Highland Shifter (MacCoinnich Time Travels #4)(44)
Author: Catherine Bybee

Cian, always the staunch observer these days, pushed away from the wall and spoke for the first time since entering the room. “A Druid from the future.”

They all turned his way. Simon wanted to deny the claim. He couldn’t. There was always a possibility that someone from the future haunted them now.

“Mayhap.”

Cian shook his head. “You said so yourself, a man from our time would flush us out as evil, as witches. A Druid with Grainna’s knowledge would capture any of us and not focus on the women. But a Druid from the future—”

“Would notice the pattern of missing women in the future and assume the power belonged with them,” Todd finished Cian’s sentence.

“Precisely.”

Todd shook his head. “I hope Cian’s wrong, but I think he’s right.”

“What of McNeil?”

“A name picked at random? Or maybe whoever’s behind this started their brainwashing with McNeil’s men. Who knows?” The police officer in Todd shone through. He might not hold one Druid gift, but he vastly contributed to the family.

Ian sat back in his chair and sighed. “It just gets worse.”

“We have to protect the women.”

“And we will,” Fin told his brother.

Simon sat forward. “I think I may have a plan for the women and children.”

All eyes turned to him and he began to speak.

* * * *

The entire family, minus the youngest children, sat around Ian’s study. Dinner had commenced and the main hall was changing shift. At least that’s what Helen thought of it as. Twice a day, every day, the knights on watch would switch with those inside during the evening meal. The elders of the village would meet with Lora or Tara to discuss the issues arising in the yard. Needs were attended to and addressed in the morning hours. The flow of the Keep ran like a Navy ship. Everyone had their duties, their place. Helen found endless hours with nothing to do. If she were honest with herself, she knew she’d never be a ‘stay at home Mom’ or anything the like. Now that Amber was feeling better, they started gathering the materials needed to make the time traveling stones into jewelry. Still, the days felt like an endless wait for doom.

Lizzy and Selma were the last to enter Ian’s study. They sat beside Tara and Briac. The children exchanged a speculative glance.

Helen felt as lost as the kids. With them involved, something serious must have happened.

“We’re all here, so let’s start.” Ian stood behind Lora who sat in his chair at his desk. Helen thought they’d be better suited with thrones. She was reminded constantly that as regal as Ian and Lora were, they weren’t Scotland’s royalty.

Helen found Simon across the room, perched by the fireplace. He watched her with sharp eyes that softened when she glanced his way.

“We have a lot to tell you, and little of it is up for discussion.” Ian’s eye was on Lizzy. “I know that won’t settle well on you, Elizabeth, but please hold any comment until I’m through.”

So Lizzy was the resident skeptic.

Good to know.

Ian took a full breath and let it out between pursed lips. “I’ll start with information that just came to me. Information that none of you have heard.”

Simon twisted his eyes to Ian. Obviously, her lover’s Intel was not the information Ian wanted to share.

“Lora has had a premonition.”

“Mother, that’s wonderful,” Amber said.

Lora’s soft eyes tried to hold hope as she gazed at her youngest child, but they failed.

Oh, man. What the heck was going on?

Lora glanced around the room before speaking. “I thought after the fall of Grainna that we’d all live out our days here, together. Never once did I think Scotland wouldn’t be called home to all of us until the day of our passing.”

Everyone in the room tensed, breathlessly waiting for Lora to continue.

“I was wrong. My vision was as clear as they were during our battle with Grainna. And no less disturbing.”

Why did she sound so ominous?

Lora’s eyes leveled with you daughter. “Amber, my child, my joy. This cloak you wear will be the only thing keeping your mind from insanity.”

Amber gasped, as did most of the people in the room.

Lora quickly continued. “But there is hope. Only your hope will not be found here.”

“What do you mean?” Amber sat on the edge of her seat.

“A Druid awaits you in the future. This man, this warrior not unlike those here, will be the balm that saves you.”

Helen felt her shoulders relax. So Amber’s main squeeze wasn’t living in sixteenth-century Scotland. So what? Seemed to Helen that half the people in the room found their spouse on a different continent. A different time.

“What are you saying?”

“You’ll need to return with Simon and Helen when they leave…and stay.”

And the shoe drops.

“For how long?” Amber asked.

“I see no end to your time in the future. I do see a void in your father’s and my life when you leave.”

“Forever?”

“’Tis hard to say, lass. Your mother’s vision didn’t go further.”

Silence filled every corner of the room. Eyes started to brim with unshed tears. Except for maybe Cian, but then again, he bordered on creepy. Hot but creepy.

Lizzy, ever perceptive, broke the silence. “But this little newsflash wasn’t what brought us all together tonight. What else is happening?”

Lora watched Amber as the news of her impending departure sunk in.

Ian continued.

“Amber isn’t the only one who needs to travel to the future.”

“What?” Tara asked, staring at her husband.

Everyone mumbled their surprise. Helen said nothing, all the while watching Simon.

Ian held out a hand to silence them. “Calm yourselves. Simon, why don’t you explain what you heard.”

“A band of warriors was stationed exactly where we thought. These are formidable warriors worthy of concern. Since they are the closest, my guess is they are the ones most likely to obtain whatever it is they want in the event we fail from keeping them at bay.”

“They’ll not win,” Fin declared.

“Maybe not. Maybe so. We’ve no evidence and only faith in our abilities to guarantee the outcome of this conflict. The question isn’t if we will win, ’tis why they are fighting to begin with.”

“They’re warriors, ’tis what they do,” Myra said. “As a child you told us stories of battles such as these.”