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SHE HAD JUST dozed off, at peace in Cray’s arms, when suddenly she was once again in the vortex of fire that she’d experienced when she first traveled back in time. Only this go around, she knew what awaited her on the other side.
What awaited her when she offered herself up and flew through the portal.
Not terrified but determined to save her little one from being sacrificed, she landed in the Irish Stonehenge and locked eyes with the unicorn. Again, she felt that same sense of concern and disappointment then great, great sadness. Concern because, like it, she had been lured by dark magic and would suffer the consequences. Disappointment because it already knew what she didn’t. Who had followed. Then great sadness because she was about to suffer such loss.
Moments later, her mate appeared overhead then even more horrifyingly, wee Ceann.
“Nay,” she roared, but it was already too late.
The darkness had achieved its goal when it spread its vile rumors. When it threatened her ninth son. When she allowed their threats to get inside her head. How could she have been so foolish?
For she had led her son to certain death.
For a split second, she thought she saw Ethyn’s wolf, her eyes strong, her demeanor supportive, then she was gone. She looked back at the unicorn to find it already slain upon the sacrificial table.
A deafening roar filled the air as darkness twisted around the stones, hiding the hooded men beyond. She spun looking from stone to stone, seeing first nine then five, like strobe lights in her vision. Never six, only five until for a flicker of a moment, she swore one of the nine became six.
That’s when she knew without question, though she had yet to live her current life, they had harnessed from her what they needed. A connection to the Brouns that would allow them to infiltrate someday with an imposter who didn’t belong.
Someone the Claddagh ring would not reject.
Roaring at their trickery, yet knowing they needed more, she offered up herself again. Told them to bind her once more and take what they needed. Take her dragon magic. Harness the power of her dragon fire. She pleaded with unseen faces to let her child go. To take her.
But they would take what they needed.
Then so much more.
Realizing they wouldn’t take her, she leapt into the air to defend Ceann, but it was too late. He and her mate landed in the circle. She struggled to get to them, but they were blocked behind an unseen wall. Muted. Cut off. Her mate roared in denial, and her offspring whimpered as they tried to get to her, but all she heard was silence.
Unable to connect with either telepathically, she keened in misery, feeling their essences draining away though they still stood right there. When he realized there was no hope, that there was truly no stopping this, her mate gently wrapped Ceann in his wings. His eyes never left hers as he tried to calm their whimpering son. As he hid the horror coming for them from his sight.
Darkness wrapped around them slowly as if a snake devouring its prey.
Though her mate could no longer speak to her, she knew he was trying to comfort her too. He was also reminding her that she needed to go home. To protect their other children.
She tried to stay strong, to show him she would do as asked, that he should never worry, but wasn’t sure she succeeded. Her soul was too ravaged by grief. He had been with her since the beginning.
Since their eyes first met around a stone in this very Stonehenge.
Even so, he needed to see that she would be all right. So though trembling with terror for them, she stood her ground as his gaze stayed with hers. She even maintained mock strength when a fiery tear trickled from the corner of his eye.
Then, alas, it happened.
Her worst nightmare finally unfolded, and he and their child were taken.
The darkness consumed them both then melted into a trail that vanished into the very stone the unicorn lay upon. Her soul might have been grief-stricken before, but it paled in comparison to how it broke now. No amount of misery compared to how she felt when their essences snapped out of existence.
Yet in her grief, she remembered her mate’s look.
What he expected of her.
What she must do.
So she went to take off only to realize she had no idea how to get home. Though she was in her own era, it was not the same dimension but one born of darkness. Manipulated by evil. Yet there had to be a way out if there was a way in. As if in answer to her thoughts for a flicker of a moment she swore the unicorn looked back at her from she and her mate's stone.
A heartbeat later, the sun didn’t set but began rising over the ocean.
She was being shown the way back to those who needed her.
The way home.
So though heartbroken, she launched into the air only to jolt awake.
Cray was awake as well, watching her, the trail of a single tear left on his temple to match where it had fallen in another life.
“Now we know, mo anam cara,” he said softly. “My soul mate.” He brushed away her tears, his inner dragon lending her comfort. “And in the end, they will pay dearly for what they did.”
Her vision flared red as her dragon looked back at his. As she finally understood not just what the brotherhood had taken from him and their son but ultimately what they had given their stone for future MacLomains.
“Harnessing the magic of the ninth dragon son gave them the power to hide what they’d done to those stones from the Celtic gods,” he rumbled, his desire to rip them to shreds obvious in the flare of his dragon pupils. “Taking me as well only leant to the protection spell. After all, the only thing comparable to a mother's fierce protection of its offspring is its father’s.”
“And you did,” she whispered, unable to find her voice as she sifted through her emotions. Not just grief but incredible anger. “You protected Ceann the best you could until the end.” She cupped his cheek, tears still falling. “Though he was terrified, at least he wasn’t alone, and I know that mattered.”
“Aye,” he murmured, sensing the same. “’Tis what kept his soul bound to mine.”
She nodded and pressed her lips together, remembering the look in Maeve’s eyes. “Maybe wherever he is, he’s not frightened but simply just trying to get back to you...to us.” She shook her head. “Because the brotherhood obviously didn’t extinguish your souls or you wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t have been reborn.”
“Och,” he said through clenched teeth. “I think my soul would have fought its way back from the depths of hell to find you and our wee one.”
“A trait I’d say made it into our stone to be sure,” she said softly, positive she was right.
“Aye,” he agreed, confirming that. “For those with MacLomain blood would do anything for family. Anything at all.”
They held each other for a while after that, trying to process all they’d learned before Cray said it was almost time to rise. Before that, though, he made love to her one more time. If possible, their emotions were even more tied up in their intimacy. But then it felt like they were really, truly reuniting as he pressed into her, and they lost themselves.
It wasn’t rough this time but loving as their dragons seemingly found each other in a whole new way. So said her endless mini-climaxes as they moved against one another. There was no ordering or a need to be dominated but synchronized movements. As if they had been doing this forever, yet it never got old. Never got boring.
Not when they were clearly made for one another.
Her vision hazed red as her mini-climaxes became an untouchable passion that blazed through her veins. The incredible sensation grew so strong, and her vision so crimson that she feared what was happening at first until an orgasm for the ages seized them. She shook in his arms, trying to make sense of what made this one so much stronger until she suddenly understood.
“We just mated,” she whispered. “Didn’t we?”
“Aye, and as told, there is nothing like it,” he managed, struggling for breath as he held himself deep inside her. His fiery eyes met hers. “My dragon has claimed yours.”
She couldn’t help a small smile, realizing life would never be dull with him. So said their upcoming argument about their child flying for the first time. “You mean, my dragon claimed yours.”
He met her grin, a twinkle of challenge in his eyes that told her their life together would be interesting indeed.
“’Tis time to break our fast, lass.” He brushed his lips across hers and got up. “Murray and Douglas will be heading for the bridge soon, and we must be there.”
“That’s probably when it’ll happen to us, isn’t it?” she said softly, recalling what had happened to her friends at this juncture. “You’re going to have to sacrifice something?”
His troubled eyes met hers as he chanted them into clothing. “Mayhap.” He cupped her cheeks, his expression suddenly very serious. “And I will, lass. No matter what it takes if it means keeping ye with me always.” He shook his head. “I willnae see us parted again.”
“What if...” she began but trailed off, unable to voice it.
“What if my ghostly dragon seen outside my body is an ominous warning?” He had obviously considered this. “That mayhap ‘tis my dragon that I have to sacrifice in the end?”
She nodded, emotional. “Your cousins’ sacrifices were no small thing, Cray. Just like losing your dragon half would be.”
“’Tis impossible to conceive,” he agreed, searching her eyes. “But I have, and I will if it means saving ye. Do ye ken, lass?” He shook his head. “Ye mean more to me than anything.”
Though both her human and dragon flailed at that, she understood because she would do the same for him. Time and time again.
“Then I guess the key is neither of us getting ourselves into a position where that happens.” She eyed her ring. “Surely, having mated will help us, but I get the feeling we’re already on the right track...straightened out like my ring, so to speak.”
When he looked at her curiously, she shrugged. “It just seems like since this ring started staying straight, everything else is slowly but surely improving. Most certainly, our connection but also...” She cocked her head, thinking about it, not bothering to clip her hair back anymore. “I think my OCD has calmed down a little just like your mom and grandmother implied it might.” She met his eyes. “Like everything’s falling into place, and I can finally relax a little.”
“’Tis good.” He pulled her out of the tent only to stop short when they found Marek standing there eyeing the area with a curious, albeit troubled look on his face.
Cray frowned. “What is it, Brother?”
“Well, for starters, Ethyn spent the night romping around the forest looking for a wolf that seems to have vanished.” He kept contemplating the immediate vicinity, even going so far as sticking his head in their tent and scanning the area. “As to the other thing?” He shook his head and looked at them. “I think mayhap ‘tis best you talk to the wee king about that.”
