Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

U nwilling to wake up from what seemed like the best dream ever, Julianne snuggled closer to her man. He was holding her under a soft blanket atop a beyond comfortable bed. This had to be one of those thirty-thousand-dollar Swedish deals that only the insanely rich could buy, she decided, but she wasn't with her ex. Mitch wouldn't have spent that much, and besides, he hated cuddling. No, she was somewhere else, with someone else, and she wondered why she even had to wake up.

I could nap with this guy forever.

In the soft darkness of sleep she waited for a good dream to whisk her off; maybe she'd have that one she loved when she was a little girl. Everyone in Napa turned into puppies, kittens or bunnies that never grew up, but came to live on the farm with her and her parents.

You're being an airhead again, Scott.

The exasperated tone of Eva's voice made her heart hurt. "Sorry, girl. You okay? Still in Sacramento running the government's computers, right?"

I moved away from Cali right after your wedding. I'm living in Canada now. I had to leave right after the ceremony or I would have killed that bastard.

So that was why her friend hadn't stayed. "You didn't miss much. The chicken at the reception was terrible. It had the weirdest purple sauce, like that TV dinosaur made it." She owed Eva more than a sad food joke. "You were right about Mitchell, too. Sorry I didn't listen."

When you love someone you're blind to their faults, her friend told her softly . Just as you never saw how I tried to drive away anyone who got close to you. I wanted to have you all to myself.

"Whoa." She hadn't ever noticed that about her friend. "Were you, like, in love with me? Why didn't you say something? I would have been nicer."

Julianne, none of that matters now, Eva urged. You need to talk to your aunt. Talk to Klee.

"Why?" When her friend didn't answer she turned this way and that, trying to see in the darkness. "Eva?"

Like your given màthair and sire, she's no' yet born, lass, a sweet lady's voice said. Nor may you remain a wee girl forever.

The lady didn't sound at all like Eva—her bestie had come from Chicago, not Scotland—and she knew a little too much for a stranger. Julianne looked around and saw two vague lights now shimmering in the darkness, but while one was blue and green, the other was brown and covered in pine needles. She could also smell Mitch's cologne, which made her stomach heave, and candy apples like that time at the courthouse.

This is so going to be a nightmare, she thought. "Can I wake up now, please?"

You saved my husband's brother, the lady said, and her sweet voice seemed to be coming from the blue-green shimmer.

His life yet depends on your wisdom and courage. 'Tis time you emerge from your cocoon, lass.

"I'm not a bug, and Shaw can take care of himself." Why was she getting angry with a misty blob of light? "Look, ma'am, I appreciate that you want me to guard him and save him again from whatever. But I'm not smart enough to figure out all this stuff. Can't you, you know, pick someone else?"

'Twas the old one who stole your life from you, lass, the lady told her, her voice growing more distant as the patch of light began to fade. Remember the time before dwelling in the valley. Remember the forest world, and when you lived there.

"Wait, wait, wait. You totally have me mixed up with someone else," Julianne said, and then made a frustrated sound as the blue-green blob disappeared. She eyed the darker pine-needle thing. "Well? Aren't you going to talk to me or help or something?"

The time for that has not yet arrived, my pet, but your ghost guardian speaks the truth. You no longer need my protection. Shed it when you wish.

The booming voice seemed to shatter the darkness pressing in on her, which abruptly collapsed like a smothering cloud of ash. At the same time Julianne hurt as if someone had burned all her skin off and doused her with freezing sea water. She tried to fight her way out of the nightmare, tearing through the layers of smoke and mirrors and pine needles. The smell of candy apples almost choked her, it had grown so thick and cloying. Then someone grabbed her by the forearms. They were a lot stronger than her, and for a moment she thought she would actually suffocate until Shaw's mouth touched her temple, and he whispered to her.

Dinnae fight me, my beauty. Come back. Wake.

Julianne clutched at the hands and arms holding her, and when she opened her eyes she saw she stood naked in front of a hearth, and Shaw seemed to be physically holding her back from it. The first breath she took made her lungs hurt, and what seemed like a bad sunburn blazed over her skin.

"What the– Where are we?" she demanded. "Why am I naked? What burned me?"

"We're in the druid village," Shaw said quickly. "You tore off your garments in your sleep. You're no' burned."

She glanced down to see the tattered remains of her clothes and the broken chain of her locket on the reed mats covering the dirt floor. She'd also torn off three of her fingernails, and had dozens of long, angry red welts on her arms. The burning sensation on her skin slowly dwindled away to nothing.

"I'm sorry." As she turned around she discovered he only wore his trousers, and his ink seemed to be shivering, as if it were cold. "Are you okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

He rubbed her back with gentle hands. "I'm well, my lady."

"I don't know why, but I just had the worst dream," she told him, trying not to cry. "My bestie Eva was there, and then there were these two women, I think. Their voices came out of light blobs, and they were telling me to do things, but I didn't understand what they were saying." All right, now she was crying, but who wouldn't after all that? And why did it seem like someone had ripped off some of her skin? "Don't let me go to sleep again, okay? I might die if you do."

"Naught shall harm you, I vow." He swept her off her feet and carried her over to a bed that looked too narrow for them both. After lowering her onto the thin ticking, he knelt down beside it. "The DayBridge druids provided us with lodging for the night. I carried you here to their settlement. You slept so peacefully I expected you should until morn." He touched her cheek, stroking away a tear.

She blinked her eyes clear, and saw the long, thin red welts across his chest. "Did I do that to you?"

"'Tis naught but a few scratches," Shaw chided. "You did worse the other night when we loved."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, either, Big Bad." Julianne reached out to touch his tats, which went still the moment her fingertips touched them.

"You're safe, and 'tis all we desire," he murmured.

"Are you sure about that?" She couldn't help smiling when the ink vibrated against her hand as if it were purring. "Maybe not here. Should I try to take us back to the island?"

Shaw shook his head, and pressed his hand over hers. "I need speak again with the druids in the morn. 'Twas their blood-kin cast out in ancient times for practicing dark magic that enslaved me. The NightRiver once belonged to the DayBridge tribe."

Wrapping her head around that would take forever, Julianne thought at first, but then oddly what he said did make sense to her. "We were talking about those guys right before we left the island. Is that why I brought us here? Or did you have something to do with it?" And why was she talking like Valerie now?

"I reckon 'twas your boon, and my thoughts," he said, leaning over to kiss her brow. "Mayhap the beast made use of us both while seeking vengeance."

He was always so determined to hate the Big Bad and blame it for everything that went wrong. This time she knew he was wrong, and he needed to see that.

"Come here." She tugged him onto the bed, shifting over to make room for him. "Why would it go after these people for something that happened a thousand years ago? They weren't around back then. I know the druids can reincarnate, but your ink could have brought you here any time. If it really wanted to get even, why would it wait so long?"

"I dinnae ken the mind of the beast," he snapped.

"Yes, you do." She pushed him onto his back and straddled him. "You know it likes me, and doesn't want to hurt me. It tattooed me, right? Even if you're a dark Pritani spirit, you don't do that to someone you don't like. It's the same with you. The Big Bad doesn't hate you, Shaw. I think it just wants to protect you, and make you happy."

"What?" Shaw looked outraged now.

She pressed his inked hand to the mark under her breast. "Like this. What do you want to do right now?" She shifted back so she could cradle his sudden and ferocious erection between her thighs. "Have sex with me, right? I really want that, too. When you touch me there my headache goes away like instantly. Hold on." She reached between their bodies, but his trews were laced too tightly for her to pull them down out of the way. "Note to self: Lark really needs to invent the zipper."

Shaw's eyes turned black, and he took hold of her by the waist and flipped her so that she was on her back and he was on top of her. He did that so quickly and smoothly Julianne hardly realized she was pinned down until he tore his laces open with one hand while gripping her by the neck with the other. He wasn't trying to strangle her, but he was going to make sure she didn't move.

Because he wants me right this minute. Julianne saw his tats moving over his chest and down his belly, as if they were running away from his arm. I think someone else does, too.

He finally got his trews shoved down to his knees, and his thick, swollen shaft bobbed as he slid back and spread her thighs. Julianne saw his ink spill onto his crotch and whirl around the base of his penis just before Shaw notched his cockhead against her pussy. The cold fire of his tats and rigid velvet of his shaft made her gush as if she had already come.

"Don't worry about it, Shaw," Julianne told him when he hesitated. "I know you won't hurt me. You make me hot, and sexy, and so happy."

He came into her before the last word left her lips, plunging so deep inside she arched up with a cry of surprised delight. With just her heels and her shoulders against the bed she shook wildly, and he held her against him as he began pumping in and out, filling her with all that glorious girth. Inside her softness the purring, undulating cold heat of the tats seemed to swell, which set off the strangest reaction deep inside her. She was growing hot now, so hot she wondered if she would melt the Big Bad, and then Shaw's inked hand slid up under her left breast, as cold as if it were covered with snow.

Fire and ice.

The light of the room faded as darkness surrounded her, and moved over Shaw as it turned him completely black from head to toe. He kept plowing into her, his eyes never leaving her face as he took her, but he wasn't just her guy anymore. Julianne knew this was the Pritani spirit making her see him like this, as if it had come out of his pores to envelope her lover. No doubt it would have terrified another woman to witness such a transformation, but she didn't spook so easily.

I shall ever possess you, my beauty. His lips didn't move, and the rumbly, gravelly sound of that voice in her head was definitely not Shaw's, yet it sounded almost tender. Give me all I wish, and you shall command me as well.

Julianne knew she could give into the fear of this terrifying vision, or she could turn this into an opportunity to get closer to the Pritani spirit. She went with her second option, wrapping her long legs around his as she thought back to him, Be nice to me, and we'll see how it goes. What's your name?

Bàs.

She reached up and kissed his black lips, which seemed cooler than Shaw's. That sounds like the fish. You're not a fish. I'm going to call you Buster.

You dinnae fear me, truly. He stuffed his black hands under her, lifting her hips as his thrusts slowed. For such I shall give you all you wish, Beauty.

Then give me back Shaw, Buster, Julianne suggested.

The darkness lifted, showing the room again, and the chieftain wasn't all-black any more. He seemed not to notice anything had happened, and she certainly wasn't going to tell him. Shaw might stop making love to her, and she was on the verge of an orgasm so huge it might be the best one of her life.

"You shall take us whenever you wish," her lover whispered against her ear, a deeper tone to his voice. "We're your slaves now, my sweet merrow."

"Don't say that." She pulled him down and kissed him all over his sweaty face. "We're in this together, the three of us. Like Caroline and her guys, only more complicated. Oh, that is amazing."

A little shriek escaped her as he pulled her legs up over his shoulders and began stroking into her so hard and fast it was all she could do not to shake herself to pieces with the pleasure of it. Then a climax swept through her, becoming a rip tide of bliss that took her almost back into the dark again. Distantly she heard Shaw grunting and sensed his big body jerking as he came into her one last time. The jetting force of his seed made her orgasm stretch into a sea of pleasure with wave after wave of sensation. Julianne wondered if she would float away like this forever if she stayed and had Shaw and Buster inside her every night.

Might as well try. She closed her eyes and held onto him.

Shaw woke just before dawn, stunned that he had fallen asleep after loving Julianne. He could not recall the last time he'd slumbered through the night. Somehow his merrow lass had also put to sleep the beast, for it had gone entirely silent and still. Looking down at his woman's peaceful face where it lay against his shoulder made him want to kiss her awake.

Yet he could not pass up this last chance to find reason in the madness of his past.

After he gently eased Julianne onto her back, he rose and pulled on his trews and tunic before emerging from the shelter. Outside he found two younger druids standing on either side of the entry. Both held scythes with golden blades that had been etched with protective symbols, and had the flat, narrow gazes of much older men.

"You shouldnae wander here late at night, Chieftain," one of them said. "The tribe doesnae wake until after sunrise."

"The head of your tribe, he'll no' sleep until my lady and I leave your forest." He pointed toward the dwelling that appeared the oldest. "Fetch him, for I would speak of your outcast brothers that became the NightRiver."

The two lads eyed each other before the taller one trotted off toward the old dwelling. The other regarded him with slightly less suspicion.

"Why guard me when you ken two scythes shall never stop my beast?" Shaw asked idly.

"We might do you some harm, Chieftain, but 'twasnae our intent," the young druid said. "If you shattered our shielding spells, we'd use the scythes to dispatch the DayBridge to the Well of Stars."

Even the magic folk didn't wish to be slain by his beast. "Why butcher the whole of your tribe when some of you might survive such?"

"The Pritani spirit that dwells in you, 'tis the end of all things, as you must ken," the lad said, and when Shaw nodded he added, "'Tis the final and absolute end. A druid slain by the dark one doesnae reach the Well of Stars, nor return so they may live again."

Now Shaw understood why many of the Pritani and druids attacked by the NightRiver had ended themselves rather than face him. "Why should your bastart brothers place such a curse on a beardless lad?"

Sorrow flickered across the druid's young face. "Why reckon you we cast them out? They murdered three of our finest ovates, attempting summon the dark one to possess them."

"So you set them free to become slavers who took me from my clan and made me their weapon." Shaw would have punched him, but the lad could not be blamed for what happened a thousand years past. "How happy for your tribe."

"'Twasnae happiness that compelled us sacrifice ourselves," a low, soft voice said. "In all my former lives I've served as headman here. After casting out the NightRiver as a mercy I sent to the Well of Stars every bairn too young to end themselves before we turned our blades on ourselves."

He turned to see the taller lad had returned with a thin, elderly druid. The headman walked with two canes in his hands, thanks to his withered, twisted legs, and had some of the same symbols on Shaw's arm inked down one side of his face.

The other druid lad bowed to the old one. "Forgive us, Master Engus. The Chieftain wished speak with you of the NightRiver, may they never incarnate again."

"May they rot for eternity," his companion muttered.

Engus made a quieting gesture. "Take your ease, lads. I reckon the MacMar and I must speak, else he continue thinking the only sacrifice made, 'twas his."

He would not offer any sympathy for the old man's obvious pain, for he well knew druids were never what they appeared to be. "Why should you slay your own kind?"

"We couldnae prevail over the NightRiver, for in secret they had wielded black magics that made them more powerful than any other druid," the headman said. "The council at the time refused our entreaties to stop them from harming more innocents. We offered ourselves so we might gather in the Well and beg punishment for the outcasts." His gaze drifted to Shaw's ink. "I reckon you served as part of the answer sent by the gods, Chieftain."

"I dinnae believe in druid Gods," he said. "Yet if they chose visit such a curse on a young lad, then mayhap you all deserved death."

The old druid's mouth twisted into an odd smile. "'Tis why we became outcasts as well, son of Mar. Since the first offering, ever we die together as a tribe from sickness or attack. None wish join us and share in our punishment for releasing the NightRiver. Each time we incarnate, we remain scattered across Scotland until we reach an age where we may travel. We all come together here so we may live as a tribe until the time arrives for our end."

"You shall die together for eternity?" Shaw glanced at the two younger druids, who nodded. "My apologies. I spoke out of ignorance."

"'Tisnae as wretched as you may reckon. We've come to accept our strange manner of incarnation, as well as returning to the Well as a tribe." The old man sighed. "I'd hoped we'd meet someday, but I didnae ken you'd already found your love. The portents tell us you shall end together as well, as 'tis ever your fate."

"Why should we die? So we may appease your bloodthirsty gods?" Shaw made a contemptuous sound. "We shall live on with great pleasure and happiness. You've but to remove the curse visited upon me by your blood-kin."

Engus chuckled. "Och, lad, you dinnae ken of what you speak. You've lived with the darkness for near ten centuries. Over such a great time 'tis changed. 'Tis become melded with your flesh and blood and bone. You're as much the darkness now as 'tis you."

"I've fought the facking thing ever since it came into me," Shaw said, snarling the words. "I never accepted the curse, never—and you dare say 'tis part of me, and I shall never rid myself of the facking thing?" He snatched a scythe from one of the younger druids. "The skinwork, 'tis what binds us. Indeed, I reckon living without an arm, 'tis better than the wretched torment of my life."

He raised the blade, but before he could swing it down and cut off his marked arm someone wrenched it from his grasp and tossed it to the druid.

"Not going to happen, my man," Julianne said as she came around and faced him, her eyes filled with amber and bronze light. "Let's get out of here."