21 Shades of Night, page 252
His sword clanked with hers again, barely keeping her from cutting him. She struck once more, faster, throwing him off balance. And again, before he had a chance to strike at her. All he was able to do was block every movement while she pounded on him with thrust after slice after parry. She was certain she wouldn’t have had the advantage if she’d been fighting David, but Jared wasn’t David.
Her movements felt birdlike, no weight to hold her down, no gravity keeping her feet planted to the ground. The feeling of being lighter than air, lifted her heart. No longer was the fight a fight, but a game, deadly, but she’d be the winner. She knew it now. Did the combination of being a hunter and vampire make her stronger? Was that the reason the League disallowed vampire-hunter unions? What about a child from a vampire-hunter union? The outlook for a brand new world looked even brighter.
She hit Jared’s sword so hard, she sent it flying into a flowerbed, while he fell backward, a look of horror on his face. She could kill him now with one clean thrust of the sword. She could avenge her father’s death and destroy the tyrant who threatened to bring the League to its knees. To avenge her father’s death and mete out League justice, she would be justified.
“Please,” he begged, his eyes still haughty and narrowed at her, his lips curved down in a malicious manner. He didn’t appear regretful or humbled in the least. And she felt he only waited for an opening to retrieve his sword and thrust it at her.
“Did you show my father mercy?” she asked, trying to keep her cool, but her voice shook with rage.
His face beaded with sweat, his blue eyes darkened, he glanced at Ephraim then at Kisaro, both who now stood beside her, the other hunters dead. Now he had the haunted look of a defeated man.
“Please.”
“You don’t deserve to live.”
The League would terminate the hunter’s life, though she had every right to take his life right this very moment for his having taken her father’s in a brutal act of mutiny. But she lifted her sword, unwilling to end his life, her distant cousin’s, no matter what the circumstances. Only if she’d had to take his while in a defensive mode, or to protect others who he’d threatened could she have ended his miserable existence, she realized now. “The new League will sentence and punish you for your deeds.”
Her cell phone rang, and she fumbled to get it out of its pocket, then answered it. “Yes, Sutherland? We’ve just eliminated the traitors to the League.”
Ephraim slipped his arm around her waist while Kisaro kept his sword on Jared. Her body trembled with the built-up stress of the fight, but calmed with Ephraim’s protective touch. Her head was still hazy with the blood bonding, but the adrenaline in her system seemed to counteract it somewhat.
Sutherland said, “Aye. David is here safe.”
“I wish to speak with him.” She leaned against Ephraim’s strength, weary all at once.
“Is Kisaro there?” Sutherland asked.
She glanced at Kisaro, wondering what was to be done about him and the potion. “Uhm, yes.”
“Then he’ll know he no longer has his bargaining tool. Here’s your cousin.”
“David,” she said to her cousin over the phone, hating to tell him about Jared, “I have your brother here at my house under my custody. He murdered my father and attempted to kill me.”
“I’ve heard about his traitorous deeds.” David paused and she figured he felt pretty badly. “Bad news travels fast. More importantly, are you safe? I’d have eliminated him myself, if I’d known what he planned to do.”
Somewhat relieved, she had a bigger concern now. How could she break the news to David that she’d bound herself to Ephraim forever without turning him against them? “David, yes, I’m fine, but... but we need to talk.”
“Sutherland seems to think I might still be plotting against the vampires. Can you tell him I’m on their side?”
“There’s a problem.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment, then in a dark voice asked, “What?”
“I... I blood bonded with Ephraim.”
Ephraim frowned at her, evidently not liking the way in which she told her cousin the news.
She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I love him, David. Sutherland tried to force me to blood bond with him earlier than I’d planned, so that he’d agree to protect you. But I did it because I wanted to. I had to break the family curse, to stop from being separated again from Ephraim. I would have done it no matter what.”
“Damn it, Alena. Damn it to hell!” David shouted into the phone.
Instantly, she worried he’d fight the vampires because she had bonded with Ephraim and get himself killed.
Before she could try to calm her cousin, Kisaro hissed. “Sutherland’s the leader of the Brotherhood!”
Elizabeth’s heart nearly stopped. She held her hand over the phone. “What?” she said to Kisaro.
“He’s the head of the Brotherhood! He’s the one who pushed for the war in the first place.”
“Oh, God,” Elizabeth said, and stifled a sob. “David, and… Mona.”
Ephraim rubbed her arm. “He won’t harm them, lass. I promise you, he wants the same as we do.”
Kisaro folded his arms. “I suppose you won’t give me the potion now that Sutherland’s freed your cousin.”
“What were you planning to do with it?” Elizabeth asked, eying him warily.
“I wanted to return to the most endearing woman I’d ever met, right before the French Revolution. I lost her to another vampire. I want to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Cybil told me Ephraim went back in time to see Elizabeth, you, in the past. I wanted to do the same with Catherine.”
Elizabeth couldn’t believe it. “Truly?”
“Cross my heart.”
“But you’ll never die.”
“Like Ephraim, who has mourned the loss of his Elizabeth over the ages, I have mourned the loss of Catherine,” Kisaro insisted.
Something in his posture, the way he choked out the words made her believe he was telling the truth. “Should we let him have the potion, Ephraim? He did save me from the hunter.”
“Aye. But I must warn you, Kisaro, it never helped me to save Elizabeth. It may not help you either to rescue your Catherine.”
His expression solemn, Kisaro nodded. “I only want a chance.”
Ephraim ran his hand over Elizabeth’s shoulder and kissed her cheek. “Watch over her, Kisaro, while I get it for you.”
When Ephraim vanished, Elizabeth spoke into the phone. “David—”
Sutherland interrupted her. “Your cousin is storming across the floor, pacing like a madman, Elizabeth. What is it you wish of me?”
“The truth. Are you the head of the Brotherhood?”
“Aye. But we lay down our arms and join you on the new council. We have no desire to continue the killing.”
“Then release David. He’s one of us, too.”
“Aye, lass, but he’s pretty angry. Perhaps you need to speak with him first. Make sure he’s on our side. He wants to speak to you.”
David said over the phone, “Alena, you can’t have... have...”
“I have, David. I’m sorry, but I’m now mated to Ephraim, forever.”
He ground his teeth. “Damn it, Alena.”
“I love Ephraim. And I love you, as a brother. You’re my only family now. Please don’t be angry with me.”
“You shouldn’t have done so to save my life.”
“I didn’t. I mean, I did, but I… well, you know what I mean. I’m happy. All right? We have a new council to form and new rules to make. Lots of changes, but I want to work with you like we’ve always done.”
“It’ll take a hell of a lot of getting used to.”
“Yes, but we can do it. We’re MacLeods after all.”
Ephraim returned with a leather wine flask and handed it to Kisaro. “No guarantees.”
“I understand.” Kisaro bowed to them both, then vanished.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can to take my brother into custody,” David said to Elizabeth over the phone, his tone of voice terse.
When he hung up, Elizabeth said to Ephraim, “We need to get Mona.”
“Here.” She hurried toward them from the darkness, her face alight with excitement. “You’re one of us now and Ephraim will no longer have to have the painting to keep your memory alive.”
“Aye, she is mine and no image would truly do justice to my bonny lass.” Ephraim’s words darkened with emotion as he pulled Elizabeth into a heartfelt hug.
She motioned to Mona to join them and gave her a warm embrace. Then sighing deeply, Elizabeth said, “I think we have broken the cycle.”
“Aye, love, I told you so,” Ephraim said.
She grinned at him, loving his arrogance, but knowing, this time he was right, and she couldn’t have been more grateful. The hunters and vampires wouldn’t find it easy to trust one another as everyone’s roles shifted.
But at least for Ephraim and Elizabeth, life was beginning all over again.
Epilogue
One year later, Fairmore Castle, Scotland
ELIZABETH WALKED INTO the expansive bedchamber where a massive four-poster bed sat centered against one wall in the rented room of the castle. Blue velvet drapes surrounded the bed in secluded privacy, a perfect place to share an afternoon delight at any hour. She turned and smiled at Ephraim, who waited to see how she felt.
“Had the whole month-long trip to Scotland planned well, I see.”
The corners of his mouth turned up and dimples appeared in his cheeks. “Do you like it, lass?” he queried, his voice already husky with need.
She shook her head and grinned. “What’s not to like, being here with you and Mona and the baby? Smelling the fresh air that’s Scotland, enjoying the cool dampness and cloudy skies so that we can be out any time of day, hearing the gulls flying high above the North Sea, listening to the waves crash against the rocks and cliffs below?” She crossed the burgundy Turkish rug that carpeted the floor and peered out one of the two long narrow windows that framed the bed.
In the courtyard below, Mona carried baby Lizzie in her arms on a walk toward the lilac and rose garden.
Elizabeth breathed in the heady scent of lilac on the wet breeze. Illuminated by soft glowing lanterns in the early evening hour with a light mist clinging to the night, the place looked like a bit of fairyland. In the distance, a Celtic tune of flutes and pipe whistles drifted in the air. She glanced at Ephraim and raised her brows.
“Your welcoming home, lass.”
“Should we join Mona and Lizzie to listen to the musicians?”
“Nay, they’ll play for us at meals and any other time we wish it.” He ran his hands over her shoulders and massaged them. “For now, we need our special moment alone.”
“Just a moment?”
“As long as we need.”
“No rush, eh?”
“Nay, lass.”
She turned her attention to the gardens and hummed her pleasure while Ephraim continued to knead her shoulders and back muscles, relaxing the tenseness out of every fiber of her being. “It’s lovely, Ephraim. I can’t imagine a more wonderful place to vacation at. So, you rented three rooms for us?”
“The castle is ours,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. She leaned her back against his chest and rested her hands on his arms.
“You can’t mean you rented the whole thing. It would have cost a fortune.”
“The castle is ours, lass. I rent it out as a bed and breakfast, allow for weddings and special events for most of the year, but whenever you desire to return here, I’ll ship out the riff-raff and it’ll be only ours again.”
She turned to face him. “You can’t be serious.”
“Aye, I am.”
“But all those people we saw when we arrived—”
“My staff. Most have served my family and me since I was a wee lad.” He kissed her cheek. “I would have brought you here sooner, but—” He led her to a closed door. “First, I had to make some final adjustments to the living quarters before I could bring you here, and then you were too far along with your pregnancy to travel after that.” He studied Mona and the baby for a moment, before adding, “What I want to know is will Elizabeth have the same fiery temper as her mother, now that she has her red hair?”
“I have to keep you in line sometimes, darling.”
He grinned at her. “Aye. I’m so downtrodden.”
“A Highland warrior? Right.”
Chuckling, he opened the door.
She held her breath and walked into the newly remodeled bathroom, the smell of fresh paint still lingering in the air.
Against one wall sat a whirlpool tub built for two. Variegated blues from dark to lighter shades swirled across the marble in whirls of elegance. Brass-framed mirrors hung on the walls, while lighted candelabras cast a soft yellow glow, warming the whole room.
“What do you think, love?”
“I take it you didn’t want to return to the stream.”
“Too cold.”
“Then I think we’d better hurry before Mona returns with Lizzie.” Elizabeth reached for his belt.
He chuckled and tackled the buttons on her silk blouse. “I worried if I didn’t have a tub for you to play in, you’d long to return home.”
“Just because we spend half as much time in the one in Maryland as we do in our bed?”
“Aye. I hadn’t any idea I’d mated a mermaid.”
She pulled his trousers down. “Ephraim,” she said, her voice mockingly scolding, “where are your boxers?” She eyed his arousal.
“I knew once we arrived here, I wouldn’t make it if I wore too many clothes.” He unfastened her bra, then pressed his mouth against her breast.
She moaned when his soft, wet tongue circled her nipple, sending a thrill surging through her. She tugged the leather strap loose from his hair, then ran her fingers through the dark, silky strands. “We are home, Ephraim.”
Ephraim was gladdened beyond belief to have her here, finally, safe and sound. “Aye, lass, we are home. Before another year could pass, I had to bring you back to my ancestral home. To the place for three centuries I’d vowed to carry you in my arms across the threshold as my mate. To share you with my people. Never had I envisioned the joy of having a daughter to share my home with, too.”
He turned the water on high. “I had to prove to myself that I could bring you here, back to where it all began.”
“The tavern,” she said, when he tugged her silky, floor-length skirt off.
He grinned, amused she’d bring up that old scenario. “I don’t mean about that, lass.”
“And the woman with the uncommonly mammoth breasts.”
“I hadn’t noticed.”
“Oh, pleeeease, Ephraim. She was as big as a cow that hadn’t been milked.”
“You are no’ still jealous of that woman, are you?”
She slipped into the tub. “Of Aggie MacNeil? Why should I be?”
“That was her name?”
He climbed in after Elizabeth, amused she was still envious of a woman he’d only bought a drink for, nothing more.
“Of course not. She probably sags to her ankles by now.”
His laughter echoed in the marble room. He cupped Elizabeth’s breasts in his hands. “You’re perfect in every way, Alena Elizabeth MacLeod Campbell, and there will never be another like you.”
She smiled, flashing her pearly whites, then extended her canines. “I’m hungry. Want to share your blood with me?”
“I’ve created a monster.” He reached between her legs to stroke her most erotic spot and tilted his chin up, exposing his throat to her. “Bonnie Elizabeth,” he said, his voice already drenched with desire, “I love you.”
“And I love you, Ephraim Campbell.” She licked his neck, triggering his groin to tighten.
His blood heated in anticipation of making love to his Elizabeth all over again in their native Scotland, bound to the land here, their true beginning, and to each other, for all eternity. His aunt had been right. He would find Elizabeth at the right time and the right place, and he would have no need of the potion, just the fulfillment of the promise they made to one another so long ago, that they’d love each other forever.
Taking a deep breath, he kissed Elizabeth’s lips. “We have broken the curse, lass, just like I said we would.”
“Hmm, Ephraim. Now, if we could only find my cousin David a woman to love…”
Ephraim shook his head. He finally had the love of his life back.
Everyone else was on their own.
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About the Author
Bestselling and award-winning author Terry Spear has written over fifty paranormal romance novels and four medieval Highland historical romances. Her first werewolf romance, Heart of the Wolf, was named a 2008 Publishers Weekly’s Best Book of the Year, and her subsequent titles have garnered high praise and hit the USA Today bestseller list. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry lives in Spring, Texas, where she is working on her next werewolf romance and continuing her new series about shapeshifting jaguars and also writes new YA books. For more information, please visit www.terryspear.com, or follow her on Twitter, @TerrySpear. She is also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/terry.spear. And on Wordpress at:
Terry Spear's Shifters
http://terryspear.wordpress.com/
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