Charlotte Boyett-Compo- Wyndsheer (18 page)

* * * *

“No!”
she cried out and snapped awake—eyes wild and chest pounding.

She was trembling from head to toe as she sprang from the rocker and began pacing, scrubbing her hands over her face. Gut-deep pain lanced through her to make her bend over with the force of it. Clutching at her belly, she groaned, feeling tears gathering in her eyes.

“Just a dream,” she told herself. “Just a dream.”

But she knew there were men outside looking for Jamie. Danger was lurking there amidst the towering trees and boulders. And she was stuck inside the cabin--deep in the ground--and unable to help the man she loved.

“Jamie!” she groaned, going to her knees, burying her face in her hands.

Now she was terrified that something would happen to him that he would not return to her. She knew she was being protected but what if Jamie could not return? Would the man he had called the Guardian come to her rescue and release her from the depths of the ground? Or would she die alone in the cabin, starving to death moment by horrid moment?

“He would not allow that,” she said aloud, tears falling to the floor in front of her. “He would make sure you were safe.”

But would the man she loved be safe beyond her help, at the mercy of his enemies?

* * * *

The Lycant twitched in his sleep, his muzzle wrinkling as he made chuffing noises. He was dreaming of his mate and his paws worked as he ran after her, darting through the forest and leaping over rocks and splashing through streams. His ears swiveled at the sound of her delighted laughter as she hid behind a tall conifer and peaked out to catch sight of where he was. He became motionless in the underbrush--watching her, grinning playfully as she took a tentative step away from the concealing tree. He drew her scent deep into his lungs and felt pride that this female was his, that she had chosen him as her lifemate.

“Wolfie?” she called softly. “Where are you, Wolfie?”

His grin became predatory and he took a step forward, knowing she could not see him for the camouflage of the brush. He made no sound at all as he took another careful step, his paws delicately crushing the fallen leaves scattered upon the forest floor.

“Jamie?” she called and this time her lovely face tilted to one side as she obviously strained to hear him.

Another furtive step closer to her, careful not to touch his sleek coat against the ferns that grew to either side of him.

She came all the way out from behind the tree. Her beautiful face was furrowed with worry as she clutched her hands together in front of her. “Jamie?”

One, two, three more stealthy steps toward his mate. Inwardly, he was chuckling to himself, his eyes bright, and his lips peeling back from wickedly sharp fangs as he grinned in anticipation. A fourth step and he was close enough to sweep out a paw and touch the hem of her long skirt, flick out his tongue to lick at the bare toes sticking out from beneath the material.

“Damn it, Jamie!” she said, putting her hands on her shapely hips. “Where are you?”

“Here,” he said with a growl and leapt at her, converting in mid air from Lycant to humanoid male as he sprang.

She laughed as he took her down to the forest floor, dragging her beneath him and wedging his naked body between her thighs as he kept his weight from crushing her as they fell.

“You bastard!” she teased. “Why didn’t you answer me?”

He reached up to touch the sweetness of her face, but didn’t reply as he slanted his mouth across hers and took her willing lips with his own. She tasted of honey and lemons and he thrust his tongue deep inside her mouth as his hard erection pressed urgently at the core of her sex.

He took her there on the soft cushion of leaves and fallen fern fronds, with a gentle breeze blowing over them and the distant sound of the Muirnín Falls crashing into Lake Crói. His cock was as hard as steel as he pumped into her soft body and her arms and legs were wrapped so tightly around him, so possessively around him his heart swelled almost to the point of bursting. She loved him and he knew it.

“Never leave me,” she pleaded as they lay there afterward in the sweaty gleam of after-love. She was pressed close to his side, her head pillowed on his bare shoulder, her fingers trailing spirals upon his chest.

“I swear I never will,” he said.

A loud crashing in the brush around them brought him instantly to his feet, his body arched forward in fighting stance, his hands up and fingers extended like claws.

“Run, Mairi!” he ordered as he spun around to meet whatever threat was coming at them.

“I won’t leave you, either!” she pledged and snatched up her skirt and blouse to hastily dress.

There were a dozen or more armed warriors who came thundering out of the forest. With pikes and barbed hooks swinging from thick chains, with laser rifles and transprobe guns aimed directly at him, he and his mate were surrounded.

He roared, changing in mid-roar into the vicious, brutal creature he could become in a heartbeat. He ran at one of the attackers and something hit him in the side, knocking him down, spinning him over and over. The pain was so acute he could not make a sound as he skidded in the debris lining the forest floor. He heard his woman scream and flipped over to his paws in time to see two men struggling with her, dragging her away from him. He let out a roar and sprang for her attackers only to be brought down by another brutal hit from a transprobe dart. Once more he went down, stunned, whimpering in pain, and they were all over him--chains were wrapped around his thrashing paws and tight around his muzzle. The wickedly barb hooks were thrust into his haunches and flanks and he howled beneath the constriction of the restraint around his muzzle. He felt a sting in his neck and then his world began to shut down.

“Mairi!” he yelled in his mind as darkness spread over his vision.

He came awake with a yowl and scrambled to his feet, standing there shuddering like a leaf in a stiff breeze. He was panting, his heart thundering. He swung his head from side to side but in the inky blackness of the cavern he saw nothing. There were no intruders, no attackers with weapons and paralyzing drugs. His mate was nowhere in sight and he hung his head between his paws for a moment--thankful--for he knew she was safe.

Slowly he lifted his head and attuned his senses to the cycle of the moon. It was no longer completely full and he could feel the pull of his humanoid side calling to him. Before the sun rose, he would begin the Conversion again from Lycant to man.

He shook himself and padded toward the corridor of rock that led up to the surface. He wanted to be closer to Mairi so as soon as the new day dawned, he could be on his way to her. Winding his way through the miles of twisting tunnels, he became aware of something troublesome wafting on the air. There was a scent that disturbed him and he stopped now and then to sniff the air. The pungent odor made the hackles rise on his back. It was a familiar smell yet tainted in some way and it brought instant wariness to his brain.

* * * *

Those two hundred and thirty-one villagers of Lamb’s Grove who had been confined in the communal church sat praying for the loss of one of their own. Tears were being shed and memories relived. Anger was being directed at the intruders who had descended upon the village and taken such brutal control. Not a single person or reasoning age within the communal church did not know why the soldiers were there or why one of their own had been brutally murdered. All any one of them had to do was look out at the scaffolding where the body hung swaying in the morning breeze to know how evil the soldiers were.

“How long will they leave her like that?” Rafe Tolbert asked his father.

Edger Tolbert ground his teeth together. “Until Mac arrives to cut her down.” He glanced at his other son who was staring out the window. “Come away, son. There’s nothing we can do.”

Chad Tolbert swiped at the moisture that clung to his cheeks. Like everyone in the village, he had loved the old woman and her death was a raw wound gouging at his heart. “The crows have found her,” he said softly but one of the village women had heard his words and let out a keening sound that cut deeper than any knife.

Elspeth Beaufort had been hanging from the scaffolding for two days now and her body would be giving off a siren’s call to the carrion. It would also be a signal as blaring as a klaxon’s horn to Jamie MacGivern.

“He’s going to be pissed,” Rafe stated. “He’s going to kill him some government pricks.”

“They’re laying in wait for him,” Edger reminded his son. “Do you think they’ll let him get within ten feet of that scaffolding before they take him down?”

“What of his lady?” Chad asked.

“The Guardian will see to her,” his father said and heads nodded all around them.

“Maybe the An Fear Liath Mor will come to Mac’s aid,” Rafe recommended.

“We could ask it,” the preacher said and every eye turned to the holy man. He shrugged. “We know it’s there, my friends.”

“Are you suggesting we pray to the Guardian?” someone asked.

“That’s blasphemous!” another spoke out.

Brother Tavis McShane shook his head. “Not exactly pray, Danny, but call out to it. It has protected us all these years. We can ask it to look after Mac.”

“Increase Mac’s odds,” Rafe said.

“The gods know he needs all the help he can get,” Edger declared. “Those bastards out there will take him from us if they get the chance. Mac is one of us. Are we going to allow that to happen?”

“No!” those assembled yelled.

“Then let us join hands and send our thoughts to the Guardian,” Brother Tavis said. “Let us ask for its help in keeping Mac safe.”

Chapter Ten

Strolling along unseen behind two trespassers, blowing its breath on their necks and grinning when the men looked around fearfully and slapped a hand to their flesh, Ad Fear Liath Mor oozed just a little more of the alarm pheromone from its shaggy body and watched with glee as the humans shivered.

“What the hell
is
that?” one of them asked. “I don’t like this worth a shit?” He scrubbed at his neck, nearly colliding with a tree as he kept looking around.

“Keep your fucking voice down! Something is trailing us,” the other man said.

“Me,” the creature whispered.

The two men spun around but there was nothing behind them. They were trembling now with faces as white as freshly-laundered sheets. Although their weapons were up and sighted--barrels sweeping from side to side as the agent’s had been trained--there was nothing at which to shoot.

“It’s the Lycant,” the younger of the two men said. “I know fucking well it is.”

“Whatever it is,” the other man snapped, “I’m going to blow it a new asshole if it gets in my way.”

A low laugh came from the beast standing only a few feet away and the sound was like an eerie registering of the wind. It spread a little more of its potent chemical into the air and nearly peed itself when one of the men whimpered.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here, Benson!” the younger man suggested. “Join up with the others.”

“Safety in numbers?” the Guardian whispered and slapped a hairy paw over its mouth when the two men shrieked and took off running.

When the combined thoughts of the villagers suddenly wound their way through the Guardian’s brain, it stopped and listened, hearing the words as clearly as though the speakers were right beside it.

A mighty frown tugged at the features of the beast and its giant hands curled into fists. The anger that rose off its body suddenly released a wash of chemicals that seeped out of the shaggy coat and broke the spell of invisibility that had cloaked it. In the blink of an eye, it crashed after the fleeing men, its arms shot out and those hard taloned paws were gripping the two men by the scruff of their necks.

“You dare harm one of mine?” the creature bellowed and slammed the heads of the two intruders together with a loud clack.

It didn’t care that it had carelessly killed two humans. Humans were an inferior race at best and those whose bodies it allowed to drop like rocks into the ravine beside it did not rate a second thought. With feral eyes glowing red as blood, it set off with long, thundering strides, heading for the place where it knew the Lycant had gone to ground for his Conversion.

* * * *

Jamie sniffed the air as he reached the exit of the cave in which he’d spent the last three days. The stench of death was heavy in the air and the smell was coming from the direction of Lamb’s Grove. He eased out of the cave, looking all around the clearing before him. He sensed humans close by--could smell them--and he put a hand to the dagger strapped to his thigh, quietly easing it out of the leather sheath. With the grip tight in his fist and the blade held down in fighting position, he blended into the forest so quickly no human eye could have detected the movement.

He slipped silently through the forest, making his way parallel to the trail that led to the village. He could hear muffled sounds off to his right and behind him and knew they were being made by men searching for him. Just once he tried to touch the mind of the Guardian but drew back quickly--having encountered blind, irrational fury that made his stomach churn and his balls tighten. Something had happened to infuriate the creature and whatever it was had been so bad An Fear Liath Mor was flooding the air with a scent that made the Lycant tremble.

Yet for a reason he could not understand, Jamie did not fear for his mate. He knew she was safe from whatever had happened. He also knew he needed to concentrate on what was going on in the village, to protect the humans under his care.

“They’ve killed the old woman!”

The enraged bellow thundered through Jamie’s head so loudly he cried out, slapping his hands to his ears, feeling blood seeping from the sudden rupture of his eardrums. He staggered, concealing himself in a clump of bushes as a trio of trackers passed within five feet of him.

“What was that?” the leader of the men asked. He swung his rifle toward the place where the Lycant was hiding.