Highland Protector (MacCoinnich Time Travels Book Five) (9 page)

She opened up his nearly empty
refrigerator and poked her head inside. “Yes you do. Geez, Jake, your
cardiologist must love you.” She removed a brown box with leftover pizza and
tossed it on the counter.

“Hey, that’s still good.”

She opened the lid, grabbed a rock-hard
slice of pepperoni and sausage, and tapped it against the counter with a solid
thud. “I’ve had week old bagels that were fresher than this.” She dug back into
the science experiment Jake called a refrigerator and took out two beers. “Open
these,” she told him as she thrust them in his direction. “I’ll figure out if
there’s anything salvageable in here.”

Jake grabbed the beer before they
dropped to the floor. “You know how to cook?”

She found a head of lettuce that
looked workable and a couple of potatoes. “And I don’t even need my cauldron.”
In the freezer she found a couple of chicken breasts…
I can work with this.

Jake leaned a hip against the counter
and twisted off the caps on the beer. He handed one to her and tilted his back
for a drink.

She watched him out of the corner of
her eye as he grew used to having her in his space. He might not be smiling,
but that stick was beginning to wiggle free of his anus. “Pots and pans?”

He pointed his beer to the right of
the oven.

She found what she needed and placed
it on the stove.

Jake pushed away from the counter,
taking his beer with him. “I’m going to shower. Try not to burn my house down.”

His snarky comment put a smile on her
face.

Chapter Ten

It’s just a hand!

Amber flexed her fingers in Gavin’s
without letting go. He stood over her by at least eight inches and took up more
than half his side of the stairway as they descended into the main floors of
the Manor. The space felt bigger somehow. Maybe the lack of voices in her head
added to the space as they past the many rooms of the house en route to the
kitchen, but the world was different.

The smile on Amber’s face was
difficult to shake and she couldn’t remember another time where she wanted to
close her eyes and simply listen to the bones of the house creek and settle.

“Everything feels new to you,” Gavin
said before they rounded the final hall to the back of the house.

“’Tis hard to describe. Every step
down was met with pain before.” She glanced up the stairs. “Now they are just
steps. The pain… it was—”

“You don’t need to describe it. I
felt it the moment I took your hand. You’re a strong woman, Amber MacCoinnich.”

Her smile fell. “I had given up.”

Gavin squeezed her hand. “I know
that, too.”

The kitchen buzzed with Helen moving
around the space and cooking for what looked like a small army.

“I didn’t know what you wanted so I
made a little of everything. It’s nearly noon, and eggs didn’t feel right. I
have soup and sandwiches…salad.” The smell of bacon made Amber’s stomach growl.

She was half way through her chicken
and bacon sandwich when Mrs. Dawson made it into the kitchen.

“There you are, lass,” Simon greeted
the oldest member of the house by pulling out a chair for her and kissing her
cheek.

Mrs. Dawson, the big flirt, blushed
and smiled while accepting a cup of tea from Helen.

“I’m surprised we didn’t see you when
Amber woke up. Surely you heard her.”

Mrs. Dawson grinned at Gavin and
Amber with a wink. “Amber was bound to be upset waking next to a stranger, but
she’s smart, and would realize fighting was useless. No need for me to rise
before nature intended.”

“Does wisdom always come with age?”
Gavin asked.

Mrs. Dawson pointed a wrinkled finger
in Gavin’s direction. “Are you saying I’m old, Mr. Kincaid.”

For a moment no one said anything and
then Mrs. Dawson started to laugh. “You are too easy,” she told them.

Giles joined them several hours later,
the lines on his face had smoothed over with the sleep he’d managed. He told
them he was ready to tackle the library. All the while Gavin held her hand or
rested his hand intimately on her waist when she needed all ten fingers. There
really was no room for embarrassment, and Amber refused to allow the way she
was raised to cloud her judgment now. It’s just a hand, she told herself. A
hand that sometimes gripped her waist with warm fingers and sent unfamiliar
shivers up her spine, but…only a hand.

At one point, she felt Helen’s eyes
on her, her worry pushed through Gavin’s barrier. Instead of calling Helen on
her thoughts, she turned to her temporary twin. “Gavin? Would you mind terribly
if we took a walk?”

“Outside?”

With the sun on her face and the wind
in her hair…how long had that been? “Preferably.”

“There are no wards protecting the
property.”

“And no need for such during this
time. Please.” For the first time since she’d arrived in this century, she
didn’t need to wear the cape over her shoulders, and the thought of the
elements on her skin made her smile. The worry of the neighbors emotions
overshadowing her own wasn’t a concern…she only had to hear the birds in the
trees and smell the fragrance of the flowers.

Gavin exchanged glances with Simon.
“Fine, but we need to retrieve my weapons from your room.”

“Don’t leave the property,” Simon
warned them. “Jake wasn’t kidding when he said the neighbors will report you if
you walk around obviously armed.”

“Protecting her with one hand will
prove difficult without weapons.”

Simon nodded his approval and Gavin
and Amber retrieved his weapons before they stepped outside.

“Tell me, how does this change in the
future?” Amber asked as they left the house.

He looked around, offered a half
smile. “The fortress expands well beyond the boundaries you see now. Adjacent
properties, in all directions, are purchased and a wall is built around
everything.”

“Like MacCoinnich Keep?”

“I suppose you could compare the two,
but the Keep is much larger.”

“I would think so.”

“Over time, more Druids come to
reside here. More families fill the homes around the compound.”

“Why?”

“For protection. For survival.”

“Is the future so bleak?”

“Compared to life in the sixteenth
century…no. I suppose you’re better equipped to handle the coming changes than
many. It’s those who live solitary lives in this time without any survival
skills at all who fall first.”

“Will there be another war?”

They walked to the edge of the cobblestone
driveway and started around the grassed in perimeter of the property. A small
hillside sat on the North end of the land, offering some barrier of the
neighbors on the other side. Much of the secluded land sat in the back of the
house where Mrs. Dawson had constructed a flower garden and over two acres of
lawn. Several stone benches gave those in the garden a place to sit and watch
the natural wildlife frolic in the sanctuary provided.

“More of a complete collapse of
society. The economy survives for a little longer, but when it finally
collapses and people aren’t able to feed their families, neighbors turn against
neighbors. The cities have it hardest. Those who live out here, and beyond
manage to survive if they can protect what’s theirs. The government of this
country starts to unravel and they search for power that will help them gain
control of the people.”

Without Gavin voicing his meaning,
Amber knew he meant magical power. Anyone abusing their power sickened her. “Which
means we never stop hiding who we are.”

He shook his head and lifted her hand,
helping her around a small pond in the corner of Mrs. Dawson’s yard. “We band
together, become stronger. Fortresses like this one become cities of
themselves. Wells are dug for water, gardens are planted and livestock is
gathered. Food can be obtained outside the walls, but we don’t depend on it.”

“Sounds like home.” She tugged him
over to a bench and sat to enjoy the fair weather. Gavin kept a constant eye on
the world around him. “What about the Others?”

“With the world in a constant power
struggle, the population becomes susceptible to dictator. Many humans try, and
some succeed for short periods of time. Imagine how far a powerful Druid could
reach and control if—”

“I don’t have to imagine. Grainna
controlled a small army and affected everyone, Druid or not, before she was
destroyed.”

“I suppose you don’t.”

“The Others are Druid?”

“Yes. Collecting power, using theirs
for personal gain.”

She thought on this for a time and
released a long-suffering sigh. “Who is your leader?”

His eyes pinched together in thought.
“There isn’t one power, or one Laird controlling anything. We work as a
collective. All of us wish to survive and strive for a better life for our
children.”

Amber paused. “Do you have children?”
A wife? She glanced at their joined hands.

Gavin shook his head. “That’s not in
my plan.”

Part of her was relieved. The other part
held a sliver of sorrow. “Doesn’t everyone want to find someone to share their
life with?”

“I’m a warrior, Amber. I’ve traveled
in time more often than you. There’s always a possibility I won’t return. I
won’t put another person through the anguish of not knowing what happened if I
don’t return.”

The sadness in his voice told her
there was more to his explanation than he offered, but he didn’t elaborate, and
Amber wasn’t about to probe his thoughts for their deeper meaning.

“I suppose that’s fair. Sad, but
fair.”

“This from the woman who was ready to
die before being educated on the male anatomy.”

Heat rushed to her face but she
refused to let him see her squirm. He was teasing her again, probably in an
effort to make her more comfortable at his side. “I didn’t want to die.”

“You were giving up.”

She wanted to deny him, couldn’t. “A
quick noble death is better than a slow useless death.” Amber noticed a bird
land on a limb of a nearby tree. It cocked its head to the side as if it
listened to them.

“I understand the need to die in
battle versus wasting away in a small, dark room.”

“For years now, I wondered why I was
spared… Why couldn’t I have perished when Grainna was destroyed instead of
being forced to live the way I have?”

Gavin placed a second hand over hers.
“It wasn’t your time. And we will find a way to keep you from a slow, painful death.”

She wanted to believe him. “And if we
can’t, you must not blame yourself for letting go.”

He squeezed her hand. “I’m not
letting go.”

Maybe not now…but sooner or later,
you’ll have to.

A fluttering in the tree caught her
attention again. In it sat a large black crow.

The breath in her lungs caught and
chills ran up her arms. Crows were a common bird in this part of California,
but she never did like seeing them. The omen they represented, the memory of
Grainna taking the shape of a crow to fly among a flock to spy on her family
sat firmly in Amber’s memory.

“What is it?”

She told herself the bird wasn’t
watching them, but when she moved closer to Gavin’s side, the bird’s head
turned toward him. As a child, she could tell if Druid thoughts were present in
any animal around her. With the impaction of so many emotions inside of her,
she hadn’t concentrated on an animal in years. Amber pushed against Gavin’s
shield, reaching for the animal.

“What are you doing?”

“That bird…it’s watching us.”

Gavin laughed. “It’s just a crow.” He
stomped his foot intending to scare the bird off.

It didn’t budge.

The smile on Gavin’s face fell.

Amber pushed against the shield
again.

“Stop doing that, Amber. It’s just a
bird.” But even as the words left Gavin’s lips, she knew he worried the bird
was something more.

He stood and brought him with her.

The bird watched them.

“Let’s go inside.”

Before they could step in that
direction the crow took flight, aiming in their direction.

Gavin shoved her behind him, removed
one of his weapons, and started to fire.

Inside Amber’s head started to
scream. Laughter, chaos…pain blinded her. She hit the ground grabbing her head
with both hands.

****

The sound of laughter filled
Kincaid’s head moments before the bird blew into chunks of feathers and blood
and hit the ground. Several crows appeared from out of nowhere and flew away into
the sky. More laughter assaulted his ears. He took aim at the other crows and noticed
that both of his hands clasped to his gun.

He lowered his weapon and swiveled
around.

Amber sat curled in a ball at his
feet.

He’d let her go.
How could I have
let her go?

Kincaid placed a hand on her face and
sat on the ground beside her. “Amber?”

She whimpered and snuggled into him.

He closed his eyes and heard the
noise filling her, felt the pain threaten to take hold and not let go. He
gathered her in his arms, reached under her shirt to maximize their contact.
The places they touched sparked and brought wave after wave of pleasure. Like
dipping in cool water on a hot day. “I’ve got you.”

He closed his eyes, pulled power from
the world around him and added layers to his shield. He dropped his lips to the
top of her forehead and tried to calm the noise inside. “I’m sorry,” he
whispered and kissed her head.

She crawled into his warmth and the
pain slowly eased. In his arms, her limbs loosened around him, reaching for
skin. Seemed the barrier of clothing was too dense to feel the full power of
his ability to shield her. One tiny hand wrapped around his neck, the other
held his bare arm.

They sat entangled in each other’s
arms while the world calmed around them.

The sweet scent of her skin, her hair,
mixed with the realization that tears slid from her eyes.

He kissed her temple and ran the pad
of his thumb over her cheek to remove her tears. He knew the pain was getting
better, even if worry that it would come back filled every inch of her.