Highland Fires (13 page)

After a brief exchange with the sailors,
Lugus turned back to her. She knew he waited on her to signal that
she was ready to begin, so she gave him a small nod and followed as
turned right.

The pace he set was quick and grueling, but
not so fast that she had to run to keep up with him. As they
walked, she ran the words he had spoken in the cabin over and over
in her head. She was thankful he hadn’t made her promise to leave
him if he fell because she wouldn’t have been able to give it.

Nothing, not even her own death, would make
her leave him to die, not after all he had done for her. Nay, she
would not leave him.

She stumbled over something in her path, and
just when she was about to fall flat on her face, Lugus caught her.
He pulled her up and pushed the hair from her face that had escaped
her braid.

“Are you all right?”

She nodded. “I just didn’t see whatever it
was I tripped over.”

“’
Tis one of the hazards of
traveling by night, especially in a place neither of us have
been.”

“I’ll be more careful,” she assured him.

When he didn’t move, she turned him around
and gave him a little push. He began walking again, but the pace
wasn’t quite as fast as before.

She fingered her slave bracelet and wondered
if the markings on it were Draconian. As far as she knew, the
Draconian language wasn’t taught to the Fae. If anyone would know
what the markings were, her grandfather would be the man to
ask.

~ ~ ~

“Where are they?” Marcus demanded.

Not even when the unusual copper eyes
narrowed on him did Marcus flinch. He knew if he showed the
Draconian any fear, it would be the end of him.

“They are on the Isle of Skye.”

Marcus adjusted his tunic as he sat before
the fire. They had ridden long and hard to try and reach Ahryn
before the ship came ashore, but they hadn’t succeeded.

In truth, Marcus had begun to wonder if
something, or someone, was preventing him from reaching Ahryn in
time to stop her. Even with the bracelet on, she would still be
able to cross over.

He motioned the guards out of his tent so he
could speak privately to the Draconian. Marcus gazed at the man
before him. He had seen the way women looked at the Draconian, and
he supposed the unusual eyes, hair as black as obsidian and the
power he radiated would pull women to him.

“Tell me, Tane, is there anyone using magic
to prevent me from reaching Ahryn?”

Tane smiled, but it didn’t reach his copper
eyes. “I sense no one using magic that would prevent you.”

“Really?” Marcus said as he rose and paced
the tent. “Then why is it that we didn’t reach Ahryn this
night?”

Tane shrugged nonchalantly. “Things happen,
Marcus.”

“Make sure they don’t happen tomorrow,” he
warned.

Tane rose slowly as his distaste of Marcus
nearly overwhelmed him. He exited the tent before he choked the
life out of Marcus. He detested the man so fiercely that he
couldn’t believe his people had fought the Fae over this cursed
realm.

He walked into the grove of trees and leaned
against one. He missed Draconia, his people and the dragons. But
soon, his mission would be finished and he could return to his
realm. Then, and only then, could he face what awaited him. Until
that time he would have to suffer the humans.

Tane turned and laid on his pallet as he
looked through the limbs to the sky above. Only one moon shown in
the sky compared to the three Draconia had.

He sighed and settled down to rest. They were
sure to catch up with Ahryn and Lugus on the morrow. So far Ahryn
and Lugus had been incredibly fortunate, but that luck was about to
end.

~ ~ ~

Lugus knew Marcus was on the isle. He also
knew the Draconian was with him. What he didn’t know was where,
exactly, Marcus and the Draconian were.

He looked over his shoulder to find Ahryn
desperately trying to keep up. He had pushed her hard as soon as
they had landed, so he decided now would be a good time to rest.
When he spotted a small grove of trees, he ventured toward them and
handed Ahryn the water skin when she caught up.

“Thank you,” she said as she lifted the bag
and drank deeply.

Lugus found his gaze drawn to her slender
neck as she tilted her head back to drink. He had kissed her flesh
and knew how soft and warm she was. He swallowed and made himself
look away before he did something unwise like pull her to him and
kiss her until both of them were senseless of anything around
them.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him. Just
the slightest of touches and he was aching for her so badly he
nearly shook with it. He gripped the pommel of his sword as he
looked off into the distance and prayed for the strong will and
patience that had always served him in the past.

“Have we come far?” Ahryn asked as she came
to stand beside him.

Lugus refused to look at her. He knew just
how appealing she was in the moonlight with tendrils of her hair
framing her face. His control hung by the thinnest of threads and
the slightest wind could snap it in half.

“Aye,” he managed past the tightness in his
throat. It was as if his body was somehow connected to Ahryn’s and
her every movement.

He needed some distance between them. He set
out again, not looking back to see if she followed. It was only a
moment later he heard her soft footfalls as she quickly
followed.

“What I wouldn’t do for a horse,” Ahryn
said.

Lugus knew the odds of them happening upon
horses were remote and was just about to tell her so when he heard
a soft nicker. He stopped in his tracks and slowly looked to his
left where he spotted a horse atop a small hill.

Ahryn inhaled sharply. “Do you think we could
borrow him? We would reach the gateway so much quicker.”

For several heartbeats Lugus debated on
continuing on foot, but he knew he was being foolish. His goal was
to get Ahryn to the gateway and doing that as quickly as possibly
was of the utmost importance, not his sudden need to bed her.

“Lugus?” she called softly.

He sighed and turned to her. “Stay here while
I catch him.”

The joyous smile that lit her face made his
breath catch. He jumped the small fence and found a length of rope
on the ground. He grabbed it and slowly made his way to the horse.
About halfway to him, Lugus stopped and went down on his haunches
as though he searched for something on the ground.

Knowing how curious horses were, it didn’t
take long for him to hear the soft tread of the horse as it drew
near. Lugus watched the animal out of the corner of his eye as he
reached into a bag he had taken from the ship and pulled out an
apple.

At the first bite, the horse trotted closer
to him. If Lugus had wanted, he could reach out and touch the
animal, but he needed the horse’s trust, so he waited. After a few
more bites, he slowly lifted the apple toward the horse. Just as he
suspected, the horse extended his neck and sniffed the apple.

With the slightest of movements, Lugus pulled
the apple closer to him so that if the horse wanted it, he needed
to take a step toward him. Lugus smiled as the horse not only took
the needed step, but also took another.

Lugus gave the horse the apple and rose to
his feet as he ran his hands over the horse, appreciating the
horse’s nice lines. He was dark, black by the looks of it, but it
was hard for Lugus to see in the moonlight, with four white
stockings.

By the time the horse had eaten the apple he
was no longer afraid of Lugus.

“We need your help,” Lugus said to the horse.
“I don’t like taking you from your home, but I need to get Ahryn
safely to the gateway. I will return you.”

Lugus reached up and secured the length of
rope to mimic reins, then grabbed hold of the horse’s black mane
before he leapt upon his back. He waited to see if the horse would
protest his weight, but when the horse swung his big head around to
look at him, Lugus chuckled and patted his neck.

“Let’s see what you can do.”

He trotted the horse around the pasture
before he faced them toward the fence and Ahryn. Lugus whistled to
the horse and brought him into a gallop before they jumped the
fence.

The exhilaration from the quick ride helped
Lugus push his desire for Ahryn to the side. Until she stood before
him waiting to be lifted onto the big animal.

“He’s a beauty,” she said as she ran her hand
over the horse’s dark flank.

“That he is,” Lugus said and held out his
hand. She grabbed hold, and he easily lifted her behind him. “Hold
on tight. I have no bridle or reins.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth,
he regretted them, especially when her body molded to his back. He
squeezed his eyes closed when he felt her breasts on his back and
her arms wrapped around his waist. His rod swelled with desire, and
it was all he could do not to pull her around in front of him and
feast on her breasts.

Give me strength, he bade whatever god was
listening as he nudged the horse into a canter.

The horse was eager for exercise just as they
were eager to cover ground quickly. It wasn’t long before Lugus
felt Ahryn’s arms loosen around him as she drifted off to sleep. To
help hold her against him, he put his hand over her arms. Even that
simple contact made him ache to feel more of her.

He prayed they reached the gateway soon
before he gave in to temptation and tasted the heady nectar of
Ahryn. Again.

Chapter Thirteen

Lugus had managed to keep a tight, if not
unsteady, hold on his desire. That is, until Ahryn began to slide
off the horse. Lugus quickly brought the horse to a halt and easily
pulled Ahryn around until he held her across his lap with her head
against his chest.

He knew the road ahead of them was going to
be treacherous, even with the horse, so he let her sleep while she
could. There would be times they would have to forfeit sleep in
order to reach the gateway.

Though he had gotten the directions from the
woman in the inn, Lugus wished he had visited Skye before. Not
knowing the location well enough, he had no idea how long it would
take them to reach the gateway. And, of course, the Captain had
refused to tell him after Lugus had taken the sword.

There had been no way he was leaving the ship
without his sword. It was one of his few possessions that meant
something to him. Not to mention a man without a weapon was as sure
as dead, and with his current mission, he couldn’t take that
chance, at least not until Ahryn was safely in the Fae realm.

Ahryn sighed and snuggled against his chest,
her hand lying limply against his abdomen. It didn’t matter how
much he told himself not to look, his eyes drifted down to see her
sleeping contentedly against him. As a Fae, she was stunning, but
asleep, she looked innocent and fragile, and Lugus had the
overwhelming desire to protect her.

“The only thing you need to protect her from
is yourself,” he mumbled into the night air.

A steady breeze off the sea dimmed the sounds
of the nights, sounds Lugus desperately needed to be aware of.
Because the wind played havoc with him, he had to continually look
around him, allowing his senses to guide him.

He determined it to be a couple of hours
before dawn when he stopped the horse beneath a small grove of
trees. Large boulders stood between the trees and the sea, which
would keep them hidden from passers by on the road as well as the
constant breeze.

Lugus gently picked Ahryn up in his arms and
swung a leg over the horse’s black head. As carefully as he could,
he slid to the ground. He smiled to himself when Ahryn didn’t
stir.

He laid her down and quickly brushed and tied
the black before he too succumbed to sleep.

~ ~ ~

Ahryn didn’t know what had awoken her. She
kept still as she cracked open her eyes to see Lugus asleep near
her. Sunlight gently filtered through the dense foliage from the
trees overhead as she turned onto her back and stretched.

She rose to her feet and walked to the horse
Lugus had tied off to one of the trees.

“Hi, there,” she whispered as she held out
her hand.

The horse lifted his soft muzzle and gently
blew on her hand before he rubbed his great head against her. She
laughed and ran her hand from his head down his neck to his smooth
back. He was beautiful, and she was thankful Lugus had been able to
catch him.

“Even without Fae magic he is impressive,
isn’t he?”

Ahryn jerked and whirled around to find a man
leaning against one of the trees. But he wasn’t just any man. She
knew by his copper eyes he was a Draconian.

“What do you want?”

He shrugged. “I want you to answer my
question.”

For the life of her, Ahryn couldn’t remember
what his question was. “What question?”

“That he is impressive even without his Fae
magic.”

Ahryn glanced at Lugus still sleeping
soundly, too soundly. “Aye, he is.”

“Don’t worry about him,” the Draconian said
as he pushed off the tree and took a step toward her. “He won’t
wake up until I wish it.”

Dread seeped into Ahryn’s bones. With the
bracelet still attached and her magic near nonexistent, and Lugus
now a mortal, neither of them had magic to combat the
Draconian.

But she refused to cower.
After all Lugus had done for her, she would not allow any harm to
come to him. “So you found me. I will go quietly with you if you
leave Lugus alive and unharmed.”



The Draconian chuckled and crossed his arms
over his great chest as he stared at her, his black cloak hiding
much of him. His long black hair hung past the middle of his
stomach and glowed nearly blue in the sunlight. “You think you can
bargain with me, Ahryn?”