Highlander's Kiss (Clan Matheson #1)

“How close do you need to be to hear the hum?” Cherub squeezed her hand.

“Quite close, within a hundred yards.” She snuck off Tavish’s lap and pulled Cherub to her feet. “We must go. There is little time to waste.”



“Wait.” Tavish shoved to his feet. There wasn’t a chance he’d let Julia go anywhere without him, not now he’d finally found her. “I’m coming.”

“I willnae pull you away from your kin. Your clansmen need you. You’re their doctor.”

“Don’t you feel the strength of the mated bond already taking a firm hold between us?” He cupped her cheeks in his hands and looked deep into her eyes. “Where you are, is where I need to be.”

“I—I—” Such pain and anguish swirled within her gaze. “I’m sorry.” She snuck in behind Cherub. “We must leave, with all haste.”

“I agree.” Cherub winked at him, and far too impishly for his liking. “Tavish, ’tis time to see if you two are truly soul bound. I highly recommend you dinnae fight the pull. We will need your aid in this search if you’re willing to offer it.”

“Of course I’ll offer my aid, and what pull?”

“Cherub, this isn’t a good idea.” Kirk stood, his sword gleaming in a baldric across his back as he snagged one arm around Cherub’s waist. “We need to take Tavish with us. A mated male knows when he’s found his chosen one, and by the way, you really should have told me these two were mated.”

“I’m thinking only of Tavish right now, my tempting bear. ’Tis all about the chase, remember?” Cherub disappeared, right along with Kirk and Julia. They vanished, right into thin air.

He was up for any chase.

The wind swirled and the front doors flew open and banged shut.

Now he knew exactly what pull Cherub referred to, the pull of the vortex which would take him through time. He raced outside in full pursuit, Tor one step behind him. In the center of the inner courtyard, dust churned into a swirling mass. Sprinting, he yelled into the rush of wind, “Tor, I have to follow where she leads.”

“Then I’m coming along for the trip.”

He dove into the dark abyss, Tor right at his side, just as he’d always been in life. The churning darkness swept him and his brother away. He’d never allow Julia to escape him, not even through time itself. His hunt for his mated one had begun and it was a chase he’d never relinquish. Finding Julia and completing the bond with her would drive him. She was his chosen one and he intended to prove it to her, however he must.





Chapter 4


Lightning slashed and thunder boomed within the pitch black. The wind heaved and twirled Tavish about. Traveling over eight-hundred years into the past would be a trip unlike any he’d ever experienced before. Searching within the misty gloom, he saw not a soul, not even his brother who’d been right beside him as he’d jumped. “Julia! Tor!”

“Here.” Tor flew toward him and clasped his forearm. “It seems we’ve lost the others.”

“I also don’t know exactly how long we’ll be in this vortex, or where we’ll come out. I’ll need your aid in finding my woman.”

“You’ll always have it.” Determination slashed Tor’s face, likely the same fierce expression that lined his own. “Maybe we should pick up our speed.”

“Let’s do that, together.” He clasped Tor’s forearm in return and with unwavering intensity, dove deeper into the churning, murky dark with his brother.

“Tavish!” Ahead, Julia tumbled and turned in the fierce wind, her cream gown lit with gold flashes as lightning sizzled all around.

“I’m coming.” Like an arrow zooming toward its target, he zeroed in on her and nabbed her around the waist. Tor, still gripping his forearm, swung around her other side and grasped his other forearm. Together, they kept Julia safely pinned between them. “Are you all right?” he bellowed over the rushing wind, his heart a wildly beating mess.

“I am now you’re here.” She wound her arms around his neck and clung to him, her long golden locks whipping around them both. “If one holds onto Cherub when traveling then one never experiences this kind of mad free-fall.”

“You let go?”

“Aye.” She burrowed her head into his neck and nipped his ear. “For some reason, I knew you’d dive in after me. I had to find you.”

“You knew because like me, you too feel our bond taking form. You’re my mate, mine to protect and care for.” Something he intended for her to learn, and fast. “We’ll search for your parents together. I’ll never leave your side. That I promise you.”

“It appears we’re slowing down.” Tor stared ahead through the dense fog that loomed.