Time Masters Book One; The Call (An Urban Fantasy, Time Travel Romance) (47 page)

“Wait a moment,” Lany ignored Angus and went after her, grabbing her discarded purse. “You forgot something.”

Kitty turned to him. “Oh, thank you. I’ve got to hurry. I hope she went to the library. That’s where we were supposed to meet them. I’m sure she did. She said he wouldn’t hu
rt us. I hope she was right. Th
ere are so many
freaks and crazy people
out there, you know. Shona’s… well, her, oh, I don’t know what you’d call him, but he’d have my hide if I didn’t have Shona there on time. Her mother told me once he could be very temperamental.”

Lany took in all she said and came to an unsettling conclusion. “And his name is Philip, I suppose? People with that name tend to be very temperamental.”

Kitty’s mouth dropped open in a
bsolute amazement. “Why yes! Th
at
is
his name!
Wow, I didn’t know that! Of course, I’ve never known anyone named Philip, so how could I know?” She shook her head, still utterly amazed.

Lany fought against a moan. “Well, if you’re going to catch them…”

“I’ve got to get out of here!” She burst through the door and ran up the street, out of sight.

Lany sighed and turned to Angus. “It’s safe. You can get up now.”

Angus opened one eye, then the other, and slowly got to his feet. He surveyed the damage and sadly shook his head. “At least I dinna ha’ to worry overly much about the loss. ‘
Tis old junk.
Zara can always get me more.”

Lany looked around. “This won’t take long to clean up. Front counter got the worst of it. I’ll help.”

“No you won’t.” John entered the room slowly, his eyes wandering over the mess. “Kwaku and I want you to follow Dallan. And make sure he doesn’t push the Maiden too fast.”

Lany closed his eyes, concentrating. He couldn’t feel her anymore. “I think you may have the same problem at both ends.”

John shot him a puzzled look.

“She’s bonding to him faster than he is to her.”

“You can feel it?”

Lany shrugged. “Sometimes.”

“Good. I don’t understand how you do it, but
good
. Follow them. Just watch from a distance—you know Dallan doesn’t like to be observed too closely. And I’m a little nervous about Brennan. Find out where they’re taking the Maiden. Dinner, home, what?” John’s eyes widened. “I certa
inly hope it’s not the symphony!
”

“How can he follow, Lord John? We dinna even know where Dallan has gone with the lass.”

John thought a moment. “He’ll take her to a quiet place. In all probability, the library.”

“But how can ye be sure?”

Lany answered for his superior. “Because Dallan will want to take her someplace where he can be sure. Someplace familiar. He’s comfortable there and it’s not far.”

“Get going, Lany. Find out what you can. Contact Kwaku and I later, and I’ll take care of the Maiden while you stick with Dallan. He’s going to need our protection too, if my guess is right, and this bonding business has a way of muddling the brain from what I’ve heard. Kwaku said Dallan might not be as careful as he ought to when alone.”

“But what about the wee Maiden? If
he’s getting addled by the bonding
, won’t he be just as careless with her? She’s still in danger. Can he protect her?” Angus stepped over a pile of armor, his face full of concern.

Lany chuckled lightly. “Dallan’s not about to let anyone near her, not after what happened yesterday. You weren’t there, you didn’t see him.”

John froze
. “By the Creator, I hadn’t thought of that.”

Lany and Angus threw each other the same curious glance. John caught it and approached them. “Be doubly sure to keep your distance while Dallan’s with her. He may well get to the point where he thinks we pose a threat to the Maiden. If that happens, one of us might,” John winced, “get an unwanted bruise.” He looked right at Lany, who now stood wide
-
eyed and tight-lipped. “Get going, and good luck.”

 
Lany nodded reluctantly and headed for the door, wondering how on earth he always managed to end up in the position of ‘Most Likely to Get
Pulverized’. It just didn’t fi
gure. But, as Cari often told him, whatever did?

* * *

Shona
led Dallan around the third fl
oor, confused and a little wary. How could they communicate like this? Was she imagining it? But he had
asked her for something specifi
c. Wouldn’t it prove she wasn’t crazy if he pulled out a history book of Scotland?

He follow
ed her as she proceeded down an
aisle, reading the titles as she went. She stopped and turned to him.
All these are Scottish
history. I am afraid you will have
to search for what you want. T
h
ere is
probably a little of what you might be looking for in all of these.

The man scanned the rows she indicated, sighed, took her hands in his and looked deeply into her eyes.
If I tell ye who I am, you’ll believe me?

She took another step forward and rested a hand on his heart, then looked into him through his eyes, searching, capturing him as he did her.
Yes, I will believe you.

He took her hand from his chest and gave it a light squeeze.
Let me
show ye then. But I’ll tell ye now, lass, I’m not sure I believe any o’ it.
Without releasing her hand, he turned to the rows of books and began to search the titles one by one, occasionally pulling one from the shelf only to cram it back into place, as if not wanting to see what was inside.

Shona followed along behind him, the earlier wariness gone, replaced by warmth that started at the hand he held to spread through the rest of her body in total contentment. Unable to help herself, she drew as close to him as she could, leaning against his arm and throwing him another shy smile.

He looked down at her, and after a brief moment smiled back. He removed her hand from his, hooked her arm through one of his own and giving her hand a tender pat, continued his search.

Shona again let him lead her down the aisle, not caring about anything. The overwhelming contentment was like a drug, the odd sense of being connected to him in some way growing stronger by the minute. Not to mention the strange feeling that she knew this man from somewhere, sometime. She couldn’t remember where or when, but he was becoming more familiar the longer sh
e was with him. Frustrating. Th
e knowledge of
who and what he was seemed almost at the forefront of her mind, just out of reach. If she wasn’t so happy right now, she might well be going mad not rem
embering from where she knew him
.

He
suddenly stopped short and Shona heard the breath catch in his throat. She looked up at him and saw his eyes wide with an emotion she could not identify. Loss? Regret?
What is it? What is wrong?

He wrinkled his nose and sniff
ed slightly. His free arm rose slowly and stopped, his hand poised in midair, opening and closing with indecision. He swallowed once and carefully touched the book, then pulled it off the shelf as if it were a time bomb about to explode.

Shona watched with concern in her eye
s as he stared at the cover. Th
e
book was a
paperback,
rather new-looking,
and she wondered why it was aff
ecting him so strangely. He looked at her and turned the book so she could read the title. One word graced the cover in bold, black print.

Glencoe.

She glanced at his face, not able to read his expression, then back to the book.
Th
is is what you need? Can you use this to explain what is
happening to us?

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
I dinna ken if it will explain
what is happening to us, but I’m almost afraid it might explain something
I’ve wondered about for a verra long time.

Shona saw the pain in his eyes and again place
d her hand on his heart.
What is wrong? You are sad. What has caused you such pain? I can… feel it.

He looked bewildered for a moment before concern graced his face.
I
dinna want ye to feel my pain.
Can ye no stop it? I wilna see ye hurt if I can
help it.

She began to tremble.
I do not understand
how I can feel this. It
..
.
it
hurts. I do not like this. Please, make it stop, he’s
got
him, he’s going to kill him. Th
e knife is so close and he’s going to kill him, I
cannot do anything about it just like… like…

Nay, stop it lass. Let go! Ye mustn’t feel what’s inside o’ me!
He threw the book to the fl
oor, gripped her upper arms, and shook her gently.
Please,
dinna feel, dinna
search. Ye wilna like what ye fi
nd.
He pulled her to him, wrapped his long arms around her, and held her.
Dinna let it hurt ye.

Shona buri
ed her face in his chest as her
body trembled with the fi
erceness of what lay locked deep inside him. How could this b
e? How could she know he’d suff
ered a great loss, that people close to him had been killed? What
connected them this way? Th
ey both needed so many answers and only one seemed available, one thing quite evident.

They were being drawn into each other with each passing moment, with every breath they took. The stronger the thing connecting th
em grew,
the more she could feel what was in his heart.

And it hurt.

Shona gasped as her heart lurched in her chest, the thing suddenly springing to life for no apparent reason. Oh, God, what was happening?

What is it? Can ye no hear me? Please M’eudain…

She shook her head, fi
ghting for control, but it did no good.

Caileag
!
Caileag
!
An
mi
bruidhinn
.
Caileag
eudail
,
taitinn
!

Shona’s heart beat faster as something else inside her body began to take over. Was it
the thing
she had to feed
or something new? Th
e man had spoken to her
again and she could still understand him, but his words now brutally cut through her heart to something beneath, another part of her. A part she had never known existed until now.

The man began to repeat his last phrase, the words burning into her.

Lass! Lass! Speak to me. Dear lass, please!
He was not talking to her as before, almost as if he now spoke another language. She moaned. Whatever he was doing cut clean to
her bones, ripping, tearing, fl
aying away the layers around what she sensed beneath her own heart.

             
She clutched at the arms holding her.
Please, stop, I cannot take much
more, I cannot control it. It wants out, it feels about to tear me apart!

He froze, eyes wide, and held her away from him, looking her over quickly as if to assess damage before he quickly pulled her again into his embrace. He said nothing, did nothing, simply stood and held her, his breathing now coming in panicked gasps. Her head pressed against his chest, she felt him swallow back his own fear.

They stood like that for what seemed an eternity, yet it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. Or was it hours? Shona didn’t know and was too overwhelmed to care. What was happening to her?
To him?
It was all turning quickly into something more serious and real than even her imagination could come up with, and she could come up with some strange things.

More time passed, but she didn’t care how long. Holding him and being held were all that mattered. Some bare thread of propriety nagged at her, she didn’t know his name, who he was, where he came from, what he wanted with her and a hundred other questions she ought to have the answers to. Answers she should have had before even allowing him within ten yards of her.

But none of it mattered, not one bit. The only thing that did was
him,
and the fact that they were connected in some unexplainable way. It grew stronger, tighter, more solid with each second they stood in that enchanted embrace, almost as if they were becoming fused together, joining.

* * *

“Eaton, can you hear me?” Lany whispered into his communicator, barely able to suppress his own excitement. He glanced around the end of the aisle he’d hidden himself in. Dallan and the Maiden still held each other, eyes closed, swaying slightly side to side, the sight calming and exciting at the same time.