Page 11

–Broderick–

I HAD NEVER enjoyed an evening with a woman as much as I did this one. Where Storm had been a dear friend, and we enjoyed many good times together over the years, spending time with Aspen felt so much more memorable. Interesting. Amusing. Worth cherishing and revisiting in my memories always.

I appreciated her wit and intelligence and, again, her straightforward manner. Interestingly, I especially enjoyed her bold, adventurous spirit. Where I usually wasn’t the risk-taker she was—could not be given my role and obligation to my people—I was eager to take her on many adventures and be there when she shifted and flew for the first time. Desperate for it, even, just like I was desperate for every last part of her now I could see clearly.

So when she stayed true to her bold nature and ended up on my lap, kissing me for the first time, it was no surprise I grew intensely aroused. How could I not when our kisses grew hungry? When I grew so hard, it hurt? When she groaned in need, and her tight, round backside squirmed on my lap because she was aware of how ready I was for her?

In fact, I was so ready I was moments away from carrying her to my bed, which was far closer than she realized, where I'd spread her shapely thighs and finally sink deep inside the woman I should have been fantasizing about all these years. I fully intended to show her how good I wanted to make her feel for the rest of her life and all to follow if we hadn’t been interrupted by a light knock on the door.

“What is it?”

I snapped, so consumed by Aspen that, shockingly enough, I hadn’t sensed who approached until my mother spoke from the other side.

“’Tis trouble, son,”

she replied.

“Meet us in the war chamber.”

“At this hour?”

I muttered, both frustrated and alarmed. Frustrated because Aspen and I had to stop what we were doing and alarmed because I had been so consumed by her that I hadn’t sensed danger. Something my inner beast should have picked up on right away. The very moment a threat stepped foot on my land.

“Should I go back to my room?”

Aspen wondered as I couldn’t help but brush my lips across hers one last time, cherishing her taste, before I stood and set her down.

“Nay, I would prefer you remain by my side.”

I cupped her soft cheek and ensured she saw in my gaze how much I meant it.

“Just as I would when you become my wife, as we will be equal in all things.”

“You mean if I become your wife,”

she corrected, but I swore I detected a teasing tone.

“And, of course, I’ll stay with you. I’d like nothing more.”

Of that, I had no doubt, given her personality, so I slid my hand into hers and headed back downstairs when I had hoped to be heading someplace else if she’d allowed it. It might seem like we only just came together, but deep down, I had a feeling that wasn’t true. While I had no memory of her ever being here, that didn’t mean it hadn’t somehow occurred in our dreams. Stranger things had happened to time travelers and fated mates over the centuries.

After all, modern-day women had been traveling back for over one hundred and seventy-five years now. At least as time went by here, in what they would call medieval Scotland. They had helped so much over the years, even coming to the aid of King Robert the Bruce and the great William Wallace himself.

When we entered the war chamber, I was surprised to find not just my parents with Kenneth and Lucas but one of the king’s messengers.

“I was told to deliver this to ye myself, m’laird.”

As the messenger handed me a missive with the king’s seal, his gaze understandably flickered over Aspen before snapping back to me. What man’s gaze would not? If she weren’t already stunning enough, there was a new glow about her now born of our kisses and arousal she had felt just as strongly as I. Born of an incredible need to come together as we should have long ago.

“Many thanks.”

I nodded at the man who still dripped from the torrential rain and gestured at the door, dismissing him.

“I insist ye stay at MacLeod Castle for the eve and enjoy a good meal and a warm, dry night’s rest.”

“Many thanks, m’laird.”

The man nodded in return and strode from the chamber.

I frowned at my mother, who sat near the fire with my father.

“I thought you said ‘twas trouble?”

“’Tis,”

she said softly. Knowingly.

“I just cannae see what that trouble is yet.”

Her gaze fell to the missive.

“Though I suspect that might garnish some insight.”

When I broke the seal and read what the king had written, it did indeed.

“Bloody hell,”

I cursed under my breath, hardly believing it, so I read it again.

“What does it say, cousin?”

Lucas prompted me when I scowled and shook my head.

When I glanced from Aspen to the letter, hesitating, she echoed my cousin’s words.

“I agree. What does it say?”

“That the king will be arriving sometime on the morrow with a small retinue of men.”

I remained calm for Aspen’s sake when I felt anything but.

“It seems the Sutherlands claim we have something that belongs to them, and it has drawn the king’s attention enough he feels it needs to be addressed straight away.”

“Or more succinctly said,”

Aspen said softly, the knowing tone of her voice telling me she sensed what I wasn’t saying.

“they claim someone belongs to them.”

“You cannae be serious?”

Lucas exclaimed, confused.

“How do the Sutherlands even know Aspen’s here? And bloody hell is right. Why would they ever think she belonged to them?”

When my father sighed and met my mother’s eyes, I realized they knew something I didn’t.

“What is it?”

I looked back and forth between them.

“What do you know that we dinnae?”

“There is a legend handed down over the generations,”

my mother began gravely.

“’Tis known by some and spoken by even fewer that at the birth of Clan MacLeod before we were allies with the MacLomains and dragon blood made its way into our clan, the Sutherlands were our closest allies. We were so close we agreed to marry four of our witches to four of their most powerful warriors of dragon blood, ensuring not just an untouchable pact between two strong clans but an even stronger generation of dragons born of both bloodlines.”

Mother hesitated as if gathering herself to deliver truly dire news.

“Unfortunately, one of the women destined for a Sutherland fell in love with another and refused to see the pact through.”

Her gaze drifted to me and Aspen.

“It seems she fell in love with the MacLeod laird. The very man who had agreed to the pact in the first place.”

“Surely not.”

A strange sensation rolled through me I couldn’t quite pinpoint.

“Why would he risk such if it would gain his clan so much power and prestige?”

“Och, son, nothing is as powerful as love, and many have risked far more for it.”

My father's knowing gaze went from Aspen to me.

“You might have thought you understood it with Storm, but I sense you have a far better understanding now.”

“’Tis safe to say I do,”

I replied without pause, frowning at my mother.

“So what happened after that?”

“The MacLeod laird broke the pact, refusing to hand her over, and the two clans went from stout allies to mortal enemies, resulting in a clan war that lasted years and cost both sides dearly, often targeting each other’s offspring until they struck a tentative deal,”

she revealed.

“One I thought lost to the generations, but clearly it hasn’t been, and Laird Dugal Sutherland means to see it through.”

“And what was this deal?”

I asked, my tone low with warning that no Sutherland dare go near my mate.

“’Twas apparently one their sage, or better said, sorcerer, cultivated, and the Sutherlands, impossibly enough, agreed to, but then their dragon sorcerer was incredibly powerful,”

Mother replied.

“For the sake of their clans and their future survival, he counseled the Sutherland laird to strike a new pact.”

My mother went to Aspen and held out her hand.

“Might I see your tattoo again, as I suspect it has changed, aye?”

“It has,”

Aspen said slowly, frowning from me to my mother as she pulled up her sleeve.

“Why? What does it have to do with a clan legend?”

“’Tis said when the time comes to fulfill the new pact, markings will appear on both the current Sutherland laird and the MacLeod destined to see the sorcerer’s pact through.”

Her voice dropped an octave, and her gaze grew sad when she traced her fingers over Aspen’s new tattoo.

“’Twould be a winged sword with a gem in the center.”

“A tattoo that formed when she touched me, her fated mate, for the first time,”

I growled, shaking my head.

“And what precisely did the sorcerer’s new pact entail? What did he foresee?”

“Born of a dragon and the sorcerer’s distant ancestor, the female who wore the mark would be powerful,”

she said softly.

“and destined for the current Sutherland laird if the same tattoo appeared on him. ‘Tis said she would be found among the MacLeods, and ‘twould mean the start of the new pact, lest a clan war begin anew, and the next generations on both sides be wiped out once more. ‘Twould be a means to right old wrongs done to the Sutherlands by the first MacLeod laird and begin a new era of peace and prosperity betwixt the two clans.”

“Nay.”

I kept shaking my head, doing my best to rein in my emotions, but I could feel my inner beast writhing just beneath the surface.

“I willnae allow it.”

I looked at Aspen with reassurance.

“You have my word, lass.”

“Are you sure the pact claims she’s meant for the Sutherland laird?”

Kenneth wondered.

“Because last I knew, he already has a wife.”

My father shrugged.

“’Tis what we have been told, but I cannae say with any certainty. Something tells me the king will let us know soon enough.”

“So, just one woman?”

Aspen narrowed her eyes at my mother.

“Presumably me, was enough to do all that? Really? When the original pact involved four witches?”

She glanced from me back to my mother.

“Seems strange, given I have three sisters who have all been told about a MacLeod destined for them. As I’m sure you realize, that totals four witches, just like the original pact.”

“As ironic and strange as it sounds,”

my mother agreed.

“’twas but one woman promised to one man this time.”

“One woman who is verra likely fated mates with the current MacLeod dragon laird,”

Kenneth pointed out, seeing things from his typical wizardly perspective.

“To break their bond would mean Aspen and Broderick not coming into the full power of fated mates, which could be substantial indeed.”

“So the new pact was a failsafe to keep the MacLeods from growing more powerful than the Sutherlands someday?”

Lucas deduced.

“That and ‘twould bring the sorcerer’s bloodline back to the Sutherland’s, without a doubt, making them powerful in ways we dinnae ken given Aspen is both witch and dragon,”

my father said, joining us. He looked at me in warning.

“More so, ‘twould make their bairns powerful in ways we dinnae ken.”

“Yet the MacLeods and Sutherlands have battled on and off for generations without provoking a clan war,”

Lucas reminded.

“So we’re to believe now that Aspen’s tattoo has appeared, if we dinnae hand her over, ‘twill lead to war?”

“Which would make our king very unhappy, indeed,”

my mother said softly.

“The Sutherlands and MacLeods are among his fiercest, most loyal clans and needed in our never-ending skirmishes with the English.”

She gave me a pointed look.

“The last thing he needs is our clans at war with each other when we should be assisting him.”

Raking a hand through my hair, I scowled and swore under my breath again, trying to think clearly and logically, but it wasn’t easy with my inner dragon so riled.

“Then we need to calm your dragon down,”

Aspen said softly, following my thoughts with more ease now, it seemed, her gentle voice soothing on my raw nerves.

“So we can think clearly and logically.”

She looked at the others, comfortable enough to take charge when I struggled to do so that I knew she was supposed to be mine, not another's. Took charge when she had to be more than a little nervous, if not downright frightened, at what this might mean.

“I encourage everyone to get some rest and think on it because the more angles we look at this from, the better.”

Clearly a good leader in her own right, Aspen glanced from person to person.

“In the vein of transparency, so you have your facts up front, here are things that may or may not be important. As you know, I have three sisters. Storm reached out to them via letters, and all were counseled to move to the New Hampshire colonial and are under the impression they are destined for a MacLeod. All have visions of the tree they were named after, often appearing to them during important moments in their lives. All are half-witch, half-dragon, and all are gifted.”

She shook her head.

“And based on what I’ve seen over the years, I certainly wouldn’t consider myself the most powerful.”

“Who would you call the most powerful?”

my mother wondered.

“Honestly, it’s hard to know, but I’m leaning toward my oldest sister, Elowyn, or Ellie as we call her,”

she replied.

“One of the last things of note that I’m still trying to make sense of is the different color dresses my father, who was half dragon, asked us to wear to his funeral. Mine was red, just like the colors that appeared in my tattoo, so I can’t help but wonder if they’re connected somehow.”

“No doubt they are,”

my mother murmured, nodding once at Aspen with approval and reassurance, undoubtedly impressed by how she was handling things thus far.

“Everything you shared will be food for thought. Might we find a solution before too much trouble comes knocking at our door.”

She gave the others a stern look and gestured that they leave with her.

“We will see you two in the morn.”

After they left, Aspen continued to make herself clear in ways that would likely not make things easier going forward. Rather, they were bound to make things far more excruciating.