BULL: MC ROMANCE (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 6) (182 page)

Helena smiled a triumphant smile as Andrea entered the room. She gloated at her victory and she was not ashamed to show it.

"You are a sensible woman Andra, I will give you that. You have made the right choice, now hand over the stone".

The two women stood in silence for a long while. Andrea could feel the rune against the palm of her hand, the stone warm against her skin. Her resolve was waning and her fist tightened as she met Helena's steady gaze.

"Well?" Extending her arm Helena opened her palm upwards to receive the stone.

"Wait!"

The door opened quickly and Geraldine entered the room.

"Stop Andrea, don't hand over the rune, none of this is real."

Both women turned to look at the young nun, the spell of the moment broken.

"Alex is not dead; he is seriously injured but not dead. Helena has given him a draught of her own making to give the appearance of death, but he is not there yet." and walking over to the couch she placed her hands upon his head.

Andrea turned to look at her beloved. She had not thought of it before but his face, although pale, did not wear the grey pallor of the dead.

As Andrea watched the young nun she thought she saw Alex start to stir and watched fixated as his lips began to move and his eyes open.

Helena took her chance and seizing a knife from within her bodice lunged at Andrea, desperate to possess the rune.

Geraldine moved quickly and the young nun threw herself between Andrea and the knife in Helena's hand.

 For a moment all was still, until Helena withdrew her hand, the knife it contained now dripping red with blood. Geraldine turned and smiled at Andrea before falling forward into her arms, pulling both women to the ground. Her slight body twitched as the life slowly ebbed from the gentle soul. Finally she was still.

Stunned and unable to move, Andrea watched in horror as Helena started to approach her, the knife held high and pointed towards her.

The small rune was still clutched tightly in Andrea’s hand and all she could think about was her daughter sleeping peacefully upstairs in her room.

There was no hope left, nothing to save her and closing her eyes Andrea awaited her fate.

***

A strangled cry forced her to look up. Alex had heaved himself from the couch and had launched himself at his sister and now held her firmly by the neck. Andrea watched as his grasp tightened around the slim white throat and Helena's eyes bulged and arms flailed as the life was choked out of her. As her body slipped to the floor, Alex slumped back onto the couch, his face grey with exertion and pain.

Gently Andrea pushed against the lifeless body of Geraldine that was pressed against her. The little nun looked peaceful, almost happy in her death. She had given her life to save them, the ultimate sacrifice. Kissing the smooth brow she let her tears fall onto the gentle face and thought of the kind old lady in her own time. The circle of life, birth and rebirth, nothing ends; Geraldine had taught her that.

Stepping to the couch she looked down at Alex, her love. His face was still and his lips tinged with a faint blue coloring. His breathing was labored and a dark stain had started to form on his shirt; the opening of one of his wounds. Her tears flowed thickly as she took his cold and limp hand in hers.

"My love, my love, stay with me."

Stroking the hair from his forehead she kissed the soft skin. It couldn't end this way, everything had been turned upside down.

His eyes flickered and opened and his mouth moved as he struggled to speak.

"Andra." a small smile played on his lips.

"Don't speak my love, save your strength. I will fetch the doctor, all will be well."

Alex closed his eyes and slowly shook his head as his hand clutched at hers.

"You must leave with the girl, you cannot stay here alone. War is coming and you will not be safe. You and Elizabeth must go back to your own time."

Sobbing into his chest Andrea struggled to compose herself.

"I cannot leave you Alex, not to die here alone."

"You must. Soldiers will soon be at my heels. They will take my property, this house and all that is in it, including you and Elizabeth."

"Then we will take you with us."

Alex shook his head sadly, "There are only 2 runes. Enough for you and Elizabeth, but not for me."

"But how can we return to the future, we can only be transported at the point of death?"

Alex lay silently back on the couch, the life force draining from his body as he fought against unconsciousness.

He spoke again, a mere whisper.

"You must take the second rune from my sister. She will have it concealed about her person. You will also find a small bottle, a poison that would have seen her take the both of us into your time. You and Elizabeth must take this. If you love me you will do this one last thing for me. I understand the powers of the ancients now. Only in death will you live. Promise me?"

Nodding her head the tears fell quickly and she pushed her lips gently against his.

They were his last words.

***

There was no time to lose. If she thought too long about the task ahead then she wouldn't go through with it. Her mind whirled as the two worlds of past and present collided in her head. She had seen the power of the runes, had witnessed it, lived in different centuries, but did she have enough faith in the power of the ancients for the task ahead?

She quickly found the second rune, hidden in a concealed pocket in Helena’s bodice, and a small glass vial of a dark looking liquid which she assumed to be the poison.

There was no looking back as Andrea stepped out of the room, leaving the three bodies behind her. There was nothing else she could do for the dead; she had her own life and Elizabeth's to think of now.

The room was dark as she entered, and only the gentle sound of her child softly breathing filled the room. 

Crossing to the bed she sat gingerly on the edge to avoid waking the sleeping girl; she looked like a beautiful angel with the soft blonde curls framing her sanguine face.

Andrea's hand trembled as she carefully untucked the small, clenched fist from beneath the coverlet. The child stirred for a moment but was soon quiet. Taking one of the stones Andrea placed it carefully in the centre of the girl’s palm, folding the small fingers back over to keep it in place.

With the other stone carefully in her own hand she brought out the small bottle. She had no idea of the dosage but presumed one or two drops would do the trick. To be on the safe side she would use half the bottle on herself and half on the girl.

Pulling out the stopper she paused. What if Elizabeth was transported to the future on her own, or worse still, was left all alone in this dark era?

Andrea had no choice, she would have to trust to the power of the ancients and to her own fate. Kissing her daughter gently on the cheek she poured 10 drops of the dark liquid onto her lips. The poison stained the red lips to a garish black and a little of the liquid dripped from her chin and onto the cover beneath. Helen would have been thorough in her research. The liquid would be deadly.

Taking Elizabeth into her arms she lay down beside the warm body of her daughter before pouring the rest of the vial into her own mouth.

Soon there was nothing but blackness.

8.

The air was damp upon her skin as Andrea awoke in the small graveyard of the chapel of St Oran. Her body and head ached and she had a bitter taste in her mouth. For a moment she lay on the hard ground unable to focus on her thoughts. She had been on a long journey and could feel the tiredness behind her eyes.

Running her hand across the wet grass she reached out, something was missing, something was not right.

Elizabeth!

Opening her eyes she sat up quickly and looked around. The morning was grey with just the hint of a sunrise on the horizon. All was quiet except for the waking call of a few birds and the remaining chime of a distant bell. The place was deserted; Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen.

Panicking, she stumbled to her feet, heart thumping as she grasped at the headstones calling out the name of her beloved daughter. The place was empty and the girl was nowhere to be seen. Andrea slumped down onto the grass and sobbed, her worst nightmare had become a reality.

"Andrea."

A voice called across the cold light, a familiar and warm voice. As she looked up the old lady was approaching.

"Geraldine!" the younger woman fell sobbing into her arms like a child.

"There, there my dear, all is well, you are home. What is wrong?"

Andrea could barely speak between sobs, only uttering the name of Elizabeth over and over again.

"Calm yourself my dear, now calm yourself. All is well. Elizabeth is perfectly safe.”

She wondered how the old woman could be so calm, so relaxed.

"Where?"

Geraldine smiled as she gently reached down and patted the smooth belly of the younger woman.

"Here!"

***

Over breakfast the two women talked. Andrea had forgotten that back in the present she would revert to her previous state. When she had been transported back in time, Elizabeth was a mere twinkle in her eye.

"But how did you return Geraldine, I saw you killed by Helena?"

"I have kept my own secret for many years. You see, there weren’t only two stones, in reality there were three. I have had to keep that fact to myself. If Helena had known I would not have been safe, nor would I have been there to help you. I too have my own part to play out in this story. I needed to make sure there would be a happy ending after all."

Andrea stirred her coffee as the memory of Alex came flooding back. Tears formed in her eyes.

"Not a happy ending for everyone."

A thin hand reached across the table and found her own.

"Alex you mean?"

Andrea nodded as the tears slid slowly down her cheek and onto the table.

"Alexhander MacDonald lived to be 85 years old. With his wife Andra he went on to have several sons as well as a daughter Elizabeth. They had a very long and happy life together."

The coffee sloshed over the edge of the cup and landed in her saucer as Andrea sat and looked, open mouthed at Geraldine.

"But how, he was dead. I saw him?"

"He nearly died, I grant you that. But it was not his time. Remember the cycle of things - life and death, birth and rebirth?"

"But .."

"But the magic of the ancients is all powerful and there are some things that we cannot explain, cannot fathom, that are beyond our reasoning."

"What about the second stone. The one that was in Elizabeth's hand, where is that now?"

Geraldine thought for a moment. "The second rune was needed to bring Elizabeth safely to the future, even in the womb she needed protection. The stone must be somewhere in the graveyard, near to where you woke this morning. You should go and look for it after breakfast. It is important to retrieve it; you are the guardian."

***

The sun had started to shine weakly through the clouds as Andrea walked over from the hotel to the Abbey.

One of the staff had just started to unlock the main gates ready for the public to access the ancient site.

"Morning." the voice of a young man brought her out of the thoughts of the past and into the present. She looked up into the smiling face of a man she had known and loved throughout the centuries.

She could hardly speak as the young man approached her.

"Sorry if I startled you. I've just started working here. I'm staying for the summer with my Grandma, Geraldine. Do you know her? By the way, my name is Alex.”

THE END

This story continues with “The Highland Legacy”

Mated to the Highland Wolf

Samantha Leal

Copyright ©2015 by Samantha Leal. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Table of Contents

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Muriel looked out across the loch as the sun began to set over the mountains. Even though winter had yet to arrive around Inverness, the air was crisp and the chill seemed to rattle gently through her bones. She wrapped her arms around herself and sighed. She had always loved her home and this moment was no exception. The beauty surrounding Cawdor Castle was incredible, the mountains, the lush greens of the land and the deep loch that was laid out before her always took her breath away.

Behind her, in the distance and coming from deep within the forest, she was aware of the sounds of her brothers and father playing with their swords. They clashed their steel together and laughed as if they didn’t have a care in the world, even though Muriel knew the real reason behind why the boys were being trained was definitely not funny. Clan Calder was at risk like many other of the highland families that were scattered around Scotland. The bigger and more powerful clans were trying to claim them and take over them all. Muriel shuddered at the prospect of a war and bit her bottom lip. The cold had turned it dry and she wet it with the tip of her tongue and felt the icy chill bite at her again.

“Back to the castle,” she whispered to herself as she turned on her heel and wrapped an arm around her horse’s neck before she hoisted herself up and sat astride it. The beast had been a present for her thirteenth birthday and they had grown up side by side over the years, their love and deep bond strengthening with each passing day. She had named him Hugo after the ancestral legend of how their clan had come to be, started by a French knight who had settled there and begun the Thane of Calder. Hugo had grown into a strong and powerful beast, and was one of the finest horses within the entire castle. Muriel was honored to be able to call him hers and each time she climbed up onto his back and dug her heels into his side, she knew that he accepted her and wanted to be her steed.

She kicked her heels against him and he picked up his pace into a gallop. Muriel clutched tightly onto his mane as they approached the forest and the sound of her brothers and father came closer. As Hugo slowed and they trotted slowly into the forest and between the trees she smiled as she saw her youngest brother Hamish standing tall and proud with their father’s sword, a piece so big it dwarfed him in size.

“I think you may need one of your own, Hamish,” she smiled warmly. “Something tells me that will be hard to take into battle.”

Hamish smiled boyishly and tried to lift the huge hunk of steel high over his head, failing with his trembling arms which brought it crashing down into the soft, moist earth.

“But I’m a big lad now,” he said triumphantly. He pushed his hands sturdily into his hips and looked at her challengingly. Her father laughed with a hearty roar and slapped the lad on his back before they both made their way over to Muriel and her horse at the clearing’s edge.

“It’s late,” her father said. “You should have been back at the castle hours ago.”

Muriel nodded sheepishly and shrugged her shoulders.

“No place for women out here at night,” he father said, “It’s not safe.”

“Och, I know pa,” she said. “But I lost track of time.”

“Back now,” he emphasized sternly but without anger. “Your mother will be worried sick.”

Muriel nodded and turned Hugo around, ready to begin their walk back to the castle gates. Her brothers all let out low chuckles and she wanted to turn around, jump down and punch the lot of them, but she knew it was pointless. She could easily be just as good a warrior as them, when the time came… but because of her sex she was destined to be cast aside and married off to a worthy suitor just to keep alliances sweet.

She stuck her tongue out at her brothers before she dug her heels into Hugo’s side and they galloped back out across the valley and towards Castle Cawdor. Muriel, the only female offspring of the Calder’s, had lived a sheltered life up until this point, but she knew in her bones it was all about to change. It wasn’t just her father training the boys, or him insisting she wasn’t beyond the walls of Cawdor after nightfall, there was something hanging in the air. She could tell there was a storm coming. News reached them from the peasant boys every so often, stories of other castles that had fallen, whole families wiped out and the bloody trail that was headed in their direction. And even though her mother, father and any of the other elders would deny it… she could sense something was coming for Cawdor that none of them would be able to prevent without an army.

As Hugo’s hooves clattered across the drawbridge and the guards helped her down before leading him away to his stable for the night, Muriel vowed that she would never be as secretive with her own children. Whoever her husband turned out to be, she would insist that they were a real family, open, honest and full of love. This above all else, is what she craved. And she knew that if she wanted it enough, one day she was sure to get it.