Page 17 of Her Scot of Bygones
It was still hard to believe Storm, yet another modern-day woman who had visited this era sporadically over the years because she was good friends with Broderick, who then ended up in ancient Ireland, had found a way to write letters to Hazel and her sisters from the time they were children. Although vague about who she was, it turned out, as far as we could ascertain, she was trying to be there for them during difficult times, eventually steering them in our direction once they were older.
Or, better said, when the time was right for the pact to ignite.
Did she know about their father, Malcolm Sutherland, and his role in the pact? Were they assisting each other from wherever in time they were? It was impossible to guess. All weknew was we had to see the pact through, and one of the sisters was doomed to be with a Sutherland, hopefully tying the two clans together to usher in a new era of peace with our enemies, which would only mean a stronger Scotland.
“No, I haven’t heard a word from Storm,” Aspen told Hazel. “What about you? Did you hear anything before you traveled back in time?”
“Outside of her last letter saying I should settle into the colonial in New Hampshire with you, Willow, and Ellie, no.” She shook her head. “Nothing out of the norm except…”
When she trailed off and tilted her head in thought, Aspen prompted her to go on. “What is it? Did something happen?”
“Actually, yeah.” Having barely touched the mead she walked in with, Hazel sipped her water. “Now that I think about it, something strangedidhappen, but I’m not sure it had anything to do with Storm.”
She explained how she continually lost track of time the afternoon before I stole her away. She kept burning corn muffins she’d been trying to bake for Willow. “Yet I burned them over and over.” She frowned and shook her head, baffled. “I just kept looking out at my hazel tree because it wasn’t there hours before, and kept losing time.”
“Losing time,” I murmured, sensing something in that. Fearful of it in a way I couldn’t explain, only that I related it to the woodland vortex that came for her in the tunnel, and said as much, unable to keep my brogue from thickening with my heightened emotions. “Whatever that was, ‘twas verra much symbolic of time and taking ye from me…” I narrowed my eyes when my inner beast flailed in defiance as if fighting her being torn away from us all over again, and I spoke through clenched teeth, meaning every word, but unsure why I said it. “Stolen away, so I stole ye back.”
I didn’t realize just how forceful my words were until it occurred to me that the room had gone silent. It turned out it wasn’t just because of my vehemence either, but because of the look in Hazel’s eyes.
Moreover, the dragon in her eyes.
Where I found them brilliant and mesmerizing in the darkness of the tunnel, now I found them so familiar my chest tightened with the pain of it. The sheer want of her. Her shining emerald green dragon eyes didn’t just flicker but stayed steady on me as if her inner beast reached out to mine in recognition.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, saying the last thing I expected to hear, but it seemed her dragon would not keep it from me any longer. “I saw something upstairs you should know about…something that told me where I have to go next. Wherewehave to go.”
“And where is that?” I said roughly, not much liking the vibe I was getting, but knew I had no choice but to heed her wishes. It had been clear in Evan’s letter, and I’d given Broderick my word.
It was my turn to risk losing my lass forever for the sake of Scotland.
“I saw a huge bronze dragon flying over the sea that Aspen assured me was a vision,” Hazel said, calmer than I would have expected, given I knew it was the first dragon she had ever seen, but then I could also see she’d been drawn to it rather than afraid. “Then I remembered something ….” Her voice thickened with emotion. “I ran to him and embraced him, Lucas. The memory we witnessed of me as a little girl on Sutherland land, I saw the rest of it, and I was happy to see Evan Sutherland.Reallyhappy.”
“As in happy to see a good friend?” I couldn’t help but frown because Evan’s dragon was bronze-colored, yet I knew if itwere actually here, Broderick would have known he was on our territory and in our airspace. “Or happy to see a fated mate?”
“I’m not sure, but I’d say a friend at least,” she said softly, shocking me when she rested her hand over mine on the table, comforting my inner beast, which was a good thing because it was fuming beneath the surface. “I have a feeling I was too young to understand if it was anything more.”
I did my best to rally my emotions and not behave impulsively when all I wanted to do was throw her over my shoulder, take her as far away from Sutherland land and Evan as possible, and never let her go until she swore she would be mine and mine alone. Yet whether I promised my chieftain or not, I knew as I gazed into her eyes the only way she would be mine was if I let her go first and prayed she was my fated mate so she would find her way back to me.
“What comes next, lass?” I forced myself to say because I knew I had to. “Where do you need to go? Where doweneed to go?”
What she told me surprised me yet again, but I could not say I was opposed to it. Nay, if anything, it gave not just me but my inner beast a great deal of hope.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
–Hazel–
IT WAS HARD to explain how I felt when I witnessed a vision of Evan Sutherland’s dragon and recalled how fond of him I had been as a little girl, other than my love for him was real. And itwaslove. I just didn’t know to what degree, and I certainly didn’t know how to be that transparent when I finally worked up the nerve to tell Lucas at dinner.
All I knew was we had to go back to Lucas’s secret lair and that tunnel.
Back to Sutherland land and the memories it held. Better yet, I suspected, back to Evan so we could figure out how our three lives intersected. Did I hope it would lead me back to Lucas? So much so, I was shocked by the sensation as my dragon eyes ignited when I told him, but there it was, and I couldn’t help but put my hand over his, not just in comfort, but because I wanted to touch him. Feel him. Let him know, no matter what happened, I was very much drawn to him.
Better still, I wanted him in ways I barely understood.
I had never been an overly sensual person and rarely intimate with men because few made me feel much of anything, but Lucas had in that unknown tunnel when he was so close, his front to my back, and his lips hovered near mine. It felt electrifying and exciting in a whole new way, igniting me from the inside out. I’d wanted his lips against mine so I could taste him.
Then I wanted so much more.
When Lucas looked at Broderick for permission to bring me back to his secret lair, and his chieftain nodded yes, I felt not just pride in him for not acting impulsively and stealing me away, as I knew he wanted to, but for doing things right this time. By not upsetting my sister and risking her babies. And by not taking me without my permission. If anything, he was being everything I needed him to be.
