Time Masters Book One; The Call (An Urban Fantasy, Time Travel Romance) (63 page)

Dallan leaned eve
n closer. “Mayhaps I came to fi
nd you, lass.”

He was so close his breath brushed her face. She began to sweat, her mouth suddenly dry. What in the
world was happening to her? Th
is was
ridiculous! She knew what he was up to and she wasn’t about to let him get away with it.

Or was she? Without thinking, she quickly and nervously pushed out,
“What will you do when you fi
nd her?”

Blast! She shouldn’t have asked
,
she knew she shouldn’t have asked! She was going to pay for that one.

He scooted even closer and put one arm around her. He pulled her into his chest, causing her head to tilt back, eyes still mercilessly locked with his. He lowered his face down, closer, closer, as his other arm wrapped itself around her, anchoring her in place.

A tiny squeak of alarm escaped her, too late.

“This, Flower.” He whispered, then gently, and she sensed with as much human restraint as possible, brushed his lips across her own.

Shona couldn’t believe it. She’d been kissed!

For her fi
rst kiss, she always pictured the usual things happening to l
ead up to the event. A date, fl
owers, friendship, talking, laughing, all the things Kitty raved on about. She was supposed to be heady with emotion, her feet feeling as though they had left the ground. Fireworks were supposed to go off and she wo
uld fi
nd herself all but swooning in this man’s arms. At least according to Kitty.

Shona’s immediate reaction, however, didn’t even come close.

She socked him right in the face.
Hard.

* * *

“
Ohhh
, direct hit!” Lany had covered John’s eyes the minute he saw the Maiden pull her arm from between bodies and begin to swing upward. The blow she delivered was one of the most beautiful uppercuts he’d ever seen. Dallan sat on the ground at her feet, still stunned from the unexpected punch.

Angus groaned aloud while a recently arrived Kwak
u chuckled low in his throat. Th
e men were hidden behind several hedges a good twenty yards away.

“What’s going on? Let me see!” John pried Lany’s hands from his face and took in the scene before him. “Oh no! What happened?”

Lany shook his head. 
“Well, you can’t exactly reverse nearly t
wenty years of the sort of ‘eti
quette training’ sh
e’s had in just a few minutes. 
I should have seen this coming.”

“She slapped him?” John asked shocked.

Lany and Angus both shook their heads.

“She laid de Boyeee out!” Kwaku chortled proudly. “Every
ding will be fi
ne now, yes?”

Everyone stared at the beaming Time Master with a heavy frown.

“Someone should have explained to Dallan that at this point, the Maiden is going to be stronger than other women,” John belatedly surmised, then asked, “whose job was it?”

Once again every eye shifted to Kwaku, who merely shrugged innocently.

Lany turned back to what la
y beyond their concealment. “Th
e Scot has
looks that can stop traffic and he can’t even make a decent pass.” He began to nod knowingly to himself. “Creator, help us.”

Angus continued to frown. “’Tis not Dallan’s fault, Master Lany. Ye said so
yerself
. She’s been raised as if this were the eighteen, nay, seventeen nineties, not the nineteen nineties.”

John and Lany exchanged a quick look.

“Brennan,” John breathed out on a frustrated sigh.

“De Maiden had a natural reacti
on to de Boyeee. Dey will be fi
ne, Councilor.
Look closer
,
can you not see it
? And behold, he has recovered already!” Kwaku pointed through the hedge to the couple. Dallan still sat on the hard ground, staring up at the Maiden in total disbelief, the same way she was staring down at him.

* * *

He’d been laid out by a woman
. The heathen would never let him hear the
end of this!

Dallan studied her, trying to measure her up. By the Saints! How did she manage to land him in the dirt? She couldn’t weigh more than seven or eight stone. So how did she do it?

He climbed to his feet, never taking his eyes off her. She stared up at him warily, waiting to see what he would do next. At the moment, Dallan wasn’t sure what that
was,
still too busy puzzling how she did what she did. “How’d ye learn to hit like that?” He reached up and rubbed his jaw, “Saints, woman, ye’ve the swing of a blacksmith!”

She straightened herself, obviously proud of her achievement. “My father taught me.” Her voice reached into him, pulling and tugging again.

Like before.

He waited a moment, not wanting the odd sensation to stop. But if he didn’t speak, she wouldn’t either. “It seems we ha’ a wee bit o’ a problem, lass.”

She sat even straighter, still looking at him as though ready to hit him again. “I was not aware there was a problem.” She raised an accusing brow.
“Until you kissed me, that is.”

Dallan had to fi
ght to keep a straight face. He didn’t want to scowl at her, but laughing wasn’t going to help the situation either. She was
frightened,
he could see it in her eyes, but not of him. No, it was the situation that scared her. He knew the feeling well. “I wilna hurt ye, lass. I’m here to help.” He slowly sat back on the
bench,
capturing her in his gaze to hold her, keep her there a while longer. “I’ve come to help get ye back to yer people, yer own kind.”

Th
at got her. Her hands fl
ew to her mouth, her face paled and she acted as though she would be sick, her breaths now short and quick. “I do not believe any of this. None of this can be real. Do you not understand? None of this can be real!”

He leaned toward her. “Aye, little one, ‘tis real.
By all that is holy, ‘tis all real.
I didna want to believe any o’ it myself, and if I
hadna
seen with my own eyes one of your own kind… to see what ye are, who ye are…” He took a deep breath and waited before letting it out slowly, giving her a moment to collect herself, the color in her face completely gone now.

Dallan leaned again and inched closer.
“M’eudain,
listen to me.
Yer not safe anymore.
There are those that wish ye harm. Let me take ye away from here. Let me take ye back to where ye belong.”

She shuddered twice as he spoke, her reaction out of place. He couldn’t pinpoint what was wron
g and began to recognize the fi
rst signs of panic in her eyes. Her mouth trembled when she spoke. “Please, I do not know who you are or what you want. I think you had better leave.”

He gripped her in his gaze, purposely fusing them together.
Nay, little
one.
I wilna leave.

She gasped and fell back against the bench’s armrest. “Oh, God.”

 
Dallan scooted up to her again, one arm across the back of the bench, half around her frame. He left his other arm free, in case he needed
to block a dainty yet lethal fi
st.
Talk to me, M’eudain. Talk to me like before.

She slumped slightly unable to break the hold he had on her, and shook her head helplessly.

Try. Please?

She stopped breathing altogether and stared at him, wide-eyed. He knew what she battled with. If she remained silent, it would be easier to discount everything. If she spoke to him in the special way he knew she could, the whole thing would be undeniably real.

Try, M’eudain. Ye can do it. Ye
’ve nothing to be afraid of. Th
e people I’m
with, they ken who ye are. We’ve come to take ye home. Dinna be afraid, trust
me. Ye trusted me before.

She gasped again as her body, against her w
ill, fl
ung itself toward him. He caught and held her gently. She could pull away whenever she wanted.

But at this point, he didn’t want her to.

“It’s awake now. You woke it up. I’m hungry all of a sudden. Oh, God, this can’t be happening!” Shona looked frantically about.

Easy, M’eudain.
What’s wrong? Is it yer heart?

She looked up at him, her face locked in total confusion. “My heart?”

 
He gripped her arms, half-holding, half-supporting her as she began to tremble.
Yer heart. It’s yer heart that’s awakened, lass. I ken ye need to eat, to
feed it. Zara said ye would need to feed it.
But I dinna ken with what.
What
has helped it before?

She c
lutched at his arms now, her fi
ngers digging into him. He glanced quickly at her small hands before turning his attention back to her face. By all the Saints, she was as strong as an ox! Her hands were bruising his arms.

“Please, I need Kitty. She knows.” She gripped him even harder.

Where is she? How can I take ye to her?

She looked him right in the eye, sealing them together again. “Kitty…” Her eyes clutched at him with the same helplessness her hands did, gripping him just as hard. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
She
and Tomy are behind the rose hedge, watching us. I do not know if they can
hear anything.

Dallan breathed a sigh of relief and drew her into his arms.
Thank God, lass. T
h
ere ye are. I knew ye could do it.
He drew away from her.
How can I help?

She took another deep breath.
What is happening to us? Why does
this happen?

Dallan looked at her with as much understanding as he could muster.
Life sometimes
isna
verra picky as to who it throws to the wind, to watch how
they land.
We’ve both been tossed, lass. But with luck we’ll land together. It’s as
I told ye. I came here to fi
nd ye, to take ye back to where ye belong, where the
wind fi
rst caught ye up and carried ye away.
Just as it did to me one day.

Shona stared at him in stunned disbelief, as if her entire life had just been ripped from her hand
s. Or placed in them for the fi
rst time.

He stroked her ch
eek with the back of a large fi
nger.
Ah, lass. I ken how
strange this all is for ye. It was for me too, and I wish we had the time ‘twould
take for understanding what’s happening to us. But there is no more time. I
need to get ye away from here. I need to take ye now.

Her entire face dropped.
No!

He got a
s close to her as possible, off
ering her his compassion and understanding, the safety of his gaze.
Yes.
He hooked a fi
nger under her chin and brought her face closer to his.
‘Tis for yer own good. Ye canna
survive here any longer
,
Flower
.

The
thing which had boun
d them together in days past
fl
amed anew, drawing them into each other again. Dallan could feel his strengt
h building, as his heart fi
lled with the Maiden’s. He brought his other arm up and wrapped it around her as he cupped her face with one hand, lowering his lips to within a hairsbreadth of her own.
We canna fi
ght this, M’eudain. Not
either of us. I’ve tried, and I can’t. It is stronger than we are. Let me take ye
home with me now. Let me take care o’ yer heart.

Her fi
ngers relaxed their grip and her body slumped again. If Dallan had not been holding her, she would have slid right off the bench. She shook her head in confusion.
Please, who are you?

Who am I, M’eudain?
Dallan
paused,
waiting for the words he knew must come. Words the Maiden herself would have to utter in submission to him if she was to survive. He let his eyes bore down into her very core, possessing her, taking full responsibility for her and every aspect of her life. Claiming her.

I am your future, Flower
. I am you protection, your love,
your
life. I am
everything to you that is needed, as you shall be for me.
Dallan b
rought his face
even closer.
I am your Master.