“That’s priceless.” She chuckled, imagining all he’d said. “Do you still train together?”
“Our clan adheres to the old ways. We train daily just in order to expend our excess energy.”
“So do all within my clan.” She rubbed her cheek against his chest, drawing his scent to her skin. As she did, he straightened the collar of her shirt, his fingers sliding over her nape and tangling in her hair.
In her ear, he whispered, so sensually, “I intend for us to build a lifetime of memories together, ones we’ll cherish forever. Would you like that?’
“It sounds divine.”
“Then we’ll begin by indulging in an escape, one you’ll require some essentials for.”
“Essentials? You mean like clothing and such?”
“Aye, that’s exactly what I mean.” Holding her hand, he led her back along the track and into the small clearing where they’d parked. He opened the rear door of his SUV and she hopped inside and shuffled along while he called out to Daniel, “Pull over at the village’s department store on your way through. My mate’s riding with me.”
“Sure thing.” Daniel drove out first.
Kirk took the wheel and Finlay sat beside him while Iain buckled her in and spread his arm along the top of the backseat. He played with her hair, his fingers sliding through her long locks as they crossed the bridge and turned onto the main road. She lowered her window and sighed as the fresh country breeze chased across her heated flesh. His touch warmed her as nothing else could.
Leaning closer, he nipped her ear. “No more running. I want your agreement on that.”
“No more running.” She looked into his eyes, the promise of her words in her own. “Right now, I want some time alone with you, as promised. Although I won’t allow the Mathies to get away and neither will Daniel. That case takes precedence over all else.”
“I agree. The innocent must be protected but from now on, we’ll work the same cases, whether that’s alongside Daniel and your kin, or with my brothers and my clan. I won’t take you away from your family, but so too I won’t leave my own.”
“One of my greatest fears in finding you has always been what I might lose in the process.” She rested her cheek against his shoulder. “I need my father and he needs me.”
“You won’t lose him. I’ll make sure of it.”
Her mind stretched and battered against his, trying to force its way in. A pathway would remain elusive until they’d completed the bond. She squeezed her eyes shut, the pressure intensifying tenfold.
“Are you all right?” He rubbed one thumb over her scrunched forehead.
“My mind demands the link too, just as yours did last night.”
“Then we’ll need to do something about it. I found touch helps.” He caught her hand, brought her palm to his lips and kissed her. He was right. A little of the pressure eased in her mind from his touch, although she needed far more touch than what he’d so far offered.
She claimed his mouth and he opened his lips under hers and kissed her in return, a heady merging of mouths that left her breathless and dizzy for more.
More she couldn’t also wait to claim.
Regardless of her running, her mate was all she’d ever secretly hoped he’d be.
Chapter 4
The ancient House of Clan Matheson, 1210.
Kenneth’s course was set. He strode along the stone sea-gate landing, released his skiff’s mooring rope, coiled and stored it under the center seat and with the oars in hand, rowed beyond the breakers. As the wind picked up, he tucked the oars away, seized the ropes and raised the sail. The wind filled it with a hearty slap and with his feet braced wide along the side, he steered his boat as it shot off like an arrow.
Along the loch, the village lay and the lass who would soon be his. All his senses honed in on her. Hell, all of his life, he’d known she would be close and a week past when he’d visited the village to aid his mother and grandmother’s fae people in the search for a lost child, he’d been entranced by Elizabeth, the elder sister of the lost lad. ’Twas as if his soul had already recognized their mated bond. Her anguish had gripped him and wouldn’t let go.
That night, he’d shifted form with his father and searched the woods, tracking the lad by his scent alone and when they’d found him huddled deep within the dense brush on the cold and damp ground, a little of his anguish had eased. Elizabeth’s brother, although suffering a broken leg, would survive that day.