Curse Breaker (Phoenix Throne Book 7): A Scottish Highlander Time Travel Romance Read online

  He nodded. “That’s about like I see it, too.”

  “So here you are,” she replied.

  They both laughed. As long as he steered the conversation away from the curse and her constant vanishing, he was okay.

  The serving maid brought Christie’s meal. The crowd started to thin out, and he had more space on the bench. He put his elbows on the table while he ate. “I hear ye went down to Glasgow to see Kincaid.”

  “Yeah. I visited him.”

  “He said ye helped him with something,” Christie went on. “Do ye mind if I ask what it was? It’s none of my business, I ken. It’s just we’re all dying of curiosity, and Kincaid never told anyone what it was.”

  “I don’t mind telling you,” she replied. “It’s no big secret, but I guess Kincaid was sort of a private person. He didn’t like people knowing his business, especially not his problems. There was a certain lady in Glasgow that fell in love with him. She wouldn’t leave him alone. She kept hanging around his house day and night, begging him to see her and love her. She sent him love poems and perfumed handkerchiefs through the mail. I helped him by distracting her. There was a certain lord in the town that was in love with her. I deflected her affections onto this other guy so she would leave Kincaid in peace.”

  Christie blinked. “Are ye serious? Is that all?”

  “Yep,” she replied. “That’s all.”

  He snorted into his mug. “here we all thought it was something magical and mysterious.”

  “Nothing magical or mysterious about it. That guy could handle magical and mysterious on his own. Matters of delicacy with real people? That was a different story.”

  “So what did ye do?” Christie asked. “How did ye get her to fall for the other chap?”

  “I arranged for this lord to be driving by at a certain time of the early morning when this lady would show up under Kincaid’s window. She used to call up to his bedroom, begging and making all kinds of outlandish promises. Then, when he didn’t respond or when he told her to go away, she used to break down crying in the street. She would fall on her knees weeping and make a big scene. The lord drove by just at that moment and saw her. He came to her rescue, picked her up, and put her in his carriage. He drove her to his house, and she never bothered Kincaid again.”

  Christie chuckled and shook his head. “Very clever. Very clever indeed.”

  “I thought so.”

  “So you’re a regular matchmaker, are ye?” he asked. “You’d have to be to think up a scheme like that one.”

  “I never did it before,” she replied. “It just sort of made sense at the time.”

  He finished his meal and jerked his thumb toward the fire. “How about ye bring your ale over here and sit with me for a while, seeing as we’re both stopping here for the night?”

  She shrugged. “Okay.”

  Chapter 3

  Alexis settled herself in a chair by the fire. She set her mug next to her and took a closer look at the young man seated nearby. Christie McLean. She saw him for a matter of seconds back at Kinlochleven.

  In the fleeting moments she allowed herself at Mull, she never really got much of a look at him. A slight wave curled his black hair around his delicate features. He wasn’t as big as his brothers, but that meant nothing. His piercing black eyes registered the minutest detail of his surroundings, and he judged people in the blink of an eye.

  He observed her from across the fire. His eyes saw so much more than she wanted him to see. His searching gaze gave her the impression he detected all her secrets. That was the last thing she needed.

  “Well, here I am,” she chirped. “What do you want to talk to me about?”

  “I want to ken about your life—the life ye had afore ye came through to this country. I want to ken what your life was like afore, in that other place.”

  “What do you want to know that for?” she asked.

  “I just want to ken,” he replied. “I want to understand ye.”

  “Me! There’s nothing to understand,” she told him. “My life was nothing much to talk about. It was all pretty boring, really.”

  “Nothing unusual happened to ye?” he asked. “No…how do ye say it? No unusual occurrences?”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked. “What unusual occurrences could happen to me? I grew up in my family. My father worked in an office, and my mother worked from home as a bookkeeper. My brother and I went to school. I graduated and went to college. Nothing happened. I don’t know what you’re getting at.”

  “I’m just trying to understand,” he replied. “Coming here was a pretty unusual occurrence, dinnae ye think? I find it hard to believe nothing ever happened to ye afore that.”

  She looked away. “Nothing ever happened.”

  He came over and sat down in the chair next to her. “All right, lassie. No need to get disturbed about it. If ye say nothing happened, I believe ye.”

  Her eyes migrated to his face. Those captivating black eyes of his hovered before her face. He wasn’t the first man in this country to call her lassie, but it sounded different coming from him. He said it like a gentle caress that warmed her all through.

  He believed her. That’s what he said. In the moment when she met his eyes, she realized the truth. He knew a lot more about her than anyone else she’d ever met. James Stewart, that curious man she met on the moor, obviously knew a lot about her, too, but this was different.

  She’d seen Christie half a dozen times, and every time, it happened in some devastating circumstances no one would ever believe really happened. The first time, the giants nearly killed him outside Kinlochleven. She saw him again when the werewolves of Mull battled the forces of the curse.

  The last time she saw him, he fought with Ivy on the roof of Duart Castle. The dragons would have killed Christie, Lachlan, and Ivy if Alexis hadn’t turned up when she did.

  No one in their right mind would ever believe those things really happened, but Christie was there. He lived them. He knew Alexis’s power. She didn’t have to explain anything to him, and what she told him, he believed.

  She never met anyone like him in her life. He was a werewolf. She’d seen him fighting as a wolf enough times. He was fighting as a wolf when he got injured at Kinlochleven. She knew his secret, too, a secret no one else in this whole country knew.

  He didn’t have to explain anything to her, either. She evaluated him with an appraising eye. In a way, they both held each other in the palms of each other’s hands. They had to trust each other, but that was okay. Alexis could trust him. She could trust him to the ends of the Earth, and he could trust her.

  He leaned back in his chair with a sigh. He took another sip of his ale. They sat in silence and listened to the fire crackle. The rain got heavier outside and ran down the eaves. It gave Alexis a warm comfortable feeling. For the first time since she came to this country, she wasn’t alone.

  The ale gave her a pleasant, floating sensation in her brain. She started thinking a lot of things about Christie she shouldn’t be thinking. She imagined doing things with him she shouldn’t do, but her mind wouldn’t anchor to anything familiar.

  She’d been alone for months—years, even. She’d never really connected with anybody, not even her own family. She’d been in this strange country for months, and she never delved below the surface with anybody—not that she planned to delve below the surface with Christie, either.

  She wanted company, and not just the casual conversations around the supper table she always had in inns and public houses. She wanted to spend the night with someone—just once.

  She sensed him moving closer to her, and she let it happen. What was one night out of her life? She could blame it on the ale and go her own way in the morning. He would carry on to wherever he was carrying on to, and they would never see each other again. Right?

  That’s what she told herself, anyway. He must have been thinking the same thing. His eyes glistened in the firelight. His delicate curving lips sw
ayed before her eyes. They twitched when he glanced down at her mouth.

  The serving maid cleared the dirty dishes off the table. Christie withdrew for a moment. He got to his feet and checked to see if his socks were dry. After that, he stood in front of the fire. Steam came off his kilt and his hair.

  Alexis saw the whole thing play out in her mind. She could stop it now, but she didn’t want to. She could indulge in this ridiculous pantomime. She was on the opposite side of the world and several hundred years in the past. No one would ever know what happened.

  She slugged back another mouthful of ale. The more lubricated she got, the easier it would be. She already detected that knowing sparkle in his eye. He was thinking the same thing, and her body quivered with excitement.

  Aw, what the hell was she thinking? She couldn’t just hook up with some guy off the street. The whole thing was too moronic to consider. She pushed her mug aside and got to her feet. “It’s getting late. I better go. You have a good night and everything.”

  He caught her by the hand. “Wait, Alexis. I have something I want to ask ye.”

  “If it’s something else about my life back home, I’d rather skip it,” she replied. “I already told you nothing happened.”

  “It’s no’ that,” he replied.

  “What is it then?”

  She looked up into his eyes. He stood right in front of her, and that curious certainty she detected before came through loud and clear. They were the only two of their kind anywhere, either in Scotland or anywhere else. They were the only two who knew what they knew about each other.

  Before she knew what she was doing, she was kissing him. How did it happen? Her muddled thoughts wouldn’t work, but it didn’t matter. She wanted this. She wanted to spend the night with him. She threw all caution to the wind. It meant nothing. He was just a guy—an unusual guy, but still just a guy.

  He came at her just as fast. He must have been expecting this. He must have been thinking about it the whole time, the same way she did. His lips met hers, and they tangled in a mad wrestling match of saliva and tongues. She tasted ale in his mouth. The alcohol swallowed them both into a sea of sensation.

  She didn’t have to escape. She didn’t have to keep her head above the water. She let herself submerge into the magical pleasure of his body. His arms tightened around her, and he lifted her feet off the floor. Her breasts swelled to press against him when he hugged her.

  The alcohol shimmered down her body. It melted her sinews and muscles against his hardened frame. His shoulders stiffened, and his midsection contracted when she touched him.

  He set her on the floor, and their lips mingled in delicious kisses. He tasted good, and it wasn’t just the alcohol. He tasted male, and his lips told her exactly what he wanted to do.

  He broke away and took her hand. He led her out of the room to the stairs behind the kitchen. Alexis climbed those stairs behind him, but she felt herself falling down a dark tunnel that would spit her out somewhere she couldn’t anticipate.

  On the upper landing, he opened another door and led her inside. How he knew where to go, she couldn’t fathom. He locked the door behind him, and their lips met in the deep dark.

  Once they got inside, all four arms went to work at once. He yanked his belt loose, and his kilt fell to the floor. She slipped her hands under his shirt, and his warmth enveloped her in pleasant comfort. Yes, she was really going to do this, and she was going to enjoy every minute of it.

  She scooted his shirt over his shoulders, and he ducked out of it. He folded his arms around her, and when he pulled her against him, she felt his hardness between her legs. She froze in sudden alarm, but he already moved in on her.

  He crammed his hands down her pants and cupped her ass in both palms. He pushed her pants down and picked her up at the same moment. He spread her bare hips around his waist, and his stiff member touched her swollen opening.

  Her soul cried for this. She wanted it so bad. She devoured his mouth while he carried her to the bed. He sat her down on it and dropped to his knees between her legs. He scooped her closer to him and burrowed his shaft inside her.

  She sobbed at the first intrusion, but after that, delightful slippery honey smoothed his passage to her depths. She hugged her arms around his neck while he stroked her to passionate ecstasy.

  She combed her fingers through his hair. The faint starlight coming through the window shone in his eyes. She couldn’t see any other part of his face. His insistent hands weaseled under her shirt to torment her breasts. She arched to meet his thrusts. His movements taught her what to do to match him.

  His breath panted into her mouth. He braced his arms against the bed and pumped into her, but she only split her body open to welcome him in. She’d never experienced anything like this. Magical delight flooded her body. Her voice rose to quick, excited cries. His hips slammed into her bones, but she only wanted more and more and more.

  She circled his hips with her legs and locked her ankles behind his back. His thrusts knocked her into outer space. She collapsed whimpering on the bed, and he crawled on top of her. He loomed over her, tall and powerful and in command.

  She gazed up into his wolfen face. Her fingertips traced the wicked outline of his muscles tensed and taut against her. His hips rooted between her legs, and his mouth darted down to snatch kisses from her mouth. Unimaginable sweetness enveloped her, and she drifted into the clouds.

  His gasps quickened, and his breath rasped in his throat. He moaned at every stroke. His fingers clenched into fists on her body, but she didn’t care. She wanted him to take her and own her. She wanted him to break himself on her and to feel the mysterious fulfillment of their joining.

  He bared his teeth and snarled in demonic fury. He pounded into her and stopped. He fixed his smoldering eyes on her enraptured face. Then he let loose a broken animal roar, and his essence filled her to overflowing. He fell over on top of her, and his hair scattered over her face.

  Chapter 4

  Alexis walked through the forest until she found the same glade among the trees. She hesitated to look through the foliage to see if the village was still there. She wanted to preserve it intact in her memory the way she first saw it.

  When she worked up the courage to peek, she saw it standing peaceful and lively the way it was before. All the walls stood up straight, and all the roofs sat in their places. She saw no sign that the place was ever destroyed.

  Alexis’s heart soared. She stepped into the open and headed for the village. She smiled at everyone she saw. She got halfway into the village before she realized something wasn’t right.

  The women glared at her. The children withdrew and watched her from a distance with brooding, suspicious eyes. Dogs slunk away from her, and the chickens ran cackling for their pens.

  Alexis slowed her pace until she finally stopped. The women bent over their wash tubs stopped what they were doing and dried their hands. They compressed their lips, and some propped their hands on their hips to scowl at her.

  Alexis halted in the center of the village. The whole place radiated malicious hatred. Every face hardened against her. No one talked or laughed now. The village fell silent at her approach.

  She wanted to flee back to the forest, but she couldn’t move. Her guts twisted when she looked at the faces around her. This couldn’t be happening. This beautiful little village, her refuge—it couldn’t turn against her now. She couldn’t bear it.

  No one moved. She almost wished they would throw things at her and shout insults. Anything would be better than this silent reserve, this glowering resentment. The life of the village stopped so they could all hate her for what she’d done to them.

  She couldn’t entertain any doubts that was the reason for their hatred. She destroyed their village, didn’t she? Who did she think she was, coming back here to ruin their lives all over again? Had she no shame at all?

  Just then, a tearing sensation tore her leg. She glanced down and saw a piece of her thigh bre
ak away and fly off into the sky. Blood poured from the wound. She bent down to press her hand to it, but when she did, her arm yanked out of its socket, spinning away out of sight.

  Alexis screamed. Half her face came loose and disappeared on the breeze. Her eye popped out of its socket and sailed out of sight. Her foot broke off. The tendons snapped and the muscle stretched and ripped. Piece by piece, she flew apart at the seams.

  The villagers stood impassive and watched, never changing their hateful expressions. They didn’t care about her. Their hatred and resentment visited their revenge on her.

  She couldn’t stop screaming. Blood spurted from her wounds. She couldn’t stem the flow with only one hand. All of a sudden, her head exploded in a cloud of blood and brain.

  Alexis snapped awake. She would have bolted upright, but Christie’s bare arm held her down on the bed. He stirred in his sleep and sighed. He brushed his lips against her ear and whispered. “It’s all right, lassie. It’s just a dream. You’re safe.”

  She closed her eyes against the memory. His arms and his body offered an inviting haven where she could hide from the horror of what she saw. She longed to burrow into his arms and forget it all, but she couldn’t.

  She climbed out of bed. “I better go.”

  He rolled over on his back and folded his arm behind his head. “Where’re ye going? It’s barely dawn.”

  “I have to go,” she repeated.

  He raked his hair back from his face, and his eyes cleared. “Alexis.”

  She couldn’t look at him. She grabbed her shirt and pulled it over her head. “What?”

  He sat up and held out his hand to her. “Come here, lassie.”

  “I can’t,” she replied. “I have to go.”

  “Ye keep saying that,” he countered. “Ye havenae once told me where you’re going. Do ye have anywhere to go at all, or are ye on the run somewhere?”

  She buttoned her pants and ran her fingers through her hair. “You don’t have to get up. You should rest. You’ve been up all night.”