Highland Protector (MacCoinnich Time Travels #5)(69)
Author: Catherine Bybee

Selma was close as well. Only when Amber thought of her friend, all her emotions were overruled by someone. Jake. Aye, she was with Jake and they were…Amber felt the room warm and turned off her inner voyeur.

Mrs. Dawson slept soundly. Her dreams didn’t penetrate Amber’s head.

There was two other souls close by. Children. And their sorrow was so deep Amber clenched her shirt over her heart. “Poor babies.” They’d lost something and grieved.

Amber tucked away the children’s grief and focused on taking a deep breath. Gavin’s shield built up around her, one thin layer at a time, until it moved everyone’s emotions to the opposite side. I’m getting better at that.

Gavin walked up behind her and slid his arms around her waist. “You’re getting much better at that.”

“’Tis because of you. Your gift.”

“It’s because of your strength.”

They walked hand in hand down the stairs and into the kitchen. Amber moved about to put water on to boil for tea while Gavin brewed coffee.

Giles found them first.

“Somehow I knew you’d both just pop back up.”

Gavin shook his friend’s hand. “Just a short trip to meet the in-laws.”

Giles nearly dropped the cup he’d just picked up. “You’re kidding!”

“Most intense few days of my life.”

The librarian blinked, his jaw slacked open.

Amber laughed.

“Ian? Lora?”

“All of them.” Gavin removed the cup from Amber’s hand and kissed her temple.

“I thought I heard your voice,” Helen said as she walked into the kitchen. She headed straight to Amber and hugged her. “You have to stop scaring us. It’s giving me grey hair.”

Amber chuckled. “No more running off.”

Helen looked deep. “You sure?”

“Aye. I’m sure. No matter what happens, Gavin and I will see it through together.”

When Simon strode into the room, he lifted Amber off the ground in a hug. “How is everyone at home?”

“How did you know that’s where we were?”

“A guess.”

“As time would have it, I arrived shortly after they left us here. Hardly an hour had passed. They were surprised, of course. But in the end my father gave us his blessing.”

Simon looked at Gavin. “He knows of your ancestors?”

“We told him everything we know. There’s yet to be any real evidence of that prophecy being about us.”

Helen shoved her husband’s arm. “That’s what I said. There isn’t any proof of anything.”

“There is no confirmation I’m not of her blood either. However, neither one of us have noticed anything awful happening inside of us.”

“I suppose we’ll simply have to let time decide.”

Amber sat at the table and reached a hand toward Gavin. He clasped it and kissed her fingers. We have time.

We do.

Amber glanced up to see Simon watching her. She smiled. “They send their love and congratulations on your child.”

After pouring a cup of coffee, Simon sat opposite of Gavin. “Everyone is well then?”

Amber nearly nodded, then thought of Cian. “Cian didn’t approve of our union.”

Simon seemed to soak that information in before he said, “I’m not surprised. He’s become harder these past years.”

We need to tell them, Gavin told her.

The last thing she wanted was to soil her brother’s name, but if he were to appear there now, everyone would need to know what he’d tried to do.

“I can’t.”

Gavin squeezed her hand.

“You can’t what?” Helen asked.

“The night of our handfasting, we were awakened by Rory,” Gavin made eye contact with Giles. “A warrior of my time. He told us we needed to leave immediately.”

“Why?”

“We don’t always know why we’re sent in time. If we’d left immediately as Rory wanted, we wouldn’t have known why.”

“What happened?”

“Cian arrived uninvited.”

Simon’s body tightened. “Arrived?”

Amber needed to tell the rest of the story. “He wanted to take me away from Gavin. His anger was thick, Simon. Hateful.”

“Did he want to harm you?”

God’s teeth she didn’t want to believe her own brother would. “I-I don’t know. We didn’t stay to interrogate him. He vowed to undo what was done.”

“Undo?” Helen asked. “Undo what?”

Amber shrugged. “Our union, our bonding? I don’t know. Our shield was thick and I couldn’t read all his emotions.” Yet she knew that wasn’t entirely true. Her brother was willing to do anything needed to undo her bond with Gavin. Anything.

“He’s changed over the years,” Simon said.

“Do you think he’s dangerous?” Gavin asked.

“He’s a fierce warrior. Our enemies had no mercy at the end of his sword.”

Gavin looked to Giles. “I suppose we need to study his history. See if there’s anything we need to watch.”

Amber wasn’t sure what bothered her more, the fact Cian would have kidnapped her to get her away from her husband, or the fact Simon wasn’t surprised by her brother’s actions.

“What did we miss here? I believe we have new house guests?” Amber changed the subject.

Helen blew out a breath. “Jake’s ex and her fiancé were murdered.”

“No!” Now Amber understood the level of grief in the home.

“Yeah. We just don’t know for sure who did it,” Giles said.

“It was an animal attack. But I’ve yet to find an animal that can open doors and penetrate a home without help.” Simon leaned forward on his elbows. “I can’t tell if it was mortal or magical.”

“How are the girls?” Amber asked, more worried about the children than who was behind the deaths.

“Unharmed. They hid in a closet when they heard their mother’s screams.”

“Did they see anything?”

“No, thankfully.” Helen went on to explain the charms Selma had given the girls and how they’d been found.

They were still talking when Amber felt the children moving closer. “They’re coming. Best we change the subject.”

You can hear them? Gavin asked Amber.

Aye, can’t you?

He shook his head.