It wasn’t long though, before Fiona and Mathilde found her, urging her to go with them on their errand to collect spring medicinal plants to be dried for the still room. She held her breath for a moment when she saw them approaching, but it seemed Berta had kept what happened in the kitchens the day before to herself. Neither of them said anything to her, or acted any differently. They didn’t know. She silently thanked Berta for her discretion.
Faith walked slowly through the meadow with the other women, helping to gather certain leaves or flowers that they showed her how to identify, which would be used throughout the rest of the year. Fascinated, Faith asked lots of questions about what the plants were used for, but Fiona and Mathilde told her she would have to ask Berta or Dirc. They themselves only knew how to gather them, and a few basic uses.
Even though the bright morning sun eventually faded and the sky became cloudy and grey, at least it wasn’t raining, and Faith was enjoying herself, was content even, having forgotten her problems for a moment. She listened intently to the gossip the other girls dished up, learning far more about life in the castle than she would have otherwise. It seemed Eian, a bit of a womanizer, was seen with two women behind the woodshed, all three of them caught completely naked by Berta, who was chasing a dog away from the kitchen door with her broom. While Drust, they claimed, couldn’t seem to be tempted by any woman, at least none who had tried so far. That, of course, made the lasses all the more eager to try, at least those not put off by his cold distance and fierce expression. Faith was practically holding her breath, waiting to hear what they would say about the laird himself, when they suddenly all fell silent. Faith turned and immediately saw the cause. Bren was coming towards them, his eyes on Faith, a rather fierce and determined look on his face.
Fiona grabbed her arm almost protectively. “What did ye do, Faith?” she whispered.
But she didn’t have time to answer. Bren nodded tersely to the group of women in acknowledgement, then looked straight at her, his eyes locked on hers with unmistakable intent. “Leave us, I need to speak with Faith, alone.”
To her dismay, the other women all turned on their heels and hurried back towards the castle, abandoning her without a second thought, and leaving her alone with the laird there where the meadow met the wood. So this was to be it then. And so very soon. Berta had been right.
He stepped close and held her by the arms, his grip firm, demanding she hear him. “Faith, it willna stop, this hunger I have for ye. I canna stop it, not even for a moment. Day and night, every hour, I want ye. I canna wait any longer. Ye have to give in to me now. Ye have to give in to what is between us.”
He held her eyes, and she saw that he was determined this time to take what he wanted, consequences be damned. Honor be damned, too. He lowered his mouth to hers, and she held her breath as she felt the firm softness of his lips. Heat. And pounding hearts. The hot sharp scent of desire. A warm, solid wall of muscle under her fingertips as her hands rose against her will to rest against his chest. As she touched him, his expression changed so that it held an air of victory; triumph, as if he knew that now he held complete power over her. She would lose herself for certain this time, and then where would she be?Whatwould she be?No!
“No!”
She pushed away from him, her panic rising, unreasoning and fluttering like a wild bird trapped in her chest. Instinctively she ran, but she didn’t get far before she crashed hard into something.A tree? She opened her eyes… and screamed. Bren was right in front of her, his arms coming up to catch her andhold her close to him. But she had just run away from him, from where he had been standing… she glanced back… over there. He couldn’t be here in front of her, it was physically impossible! His arms tightened around her like steel bands when she tried to pull away from him, effectively stopping her struggle.
“Dinna run from me! Dinna ever run from me.” His voice was dark, insistent, dangerous.
“Let me go! Let go of me!” She was nearly screaming, angry and frightened.
He didn’t seem to hear her. Instead, his eyes moved to her throat, to her rapidly beating pulse, and then to the thin leather cord still tied around her neck. As if transfixed, he reached with one hand and slid a finger beneath it, trailing slowly down her skin, holding his breath, lifting it slowly, slowly… until the dragon ring emerged from where it lay hidden beneath her clothing.
Now it rested against his open palm, and Faith saw his lips part a little in surprise, heard his breath hitch as he stared in astonishment at the twin dragons etched in gold. His eyes flew to her face, softened in tenderness and desire even as his expression hardened in greater determination. And something else: an almost violent look of possession.
Bren stood motionless for several long seconds, hardly able to breathe.His mate. He had found her. Theringhad found her. His days and nights of yearning for his other half were done, his loneliness was at an end. She was finally here. He should have known it from the moment he first saw her, and in truth his body had known all along, even if his heart was too jaded to see what was right before him.
Powerful emotions welled up inside of him, finally unleashed. A fierce wave of possession washed through him,quickly followed by a rush of desire so strong that he trembled with the force of it. His body hardened with a need that was painful in its intensity, and he knew that he had to have her, take her, claim her, or go mad.
Faith watched, mesmerized, as Bren saw the ring, and then she saw the recognition flash in his eyes, just before they grew impossibly dark, holding her gaze with a predatory intent. She could smell the soft musky scent of his skin, feel the heat coming off him in waves, the subtle quaking of something powerful wakening inside of him. Wanting, needing. He had seen her for what she was to him, and she had seen him too. She knew now she’d never had a chance, not from the moment she opened that box in the basement of the Smithsonian. No, before that. Maybe not even since the day she was born. She was always inexorably headed for this moment, she had always been powerless to stop it, and it must have driven her all her life. Even in the very moment she had decided to steal the ring. It all became clear to her in that instant, like a door opening and showing her everything that had been hidden. She was not going back to the time she had been born into. She had never even had that choice. This was always her true home. And Bren… she couldn’t fight him any longer either. For whatever reason, for whatever purpose, he was her destiny. She could almost feel the scattered pieces of her life fall into place with a softclick,to make her whole at last.
Then she was being pulled against a hot wall of steel as Bren dragged her roughly back into his arms. She could feel his heart pounding as hard and fast as her own must be.This is it then, my destiny. My life.She sighed as a wave of relief washed over her, through her. She forgot everything else. She didn’t have to fight him anymore, and she didn’t have to fight herself, either.
“Ye aremine”, he barely bit out between clenched teeth before his mouth fell to hers. Her lips parted with a little gasp, and in an instant his tongue met with hers, the taste of him intoxicating, the heat of his mouth drawing her closer as a strange and unknown emotion welled up inside. All of the wildness in her, the primal need, rose to the surface, and she kissed him back, hard, completely lost in the moment. Shewashis, she knew that now. And he was hers. Her hands reached up to skim his back, feeling the power and strength of each taut muscle, and it felt so good. His mouth moved to her neck, kissing, nibbling, finding the spot just behind her ear that made her dig her nails into his back in growing restlessness. Now that she had finally given in to what had always been inevitable, she couldn’t seem to be close enough to him. He gave a low groan and thrust his hips into hers.
“Ah, god, Faith”, he breathed. “I canna believe what ye do to me. I canna begin to say how good ye feel in my arms. How much I need to be inside ye… I’ll die if I canna be inside ye…”
He kissed her again, hard and hot and deep, and his hand grasped her breast, perhaps a bit too roughly, but he was quickly moving beyond any ability to be gentle. He was losing control and he knew it, but he was helpless to pull himself away. She tasted so good, felt so good. Damn it, he was going to take her right here on the ground and there was nothing that could stop him. He had waited far too long already. His cock was rock hard, straining against his clothing, needing desperately to be inside her. He was moving with pure mindless instinct now, like a rutting beast. All rational thought could come later, after he fulfilled this violent need to mate with his woman, and she wanted him too… was telling him with her mouth and her hands and the press of her hips against his.Mine.Mine! God, all mine. He began to lower her to the ground, needed to cover her with his body… needed to…
Bren suddenly froze. He felt the dark power seeping towards them even through the thick haze of lust fogging his mind. It was close, coming closer by the second. He lifted his head abruptly, tuning his senses, leaving Faith panting unsteadily in his arms.Damn, but Mored had bad timing! Or good, depending whose side you were on.
Faith felt his every one of Bren’s muscles tense. He had gone perfectly still, his eyes focused on the murky and darkening forest behind them.
“What is it, what’s wrong?”
Bren cursed under his breath. “We need to get out of here. Now!”
He pulled her up from her knees in one smooth motion, hauling her to his side, just as she heard the hoof beats bearing down on them. She heard the hoof beats, and yet she couldn’t see a horse.
They ran, with Bren pulling her along so quickly she wasn’t sure if her feet even touched the ground. Still the rider followed, heard and not seen, and Faith had the presence of mind to wonder just where they were running to, because there was no way they were going faster than a galloping horse. It would overtake them in no time at all. Looking up, she could see the castle just ahead, torches burning in the near-dusk. Then one of the torches seemed to be behind them. She turned her head slightly to see what looked to be a ball of fire hurtling at them. She opened her mouth to scream, terror gripping her… and then she was flying through the air as Bren grabbed her up and dove forward, rolling to shield her from harm. She tensed, waiting for the flames, for the slash of hooves, but they never came. Instead she heard Bren let out a breath.
“That was too damned close.” He looked her over, running his hands along her trembling limbs. “Are ye all right?”
She could only nod before he had turned his attention towards a group of men running towards them, his brothers at the front. He stood abruptly, and she scrambled to her feet behind him.
“What thehell, Drust? How did they get so close? Where were the guardians? What happened to the wards? Why were we no’ warned?”
