Page 11 of Her Scot of Bygones
“Could we communicate that way even if our dragons didn’t take to each other?”
“I wouldnae think so.” I was careful how I phrased things this time. “Whilst our enemies might be capable of it if they possessed magic I’m unfamiliar with, usually ‘tis only viable betwixt dragons whose inner beasts trust each other. That connection is always stronger betwixt mates, but you will still have it with your kin.” I gave her a pointed look. “I dinnae have the power to connect with your dragon against its will oryourwill, as it were.”
She didn’t reply to what I said, but her eyes did linger on mine in a way that spoke to my inner beast because I sensed she believed me. More than that, despite how frightened she’d seemed of me minutes before, I got the feeling she was beginning to trust me.
“I wasn’t frightened of you,” she murmured, surprising me with her honesty. “At least I never thought you were going to hurt me physically.”
Despite our strange surroundings, I became acutely aware of her in a way that had seemed oddly suppressed when I pulled her against me earlier. At the time, I thought it was because my fear of losing her to the vortex was so strong, but now I wondered. Had her dragon kept my arousal at bay until she was out of my arms? If so, why? If that weren’t curious enough, I got the sense she was more frightened about her emotional response to me than anything else. I was about to say as much, too, when something in the trees caught our attention.
“Nay, lass.” Whether she liked it or not, I took her hand and kept her by my side when she started in that direction. “We go together and with great caution.”
“And here I thought caution wasn’t your thing,” she exclaimed softly. Her gaze flickered from our adjoined hands to my face, as if she couldn’t decide whether or not she should pull away.
“And I thought it verra much was yours,” I returned, reminding her where she was and what we were up against. “’Twould serve you well, in these trying times.”
She had no chance to respond before something caught our attention again. When I felt no immediate threat, I put a finger to my lips, urging Hazel to be quiet until we knew what it was, kept her hand in mine and my blade at the ready, then started into the woodland.
That is, until I finally spied what orwhoit was. A familiar young lad with a thick crop of dark auburn hair made his way through the forest as though he were following something or someone.
That wasn’t what alarmed me, though.
More so,who he was.
I squeezed Hazel’s hand and gave her a warning look before gesturing back toward the cave, hoping she caught my thoughts, whether she liked me speaking telepathically to her or not. It was necessary this time.“He wears Sutherland colors, Hazel, so ‘tis verra likely we’re on Sutherland land.”I shook my head.“’Tis unwise to keep going.”
The corners of her mouth tugged down, and she shook her head too, surprising me when she spoke back within my mind.“I’m not sure if you can hear me, but no.”She kept shaking her head.“He’s just a boy…and he’s familiar to me. As familiar as that cave and these woods.”
How could he be? This made no sense.
As taken as I was by the beauty of her voice in my mind, I was more worried about her welfare, and I said so telepathically.“You dinnae ken what the Sutherlands are capable of if ‘tis at the bequest of their laird’s mother, for she’s the true power behind their dragons. Dugal is but her puppet despite thinking he’s more.”I narrowed my eyes into the woodland, watching the boy, remaining vague for now, if it meant her heeding my warning.“So trust me when I tell you, if he’s half dragon, then she’s likely already aware we’re here.”I met Hazel’s eyes again, hoping she understood how dire this was.“Better still, you are here.”
“Even so,”she replied, her internal voice coming through more clearly with her growing confidence.“I have to keep following him.”She pleaded with her eyes.“Please. I need to…it’s important. I’m sure of it.”
“Why?”I could hardly believe I was entertaining the idea because it was far too dangerous.“What makes you so certain he’s worth pursuing?”
As it turned out, her gaze drifted past me, her eyes widened in disbelief, and she said the last thing I ever expected.
CHAPTER SEVEN
–Hazel–
THE LAST THING I expected to see when my gaze drifted past Lucas to the young Scottish boy wearing Sutherland colors was him heading straight for me.
Literally.
“That’s me,” I whispered before I could stop myself because I knew Lucas preferred we speak telepathically. I stared wide-eyed at a little girl crouched at the base of a hazel tree, of all things, exploring some sort of plant growing there.
Almost the moment I said it, the girl glanced up in surprise at the boy, then smiled in recognition, seconds before everything faded. Or should I say the children faded as if they were ghosts, and our surroundings remained the same, only now a chilly wind blew instead of a warm one, and lush green leaves turned into vibrant autumn leaves. Although I sensed Lucas had questions and rightfully so, he took decisive action first despite his confusion over what we had just witnessed.
“Bloody hell,” he cursed under his breath, pulling me back in the opposite direction with his Viking sword still at the ready, speaking within my mind.“Let’s hope that cave is still there because Sutherland territory is not where we want to be.”
Although just as confused by what we’d witnessed, I didn’t fight him because I grew more and more confident that he was, in fact, looking out for me, however crazy his methods had been thus far. In the end, he’d shown a level of caution I needed to see before we followed the strange memory that had led us here to begin with.
Fortunately, despite being overgrown with vegetation, the entrance to the small cave was still there, and we were able to slip inside without disturbing the brush or drawing attention to ourselves.
“I cannae risk chanting a torch here,”he said when he realized the one he’d been carrying was gone, likely because we'd experienced some sort of time slip.“’Tis too risky lest the Sutherland’s sense my magic. ‘Twould be best if I carried you so you dinnae trip or—”
“No, it’s okay,”I said, growing more comfortable speaking telepathically by the moment, for no other reason than I liked the deep, comforting rumble of his voice in my mind.“I can see.”Blinking, I gazed around in awe as darkness gave way to a muted but brilliant way of seeing, as if a million little stars lit the way.“I don’t know why, but I can, and it’s stunning.”
