My Highland Lover (7 page)

“I’ve seen snakes…and worse in that pond.” A sneer of disgust wrinkled Kenna’s nose as she nodded toward the sparkling surface undulating inside the circle of fire. “And now you’re telling me you’re going to jump into that nasty water?”

Trulie took a deep breath. She had known this wasn’t going to be easy. That damn lump stuck in her throat was about to choke her. They’d all jumped centuries dozens of times, but this was the first time they’d ever separated. Her heart ached as she remembered that very first jump for them all. The twins had been infants swaddled against Granny’s chest, and five-year-old Kenna had buried her face in the protection of Trulie’s young arms.
Lordy. How had Granny felt dragging them all to the future?
Trulie straightened her shoulders and cleared her throat. Granny had feared nothing. It was time she did the same. “I know it’s been a while since our last jump together.” Trulie forced a brave smile she didn’t really feel. “You know you don’t touch the water or the flames. It’s like the turnstile to enter a ride at the amusement park. Kind of like waiting to ride a cosmic roller coaster.”

“I hate roller coasters and you know it. They always make me puke.” Kenna scowled down at the flames and squeezed Trulie’s fingers so hard they started to go numb.

And you’ll puke again when it’s your turn to jump.
Poor Kenna. Jumping the web always made her sick. Trulie decided not to voice that thought. No sense talking Kenna into tossing her cookies early. The time web would take care of that. Skating through the centuries was not for the faint of heart. She leaned forward and looked down the line at Mairi’s pale face. “Mairi, you’re awfully quiet. Do you have any more questions before we go? You’re good until we can light the fire porthole and let you know we’ve settled?”

Mairi caught her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded her head with a single sharp dip.

“She’s terrified,” Lilia groaned. “She’s so scared for you and Granny she can’t even speak.”

“Karma.” Trulie leaned toward the big, black dog sitting to her right. “Stay with Mairi. I think she’s gonna need you more than I will. Keep her company until I get back.”

Karma protested with a soft whine, but his thick, black tail slowly wagged his acquiescence. His ears sagged and his head drooped as he lumbered his way down the line. With a disgruntled huff, he plopped down between Mairi and Lilia and leaned against the young girl’s leg.

Not to be outdone, Granny looked down at the calm black cat sitting between her feet. “Kismet. Watch after Lilia. She’s putting on a brave face, but I know she’ll feel better if you stay here with her.”

Kismet flattened both ears and settled more solidly between Granny’s feet. Her golden eyes narrowed to twin slits and she glared into the fire. The cat was obviously not going to move.

“Kismet!” Granny nudged her toe under the cat’s behind and gently lifted.

Kismet replied with an insulted
rowrr
, glared at Granny with a pointed look back over one shoulder, and switched her tail.

“Do as you’re told.” Granny fixed the cat with a threatening glare only Granny could pull off.

Kismet hissed an ugly reply and slunk around to the spot between Lilia’s feet. Once there, she sat as stiff and erect as a statue, her disgruntled glare fixed on the flames.

“All right.” Trulie exhaled and tried to relax the tensed muscles knotting in her gut. “I guess we’re all set.” Trulie glanced up and noted the position of the moon. It was time. She couldn’t remember a time Granny had done a jump this size as a follower. She silently prayed the strong-willed woman would be able to assume the role and remain focused.

Granny nodded her encouragement, smiled over at the girls huddled close together, then turned back to Trulie. “Go ahead, gal.”

Trulie curled her bare toes in the cool, damp earth and sucked in a deep cleansing breath. She cleared her mind of everything except a vision of a mist-covered land of deep green, bordered by the blue-gray mountains she remembered from her dreams. As she relaxed and focused, the cool softness of the rich, black soil beneath her feet pulsed with an ancient energy and sent warmth running up her legs. With every breath, the warm tingling grew stronger, until Trulie’s entire body hummed.

The energy surge strengthened. The power of the primeval force roared in Trulie’s ears. Her heartbeat slowed to a strong, dull thud filling her with anticipation. It seemed an eternity between heartbeats. As she lifted her hands into the air, the flames encircling the small, dark pond rose higher, matching their swaying rhythm to the slow, steady pounding threatening to burst from her chest.

Trulie focused on the center of the pond’s now gently swirling waters. The dark ripples circled faster in a counterclockwise motion. The undulating waves gained momentum in their spin. The edges of the pool frothed and bubbled. A haze misted up into the swaying stalks of cattails growing along the bank. The circular pool swelled, then solidified into a glowing ebony mirror. Its smooth surface sparkled and danced with the orange-white light of the tall, roaring flames.

With one last look at the expectant faces of her family, Trulie sang out the time command. Her throat burned as she raised her voice to shout over the deep whine of the rising wind.

“Web of time,

Veil of space,

Carry us to our chosen place.

Borne of water,

Trialed by fire,

Our blood bespeaks our rightful power.

For the good of all,

With harm to none,

So as it is spoken,

So let it be done.”

The burning brush around the great mirror immediately solidified. The dancing blaze froze in place. The long orange-and-white tongues of the curling flames sprouted and stretched up around the portal like an eerie circle of sculpted glass.

Trulie crouched, nodded affirmation to Granny, then launched forward. The final command ripped from her lungs with a high-pitched shout into the roaring void. “So mote it be!”

Trulie shivered with the surge of energy as both feet shattered the surface of the pond into thousands of sparkling shards. Her fingers trailed through the jagged pieces as they spun away in slow motion, scattering out into the star-filled darkness of the time tunnel. Anticipation spiked with a heady dose of excitement jolting through her.
Lordy, lordy.
She had missed the exhilaration of the ancient energy.

“Whoo hoo!” Trulie shivered with giddiness as she kicked harder and dove forward. She couldn’t help it. The icy wind of time whooshing across her skin was intoxicating.

“Trulie Elizabeth!” Kenna’s shout echoed from far away and repeated a thousand times across the endless void.

“I love y’all! We’ll be together again before you know it,” Trulie shouted back over one shoulder. An excited giggle bubbled up from her core. Trulie loved swimming through time, and had to admit she didn’t mind handing over the responsibility of raising her younger sisters to Kenna. Her fingers tingled as she somersaulted through the air. How could she have forgotten the rush of traveling across the web?

“We love you too.” Kenna’s shout grew fainter. “And your stubborn dog is coming with you.”

A deep bark reverberated through the shifting cosmos, followed by an irritated hissing yowl. Apparently, Kismet was coming too.

“Tamhas?” Gray scanned the area as he slid down from Cythraul’s broad back. He stood with one hand resting on the beast’s warm, shaggy neck, leaned forward, and listened. Nothing but silence. Not even the sound of the wind stirred through the trees. Gray tensed as he looked about. Even the drizzling rain had disappeared. Such stillness was unnatural. No good could come of this.

“Tamhas?” he repeated, louder. Where the hell was the old man? An eerie foreboding settled demon claws firmly in his gut.

“Still no smoke or sign of life.” Colum edged his horse up beside Gray. “I ha’ never known the old one to leave his cave unattended for more than a few hours. The sly fox keeps close to his burrow. D’ye think he may be dead?”

Gray moved closer to the battered wooden door built into the side of the mountain. He searched for the small thatched hole that drew the smoke from Tamhas’s hearth out of the confines of the cave. There. Right there, centered in a roll of the hill a bit higher up the side of the rocky embankment. The frosty wetness dripping from the loose bundles of grass piled around the opening told Gray no heat had risen in a while. Gray eased his way to the shuttered window cut just a few feet to the left of the doorway. The gaps between the thick, lashed-together boards revealed nothing but darkness within.

Gray sniffed hesitantly, held in the breath, then exhaled. Thank the gods he nay detected the smell of death or spilled blood. “If Tamhas lies dead, his body isna here.”

Both horses let out low, nervous whinnies, and skittered a few paces back from the clearing. They shook their heads and pawed at the ground, clearly ready to be done with the place.

“Easy now, lads,” Colum reassured them as he slid to the ground and gathered the reins of both mounts in one hand. “I dinna care for this o’erly much, me self.”

Gray backed up a few steps. Something wasna right. Even the air had a strange feel to it. He scrubbed a hand up and down his forearm. A strange tension stung across his flesh, standing every hair on end.

A groaning rumble rose from deep below Gray’s feet. The sound deepened and then gained momentum, as though the very earth itself was about to wrench open its ancient maw. Gray staggered sideways, struggling to keep his footing on the shaking ground.
What evil awakens?
The land was alive like a great beast trying to buck him from its back.

The horses screamed and reared away from the heaving earth. Colum threw aside the reins and dove from the path of sharp, flailing hooves.

A sudden shifting in the darkness of the sky forced Gray’s attention upward. “By the verra gods…” Gray stumbled back from the black stain swirling in an ominous circle above the mountain’s clearing.

The air exploded with a deafening rush of wind and flying debris. The blast whirled through the clearing with a piercing screech so loud the howl echoed across the land. The horses shied, bucking and pawing against the unseen.

Gray shielded his face against the battering wind just as a solid force hit him square in the chest and knocked him to the ground. All went silent. The air went dead. Even the horses ceased their thrashing.

A violent updraft rattled the land. The force whooshed up from the ground, creating a choking, dirt-filled cloud. Gray turned his face from the stinging blackness, blinking hard against the swirling dust. What devilry had the gods rained down upon them? Coughing and wheezing, Gray struggled to see and shift aside the clinging weight draped across his chest.

“Lore a’mighty,” Colum shouted from the other side of the clearing. “Yer no’ gonna believe yer eyes, man. The clouds are rainin’ women!”

Gray rubbed his eyes and blinked hard against the silt filling his vision. “I canna see a damn thing, Colum. What the hell are ye sayin’?”

What had Colum said about women? Gray swiped the back of one hand across his face while he pushed up on one elbow. The dead weight draped across his chest emitted a soft, mewling groan. Gray froze. Such a delicate moan could only come from a female. He blinked hard one last time and scrubbed the final blurriness from his vision.

Dark hair soft as silk and smelling of a beguiling sweetness tickled up against his chin. Gray inhaled another deep breath of the alluring fragrance and sent up a silent prayer that he hadna gone mad. Had the gods truly dropped a woman from the sky? Gray blinked down at the tangled mass of curls scattered across his chest.

The woman shifted. Gray steadied her with one hand and moved a bit to one side to keep her from rolling away. The softness of her curves sank into him in all the right places. Gray relaxed back and lightly stroked a finger down her arm.
Damn and for sure.
She was real. And her sweet warmth melting into him was quite pleasant. In fact, perhaps this gift from the heavens was no’ so bad after all.

Gray tilted his head to better examine the intriguing present Fate had seen fit to plop atop his chest. What the hell was that strange pouch strapped to her back? Odd bits of metal fashioned into the tiniest teeth ran along several of the bundle’s seams. Knotted hanks of the silkiest rope Gray had ever seen dangled from various spots in bright, multicolored bits. Her oddly clothed—albeit verra nice, from all he had seen thus far—body rumbled against his chest with another humming moan as the woman shifted position again. Gray grabbed her by the shoulders and eased her to one side before her bent knee succeeded in squashing the part of him welcoming her with ever-hardening interest.

The woman slowly lifted her head. She blinked up at him through a tangle of curls hanging across her eyes. Green eyes looked through him, blindly staring past him as if he weren’t there. Such an unusual shade of green. The fresh, deep hue of an angry sea when it crashed into the shallows. Dark pupils fluctuated as though unable to adjust to the light. Her dark-fringed eyes crinkled at the corners as the lass squinted through her hair. Her nose twitched. Her tiny nostrils flared as though she were a huntress scenting her prey. A split second later, she sprang away and stumbled across the rough ground until she was several feet away.

“Granny?” The girl cried out, growing frantic as she looked all around her, her head whipping from side to side. “Granny! Karma! Kismet! Where are you?” Her voice rose to a higher note of hysteria with every name she called out.

“Lass, calm down.” Gray shushed her quietly in the tone he used to gentle horses. The woman would surely harm herself if she continued staggering about. He reached out and tried to grab her flailing hands. “Tell me who ye are and where yer from?”
Lore a’mighty. The poor beauty is blind.
Gray sidestepped a wild kick and grabbed at the strange pack strapped to her back
. Damn, she moves swiftly for one who canna see.
Gently, he forced her to be still, then slowly wheeled her about and took a firm hold of her arm. “There now. Much better. Easy now, lass. ’Twill be all right.”

The girl yanked her arm away and stumbled backward. “Don’t touch me. I’m not as helpless as I look.”

“Easy now. I’m just tryin’ t’help ye.” Gray snatched hold of her arm again, hopping sideways when she jerked out of his grasp and kicked wildly once more.
Lore a’mighty. Be the woman mad?

A deep warning growl sounded behind him. The chilling rumble transmitted such raw fury the hairs stood on the back of Gray’s neck. Without taking his eyes off the wild-eyed woman, Gray eased to one side until he could see the animal out of the corner of his eye.
Damnation.
That huge black beast with teeth bared dwarfed any hound he had e’er seen.

“Karma! Karma come to me. I can’t see a damn thing.” The frantic woman bent low, holding out her arms.

The black dog leapt across the clearing and pressed against his mistress’s side. The woman dropped to her knees, wrapped her arms around the brute’s neck and pressed a cheek against his broad head. “Karma. Thank goodness. Please stay with me.”

Gray stood silent and studied the pair. The softly mumbling lass twisted him inside, made him wish to protect her. The helpless beauty obviously loved and trusted the animal with all her heart—and the hound returned her love and devotion. Guilt left a bad taste in his mouth as his hand fell away from the dagger strapped to his leg. Thank the gods he’d not caused the beast harm.

“Trulie?” a weak voice called out from higher up the hillside.

The sniffling girl raised her head, turning her face toward the sound. “Granny? Granny is that you?”

So the lass’s name was Trulie. What an odd name for a woman. Gray moved a step closer, coming to a quick halt when the dog rumbled a warning snarl and bared his teeth. “Lass—Mistress—call off yer beast. I swear t’ye, I mean ye no harm.”

Trulie leaned closer to the great, black brute and hugged him against her side. “It’s okay, Karma. Don’t bite him. Just watch and be ready…just in case.”

Karma stood taller, ears perked and locked on Gray. Fearlessness shone in the dog’s eyes as he bared his teeth even more, daring Gray to make a wrong move.

The warning sound of tumbling rocks echoed around the edge of the hill. A soft thud, followed by a faint grunt, sounded from behind a cluster of saplings. The young trees gently shook as more rocks bounced down the hillside around them.

“Crap on crackers, that was a rough ride.” An old woman covered in dust hitched her way out from around the bushes, clapping the dirt from her hands. “How many times have I told you not to bust through flat-footed, Trulie? You’ve got to work on your reentry, young lady.”

“Granny, I can’t see!” Trulie hitched sideways toward the old woman, her hands held out in a feeble attempt to feel her way.

Granny pointed a finger toward Gray as she rubbed her hip and gimped over to Trulie.
Stay there,
she mouthed to Gray, and jabbed her finger toward the ground at his feet.

Gray’s mouth dropped open. Did that old woman just tell him to stay put as though he were a lad due a scolding? “Woman, ye best be tellin’ me who ye are. I’ll have ye know yer standing on m’land.”

Granny jabbed her finger toward the ground again and hiked a brow like a mother daring a child to disobey. She gave him one last, pointed glare as she wrapped an arm around Trulie’s shoulders. “It’s all right. You know it sometimes takes your sight a while to adjust. Especially when you’re the beacon.” Granny stood on tiptoe and examined Trulie’s red-rimmed eyes. She rubbed a wrinkled thumb across the girl’s reddened cheek in a gentle caress. “You dove through head first with your eyes open, didn’t you?”

Gray eased closer. The two women were obviously kin. Mother and daughter? Nay. The old one was too long in the tooth to have a child the age of the young woman. The girl had called the old woman “Granny.”
Aye,
the old one was the lass’s grandmother.

Trulie sniffed and ducked her head away from Granny’s touch. A mumbled “Yes” floated from behind her shirtsleeve as she dragged her arm across her face.

“You know better, Trulie,” Granny gently scolded as she stepped away. “Your sight will take a few days to return. Until then, Karma will have to be your eyes.”

Gray cleared his throat. He was tired of being ignored. “Who are ye?” He did his best not to bite out the words, but damn, this situation was getting stranger by the minute. “And where the hell are ye from?”

“I am Nia Sinclair,” Granny responded as she pulled her spectacles off her face and rubbed the lenses with her shirttail. “And this”—she nodded toward Trulie—“is my granddaughter, Trulie Elizabeth Sinclair.” Granny stretched to one side and looked around Gray, her gaze searching around the clearing. “And somewhere close by is my cat, Kismet. You haven’t by chance seen a very opinionated black cat around here, have you?”

“Witches.” Gray hissed the word with a strained breath. Just what he needed. Could this day get any worse?

“We are not witches.” Granny lifted her chin to a haughty angle as she widened her stance. “We are time runners with a few extra abilities tossed in for good measure.” Granny settled the wire-rimmed spectacles back on her nose and planted her fists on her narrow hips. “And since when does a MacKenna fear witches? I believe quite a few of them come from your line.”

“Get off me, ye wretched beast! Off, I say.” Colum’s enraged roar rang out from just beyond a pile of stones stacked against the hillside.

“Now what?” Gray whirled around just as Colum rounded the pile at a swift hop while trying to kick free the yowling feline wrapped around his calf.

Colum danced back and forth, narrow rivulets of blood streaming down his leg. Every time he grabbed the cat by the scruff of its neck, Kismet sank her fangs and claws deeper into his leg.

“Don’t you hurt my cat,” Granny warned with a shake of her fist in the air.

“If I e’er get the demon off m’leg, I’ll turn its mangy arse into a fine leather pouch.” Colum hopped over to the stone trough beside the door. He lifted his leg over the side and plunged it down into the murky water.

Kismet released his leg just before hitting the water. The hissing feline raced up Colum’s thigh, launched to his chest, and swiped a paw full of unsheathed claws across Colum’s cheek as a parting gift before leaping over his shoulder.

Colum gingerly palmed his crotch as he wiped the blood from his face. With a deadly look around the clearing, he unsheathed his sword. “That little bastard nearly split me bollocks in two. That wee demon is mine.”

“You are not going to harm my cat.” Granny stomped across the clearing and jabbed a bony finger at the center of Colum’s wide chest. “If you hadn’t startled her, she wouldn’t have felt the need to deball you. Now stop acting like such a bully.”

Gray took this opportunity to move to Trulie’s side, taking care to give the growling black dog a wide berth. “Where did ye…” Gray paused and glanced toward Granny, still telling Colum in no uncertain terms how she did not appreciate his behavior. “How did ye and yer grandmother get here?”

“They are the ones we have waited for. Their time has finally arrived.” The door to Tamhas’s cave slammed open with a thud and bounced against the wall. The old man stood with both hands folded atop the polished knob of a twisted cane that stood nearly to his shoulders. A trembling smile split his grizzled beard as he looked past Gray’s shoulder. “My Nia,” he tenderly crooned. “I feared I would nay live to see yer lovely face in this time e’er again.”