The Morrigan: Damaged Deities (11 page)

Shifting her weight, Morrie crossed her arms with what she hoped was obvious boredom.

“What’re ye be needin’, lass?” Kade asked her.

“Dr. Pepper.”

“The soda?”

“No, the orthopedic surgeon.” She looked up at him from beneath heavy-hooded eyes. 

Gods, he was tall.  She would have to climb him like a mountain to wrap her legs around his—
Christ,
where were these thoughts coming from
? 

Feeling her cheeks prickle, she blinked and hoped he couldn’t read her thoughts on her face.

“Ack, ye’re a saucy lass, no?” He grinned in a knowing way—
could he read her thoughts? 
“That’s alright. I like em with some kick.”

“I don’t really care what you like,” she said turning back to the counter.  She had to get him out of her sight.  She leveled her gaze on Carrie who still preened for Kade’s attention. “Do you have any Dr. Pepper?”

“Coke’s over there,” Carrie answered, twisting her body so her chest showed more prominently.

“That’s not the same,” Morrie grated.

“All’s we got,” was Carrie’s curt reply.

Before she slapped the silly off the girl, Morrie turned and pushed her way out of the store, leaving her soap behind.  She let the door slam shut behind her, careful to not slip on the mud.

After a moment of struggling with the truck’s door handle, Kade approached her.

“Ye headin’ back tae the house?” he asked her. 

“Why, looking to intrude on me again?” she said. 

A dark eyebrow arched. “Is that an invitation?”

Morrie snorted and returned to battling the handle. Before wrenching the door open, she stopped. 

There was no reason for her to be so rude to Kade.  It was her fault he slipped into bed with her—it was
his
bed. 

For some reason, he got under her skin, affected her both physically and emotionally, but that wasn’t his fault. 

With a sigh, she turned around and looked up at him. 

“Do you need a ride?”

He smiled, his eyes soft on her.  “That was hard for ye tae ask, wasn’t it?  I don’t know why ye’re so angry with me, I was quite happy tae find ye in my bed.  Wouldna mind if we went back there noo.”

If only. 

The goddess within her screamed to be free, screamed to have her carnal needs sated.  Morrie had spent centuries keeping her quiet, she wasn’t about to let the bitch take over now because some handsome Scotsman flirted with her.

“I’m not angry with you, Mr. MacLeod.” Morrie adopted a professional tone—she had to keep some distance between them, otherwise she wasn’t sure what she would do. “Anger would imply I cared.  I’m here for a reason and for that reason only. Once that task is done, I’m gone.  So there’s no emotion in that, this is just work.”

The smile he’d been wearing faded and some of the light dimmed in his eyes.  Pausing a moment to look down the street beside them, he seemed to think about his words before inhaling deeply. 

Morrie couldn’t help staring at the way the little daylight that managed to break through the clouds seemed to find his eyes, turning them a rich shade of amber.  Or the way he licked his lower lip, working his jaw while in thought.  Or the way the hair at the back of his neck curled in towards his ear. 

Briefly, she imagined wrapping those curls around her fingers.  Her breathing grew louder coming out of her nose while she kept her eyes trained on him, using every ounce of will she possessed to keep the rest of her body calm.

Gods, how embarrassing.

“Alright, then, lass.  I thank ye for the offer, but I have a few visits tae make while here in town.”  He turned his dark gaze on her. “I’ll see ye back home, then.”

Nodding, Morrie wrenched the door open and climbed behind the wheel.  Shutting the door for her, Kade rested his arm on the open window and tilted his head. 

“Be sure tae go easy on her gears—she and I both know how tight that little grip of yers can be.”

Flushing with heat, Morrie bit down on any reply and turned the keys in the ignition, the roar of the engine barely drowning out Kade’s laughter as he stepped back and nodded a good-bye.

As the truck bounced toward the edge of town, Morrie had that sense of something supernatural again. 

Her skin trembled with goosebumps, the hair on the back of her neck standing.  She knew she wasn’t imagining it, she knew it was time she started to trust her instincts.  And so she decided she would look further into it as soon as she got the chance.

C
HAPTER
T
EN

“For what can war but endless war still breed?”

John Milton

The rutted dirt road made the drive back no less longer and once again rattled Morrie’s bones as she scowled at the landscape, wondering about the disappointment she felt over Kade turning down the ride she’d offered. 

For so long she didn’t even have to think about it, Morrie had felt nothing.  She had traveled the earth with the same ingrained indifference, burying the thrill and rush she had once felt on the battlefield and in Chulainn’s bed—so that she no longer recognized the annoying emotions that kept rearing their ugly heads now. 

You
did
have to care in order to feel anger, so why was she a little angry over Kade’s rejection?  And what were these visits he had to make?  Old girlfriends or lovers who’d been patiently awaiting his return?

The sun broke free of the clouds and for a moment Morrie’s thoughts quieted, her eyes lifted to its rays.  A welcomed peace fell over her and she closed her eyes to enjoy it. 

But that calm was soon brutally shattered as a loud bang beat against the floor of the truck and in the same moment, it lurched towards the right. 

Morrie couldn’t turn the wheel, she stomped on the gas but the engine only revved angrily, making no progress forward. 

Cursing beneath her breath, she pushed open the door and hopped out, turning back to inspect the truck.

The wheel of the front driver’s side leaned towards her, slanted and off its axle. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Morrie grumbled, hands on her hips.  Gazing at the fields surrounding her, she hoped for a miracle.  Instead she leaned inside the truck and shut its engine off. 

“Busted old jalopy,” she griped, stepping back from it.  Frowning, she inspected the displaced wheel and debated her options.  She could magic it back into place, but that didn’t help her anonymity cause any and she certainly didn’t know how to fix it the human way. 

Returning to the cab for her purse, she dug out her phone.  But as soon as she looked at its screen, her hopes for calling for help died at the non-existent service it showed.

Stringing together an impressive amount of curse words Morrie walked to the back of the truck, dropped down its tailgate, and slid up onto it, her legs dangling helplessly. 

She would just have to wait for some farmer to come by and help.

L
ittle had changed in the village over the last five years, as little ever did change in the Highlands.  The streets were still made of hard-packed earth, winding lazily along as they had for centuries.  The homes fought the harsh hand of time, wearing their boards of weathered grey.  But the people were still kind and strong and connected, a community rooted deeply in tradition and love.

On its outskirts sat the tiny cottage Kade had spent so much time in as a lad.  It had the same faded façade from many long years ago, hugged by a small ring of hedgerows.  Other than some modern updates, it was still the same refuge of comfort he often sought when his memories gave him hell. 

On the small, neatly tended lawn, fresh laundry hung from a line, taking advantage of the few rays of sunshine offered up from above.  A tall thin woman in a shapeless floral dress, her long, gray hair pulled back in a tight braid deftly worked at folding the clean garments, placing them neatly in a basket at her feet. 

Kade remembered when her braid had been shiny and red; when her eyes had been bright and clear and free of lines.  Her back now hunched slightly, but didn’t keep her from her hard work.

He let the small wooden gate smack shut behind him, announcing his presence. 

The woman straightened with a small gasp and looked at him.  Her hand covered her heart as she stared.

“Maister Kade,” she breathed, her features morphing from confusion to realization to happiness. “Oh, Maister Kade, ye’re home!” 

Two long strides and Kade covered the space between them.  She threw out her arms just as he scooped her up in a hug, lifting her off her feet and twirling her around while he planted a loud kiss on her cheek. 

“Robina, my love, how are ye?” Kade asked, placing the woman back on the ground but keeping her in his embrace.

“Oh!” she slapped him on the chest and affected an affronted frown. “How are ye?” she repeated. “Ye take off fer half a decade and all’s ye say in greeting is how am I?”

Kade returned the frown, his more of mischief.

“Has the socially acceptable form o’ greeting changed so much in the last five years?  Did ye no’ miss me, Robbie?”

The old housekeeper and nurse made a face before grabbing his to bring it down to her level.  She offered up a round of kisses on his cheek, then slapped his chest again and pulled free of his embrace.

“Still the smartass, I see.”

“And may sharks eat my liver should I ever change!” he bowed low with a flourish of his hand before dodging her flying swat yet again.  He laughed.

“How fair ye, my love?”

“Aye, I’m fine. I’m fine.  Ye best go see her though,” she nodded toward the cottage. “If she hears yer voice and ye didna say hi tae her first, she’ll put a world o’ hurt on ye.”

Kade leaned back with an amused scowl. “World o’ hurt?” he repeated and wagged a finger at her. “Ye’ve been watching too much WWE, Robina.”

With another noise of annoyance she moved to strike him again, but he was always too quick and jumped out of the way, flashing a brilliant smile back at her as he headed up the path to the cottage front door.

Inside the small home, only a stubby candle and the outside sun offered any light. 

Shadows danced in front of him. Kade made his way to the little den, hunched over to keep from hitting his head on the ceiling. 

A single high-backed cushioned chair faced a well-fed fire, filling the hearth with red, blazing light.  A steady clicking rhythm reached him from the other side of the chair, never stopping. 

Grabbing a low stool, Kade set it beside the chair and rested his arms on it as he sat down. 

Afghans were piled high, drowning the small, withered body beneath.  Grey hair peaked out from a shawl and bespectacled eyes, squinty but clear, intently watched long, bony fingers working the knitting needles.  It was still odd to Kade seeing his former nanny this way, withered and hunched. 

“Nan,” Kade greeted softly, careful to not frighten the lady.  The clicking continued, but the eyes flickered his way once…twice. 

The needles stopped.

“Kade?” she croaked.  Head rising further from the cover of blankets, a smiled folded the skin of her face. “Kade, my beautiful boy, is that you?”

She let her needlework fall to her lap as her hands, fingers curled, reached through the space for him.  Kade gathered them both up in his hands, adding warmth to the cold flesh, and kissed her knuckles.  He grinned, not fooled by her act.

“How are ye, my lovely Nan?” he asked.

“Getting old,” she answered in her strained and weak, but happy voice.

His eyelids hung low, his look unimpressed.