Highland Defiance

chapter Ten



I’m going to die!

Mildred held onto the ledge, her body swinging high above the crashing waves. While thrilled to be back it hadn’t been her intention to fall to her death upon arrival. But staying in her time knowing that Adlin might somehow swipe him from her memory was terrifying.

What would it be to never have known him?

Did he really have the power to make that happen?

Obviously.

As she gripped the rock, her chest tightened. Now her family knew. Now she knew. Adlin meant so very much. And she refused to let him let her go.

A wind whipped up and blew her sideways. She cried out.

Suddenly, a huge white eagle landed above her. Before she could wonder at its beauty it vanished and Adlin appeared. With a painful grip, his hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her up as though she weighed nothing.

“Foolish,” he muttered severely as he pulled her into his arms.

“No,” she cried, holding on tight. “It’s never been foolish. None of this.”

“Every. Inch. Of. The. Way,” he ground out and crushed her against him. “Why, Mildred? Why?”

Tremors rocked her body but she held on tight. “Because I do love you. I think I always have. You’re a confusing, complex, oftentimes irritating man, but I understand that about you. Somehow I think I always have.”

“No.” He buried her head against his chest. “You barely understand a thing.”

“You don’t have everything figured out.” She wrapped her hands into his hair, small sobs breaking from her body. “I’m sick of you thinking you do. It’s presumptuous and rude.”

“Do,” he muttered, seeming to lock onto the word. “What do we have?” he asked, burying his nose in her sweet hair. “What will we have?”

“This,” she breathed, her body quieting next to his. “Is exactly what I want. You asked me earlier what I wanted. This is it, you are. How else can you explain me coming back here? I feared losing you and suddenly I returned to the Defiance.”

Adlin wrapped his arms around her tighter. Defeated but determined he said, “You’re exactly what I want as well, Mildred. It seems your magic is powerful in matters that most count, matters of the heart.”

For all she cared, time could cease to exist. Those moments minutes ago back home nearly a thousand years from now had mattered. They’d changed everything. Or had they? Tilting up her head, she brought her lips against the warm skin on his neck and breathed deeply. Spice, sweat, worry, she brought her lips against the vein throbbing in his neck.

His hand cupped the back of her neck and held tight. “Let’s have our day.”

Mildred focused on breathing. She’d do just about anything to have ‘their day.’ Carefully, she pulled back and looked up, surprised to see his eyes concerned, desperate, nearly wet. “Yes, let’s do that.”

Needy, impatient, his lips crushed hers in a kiss that outdid all kisses. If the moment never ended, she’d be fine with that. Their tongues swooped and searched, wanting the moment to never end.

Before he could, she pulled away and nodded toward the meadow. “Back that way, right?”

Tall, gorgeous, kilt once more intact, he nodded. “Aye, that way.”

The moment seemed almost surreal as she sat then jumped off the ledge. Ready to run, be free, she jolted. Highland grass swooshed around her as she ran across the meadow. When Adlin caught up, running alongside, she laughed. Late day sun seemed to follow them in a mad chase. Halfway across the small valley his arms wrapped around her and took her down.

When they landed it wasn’t jarring but soft, ready, delayed.

“Too soon, just did this,” he whispered.

He spoke of her recently loss of virginity.

“Then use your magic to make it easier,” she whispered back, desperate to unclothe.

As if the very gods heard her request the winds died and grasses stood still. Their clothes were gone and she had no hardship to face but the feeling of his warm skin against hers. His calloused, curious, weapon-roughened hand skirted over her shoulder then cupped her neck while his fervent body pinned her down.

And, as easily as his eyes met hers, the sun vanished and night appeared.

“What did you do?” she whispered.

“Nothing,” he murmured. “Time is but catching up with itself.”

Concerned but mesmerized, she watched the full moon rise and blow its lunar light over them. “But Bruce.”

“Isn’t here yet,” he growled and gave a bruising, delicious kiss.

Mildred relished the way his muscled legs felt against hers and dragged her inner thighs along them. When he jerked in response, she gave a small womanly smile and wiped her heels up the backside of his shins. With a sharp inhale of breath from Adlin, she proceeded to tip-toe back down.

“Lass, you’ll be the end of me,” he moaned and clenched his hot mouth over her tight, expectant nipple. When she cried out his hand grabbed her hip and locked securely in place. He would control. The feel of his long, strong fingers curling around her hip as his tongue manipulated her breast was almost more than she could handle.

“Here,” she pleaded, her tongue wetting eager lips. When his mouth found its way back to hers, he was given the opportunity to put his member close to her hot center. She pushed up, determined to keep him from escaping.

“Adlin!” she gasped when he took exactly what she’d offered and grabbed her legs.

Rolling them until she sat on him, he answered. “Aye.”

Too late, she sunk. Her eyes rolled back in her head. Full, amazingly alive, she settled into the feeling as his lips skimmed the corner of her lip, cheek then neck.

At last, he said, “Sit up, lass.”

Because listening to him seemed so natural, she did. The movement alone caused a flood of pleasure to ricochet through her limbs. There existed nothing more intense than opening her eyes to see him below her, eyes half-mast, his lips apart.

She was in control.

Only because he wanted her to be, because he thought her amazing and worthy of…controlling him. Unable to stop herself, she bit her lower lip and closed her eyes. Who cared about having little magic when such a magnificent man was between her legs?

Mildred breathed in through her nose then out through her mouth.

Hard and muscled, his masculine body waited, curious about what she could offer it. His hands were so large that they nearly spanned her waistline. His shoulders so wide beneath her that they reflected the moonlight from above, chiseled and making obvious every little sinew of muscle.

Wind returned. With it rolling clouds and scattered light. The pure energy of it all made her come alive. When she lowered and kissed him she shifted her hips. The slight movement made pleasure skitter through her body. Adlin’s eyes closed. Somehow seeing the unexpected bliss on his face made the sensation rippling through her all that more intense.

So she rocked again.

And again.

As she did, new and intense feelings started to burst through her. Next thing she knew he’d flipped her beneath him. Clouds rushed past the moon as he thrust. High and wide, she wrapped her legs around his, desperate for what he could give her. Eager, unrelenting, he spread kisses over her cheek and down her neck. When she sighed in bliss Adlin plunged, went as deep as she allowed.

With an anguished cry of deep-throated pleasure, she wrapped her ankles around his back. It felt natural and wanting. Mildred pulled him as close as she could, wished in an odd way that they were one.

In. Out. In. Out. Faster, determined, he moved.

Before she could control the feeling, her body seized then released. An electric feeling shot through her torso, fizzling on her lips, fingers, toes, jaw. Her limbs were no longer hers as he cried out. He grabbed her backside and forced her to push one last time.

Unlike their first union, the sensations that now stole her body were far-spread leaving no muscle unused. She clenched her fists, curled her toes, ground her teeth.

This time she screamed then cried when her body blew apart.

Their mutual grunts and groans of pleasure were loud and long and unrelenting.

All vanished but Adlin and her.

“Nay,” he whispered, his body throbbing inside hers. “No tears.”

Tears. When had she cried? He seemed to bring it out in her.

To touch him would be everything but her body was limp and pleasured. She was paralyzed by perfection. Soft, reassuring, he slowly kissed away the moisture on her face. When he lay next to her it was with his strong arms around her so that they could both look up at a thousand stars.

Mildred stared and stared. Bright beside the moon, they twinkled overhead, winking with a shared, private knowledge when small thin clouds cut across them briefly. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

His body became a warm, protective wall. “Aye.”

“I knew you were wearing a tartan when we met,” she remarked. Not because she was uncomfortable but because she simply wanted all truths freed with him.

She heard the smile in his voice. “Oh, I much preferred the term skirt.”

“Why?”

“It broke the tension.”

Mildred smiled but grew serious quickly, nuzzling in close. “Were you really so tense when I arrived?”

His thumb rolled lazily over her inner arm, a surprisingly tender spot. “More than even I would’ve imagined, lass.”

About to ask why, she stopped. She’d heard what he’d said to her family about how he felt. Did she really need him to repeat it? No. Mildred knew as any woman did when a man loved them and this one did her. And even though he’d said as much, what he’d said, how he’d acted when with her family, drove home the fact.

The very thought made the air in her chest catch.

Images of when they first met inundated her mind. The way she’d felt when confronted with his castle. The courage it’d required.

“What did you feel the first time you approached my castle in Cowal?”

She answered automatically. “Driven.”

“Why?”

“Because I had to move forward, turning back wasn’t an option.”

“Why?”

Mildred paused. Why? “Because I didn’t want to let you down.”

“Do you think what you did took courage?”

“Absolutely.” She frowned. “Adlin?”

“Aye.”

“Were you reading my mind again?”

“Aye.”

Though she frowned, she smiled inside. “You don’t like reading my thoughts, do you?”

“Nay.”

“They why do it?”

Adlin sighed. “Because I’m selfish.”

“Selfish?”

On his side, chin perched on his fist, he looked down. “I want every moment with you, Mildred. Every last one.” He shook his head. “I promised myself when you came back to me that I wouldn’t look inside your mind, that it wasn’t a place for me or anyone else. But…” His eyes searched hers. “I find you irresistible.”

How could she say no to that?

Regardless.

“No more,” she whispered. “There needs to be some mystery.”

His lips brushed hers. “Does there?”

“Yes, Adlin.” She cuddled up against him. “It’s the glue that holds us together.”

Why had she said that?

Adlin stared at her for several long seconds before he lay down again. “Mystery is overrated.”

She wrapped her arm over his chest and cushioned her cheek on his warm shoulder. Time to steer the conversation where she desired. Mildred wasn’t the type to let answers find her, but the other way around. “I want to know why we went to my home today. I want to know why you went with me.”

“I wanted to meet your siblings.”

“Pft. You wanted to let everyone who mattered most to me know how you felt.”

Adlin grinned. “Aye. And Jim.”

“What?”

“He loves you, Mildred. Surely you know that.”

She hesitated, her heart uncomfortable. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it does.”

“Why, Adlin?”

He hesitated. “Because love should never be ignored.”

Now her heart was afire. “What are you saying?”

“I wanted to meet all the people who mattered most in your life and I did.”

“I don’t love, Jim.”

“I know.”

Mildred propped up on an elbow and looked down. “Why bring him up? Love riddles aside.”

His eyes met hers. “I’m jealous.”

“No,” she whispered then her voice grew surer as her heart skipped a few beats. “You really are, aren’t you?”

He touched her cheek. “Am I not allowed?”

“Adlin… you,” she whispered. “Don’t you know?”

As soon as she said it, Mildred lay down again and stared up at the stars, avoiding what she’d been about to say. They were going down a path that scared her. Instead she switched topics and said, “My brother is more than I thought he was.”

“Aye. He is, Mildred.”

She meant what she said. Watching Jonathan interact with Adlin had shown her something it seemed she’d been unable to see before. Long minutes passed before she spoke again. “At some point he grew up. How did I miss it?”

“You didn’t miss it. You just didn’t want to see it.”

Mildred crossed her arms over her chest. “He’ll fight well.”

Adlin nodded. “He’ll fight very well.”

Though the thought chilled her to the bone she understood that Jonathan had become a man and she was still treating him otherwise. “I’ve acted like a child.”

“Aye.”

She arched a brow at Adlin. “You didn’t need to agree so fast.”

He arched both brows. “Yes, I did.”

“You aggravate me.”

“Always will.”

“Will I ever find it endearing?”

Adlin grinned. “You already do.”

“No.” She looked away. “You dance around subjects and always have a motive. Trust me, I’ll never find that admirable.”

Adlin nuzzled her neck and whispered. “You’ll always find everything about me admirable no matter what. The way I think, the way I challenge you…” his hand ran along her thigh. “The way I touch you. All of these things will stay with you. Whether or not you know it now, I will always be the great love of your life.”

What did he mean by that? A strange sense of foreboding seized her. Mildred’s eyes shot to his. “My life that you speak of… will it include you, Adlin?”

“It has to,” he said automatically. “What’s the point otherwise?”

Her heart missed a beat. “That doesn’t sound reassuring.”

“You think too much.”

“I don’t think enough.”

Silence settled over them like a too-heavy blanket. Mildred knew she should relish the feel of his body next to hers, the breathtaking scene around them, but no. What if she lost him? What if what they’d only just begun vanished?

As if he forced the words past his lips, Adlin said, “There’s no more time.”

When he leapt to his feet and re-clothed, tartan in place, dread gripped her. Uncomfortable, she stood and dressed. “What’s happening now?”

Adlin nodded at the Defiance. “You’re going home.”

Frightened, she said, “I don’t understand.”

Jaw grinding, he quickly became a powerful Highland laird, his tone clipped. “Bruce is nearly here. I willnae let him have you.” He nodded at the Defiance. “I willnae let him anywhere near you.”

Mildred quickly tied the strings on her dress and nodded. “Fine. Good. Then we go.”

When she tried to stride past him he grabbed her arm and shook his head. “You misunderstand. You go back alone.”

“I what?” she exclaimed.

Before she understood what he was doing, Adlin pulled her after him.

Confused, angry she tried to fight him but he was too strong.

They’d nearly reached the Defiance when a bright light flashed and Adlin stopped, growling.

“Now, brother. I lived up to my end of the bargain. What are you doing?”

Iosbail.

“I’m breaking it. She deserves no part of this.”

Iosbail walked through the Defiance and jumped down.

“Think,” she said sharply to Adlin, her black hair flowing and nearly one with the moonlight. “I have done much to make sure history flows the way it should when I didnae want to nor have to.” She flicked her wrist and Adlin hit an unseen wall. “You have done so much. To think with yer heart now would let us all down.”

Mildred’s hand broke from Adlin’s when he threw up his arms. A white arch pillowed over the wall his sister had just erected.

Frightened, she stumbled back as brother went up against sister. Adlin’s voice sounded foreign and intense. “I can rewrite history.”

“You could never rewrite history, Adlin.”

Iosbail’s voice roared so loud that the ground rumbled. Mildred covered her ears. The moon hid behind the clouds. Even the ocean waves ceased to roar.

Adlin’s tall frame took on a confident swagger as he pushed Iosbail’s unseen wall back, her small frame stumbling. With a sharp motion, he shot his hands in the air and the wall shimmered then vanished. Iosbail fell to her knees and held her throat, gasping.

When he stood over her, rage evident in his shaking body, Mildred shook her head. Though afraid, she knew this was all wrong.

Before she could say a word, Iosbail’s body slid along the ground and rose in the air. No longer gasping, Adlin held her in some sort of suspension. Even then, Iosbail’s eyes narrowed and she croaked, “Yer letting yerself down, brother.”

Iosbail’s body rose and hovered in front of the Defiance. Adlin seemed another man, his kilt moving slowly as if under water. Mildred shook her head and screamed as loud as she could, “Let her go!”

Her words made him stagger and Iosbail fell to the ground.

Mildred took the opportunity to run to Adlin. Halfway to him the air grew so heavy she lost her breath and fell to her knees. Spinning, he stared at her, confused. “Go back now. Live your life. Love, Mildred.”

The closer he came the easier it was to breath. But she sensed he was still stuck in his ways and didn’t let Mildred down. Instead of taking her in his arms, he crouched in front of her. “I want you to be happy.”

He wanted a lot of things and had the power to get them accomplished. Adlin expected a lot of things from her at this moment so she hit him with what he least expected. “You’re an eagle.”

Lips twitched, brows furrowed, but he remained confident. “I can be.”

“An admirable creature,” she remarked as she stood on shaky legs and looked over his shoulder at Iosbail. “Is sending me home right now admirable?”

Adlin stood as well. “Sending you home will avoid heartache.”

Not sure why she said it, despite not wanting to leave him, Mildred said, “Are you in the habit of letting people down?”

“I let nobody down.” He took her hand and led her toward the Defiance.

“Nobody but yourself.” Mildred couldn’t fight his pull. “And me.”

When Adlin turned back, she hid her shock. Gone was the kilt. He now wore long white robes. With a wide swipe of his arms the world vanished. They stood alone in a world devoid of anything. His arm came around her waist and pulled her close. He smelled the same, spice and musk and Adlin… but everything about him was far more intense.

His mouth came next to her ear. “This is who I really am, Mildred. I am over five-hundred years old and more powerful than you can imagine.” He breathed deeply. “Do you think for even an instant that I dinnae know what’s best for everyone?”

Without fear, she put her cheek against his and whispered, “Do not think with your heart but with your mind. You owe me that. You had an agreement with Iosbail, right?”

Adlin held on tight, his body hard and unforgiving against hers.

“Please Adlin. Stay true to your word, whatever that is.”

He held her in that strange white light for what seemed several long minutes before he pulled back, expression tortured. “You deserve better than this.”

Mildred nodded. “So do you and Iosbail and all who will be affected by the decision you’re about to make.”

Adlin’s brows lowered. He hadn’t expected her to say that. She hadn’t expected to say it. But if they’d all come this far, there had to be a bigger picture.

It seemed the strange new world he’d brought them to waited with baited breath. At long last, he nodded and light faded. In a blink, he once again wore the MacLomain plaid and they stood before the Defiance.

“This,” he said so softly she barely heard, “is why I’ll always love you.”

Despite all odds, he’d listened. Why so quickly and easily, she’d never know.

When they turned Iosbail stood with her legs spread, eyes wild and finger pointing at Adlin. “This is why a Highland lad should never think with his cock! Bloody bunch of bastards, every single time,” she muttered.

With a sharp spin she hopped to the base of the Defiance. “Time to go. Bruce is already here.”