Silent Vows (29 page)

The MacCoinnichs were decent and honest people fighting the good fight. Cliché? Maybe, but that was how he felt.

He held a piece of heaven in his arms. Under him, her stifled moans filled the room. Once he had her naked, he rounded over her exposed breast and tugged it between his teeth. He should have had the good sense to be embarrassed when she wailed under his touch, but he didn’t. Instead, he longed to make her scream her release, to prove to everyone within earshot that she was his.

Lifting his shirt over his head, he felt her light touch weave through the hair on his chest. Simple strokes met his skin as her hands trailed lower, fighting with the clasp of his pants.

His hands found the soft inner skin of her thigh.

From there he traveled until he found her moist heat. One swipe of his thumb over her sex and she bucked under him. Her hands stalled in the pursuit of delivering him from his clothing. Lost in pleasure, he slipped a finger inside of her. Slow suggestive motions mimicked his intensions.

Her head fell to the side. Todd trailed his lips over her body, purposely brushing his bristled chin against the most sensitive skin.

“What… what are you doing?”

Myra sat up, looked down on him, her expression matched her innocence.

“Shhh.” He pushed her back down to the bed.

“Trust me.” He sent a heated breath over her core.

Her eyes closed. He kissed along her skin, making his presence known in the most intimate of ways.

Her knees started to close bringing a smile to his face. Something about being the only man who had ever, or would ever, know her in this way washed over him. His mouth pressed firm over her, tasting her. She collapsed at the first pass of his tongue.

Soon he had her writhing under his skilled touch.

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Her moans deafened him. He drove faster until her body stilled and hovered, then called out her release.

Not giving her time to think, he shed the rest of his clothing and plunged into her moist depths. The act they had done before, but this time held more meaning, more emotion. She was his in every sense of the word.

His mouth returned to hers, and with every thrust, he took what was his. Her body quivered around his, and in one final gasp, he emptied into her.

****

It was the first time Myra saw Todd dressed for battle. His horse stood tall next to her brothers’ and her father’s. His sword, the one she had given him in the twenty-first century, was sheathed and resting on his hip. He had a crossbow strapped across his back where he could reach it with ease. Beneath his tunic, she knew he carried his modern weapons. His guns.

They had made love twice the night before.

When he reached for her a third time, she feigned a tired state. In fact, she simply wanted him rested and ready to face the challenges of this day.

Although she knew there was a chance he might not return from the fight, Myra focused on the advantages Todd held on his side. He would battle the evil of Grainna alongside her father, Duncan and Fin. In nearly every step of her day thus far, she prayed, for her husband and family’s safe return.

All the women who were left behind would be with them still in spirit. They would watch and warn them of dangers they did not see and do everything within their power, individually and collectively, to bring them home alive.

Myra and Todd repeated their handfasting vows before all of the family and knights under her 255

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father’s rule at first light. The binding ceremony was brief.

Myra stood and watched her husband from afar.

She promised herself not to cry, not to show him the fear growing deep inside the pit of her chest, threatening to swallow her whole. Yet as she walked through the courtyard and passed her family, they said their goodbyes, and the tears came. Not simply for her, but for all of them.

Duncan stood next to Tara, his hands on her swollen belly. “We will be back, lass.”

Tara shook her head; her voice wavered with pain. “I know. I know. I’m not having this baby without you.”

“I didn’t survive Grainna once to die at her hand now.”

“You better not, dammit. Or I’ll make your world hell in our next life,” she grimaced.

Myra caught Lizzy’s eye. Fin was speaking to Simon, who would pop his head up and look his mother’s way every once in a while and nod.

Lizzy walked to her son. Fin’s hand rested on his shoulder. Myra noticed tears in Simon’s eyes. He wiped at his eyes, desperately trying to rid his face of the wetness.

Pain rolled off Simon in waves that even Myra felt. She swallowed the knot that threatened to block her lungs.

“Hey, sport?” Lizzy grinned as she spoke, but Myra wasn’t fooled.

“Hey, mom.” Simon stared at his feet as he shuffled them on the ground.

Fin watched Lizzy approach. Myra hoped they would make peace before their battle.

“Why the long face? You don’t have to worry about Fin. He’s too ornery to let a woman get the best of him.” Lizzy’s words brought a lift to Simon’s lips.

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Fin chuckled. “Your mom’s right. Remember what I said, I’ll be back in less than a week.”

Simon gave him a fierce hug then ran to Tara.

Lizzy’s gaze followed her son. When she turned back to Fin, he was watching her intently. Myra noticed Lizzy shifting her feet under his stare.

“Well, you should get going. You don’t want them leaving without you,” Lizzy said.

She stumbled over what to say. He lifted his pack and moved toward his horse.

“Fin,” she called to him.

“Aye?” He turned.

At first Myra didn’t think Lizzy was going to say a thing. Then her smile faded. “Don’t die.”

His eyes widened at her words. Myra’s throat tightened when Lizzy turned to walk away.

Myra turned away and noticed her father holding Amber and kissing the top of her head.

“Take care of your mother.”

“I will, father.”

“Cian,” he said to his son. “Take care of everything.”

Cian stood tall, understanding his father’s meaning behind the words.

“What about me?” Lora asked.

Ian’s lips didn’t move, but her mother’s face softened in a way that told Myra he said something tender with his mind. She envied their link, their bond that gave them the ability to talk to each other that way.

“You.” He grabbed her waist, bent her back.

“Take care of you, so I have a reason to return.” It was his last words to her every time he went off in battle.

When he lifted his head from kissing his wife, he looked over and saw Myra staring.

“Come here,” he bid.

She ran all but two steps and fell into his 257

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embrace.

“I’ll bring him home to you,” he promised.

Although she knew there were no guarantees, the child in her wanted to cling to his words and cast away any worry she held.

“Be safe,” she said before stepping from his arms.

This time when she glanced up, the only one watching was Todd. His battle wear newly placed, his skills ready to meet an enemy, but could he best Grainna? Myra shook the thought from her head and walked to stand before him, tears streamed down her face. She cursed them, wishing for the strength her mother held, or that of Lizzy.

“Don’t cry. I’m coming back.” Todd wiped the tears off her cheeks and held her face within his hands.

She didn’t trust herself to speak, instead she moved into his arms and lifted her mouth to his. He pressed firm against her frame, one hand cradled her head while the other rested intimately at the small of her back. One kiss reminded her of every moment they’d shared, every kiss they gave.

Myra tore her lips from his only to move them to his ear. “Come back to me.”

“I will.”

She smiled into his eyes, ignoring the stares of several of her father’s men who watched. “I almost forgot.” She pulled back and reached into the pocket of her dress. She removed a pendent attached to a chain. Its Celtic lines and circles were etched in gold and sparkled in the glint of the sun. “Lizzy called it my lucky rabbit’s foot. I don’t know what she meant, but she said you would understand.”

Todd bent his head while she put it on him. He held the charm in his hand. “Thank you.”

He kissed her again.

“I love you,” she whispered.

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He sighed at her confession. “I love you, too.”

Myra knew his words solidified their bond. As new tears swelled, she heard her father mount his horse.

“’Tis time we go,” Ian called.

They saddled up and prepared to leave.

“Close the gates behind us, Gregor,” Ian bellowed. “To all who stand here now, ye are to follow the guidance set out by my son, Cian. Ye are to protect our women and children at all costs.”

He signaled to the gatekeeper who opened the massive doors that led them out of the safety of the Keep. Ian’s falcon sat perched on his arm.

Once they cleared the stones of the yard, they kicked their horses into a gallop. The bird took flight and followed in the air above.

Liz let out a long-suffering sigh when the gates closed. “I need a drink!”

“So do I,” Tara put her hand to her back.

“Yeah...right.”

It would take the men three days to get to where Grainna was staying, and the waiting would be hell.

****

Michael noticed the hound cringed under the hand that slid over its coat. The eyes of the dog matched those of all the fighting men in the courtyard, and most of the women.

Grainna’s reign over her people was held in place with fear. They worked endlessly on repairs of the home she had made out of the ruins.

She sat as regal as a queen looking over her subjects, with her back rod straight and her dark hair piled high on her head. Even the costume she wore befitted royalty. The woman who previously wore it had the unfortunate luck of traveling through her land. The two knights who had escorted the lady were now posted as guard over Grainna’s court.

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It was eerie how she changed almost daily since they had come here. Her eyes weren’t dark, they were black. Unlike eyes of a mere human, her pupils almost never constricted. Instead, they stood open, in constant surveillance.

Michael took the last few steps and stood at her side. The dog curled into a ball, whining at his mistress as he approached. Michael felt sorry for the hound that couldn’t leave until she released him.

“I trust you had a fruitful journey.” Grainna folded her hands in her lap.

“Perhaps, but as you see I come alone.”

She lifted her chin, but said nothing.

“There is one promising woman in a village near Lancaster.”

“And she is not with you… why?”

Michael nodded to the people surrounding them.

“I think we should continue this conversation in private.”

“I,” she spoke in the deadliest of tones, “decide when we will speak in private.”

He cocked his head, gave a slight bow. “If you insist. Her name is Margaret. She is like us, and possibly intact. I won’t know for certain until I bring her to you.”

Pain hit his head hard. He did his best not to flinch at her intrusion into his head. She peered to see if he spoke the truth and he prayed his abilities kept her unaware of every thought he possessed.

“Then bring her, woo her. Marry the bitch if you must, but bring her to me.”

She had dangled the carrot, his gift of immortality, in front of him long enough. He wanted payment before he delivered.

“Our war with the MacCoinnichs is coming,” he said. “Now would be a good time to guarantee my survival.”

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As her head slowly moved in his direction, and her deadly stare met his, Michael held his breath and did his best to think only of serving her.

Her glare turned into a smirk. “Yes. Yes you have waited long enough. I warn you...it is not for the weak of heart. Immortality has its own set of, let us say, side effects.”

“If it is the curse you speak of, I already know.”

“Not only that, but the task of living long past everyone you know, anyone you will meet.”

“I don’t crave human companionship, Grainna.

Besides.” He placed a hand on hers. “We will have each other. Even now your beauty shines through. I would take your bed if you allowed such a thing.”

“It pleases me to hear such a conviction, as that is exactly what my ritual requires from you.”

His stomach rolled and bile rose in his throat.

Forcing a smile to his lips could quite possibly have been the hardest thing for him to do.

Michael stared into the eyes of what equated to the devil. He swallowed the bile that threatened at the thought of fucking her. He would have to prepare for the event, give him time to protect himself from her evil if she turned on him, or attempted to control him as she had the others.

“Tonight then.” He picked up her hand and kissed the back of her cold hard flesh.

“Tonight is so long from now. Meet me in my rooms in half an hour. After, you can return to your Margaret’s village and retrieve her.”

“As you wish.” He would have to hurry. He left her side, rushed to his room, and purged every morsel from his stomach.

****

The men camped deep in the forest, far off any path or road in which they might meet up with renegade warriors or mercenaries wanting battle, or gold. They needed their strength for the impending 261

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fight.

Duncan sat smiling into the flames of the small fire they had made to cook the fresh meat they had hunted.

“What’s so amusing?” Todd asked after noticing Duncan’s expression.

“The women. They are drinking and carrying on like drunken men. Not Tara of course, but she tells me that Lizzy is ripped. What does that mean?”

Todd’s head tipped back and a hollow laugh escaped. “Drunk. Lizzy’s drunk.” He elbowed Fin.

“Nice to know what effect you have on women, MacCoinnich.”

“Don’t speak too soon, Blakely, Myra is as well.”

Duncan stopped, obviously listening to something Tara said. He slapped his hand to his thigh and laughed hysterically. The three men scowled wondering what it was he knew. Even Ian had to guess what was happening, because Lora was keeping him out of her thoughts.