Highland Pull (Highland Destiny 2) (28 page)

He took a step toward the north end of the barn, but
Lissa’s hand on his arm stilled him. Dragging his attention back to the house, and still holding Lissa’s arm, he led her to the back door, which began to open slowly at their approach.

Randi was examining the hearth in the library or study or whatever you called this room in the fourteenth century. She’d finally found out the date. Apparently she and Gabhran had traveled back so that their arrival was the day after Beltane. Meaning according to this reality, their wedding anniversary would be May first, technically before the date she gave him her virginity. She vowed not to let Gabhran escape that memory.

Alex walked into the room dressed in his Chieftain’s plaid, a billowy white linen shirt, and soft leather shoes. His beard was freshly trimmed into a goatee and he’d plaited the hair at his temples, then pulled all of his hair back and restrained it in a leather sheath. His face was pale beneath his golden complexion, black eyes dull, and deeply shadowed. He glanced at her, but his gaze held no real curiosity.

She’d not seen him for nearly two days, not since he’d told her his tale, and then abruptly walked away, unwilling to talk further, seeking solitude in his grief. She’d asked the staff where he was and been told he’d taken his horse and gone riding, and wouldn’t return that day. When she’d asked about Ian, she was told he’d returned to his home. 

When she’d last seen Alex, Randi had been watching and listening to him carefully. He believed
Lissa hadn’t survived the time travel. He grieved for the loss of his baby, of his never-to-be wife, of what could have been. He mourned the brother he knew to be safe but forever out of his time. He truly believed that none of them would ever be together again, and his heart had seemingly shattered into a million tiny pieces, right in front of her.

Yet he would not let her comfort him, preferring instead to storm out the door and remain alone, as he had lived much of his life, bearing his burdens in private.

Randi had been thinking about the situation for hours, in fact, ever since he had left, interspersing knowledge and conjecture, and liberally sprinkled with hope. Something about all of this didn’t make sense.
Okay, almost nothing about this makes sense in context of the world I knew either a few weeks ago or seven hundred years in the future, depending on how you counted.

Seriously though, once you decide everything unbelievable is real, something about it still doesn't make sense. Why would Alex think
Lissa would be harmed by traveling through time with Gabhran? After all, it's clear Gabhran had traveled several times, and I traveled without losing so much as a single memory. What part of the story am I missing?

Now that he was back and in the same room with her, Randi stopped fussing with the hearth and went to Alex, sat beside him on the couch, and took his big hand in hers.

“Alex, I’m sorry, more sorry than I can say. For the way we met, for the things I did. I truly do not even know how you came to be on the floor, I can’t believe it was something I did, but if somehow I had something to do with it, please know how sorry I am. The time for us to put away our suspicions and differences is here, though. We must work together to resolve this situation. You must be with Alysone and I must be with Gabhran.”

Putting his other hand on top of hers, Alex patted it, sighing. “Miranda, I know you want
to have hope, but we must come to face facts. There is no easy way to say this. Gav and Alysone are lost to us. Forever.”

The tears welled in his eyes. “We will go on here, and I will celebrate you as my sister, and care for you and your wee
bairn. I will keep you safe, and together we will be a family. Someday should your child be a boy, he will be Laird of the Lachlan, and I will see to his training. Och, lass, ‘tis easy to see why Gav must have loved you so. You are a strong woman, and will be a fine mother to my niece or nephew.”

Randi felt her own tears fill her eyes and spill. What a dear man. In his grief, he sought to give her comfort, to reassure her. Even though this wasn’t her time, he would care for her and her child, see to it they were protected. She was sure it was
all unnecessary, and she needed to prove it to Alexander.

“Alex, I don’t believe they are lost to us. We must discuss this further, I have some ideas.” As he started to interrupt her, Randi talked over him, and continued with her thoughts of the last two days.

“You say it was you that pulled Gabhran through time, yet you seemed surprised that he moved this last time, and you were definitely surprised Lissa moved. Could they have moved when you were drugged on that island? Could the drugs and torture have broken whatever spell you had placed on them, and they moved inadvertently?”

Alex pulled his hands from hers and started to run them through his hair, stopping the gesture when the plaits made it impossible. He dropped his head in his hands. “Aye, it seemed from your story, the spell around Gav must have weakened for him to remember so much about past realities. He was in the correct
era, I would not have returned him here.

“I told you I moved
Lissa to another place in this time, I did not pull her memories other than to have her placed with a good family as governess, so I would know she was safe from me and my desire for her. I broke a vow to use the spell on her,” he added under his breath, so low Randi could barely hear him.

“The spell is only supposed to be used on Druids, and even then only on those of strong magick. ‘Tis of great danger to those pulled to a new reality. The magick of the spell can go wrong, and the person can be lost in the ether that surrounds time. Or the physical person moves, but their memories remain in the ether. Druids with deep magick of their own can tolerate such an event, but those such as my Alysone canna. ‘Tis how I know for certain she is lost.” His voice broke on the last word.

“Alex, look at me,” Randi insisted quietly. When he finally raised his eyes, she continued, “When Gabhran and I were together in New Orleans, he told me that he would wake in his new realities, and it was as though another story had been woven for him, that he would be in a new place and time, yet all of those around him believed he had always been there. No one thought it out of place, including him.

“He remembered, though, the last couple of times he moved, there had been papers or things in the house where he woke that identified him. Is that part of the spell?”

“Nay,” Alex said, looking startled. “The spell is sufficient to seamlessly fold memories around him.”

“That’s how it was when we returned here. Everyone believed he and I had been married the previous
day, that he had been here all along, there was nothing strange about me just popping in. If the spell had worked on me, my memories should have fit in with everyone else’s.

“Instead, I remembered everything about the other reality. I knew we had been pulled back, I knew those other memories were false. The spell actually only acted on Gabhran, and because I was touching him at the time, I was pulled along too, made a part of the new reality. The spell didn’t act on me because I wasn’t a part of it, so my memories were never affected.

“You said you saw Alysone touch Gabhran’s head just as the spell took effect. I believe she is alive and well, and in Gabhran’s reality with him. Just like it worked for me.” She paused then, waiting for him to catch up with her excitement, for the reality to hit that Alysone and the baby were all right.

He searched her eyes hopefully. “Aye, if ‘tis true, she would be with Gav, and he will care for her. Our child will live.”

Laughing, Miranda replied, “Aye, Alexander MacLachlan, I believe your Alysone is alive and well and is with my Gabhran in the twenty-first century. Now what are we going to do about it?” He blinked his dark eyes at her, expression unreadable.

“We canna do anything about it, lass. I told you before the spell is specific to Gabhran. It was pure coincidence that Gav was pulled when you were touching him. ‘Tis a relief to know that they are together and we are together, at least the
bairn of the MacLachlan will be raised in the tradition of our family.”

“Can’t we ask someone? Surely there must be another Druid we could ask. What about your trainer, your Druid Master?”

There was no telltale sign, no flicker of the eyes, but still she knew. Whatever he said next, it wasn’t going to be the truth.

“Nay, lass, there are no books, the Gailtry hold those, and I know of no one who could answer that question. ‘Tis best we leave it alone.”

Randi smiled to herself, secretly thrilled. She could read him, too, just like she read others when she was a cop. He mostly told the truth. It was the last part of his statement that was the lie; he did know someone he could ask. She would leave that lie go for now. The other part was true, though, he didn’t know about the books!

There was an odd moment of déjà vu that she experienced, then set aside, planning to revisit the thought later. For now, she needed to show him the books. Maybe he was unable to tell her about the Druid Master, maybe it was some kind of need-to-know, top secret vow. If she showed him the books though, all the information they needed might be in there and he could send them forward without breaking any vows.

Randi moved to the hearth and smoothly located the hidden latch. In moments, she had worked the release and a panel swung open, revealing the secret library. With a roar, Alex jumped to his feet, obviously stunned at the hidden chamber. Quickly, Randi explained about the books inside and how Lissa had discovered it years before. He stepped wonderingly through the opening and picked up one after the other of the ancient tomes.

“I had no idea these were here, lass,” he said, stunned to his very core. “I fear I must be alone for a while, to ponder the meaning of all this.”

She narrowed her eyes at his back. He was going to talk to someone, to whomever it was he’d lied about earlier. That déjà vu feeling again passed over her, that feeling there was something she was seeing that was there but not there, something she’d sensed before. Frowning, she picked at it in her mind, while Alex continued to gape at all of the books.

She stood statue-like, lost in thought, as she moved the pieces in her mind. How had she met Gabhran, or rather why had she met him? How had Alysone ended up in her city, her time? Why was she here and not there? She knew that Alex and Gav were involved because of some great Druid prophesy of some kind. But what about her and
Lissa, why were they thick in the middle of it? And both pregnant? Hmmm…

Who was this person Alex was talking to? His Druid Master? He’d mentioned something early on in their conversation about “The people I knew as my parents.” Did that mean they weren’t his real parents? If not, then who were the parents, and could they still be alive somewhere, could that be who he was talking to?

Finally, she came around to the most critical points. There had to be others out there besides Gabhran and Alex, because otherwise, Gabhran was in the twenty-first century getting ready to take on these dark Druids all by himself. If there were others, were they being moved through time, too? Although Gabhran had been moved by Alex, it still felt like Alex wasn’t in complete control. Alex hadn’t intentionally moved Gabhran back to the fourteenth century, so was that an accident? Was someone deliberately interfering with his spells? Things were happening here that Alex clearly didn’t understand.

Randi interrupted Alex’s examination of the ancient books. “Alex, you need to talk to your Druid Master and get him to agree to speak with me. I don’t think were alone in this battle after all, and
I’m not exactly sure who’s a good guy and who isn’t. Can you reach him today?”

Alex gave her a long look, before he finally agreed with a curt not and a clipped, “Aye.”

****

A familiar looking woman with a cap of curly white hair, rosy cheeks, and eyes sparkling with mischief squinted in the bright sunlight, trying to look up at Gabhran, “Now you doona be looking like the type of man to selling something, you look more like the family doctor is paying a call. How may I be helping you this fine morning?”

“May we come in, Ms. Gailtry, is it?”

She glanced over her shoulder and a deep voice muttered something in response.

Gav felt every hair on the back of his neck rise, half a second before he felt something pierce his mind, probing him, trying to sense his intentions. He sent up barriers, forcing the alien presence from him, feeling it the instant he was free of that other mind. How had that happened? More importantly, how had he blocked it?

He pulled
Lissa back a step. “Perhaps I have made an error, I thought we might have some things to talk about, some mutual acquaintances. I will come back another time.” He was slowly stepping away from the door, bringing Lissa further behind him, shielding her with his body. He turned and pushed her toward the SUV, whispering urgently for her to hurry.

Christ, someone here has strong magick. I put
Lissa in danger just bringing her along.
If anything happened to her or the baby, he could never forgive himself. He would get her to a safe place and then return alone. Just as he opened the door, a familiar voice called out his name.

“Gabhran? Dr. MacLachlan, please,
wait.”

Everything happened in slow motion, just as he remembered it happening the night he’d helped the woman escape the Etarlam. Gabhran turned toward the familiar voice just as she reached to touch his arm.

Gav looked down at the woman he knew as Elena Thomas, and snarled. Fast as lightening, he wrapped his arm roughly around her neck and unsheathed a blade he wore on his belt. The civilized twenty-first physician was gone in an instant. The fourteenth century warrior would protect his family at all costs.