Stone Guardian (20 page)

“Ye didna ask.” Seonaidh
yawned as Torin shifted deeper into the in-between.

He had to find her. A sense of dread coursed through his veins as Torin raced across the dimensions.
Damn that lazy water spirit.
The fool had no sense of urgency.

Torin’s guardian amulet burned hot against his skin as he skimmed along the planes. Good. The hotter it burned, the closer he was to Emma. And if it burned, she also still lived.

Folding the dimensions, Torin launched his essence around the last bend; the amulet nearly sizzled against the skin at the base of his throat. His gut lurched as he shimmered to a stop and scanned the storm swept landscape.

The sight up ahead stole the very wind from his lungs. A darkened truck sat stalled out and wedged in between the banks of a washed out gully. Debris-filled water foamed and swirled almost to the top of the tightly closed windows.

Chapter Thirty

The growl of angry water roared all around her, paralyzing her with fear. Emma hugged the steering wheel, pressing her forehead against the cold rubber tubing clenched against her chest. She couldn’t bear to open her eyes. If she did, she’d see the taunting onslaught of the foaming torrent battering against the glass.
Voices.
She heard the unmistakable beasts chanting she’d soon be theirs. The water echoed with cruel, laughing taunts that soon they’d chase the air from her lungs and fill it with the burning brine of the sea. Death hissed through the darkness of the cab.

The vehicle slid sideways and shifted against the muddy banks with a rough jolt. The grate of metal scraping against jagged rocks closed her throat with knotting terror. Coughing for air, Emma grappled the steering wheel harder against her body. Her hands cramped around the bit of rubber-covered metal as she curled her legs up into the seat to escape the level of water quickly rising inside the truck. Why had she come this way? With a hiccupped sob, she eased her eyes open the barest crack, just to squeeze them shut again to block the sight of the collapsing banks of mud washing away with the rushing water. A sense of irony snorted through her fogged, hysterical mind. This time her stubbornness would be her death. She’d finally lose her battle with the water demons just because she’d wanted to avoid Torin.

Torin. When they’d made love, he’d promised her he’d never let the water take her. “Where are you now, Torin?” Emma whimpered against the cold steering wheel without opening her eyes.

“I’m right beside ye, lass,” a deep voice echoed through the murky darkness of the truck. “I promised ye I’d always keep ye safe and here I am.”

Strong hands gripped her by the upper arms and sloshed her across the seat. Emma kept her chin tucked and her eyes squeezed shut. Surely, this salvation wasn’t imagined.
Please let it really be him. Please don’t be a hallucination.

“I’m here, little Emma. Open your eyes and look at me. Yer going to be safe verra soon.”

Emma kept her eyes shut and shook her head. “No. I don’t want to see the water. If I see the water, I’ll see them.” He didn’t understand. The gurgling water rang out with the cries of her drowning parents. Their pleading voices grew louder with every lurch of the truck. The swooshing current hissed and taunted her with suffocating memories waiting to be unleashed.

A hard, wet chest pressed against her skin; a soaked T-shirt rubbed rough and clammy against her face. Arms of iron curled around her body, cradling her close against a solid heartbeat drumming beneath her cheek.
Safe.
The beating heart chanted beneath her jaw.
You are safe.
It repeated with a steady rhythm.

Curling tighter inside his embrace, Emma nuzzled her face against the warmth of his throat. With a shuddering breath, she inhaled his familiar scent.
Security. Trust.
The strength of his touch and his tantalizing male spice stroked and calmed her. Her terror abated and the paralysis ebbed as she anchored her senses to Torin’s presence and wrenched herself out of the hysteria.

Emma sank her fingers into the drenched cloth stuck to his body and yanked herself closer against him. She’d crawl inside his skin if she could. He offered refuge from the demons. “Don’t let me go,” she mouthed against his salty-sweet neck. “Please don’t let me go.”

Scooping her out of the truck, Torin pressed his lips against her squinched-shut eyelids. “I’ll never let ye go, Emma. Never again. I promise.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Pale and shivering, she finally slept, curled in a pitiful ball beneath every plaid he’d been able to find in the snug little croft. Torin added another brick of peat to the fire and pulled the black iron lever toward the mark that she’d said would make the turf burn hotter.

He’d nearly lost her to the vicious storm kelpies. He’d detected the sound of victorious laughter of the Blue Men of the Minch over the raging wind. Torin knotted a plaid between his hands. He twisted the material until it nearly ripped as he watched the orange flickering flames devour the freshly added fuel. He’d singe the kelpie’s wicked arses with a righteous blaze the next time their paths crossed. By all the powers of the goddess, he’d turn the heartless water demons into clouds of harmless steam.

Torin lowered to his knees beside the couch, easing close enough to feel the warmth of her steady breathing brush against his skin. Her still damp hair curled in chaotic ringlets, tumbling across her shoulders. He wrapped a clinging tress around one finger and brought it to his lips.

Never again.
Torin drew a deep breath. He’d promised he’d never let her go. An eternity of responsibility echoed in those words and weighed heavy on his mind. He didn’t belong in this world. Too much of what he’d once known had changed. Too much lost. He’d never rest easy in this time. And whether Emma realized the truth or not, neither would she.

Torin traced a finger down the velvet of her pale cheek, reveling in the relaxed peacefulness of her sleeping face. He had to convince her she belonged with him. Emma needed to realize her place.

With the barest of touches, he eased his arm across her, nestling his head close inside the curve of her body and snuggled against her stomach. He pulled another plaid across his weary body and breathed in the sweetness of her scent as he closed his eyes.
His.
She belonged to him. That’s all either of them need ever know.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Warm, damp male.
Her nose transmitted this information to her brain before she ever opened her eyes. Emma snuggled deeper into the soft folds of the plaid, curling her body closer around the softly snoring inferno pressed against her chest. She opened her eyes to an ebony mass of curls tucked beneath her chin.

He couldn’t be comfortable in that position, sitting in the floor, propped against the couch with a protective arm curled around her. Emma tried wriggling an arm out from under the plaid but quickly discovered the weight of Torin’s arm had the blanket pinned. Sinking back into the over-stuffed cushions of the couch, she created enough of a gap to free her hand and sink her fingers into the silkiness of his hair. Tempting masculine musk steamed her senses, stirring a raging heat through her body. Emma might’ve been freezing when they’d first arrived home, but she wasn’t cold now.

He stirred a bit, shifting his head to what must’ve been a more comfortable spot between her breasts. The rock hardness of his arm flexed then relaxed, his fingers spread between her shoulder blades as though he subconsciously checked to ensure he still held her.

Emma combed her one free hand through his hair and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. Torin’s arm flexed again. This time his hand didn’t relax and his fingers stroked their way to the nape of her neck.

Torin lifted his face to hers, seeking the sweetness of her mouth. The warm, wet welcome of her parted lips told him more than words ever could. Savoring the flavor of her delicious mouth, he nuzzled his way down the curve of her jaw. His mouth hungered for the silk of her throat. He longed to enjoy the creamy softness of her breasts. Torin inhaled, trapped in sensual delirium as he reveled in the heat of her need.

Emma buried both hands in his hair, arching her back as she pressed her breasts to his face. Her petal-pink nipples tightened and strained toward him, begging for his mouth. He took a slow teasing taste of the luscious nubs, first licking around them in purposeful, tantalizing circles before suckling them into his mouth.

Emma moaned. Her breath came in rapid short gasps as she kicked the plaid onto the floor. Torin raised his head, smiling down at her as he slid his arms beneath her body and lifted her off the couch. “Agreed. There’s much more room on the floor.”

Lowering her beneath him, he slid a hand down the silk of her belly and found the delightful wet warmth waiting for him between her thighs. “Ah, lass. I’ve missed ye too,” he purred as he slid a finger inside her.

Emma arched against the teasing rhythm of his hand, moaning as she pulled his head down to hers. Opening her mouth, she welcomed his tongue with greedy urgency, her appreciative purrs vibrating against his lips. She raked her nails down his back as he buried another finger in her depths. Torin ached to lose himself in the delights of her body but he needed her to yearn for him just as badly. With the ball of his thumb, he teased her swollen nub while gyrating his fingers deeper into her wetness with a tantalizing rhythm. Emma squirmed, climbing her legs around his body with desperate hungry thrusts.

Placing a hand on either side of Torin’s face, Emma pushed him away with a gasp against his lips. “I’ve got to have you inside me, Torin. You’re driving me insane.”

“Whatever ye wish, my lovely lass. I shall always do whatever ye wish.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

The silk of her curls tickled against his flank, hardening him in an instant. Torin inhaled a deep, controlled breath in through his nose and blew it out his mouth.
No.
He scolded his greedy cock. Emma needed sleep. He knew the stubbornness of the lass. The devoted woman would insist on going to the clinic as soon as the sun peeped over the horizon.

Her head rested in the curve of his shoulder. An arm and a leg draped across his body. The scent of the passion they’d shared during the night hung heavy in the room. Swallowing hard, Torin stared at the darkened ceiling, straining to shift his thoughts to somewhere other than the luscious woman lying snuggled against his side.

He couldn’t help it. Emma gave herself completely whenever they loved. She shared both body and soul. Torin connected with her in a way he’d never connected with another. Tightening his arm around her in a possessive embrace, Torin fought against the uncertainty nagging at him like a disgruntled warrior. Would he be able to convince her to come with him? Could he convince her to choose a wondrous life in another reality and leave all this dratted chaos behind?

“Are you ever going to go back to sleep?” Emma’s breath tickled across his chest as her voice echoed in the darkness.

“Did I wake ye?”

“No.” Emma burrowed closer, tightened her leg around him and tucked her arm alongside his chest. “Your breathing and heartbeat is faster when you’re awake. I woke up because I need to…well…pee.”

Torin chuckled, kissing the top of her head. The woman didn’t have the guile to hide a thing. “Then why are ye still snuggled against my side if ye need to relieve yourself?”

Her body rose and fell beneath his arm as Emma drew in a heavy sigh. “Because I don’t want to move. I feel nice and warm—and safe.”

A satisfied glow filled his body. His heart swelled so much ’twas a wonder it didn’t explode within his chest. “Ye’ll always be safe when ye’re with me, Emma. I promise I’ll never let anything harm ye.”

With a satisfied sigh, Emma kissed his side then slid out from under his arm. Rising from the plaid spread in front of the hearth, she cursed under her breath as she bumped into a table in the darkness.

Torin chuckled again.
Fiery-tongued wench.
Rolling to his side, he slid open the grate to stare into the orange glow of the shimmering coals. When she returned, he’d give her a gentle nudge; remind her she’d promised to listen with an open mind when he explained the mysteries awaiting her touch. They’d never be able to cross the veils to join what remained of his clan until she opened herself to the magic and together, they defeated Arach.

A disembodied glow floated across the room toward him. The halo of a flickering candle illuminated Emma’s face. “I didn’t want to run over that stupid table again and I can’t find a flashlight.” Setting the plate holding the sputtering candle on the table, Emma dropped to her knees and crawled toward him.

Torin caught his breath. His body roared to attention at the sight of Emma coming toward him on all fours. “Feel better?” His voice rasped, catching in his throat as he looked up into her face.

“Much.” Emma snuggled up against him, nuzzling into the dip of his shoulder like a kitten burrowing against its mother. “Torin?”

“Aye?” How in the hell did she expect him to be able to speak when she pressed those breasts against his side?

“How did you know where to find me?”

“Where to find you?” Torin hedged. Her hardened nipples tickled into his ribs, reminding him of their delectable sweetness when he took them in his mouth.

“When I left the clinic,” Emma prompted, tracing her fingertips along the muscles of his chest.

“I canna do this,” Torin groaned as he rolled Emma over and pinned her beneath him. Pressing his forehead against hers, he sank himself into her body. “I canna carry on a conversation when ye’re tempting me with your charms.”

Arching into him, Emma smiled into his eyes as she raked her nails down his back and pulled him deeper into the embrace of her thighs. “Then I guess we’ll talk later.” Grinding her hips hard into his, she gasped out her next instructions. “Yes—definitely—talk later. For now, just shut up and move.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

“I was concerned when Moira said they’d found the truck abandoned in the center of the flooded gully.” His dark blue gaze lasered through her when Alex looked up from behind the check-in desk.