Duncan (Immortal Highlander Clan MacMar #5)

Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

N icole stared up at the ceiling, knowing that making any noise was probably as useless as Duncan had warned, but wanting to scream her head off anyway. Hudson clubbing her over the head and tossing her into the ocean hadn’t made her this angry. No, she was being ridiculous now, of course her brother had done worse to her. Why was she so furious?

All the other women from the future had met MacMar men who loved, protected and supported them. She’d bet not one of them had ever been chained to a bed by their lovers.

How could Duncan do this to her? He might have a twelfth century mentality, but he’d always seemed calm and reasonable. He’d listened to her, and treated her with gentleness right up until the moment he’d put cold steel cuffs around her wrists and ankles. She couldn’t believe he’d behave like such a caveman. Was he out of his mind? Did anyone else in the clan know what the wretched man was doing? How could she have been so stupid?

Never trust anyone except our family, Aunt Merry had said. It’s too dangerous to let any strangers get close to you.

That was why she’d gotten herself into this mess, Nicole thought, because she had liked the healer from the very first time they’d spoken. That and her loneliness had prompted her to make that idiot wish. She knew nothing about him, and still she had lowered her guard and opened her heart to him.

She had even trusted him the way she would a doctor in her time. Only Duncan wasn’t a real doctor. He’d never gone to medical school. At best he could be called a homeopath, at worst a quack. He and his clan and their island existed because of his Fae father, his evidently inexhaustible need for sons, and his dangerous enchantments.

The terrible attack that had resulted in her coming here had happened because she had trusted Hudson not to hurt her. When would she ever learn?

She used the fingers of one hand to touch Lady Joana’s ring on the other. If she pried it off, would the castle disappear? Would she find herself back in the ocean, drifting down through the icy water to the bottom as her father’s yacht sailed away? Was she already dead in her time? Had Hudson murdered her father by now, too? Tears stung her eyes, and when she closed them a terrible weariness came over her, sending her into the oblivion of sleep.

“Nicolina, my little love.” Her Aunt appeared in the darkness, and then a garden sprang up around them filled with flowers and berries and butterflies. Sunlight filtered down through the fruit trees, and the air smelled like a night at the circus, just like her aunt.

Although the bed and Duncan’s room had vanished, when Nicole glanced down at her wrists and ankles she saw they were still in the medieval restraints. “Can’t you get me out of here and take me to a better place, Aunt?”

“I wish I could, my dear one.” The plump, middle-aged woman came closer, smiling as cheerfully as ever. The sun poured over her curly white hair showing streaks of purple and blue that matched her twinkling eyes. Her aunt gently hugged her. “Don’t be afraid of what’s happened. As long as you have her pendant, you will be protected.”

“You don’t know where I am.” She pressed her cheek against Merry’s shoulder, leaning against her. “I don’t know why I even bother talking to you. This is just a dream anyway. ”

“It’s polite, and you should enjoy yourself while we’re here.” Suddenly they were seated at a white wrought-iron table set with fine porcelain plates of finger sandwiches and tea cakes, and flutes of pale, sparkling champagne. All around them bloomed a lush rose garden, the flowers glowing in impossible shades of violet, green and blue. “You were too young for this when I visited you the last time. I should have stayed longer, too, but your father despised me. It’s because I had the same effect on him that you have on the Fletcher fellow. A rather common family trait, I’m afraid.”

Nicole reached for a cake, lifting her hands as her chains clanked against the plate, and took a nibble. “This doesn’t taste like anything, and I can’t smell those roses.”

“It’s all an illusion, I’m afraid, as it has to be.” Her aunt grinned. “Tell me about the new man in your life. From what I’ve seen he’s very handsome.”

“You couldn’t possibly–” Realizing she was giving herself away, she dropped the rest of the cake on her plate. “You’re wrong, Aunt. I’m not involved with anyone. I promised you I wouldn’t.”

“Then who put you in manacles?” Merry sighed. “I told you not to trifle with men because you wouldn’t be ready to manage the consequences. I even told your mother that you needed more time with her before she left, but after what happened she couldn’t stay.”

Nicole scowled. “I’ve been looking after myself since I was four years old.”

“Of course you have.” Her aunt patted her hand as if comforting a temperamental child. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

Nicole never lost her temper. She had been raised by a succession of nurses and governesses, all of whom had drummed perfect manners into her. She never raised her voice, made a scene or otherwise caused people around her to become uncomfortable. Yet in this moment she wanted to do nothing but shriek at Merry and upend the table of beautiful, tasteless food. None of this was fair, it never had been and it never would be.

“Go away.” She got to her feet and tried to walk away, but her manacled ankles made her stumble and fall into a huge pit of blackness.

Strong arms caught her, and big, gentle hands held her close to a hard-muscled body. She breathed in the scent of darkly sweet lemon, and nearly screamed again.

“Let me go, Healer MacMar,” she said. Although she couldn’t see anything in the darkness, she would not let him manhandle her like this .

“ Leannan sìth,” he murmured against her hair, slurring the words. “I forgot as soon as I remembered.”

Duncan began whispering kisses over her face, touching his mouth to her brow and eyelids and temples. His breath skimmed across her throbbing lips as he nipped the side of her jaw, and then her earlobe. He said things to her in another language, one she understood and yet could not comprehend at all, and both made sense to her.

I can’t cry again. If he keeps kissing me this time I’ll give into him.

“Duncan, for pity’s sake.” When he didn’t reply she turned her head away from him. “Please stop.”

“I cannae permit you run reckless through a battlefield such as ours,” he told her. “You cannae heal monsters such as the hybrids. You mustnae sacrifice yourself for my clan.”

“But that’s what you do every day. Why is it right for you and wrong for me?” Light suddenly blinded her, making a whimper escape her as she squeezed her eyes shut. “Duncan, please, I don’t want to dream anymore. I want to wake up. I want to be with you in the real world.”

Even with her eyes closed the darkness seemed to lighten, and when she opened them she saw she was back in the healer’s bed, still chained there. Beside her Duncan lay, his drowsy dark eyes watching her face. He had his hand on her arm, and slid his palm down to the manacles.

“I dreamt we lay together in a night garden,” he told her, his voice husky, as if he’d just woken up like her. “Why did you resist me, even in a dream?”

She knew the answer to that.

“Because you’re in love with me.” Looking into his eyes made her heart melt, for along with his passion she saw sadness and fear, and knew it was all for her. “It’s not your fault. Most men are attracted to me. If I stay around them long enough, that turns to this.”

She heard the chains clink, and then he removed the cuffs from her wrists and set them aside. He pushed himself up, and bent over to do the same to her ankles. The slowness of his movements and the tense expression on his face told her he wasn’t happy about releasing her.

I should climb over him and run out of here and lock myself in my room. Tomorrow he’ll hate me for rejecting him.

Once he had finished, Duncan lay on his side facing her. For a moment she thought he was going to touch her again, but all he did was look at her from head to toe and back again.

“’Twas wrong of me, keeping you here against your will.” He rolled over and sat up with his back to her. “I shallnae interfere any longer. You may do as you wish, Mistress Fairburn.”

Nicole couldn’t believe he was serious, but then he got up and started walking toward the door. Inside herself, his emotions, the anger and desire and hate for himself tangled up with her own. She hurled herself out of his bed, marched up to him and kicked the back of his shin as hard as she could.

“You think you can just apologize and walk away after what you did?” she demanded. “Like it was nothing? Like I’m no one to you? I know better.”

He opened the door before he turned on her. “You wished me release you. Go.”

“I’ll never be free of you now.” She slapped him as hard as she could.

They stood glaring at each other as Duncan’s cheek turned red, and then paled to pink before the slap mark faded completely. He would always heal faster than ordinary humans. He would live for hundreds, possibly thousands of years on this wretched little island. Every day he would go on hurting himself over and over as he healed others with his herbs and potions and primitive doctoring. He might take a lover now and then, but he would always live alone. He would always be alone.

He was a quack. He meant absolutely nothing to her. She should run out of here right now before she told him–

“I’m falling in love with you, too,” Nicole said, all the emotion draining out of her. “I don’t want to. It’s a disaster. I can’t stay with you.” Now she could leave him.

When she tried to walk out Duncan grabbed her from behind, spinning her around so he could kiss her mouth. Somehow he was half-carrying, half-dragging her toward his bed, and then they were on the rug in front of the hearth. He rolled with her, putting her on top of him as he clamped a hand on the back of her head.

He was going to kiss her until she passed out, Nicole thought, appalled and thrilled all at once.

Duncan ripped apart the back of her gown, shredding the laces and the seams as he jerked her bodice down to her waist. He tore open the light linen chemise she wore, baring her breasts as she yanked up his tunic to do the same thing to his chest. Somehow she ended up under him again. Nicole knew in another few moments they’d be naked and he’d be coming inside her with that lovely hard length of his erect cock, and the prospect should have terrified her. Instead she went gushing wet between her legs, her body twisting and writhing against his as he pulled up her skirts and tore away her underwear. His hard, hot flesh pressed against her, and when she looked up into his eyes she saw they had darkened and glittered like a night sky filled with stars.

“I want you,” he said, his voice so tight the words sounded flinty. “Give me leave take you.”

Nicole shoved him over onto his back, and climbed on top of him, furious and aching and so out of control she hardly knew what she was doing. When she lifted up and reached between her thighs for him, his hand met hers, and guided her fingers to the broad, steely girth jutting up from his body. Together they fit his swollen cockhead to the slick ellipse of her pussy, and she held onto him until he squeezed an inch inside her. That was when the sweet relief of being filled saturated her.

“I’m not using any contraception.” Recalling he probably didn’t know what that meant, she added, “You could make me pregnant.”

“If only.” He pulled her down to him and nipped his way across her neck, up along her jaw and over her lips. He then took her mouth in a deep, hungry kiss that ended far sooner than she wanted. “We cannae sire bairns. No half-Fae may father children.”

That filled her with a fierce satisfaction. There would be no disastrous consequences, no unwanted child. After what had happened with her mother, that had been her only concern .

“Do whatever you like to me.” As he worked his way deeper he clamped his hands on her hips, holding her where he wanted her. “You don’t need my permission, because from now on you’ll always have it.”

As the last word left her lips Duncan thrust up into her, burying himself in her clenching softness. If there was any pain in taking a man into her for the first time Nicole didn’t notice; she could only shake in reaction and then submerge herself in the depths of sensation and sensuality. She had always been told she’d waited too long to do this; every other girl she knew had taken at least two or three lovers by the time they graduated college. Now she understood why she had been so fastidious, because this was what she had dreamed of, longed for, hoped with all her heart would happen.

Being with her first love, her only love, her last love, was glorious.

“My lady.” Duncan touched her cheek, his expression filled with tenderness now. “’Tisnae any pain.”

Nicole smiled; of course he knew; by touching her he would have absorbed it. Instead they had given each other nothing but pleasure, and they’d only just begun. This was why the other four women had remained behind in the past. This was the unspoken promise made by the ring when it had offered her a chance to live again .

“I love you.” Saying it again returned what he’d just given her. “Now make me your woman.”

Duncan lifted her up, sliding from her almost all the way, before easing her back down on him. The sense of being impaled swelled and changed, as if each time he came into her he spread through her like a blissful fever. All the strange jolts traveling through her belly and breasts made her go on trembling, but she wasn’t afraid of him, or what he gave her. She wanted more, she desperately needed more.

He put an arm around her as he lifted her, and then spun her over onto her back so he pinned her atop the bed with his weight. That sent his cock plunging even deeper inside her, almost knocking the breath from her lungs. She groaned as he guided her legs up around his hips, and slowly began thrusting in and out of her.

“Dinnae close your eyes,” he urged as her lids drooped. “I wish see how you like what I do.”

“I liked those manacles,” she murmured, and then laughed as he looked over at them. “The next time, I’ll put them on you.”

He bent his head to kiss her, his tongue dancing with hers as he pumped his heavy cock into her core. A terrible urgency took hold of her, gathering and knotting just above where he worked in and out of her. For a moment Nicole wondered if she were about to pass out, and then she realized she was absorbing his pleasure, which for him was a kind of pain. He wanted to release himself from it, she suspected, and come into her, but he was waiting for her to join him.

Could she climax this first time?

Nicole’s lashes fluttered as she sank into his sensations, which spurred on her own. No one would ever understand this lovemaking except the two of them, she thought. No one could do to each other what they did; this was their secret pleasure. It added to the growing desire to reach that place he’d already known, to go there with him and explode together. When his lips touched hers the heat of his kiss seemed to hurl her into him, and then Nicole almost screamed as the first wave of absolute delight crashed down over them.

She knew his satisfaction as he came into her for the last stroke before his seed jetted from his pulsing cock into her pussy. He knew how hot and bright her entire body grew as she took his cream and reveled in the sweet, dark bliss of him. Had she ever known anyone who had been so close to her, as if he’d become part of her own being? Why hadn’t anyone told her love making could be like this?

As they panted together, Duncan shifted onto his side so they faced each other. He wanted to see her fulfillment as it made her limbs limp and bathed her in a sheen of sweat and blushing pink skin. He wasn’t trying to conceal his own satisfaction from her; his chest heaved with every breath, and tremors still shook him. By sharing their bodies and giving each other the ultimate pleasure they had become equals, partners, lovers, mates.

She thought of what she had sacrificed so she could have a safe life—the life she had left behind in the future. That life was still waiting for her to come back to it. A father in danger, a brother who belonged in prison. Her cousin, who would always be her best friend no matter how much Maxwell interfered. Now somehow she had to tell Duncan about the hardest thing she would have to do, and very soon.

I can’t ever stay. No matter what we want, I have to leave him.

Speal sent a half-dozen Cait Sith to the docks to keep watch for Duxor and his promised army of monsters, but after a second day passed with no sighting, she recalled her sisters to the merchant trader. Sailing from Insii Orc to the mainland cove where the aquatic immortal had first met the enchantress took another day. The minimal crew she took with her seemed almost happy to be at sea again, which she understood. With Derdrui’s behavior of late, putting anything between the Cait Sith and their sovereign gave them all much-needed respite.

“I shall go and parlay with Fiacail,” she told her sisters before taking the skiff. “Rest while you may, for when I return we must sail back at once.”

No one emerged from the waters when Speal reached the small dock beside the cove, so she moored the skiff and climbed out to make her way to the rocky shore. The shallows appeared empty, but when she caught sight of an agile dark shape hovering at the very edge, she bent down and placed her hand in the water.

’Tis how we may smell and ken ’tis you, Fiacail had told her during their last meeting.

This time it wasn’t their former leader who came out of the sea, but Tiene, one of the other Cait Sith saved from death by Duxor’s transformation. In her halfling state she had been badly maimed in battle with the MacMar, who had left her crippled and half-blinded. Since being changed by the aquatic’s infernal magic she could shift back into her human form, but one eye remained that of a shark. Seeing the flat, cold death in that black eye made Speal conceal a shudder .

“What want you?” Tiene asked after she spewed some sea water from her mouth.

Speal glanced down at her belly, expecting to see it flattened after the hideous birthing in the hold, and then gasped, for it bulged as if whatever lay within desired to rend Tiene apart and escape.

“I’m no’ carrying pups again yet,” the shark shifter told her. “I only just ate.” She patted her undulating belly. “’Twill cease by nightfall.”

The fact that she now devoured prey alive didn’t disgust Speal; it was the pleasure in her voice that made her own stomach heave.

“Our sovereign awaits your master on Insii Orc,” she said. “Why does he delay?”

“Duxor’s no longer our master. Fia decided we should rule ourselves and serve no one, especially air breathers like you lot, and then she ran him off.” Tiene’s smile widened. “You may tell your sovereign go fack herself.”

Before she could reply the shark shifter dove into the water and streaked off.

Speal slowly trudged back to the skiff, but instead of casting off and sailing back to the trader she sat on the seat board and considered what Tiene’s news would do once she passed it along to the enchantress. After so many disappointments Derdrui would likely murder them all. Exhausted tears welled up in her eyes, and she covered her face with her hands as huge sobs tore from her throat.

A splash came, and the skiff rocked as someone joined her.

She wiped her eyes with her sleeve before she beheld Fiacail. Her sister had changed into the mortal form she’d always worn before she had been stabbed and thrown into the sea. When the shark shifter looked into her eyes, a glimmer of sympathy showed.

“Dinnae you pity me,” Speal said, snarling the words. “You’re as cold as a fish now, and never again shall you care for me or our sisters.”

“True, but that doesnae mean I hate you. I’ve still some memories of my life before I became as I am now. I possessed much affection for you, Sister.” Fia pursed her lips. “You shouldnae heed all that Tiene claimed. She’s gone bitter after so many birthings. Dearg’s abandoned us now. Soon I expect we’ll lose the last of our Cait Sith sentiments.”

“Why did you chase away Duxor?” she demanded. “Once we found the MacMar, Derdrui would free us all, and heal you.”

“We dinnae wish for such mercy.” Fiacail reached out and clasped Speal’s hand between her cold, wet fingers. “We’ve accepted what Duxor made of us. We shall mate and breed as we never could as Cait Sith. Soon all mortals shall tremble when we emerge and hunt them on land. The world, ’twill become ours.”

Speal hunched her shoulders, as if all the fight drained out of her, and slipped her fingers into her sleeve. “Shall you slay me, and our sisters then?”

Fiacail lifted a piece of twisted, violet-gold metal dangling from the gold chain around her neck. “When we wield the magic of the king of the aquatics, then we shall change you–”

She coughed, and glanced down at the blade Speal had buried in her ribs as dark blood dripped from her lips.

“We dinnae desire change, Sister.” She yanked out the dagger, driving it in higher with her second blow so that it would pierce her lung. She leaned in, putting her mouth next to the choking hybrid’s ear. “I doubt my blade shall end you soon. Go back to the others while you live and warn them they may expect the same if you dinnae lead us to the island of the MacMar.”

Biting the side of the shifter’s neck and drinking her blood gave Speal almost as much pleasure as shoving her over the side of the skiff. A moment later a flood of memories came into her mind, and then she smiled.

“Fack me,” she murmured. “I dinnae need you tell me another word, Fia.”