families. Both had
Druid blood.”

“That can’t be rare,” Amber said.

“Actually, as the years move on from
your time, it does become rare. As each century passes without guidance, some
Druids never even know of their heritage. And in this time, we know many Druids
think of themselves as witches, or that they’re crazy.”

“Selma thought herself a witch until
she met Lizzy,” Amber reminded them.