Awaken the Highland Warrior (29 page)

Bree dropped a soft kiss on the side of his mouth and tugged in vain at the heavy chains. She tried the second key, but it took several tries to get the rusty lock open. She released his right wrist, gently lowering his arm onto his chest. His shoulder was dislocated. His head rolled to the side, the weight of his body digging the shackle deeper into the flesh of the wrist still trapped. She struggled to support his weight while she freed his left arm. He sagged against her, his shirt gapping open, his battle marks exposed. Tears trickled down her cheeks and dropped onto his chest as she held him.

God grant this warrior’s aim be true as his heart. Bend time and bring forward, his mate beside him, not apart.
Bree whipped around, but she was alone. There was no time to figure out where the disembodied voice came from.

“Faelan, wake up. We’ve got to go.” Her efforts to pull him to a sitting position were useless. She wasn’t strong enough to move him. And she still had to find Jared. A noise sounded outside, and she stopped breathing. It came again, the brush of a shoe on stone. Someone was coming, and they didn’t want to be heard. She checked that Faelan was lying secure before moving toward the door. A pile of rags lay in the corner, a boot beside it.

Jared?

“I’ll come back for you, Jared. I promise.” She turned off the light, stuck her head out, and saw a shadow dart into another hallway. Carrying her shoes, she felt her way back toward the secret passage. Her fingers shook as she searched for the notch. The stone wall scraped open. She hurried inside and closed the entrance, agonizing over each lost second.

After a minute of quiet, she slid her finger into the notch. A light tap sounded from outside. Yanking her hand back, she listened to the soft searching sounds on the other side. Easing away, she turned and fled, taking the first turn she saw, and soon found herself lost in a maze of tunnels.

She checked her watch. Fifteen minutes had passed. Too long. Choosing a random direction, she ran into one dead end after another. She opened at least ten secret doors, expecting to be discovered, then she found a small, wooden doorway, surprising in a place made of stone. She eased it open and bumped into a huge tapestry. Pulling back the edge, she saw a room with several men—or creatures—seated at a table. They were discussing something in a language she couldn’t understand, but the emotion translated well. Excitement. She had to hurry. She stepped back and tiptoed the other way. One last turn, and she came to a wall that seemed familiar. She opened the door and stumbled onto the dungeon stairs, welcoming the musty air. Praying whoever was there had gone, she aimed her light and rushed toward the room where she’d left Faelan and Jared. She opened the heavy door. Empty chains dangled from the wall.

Faelan was gone.

It couldn’t have been him outside the secret passageway. He wasn’t even conscious. Bree moved toward Jared, still motionless in the corner. The back of his head was matted with blood, and he lay too still. Tears blurred her eyes as she knelt and rolled him over. She stared at his bloodied face, illuminated by her flashlight. Her body went cold. “No. God, no.”

The soft tap of a shoe behind her alerted her that she wasn’t alone. “Where have you hidden my warrior?” The voice was quiet. And terribly familiar. Bree slowly turned, her body weak with shock.

Druan.

Faelan held tight to Conall’s shoulders as the fence came into view. “Slow down.” His shoulder ached, and his legs wobbled like a new foal’s.

“Can’t. Not if we want to get out of here alive.”

Conall pulled faster, and Faelan fought the churning in his stomach.

“Up you go,” Conall said, shoving Faelan over the fence. He teetered and fell to the other side, knocking the breath out of him. A second later, Conall landed beside him. He took Faelan’s arm, wrapped it around his shoulders, and dragged him forward. “Sorry about the arm. Your shoulder was dislocated. I had to put it back.”

“Bree… here,” Faelan said, as his throat struggled between pulling in air and getting rid of the vile stuff in his stomach.

“I’ll come back for her.” Shouts sounded behind them, and Conall pulled faster. “Hurry.”

“No. She’s a halfling.”

“A halfling? What’d they give you?” Conall pulled Faelan across the road, into the trees.

“…feel sick.”

“You’ll be better off if you throw up.”

Faelan stumbled to the closest tree, held on, and did just that. Conall dragged him away before Faelan could wipe his mouth.

“We’ve got to keep moving.”

“She was in bed with Druan.”

“Who?”

“Bree.”

“Blimey. They must have given you some kind of hallucinogen. The last place Bree would be is in Druan’s bed.” Conall parted some branches, uncovering a dark vehicle like the one Druan’s minions had driven, but larger. Opening the door, he shoved Faelan inside and buckled his seat belt. Conall jumped in the driver’s side and cranked the engine. “Hang on.”

Conall stared at the winding road. Faelan leaned back, trying to clear his head.

“I’m sorry I lost Bree. She distracted me. Got on another plane in Atlanta before I could stop her.”

“It’s not your fault. She’s strong-willed.” Most halflings were. “How did you find her?”

“I figured she was trying to get back home. I found the next flight to Albany and saw her boarding.”

“You got on the same plane?”

“No. Took an hour to get another flight, but her connecting plane was delayed. Mechanical problems. I got her address from Information, but when I got to her house, she was pulling onto the road. A man was driving. I thought she’d been kidnapped. I tried to follow them, but got lost. Bloody roads. I’m not used to driving on this side. I decided to check out Druan’s castle. Took forever to find it, even with the map coordinates. Just like you said, an empty field and woods. That was an eerie thing, watching the air part like a curtain.”

“How’d you get inside the castle?”

“I found that hidden door around back and headed for the dungeon. Figured if she’d been kidnapped, she’d be there.”

“Did you see her?”

“No. After I found you, there wasn’t time to look. I had to get you out. I’ve taken the same oath as you. There’s more at stake here than one woman, or me. You’re the only one who can stop Druan.”

So much for his plan to keep Conall out of danger.

“I should’ve called for help,” Conall said. “I thought I had it under control, but I almost cost you your life.”

Faelan knew that sentiment well. He remembered his father’s words, as the talisman slid over his head.
Warriors need each other. The battle’s not meant to be fought alone.
“I would’ve gone to the castle anyway. I’m the one who should’ve asked for help. Let’s say we’ve both learned a lesson.” He’d learned several. “How’d you get my chains off?” Faelan asked, looking at his scraped wrists.

“I didn’t. They were off when I found you.”

“Then who…?” Faelan touched his battered lips. “I think somebody kissed me.”

Conall’s eyebrows rose. “Not me. There was a guy in there with you. Wasn’t him either. He was dead. I heard noises behind the wall. Someone must have been in the secret passageway you told us about. Did Bree know about it?”

“She’s the one who found the map.” Probably drew the bloody thing.

By the time they reached Bree’s house, Faelan was feeling closer to alive. They hadn’t been followed, as far as they could tell, but it was too dangerous to stay more than a few minutes. He drank water until he couldn’t taste the bitterness in his mouth and stood under her shower, watching his blood run down the drain.

He wrapped a towel around his hips and started toward his room to get clothes, when he spotted a small marble cup behind several fallen picture frames on Bree’s dresser. The cup held a pocket watch and a diamond earring. A prickling started under his skin. He picked up the pocket watch and turned it over, his hands moving shakily over the silver. He didn’t need to read the engraving to know what it said.

To ADC, all my love, always.

He didn’t remember bringing it.

Conall poked his head through the door. “Sean says the others should be here by morning. What’s that?”

Faelan shook his head. “My father’s pocket watch. I don’t remember wearing it.” He was sure he hadn’t worn it. How did Bree get his father’s pocket watch?

“Your brothers probably forgot it—” Conall broke off, clamping his mouth shut.

“My brothers?”

“Sorry. I was thinking of something else,” Conall said, whirling toward the door.

“You’re lying.”

Conall stopped, hands on the door frame, and blew out a sigh. He turned, his face glum. “Your father was here. He came with your brothers to help you fight Druan.”

“My father? Here?” The air rushed from Faelan’s lungs. “McGowan?”

“They used fake names to protect their identities.”

Faelan dropped onto the bed, the watch clenched in his hand. “My father was McGowan. Why didn’t someone tell me?”

“The clan didn’t want you distracted.”

“Druan killed my father?” His father had come to help him and died. Had his coffin rested in the crypt, next to the time vault? Father and son. One dead. One sleeping. Side by side.

His father’s death was his fault. If he’d let the warriors stay with him, there was at least a chance they would have succeeded, and his father may have lived, but Faelan had taken that chance away. His mother had lost her husband and two of her sons to the demon. Had she died of a broken heart? “We’ve got to get out of here. I know a place where we can stay. I have some clothes that might fit until yours arrive.”

“I’m sorry about all this, about Bree. Maybe there’s an explanation. He could have taken her.”

Faelan scrubbed his hands across his face. “If she was a prisoner, she would have been in the dungeon, not his bed.” And she wouldn’t have been smiling. “I fell for her story… the map, the photograph she claimed was her great-great-grandmother, the key hanging on the mantel. She probably killed my father herself.”

***

“No. Please, no.”

His features were the same, but there was nothing familiar about his expression. Jared smiled, and Bree saw a hint of sadness. Her heart shriveled a little more. A lone tear, of fear or pain, she didn’t know which, escaped, trickling down her cheek.

Tilting his head, he studied it and then touched it with his finger, bringing it to his lips.

“Why, Jared?”

“Glory, power, the planet.”

“You used me to get to Faelan. Why do you want him?”

“Because he tried to destroy me. Spying on me, tormenting me, trying to ruin my plans.” Druan laughed, the sound jarring, coming from Jared’s beautiful mouth.

Bree remembered him comforting her after the ordeal with Russell, sharing a glass of iced tea as they talked about his dig. Laughing over a funny movie. Then she thought about Faelan in the dungeon, beaten and bruised, his shoulder dislocated, dangling by his wrists. This thing wasn’t Jared. He was only a cover for this monster. Everything they’d shared, laughter and grief, mysteries of the world, all of it was pretense. Her Jared had never existed.

“You humans are so blind. You think these wars and diseases come out of nowhere. The plague, cancer, AIDS,” he said, bitterly. “You can’t see what’s in front of your faces.”

He was right. She’d missed all the signs. Hair and eye color similar to Russell’s. The dig so near where the time vault was buried.

“It’ll be over soon, but I have a few surprises for the warrior first. Then he’ll witness the destruction of humanity. And Michael will see what happens when he sends a warrior after me,” Jared said, rubbing the scar on his palm.

She had to keep Druan talking, give Faelan more time. If Druan believed she had hidden Faelan, then he must have escaped. “What happened to your hand?”

“A souvenir from the charm the warrior wears,” he said. “He’ll pay for it before he dies.”

A charm? Then he didn’t know the talisman’s power. “You killed Russell.”

“Russell proved craftier than I expected. Tried to play the hero. Fool.”

Russell had been trying to warn her, not harm her. “Was he human?”

“Pathetically so. Russell needed lots of money to keep the bad guys away. Human bad guys, which I worked hard to arrange. These addictions take time to create, you see. I stepped in and offered to pay his debts if he helped me find the key. Threw in the promise of a little glory, a little extra money, and he was mine.”

Russell had stolen the key. What about the book? If Druan had it, the entire clan would be wiped out, whether or not the virus worked. Even if he didn’t have the book, he knew about it. She’d mentioned it in the car. She’d told Faelan’s worst enemy a secret his clan had successfully protected for thousands of years. If only there was a way to kill Druan herself.

“You shouldn’t have freed the warrior. You’ll pay for that.”

“It was my destiny to free him.” As she spoke the words, she knew they were true. The dreams and longings, so real they tormented her. Faelan was her destiny. Not only to help him fight Druan, but she belonged with him. With everything in her, she believed she was the mate foretold in the marks on his chest. She didn’t care about some stupid rule. If she could get out of here alive, she’d fight Sorcha
and
Anna, his entire clan if necessary. She would make Faelan see they belonged together.

“I’m rewriting your destiny. I’ve waited a long time for you, little one. I watched you sleep, watched you grow. I made sure no one would have you but me. The only reason you’re not lying next to Russell is that you’re
mine
. But first you need a lesson in loyalty.”

This was why Faelan had pushed her away. He was trying to protect her by putting distance between them. “You pretended to be an archeologist so you could search for the key?” She should’ve connected it sooner. She should’ve connected lots of things, but she’d never questioned Jared’s claim after she’d heard her grandmother and Jared discussing the project. When he came by the house a couple of days after the funeral to offer his condolences, saying Bree’s grandmother had agreed to let him dig, Bree had been so consumed by grief she hadn’t questioned it. He’d started digging before she even moved in.

“The vault, the key. Nothing was where it was supposed to be.” His face rippled then settled back into place. “I underestimated the warrior’s brothers. You humans blow each other up on a whim, but this family bond thing brings out your protective side.”

“If demons weren’t breeding hatred, we wouldn’t be blowing each other up.”

“True. Your species is easily manipulated. I’ll miss that.”

“What will happen to humans?”

“Them… good-bye.” He snapped his fingers and moved closer, cupping her cheek in his familiar, calloused hand. “But I’ve chosen you to give me offspring,” he said as if bestowing a great honor.

She backed away, shaking her head. “Over my dead body.”

Druan appeared shocked for a moment. “That can be arranged,” he said with a snarl out of his perfect, handsome face. “You can meet the same fate your grandmother did.”

“My grandmother?”

“I’m afraid I got angry the last time I tried to persuade her to let me dig, and she saw my other side. I couldn’t let her ruin all my plans.”

“No.” Bree shook her head, refusing to believe it. “She died of cancer.”

“True, she had cancer, but—”

“You killed Grandma?” Something hardened inside Bree, like steel replacing muscle and bone.

“And Frederick, poking around where he didn’t belong.”

“You bastard!”

Druan’s face chilled. “If you’re not careful, I’ll send you to join them. You think I’ve waited centuries just to sit back while humans try to destroy me? Infiltrating my camp, pretending to be workmen and campers? No one interferes with my plans. Not humans, warriors, or demons. Not even you.”

Angus must have been working undercover at Jared’s dig. Bree pictured him, bloodied and torn, and Faelan, who could be dead, both fighting to save the lives of humans who didn’t know they existed. And her grandmother who’d welcomed every stranger with open arms. Innocent lives lost to Druan’s evil.

Bree flew at him, catching him off guard. She clawed his handsome features, and the face began to shift. The eyes changed first, becoming narrow and yellow, the pupils reptilian. Bones cracked and lengthened, and smooth skin that had held her close and soothed her fears turned leathery and gray. He smiled, and where there’d been an orthodontist’s dream, there were only sharp teeth and an odor so foul she couldn’t breathe. The monster of her nightmares, worse than the thing in the chapel.

“Do you want to take me on, my human?” he asked, his voice deep, rumbling from his chest. He rose to his full height, towering above her.

Bree took a step back, trembling inside, knowing she didn’t stand a chance, but she refused to let him see her quake. “You’re the one who’s pathetic, a hideous beast hiding behind human skin.”

“My looks don’t please you? That could make things interesting. I’d hoped you would come willingly, but I can take now what I didn’t take before.” He ran a sharp nail slowly down her neck, his stench caressing her face. “What I’m sure you’ve given the warrior. And I won’t be in the pretty archeologist’s form.”

“You can go back to hell.” Bree threw the only weapon she had, her flashlight. Druan screeched in rage and flew at her.