Highland Protector (MacCoinnich Time Travels #5)(40)
Author: Catherine Bybee

Simon’s short tone had Giles pushing his glasses up on his nose, standing taller. “No. I’m thinking of your wife…your unborn child.”

Simon shifted his eyes to Helen and his fierce expression softened. “Mayhap you should find your bed.”

Helen rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, I’m not going anywhere. Bring a cot in here, a bed, whatever. I’m not leaving this room until they wake up.”

“Lass?”

Helen shot a hand in the air. “Don’t lass me. Amber is our responsibility.” Tears leaked from her eyes. “If she dies, we need to tell everyone what happened. We can’t do that if we don’t see it.”

Giles stared at the still couple on the small bed. He couldn’t help but believe Amber would live. It was Kincaid he worried about.

Chapter Seventeen

This isn’t right. This can’t be…

Gavin’s voice penetrated Amber’s dreams. Only she shouldn’t be dreaming. She should be passing over.

She tried to open her eyes, but found them too heavy. Her limbs were equally difficult to move, and she found herself lying in a state as if waiting for something.

I’m sorry, Gavin, she told him in her head. I couldn’t let you sacrifice your life for mine.

Instead of any vocal response, she heard Gavin repeating the same thing over and over… This isn’t right. This can’t be…

He couldn’t hear her, she realized. Unable to do anything but hear his plea, Amber felt the weight in her heart grow heavier.

This isn’t going to happen.

A tremor surged up Amber’s hand as Gavin’s words changed. The power of the northern winds rushed up her frame and lifted her arm. Pinpricks of sensation circled her wrist, and she heard Gavin’s words through the soupy fog of death.

With each sacred word of the Druid wedding vows he uttered, she felt her heavy heart begin to pick up its pace. Part of her wanted to ward him off, tell him he was too late…she was already leaving. But he continued and the branding of his hand to hers loosened the weight holding her down. Yet when she tried to open her eyes again, she saw nothing but scalding light.

She searched for Gavin, his voice, anything…but there was nothing.

He was there, she could sense him, but there was no voice to accompany his presence in her mind.

She felt Helen, Simon, Giles, and Mrs. Dawson nearby, but couldn’t hear their words.

Silence, something she prayed for more times than she could remember, met her world of white nothing.

Minutes ticked by…maybe hours…still nothing.

Gavin…where are you?

Nothing.

The familiar cloud of panic threatened to choke her. The need to find Gavin, to help him find her, pulled her thoughts inward.

Then she heard him… This is not how we die. His voice was weak…fading.

Nay.

Amber pushed against the shield holding her down, opened her mind, and pictured it exploding.

She shot up in bed, her eyes opened, and she gasped for breath.

“Amber!” Helen was at her side in the time it took to take another breath.

The feel of Helen’s hand holding hers, felt unfamiliar. Giles stepped into the room from the hall.

“You’re awake.”

Gavin needs me. “Aye.” Her eyes traveled to the man beside her. “Gavin!” She pulled from Helen’s grip and placed both hands on his still body. “Gavin?”

“He hasn’t woken up.”

Amber shot Helen a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“He found you…in the attic.”

Amber looked at their hands, noticed a torn cloth in his fist. “Oh, God. H-he… It wasn’t a dream?”

Giles moved to Gavin’s side. “Not a dream. He bonded to you.”

“Why?” she asked in a whisper.

“To save you.”

Simon moved into the room, pushed past Helen, and laid a hand on Amber’s shoulder.

She looked over at a man who was as close to her as a brother. “Why isn’t he awake?”

“I don’t know, lass. He’s grown more pale while you were clearly coming back to us.”

“How long have we been like this?”

Helen lifted two fingers. “Two days.”

Two days?

Gavin, can you hear me?

Bonded couples could talk to each other with their minds, but there was nothing getting into his head from hers. “Gavin,” she said aloud.

“We’ve called both your names. It didn’t seem to help,” Helen told her.

This isn’t how we die. Gavin’s words penetrated her mind.

Gavin?

He couldn’t hear her. But she heard him.

…we die.

Gavin drew in a deep breath and then didn’t follow it with another.

Amber chilled. “Nay.” He was slipping. She could feel it.

She pulled his hand close to her and wrapped the tie around them. “From the North…”

Simon pushed on her shoulder. “Stop! Think of what you’re doing.”

The weight of Gavin’s shield hovered over her. She pushed it against Simon’s hand and he was thrown to the floor. “I know what I’m doing.”

“From the North, to the South, in the East or in the West. Where you go I’ll follow, your light will shine my way. It’s my love I give you, past my dying day. Where two hearts beat, there is now but one. This tie that binds us together shall never be undone.” She closed her eyes and rolled her head back as the force of her vow rose from her and into him. Now breathe!

He did…a long gasping breath.

Can you hear me, Gavin?

His eyes fluttered but did not open.

The next breath that entered his lungs was one she coaxed from him…and then another. Don’t die…I don’t even know you yet. The words in her head hit a deep abyss, until finally she heard his voice.

It wasn’t our time to die.

Tears sprang to her eyes. Nay. This world isn’t finished with us.

I need to sleep, Amber…just a little longer.

She gripped his hand. “He needs to sleep,” she said for the others in the room.

Those in the room sat in silence.

Amber closed her eyes and willed Gavin to breath…one breath, two…

“Ah, Amber?” Giles asked.

“Yes?”

“Uhm…do you realize you’re both hovering above the bed?”

She looked below them, realized a foot separated them from the mattress. “’Tis Gavin’s shield.”

“I’ve known Gavin for a dozen years. Never seen that before.”