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For those of you just joining us… Thirty-eight years ago, an aging Scottish drùidh named Pendaär cast a spell to bring Laird Greylen MacKeage eight hundred years forward through time. Pendaär’s plan was for Greylen to meet and marry Grace Sutter so they could have seven daughters—the seventh girl destined to be Pendaär’s heir. Except the magic got a bit out of control that fateful day, and not only did Greylen make the fantastical journey from twelfth-century Scotland, but so did three of his men and the six MacBain warriors they were battling at the time. Even their warhorses got sucked into the time-bending storm. The ten men, finding themselves in a strange new land, did what any God-fearing warriors would do and sought refuge in the nearest church. There they met the old priest, Daar, who taught them the ways of modern society and eventually persuaded them that their destiny lay here, across the Atlantic. The MacKeages and Daar moved to Pine Creek, Maine, where they bought several
Chapter One M egan MacKeage slipped out the front door of her home and strode across the footbridge guarding the entryway. Discovering she no longer was able to button her coat, she pulled it against her rounded belly and headed to the stable. It had been almost two weeks since anyone had last seen Gesader, and Megan didn’t buy her sister Winter’s explanation that the semiwild panther was merely hiding from the throng of people that had descended on Gù Brath eight days ago. The social chaos had started with her and her sisters’ birthday party four days before Christmas and wouldn’t wind down until after the new year. The annual two-week-long celebration had become a tradition since Heather’s birth thirty-three years ago—which had been followed by six more babies over the next ten years, all girls, all born on the winter solstice. As Grace and Greylen MacKeage’s seven daughters had grown up and started traveling their own paths, the once-intimate gathering had expanded when the girls re
Chapter One
Chapter Two M egan looked at Kenzie as if he’d just sprouted a second head. He forced himself to remain perfectly still, though he wanted to pull her against his chest and soothe her shock. He just as desperately wanted to run deep into the forest in shame. He realized his grip on her shoulders had grown fierce and stepped back, tucking his hands behind him. He could only imagine how she felt. Until he’d actually said the words out loud, even he had started to believe it had been nothing more than a two-hundred-year-long nightmare. “Y-you can’t be Gesader,” she whispered, her face as pale as the snow. “I’ve known him since he was a cub.” “You’ve known me, lass. You only need look at me, Megan, to realize it’s true. Are these not the eyes of your pet?” he asked, touching his face under one eye, then covering his heart with his hand. “I’m the panther cub MacBain brought forward from twelfth-century Scotland.” She backed up a step, as if trying to distance herself from what he was saying.
Chapter Two
Chapter Three “I thought I’d find you down here.” Megan looked up from the computer screen and scowled at her sister. “Go away,” she said, returning to the Internet page. Of course Camry ignored her. She sauntered into Gù Brath’s science lab, pulled up a chair, and cradled her chin in her hands as she also studied the screen. “I wondered how long it would take you to get bored working at Winter’s art gallery.” She reached over to hit a keyboard button to scroll down the page. “I’m surprised you lasted three months. Not Easter Island,” she muttered, hitting the button again. “Or Costa Rica, either. It’s too hot. There!” she said, pointing at the new Internet page. “You can go count Steller’s sea eagles off the coast of Siberia. That’s definitely far enough away to teach all of us a lesson.” Megan reached up and shut off the monitor. Camry immediately turned it back on. “No, I think you’re on to something here, Meg. You should run as far and as fast as you can, and to hell with everyone.
Chapter Three
Chapter Four B eing the chief of police had its perks, Jack realized as he walked around Pine Creek PowerSports. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had let him shop after-hours. Then again, thinking Jack was about to drop ten grand on a snowmobile might be the real reason Paul Dempsey didn’t mind missing dinner. “If you’re looking for speed, this is the baby you want,” Dempsey said, patting the dark cherry cowling of a snowmobile that looked as if it belonged in a Star Wars movie. “Don’t let the fact that it’s a four-stroke scare you off. She’s got plenty of get-up-and-go, and her top end is one hundred and nine miles per hour right out of the crate.” Get-up-and-go sounded good. Apparently this machine could live up to its looks. “I don’t see a hitch for a fishing sled.” Jack bent over to study the mess of wires and engine parts exposed when Dempsey lifted the cowling. “This baby isn’t for fishing!” Paul said. “It’s designed for trail riding.” “So I can’t ride trails and fish w
Chapter Four
Chapter Five E ven though there were disadvantages to having a large, overprotective family, there were also some very nice perks when one was five months’ pregnant and moving into a new house. While everyone had an opinion on what she needed to do and how she should do it, no one would let her lift anything heavier than her laptop. The only responsibility she’d had was to direct traffic when she and four large MacBain and MacKeage cousins went down to Boston and emptied her condo, and then stand back and watch them unload the truck in Maine. Camry had decided that what was happening in Frog Cove was much more interesting than her work in Florida right now, considering that her latest attempt to harness ion propulsion had failed. Her job was somewhat an independent position; NASA supplied the lab and Camry contributed the brainpower. So Cam had called whomever she answered to and told them she was extending her vacation another week. Great. It had been only three days since Megan had p
Chapter Five
Chapter Six J ack was just stepping in the shower when he heard a knock on his kitchen door. He didn’t know anyone well enough who would drop by for a beer, and he was off duty; Simon needed to quit running to him with inane questions. The knock sounded again, a bit louder. With a growl of defeat, Jack wrapped a towel around his waist and strode out to the kitchen. “Dammit, Pratt, you better be here to tell me you caught the bastards.” But as the door swung fully open, Jack found himself staring into the startled, bright green eyes of a woman holding a pie. He also saw Megan MacKeage as still as a stone slightly behind her, her complexion pale in the porch light. “W-Wayne?” Megan whispered. “Shit,” Jack growled at the exact same time. “Wayne?” echoed the woman in front. “Megan, sweetheart,” Jack said, stepping outside. He slipped on the ice-glazed snow covering the porch, and grabbed the railing to keep from falling. Megan stepped back, turned, and bolted into the night. “Dammit, no! M
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven E very muscle Jack owned ached, his left hand wouldn’t stop bleeding, and if he had the strength, he’d kick himself in the ass for breaking his rule of not working in law enforcement. He’d known better, but had that stopped him from taking this job to be near Megan? Nope. And today he’d gotten an up-close-and-personal reminder that every sleepy town, anywhere in the world, had a dark underbelly of abuse and oppression. He’d nearly had John Bracket calmed down enough to get him handcuffed and in the cruiser when that damn dog had come out of nowhere. The melee that had followed would certainly be etched in Simon Pratt’s psyche for a while, and it would take a month of Sundays before Jack’s gut unknotted. He’d nearly drawn his gun and shot the dog, when it had finished chewing on his hand and gone after Simon. Bracket’s powerful right uppercut was the only thing that had stopped him. And Mrs. Bracket hadn’t helped matters, screaming bloody murder as she’d scrambled after th
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight J ack set down his third bottle of beer, still burning at Megan’s little tirade. She thought he had a fantastical imagination? Halfway through his explanation of why he’d sent her packing four months ago, the woman suddenly decides he’s lying through his teeth, he’s some sort of warrior, and that he definitely isn’t anyone she wants anything to do with. Couldn’t talk the clothes off a woman to save his soul, could he? And just when had rushing headlong into a relationship become a good thing? Maybe he’d gotten a little too caught up in playing Wayne Ferris the shy nerd, but Megan had seemed especially attracted to his nerdiness. She sure as hell wasn’t attracted to warriors—she’d said the word in a way that implied it was a bad thing. Which was weird. Jack had met a lot of her extended family now, quietly gleaning information from them about the woman who had charged into his life like a fast-moving storm. Having seen how protective the men were, he understood why Megan c
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine W ith a yawn that nearly wrenched her jaw, Megan slipped on her robe and trudged into the kitchen. “Who were you talking to?” she asked Cam, yawning again. Camry dropped her cell phone back in her purse. “Rose Brewer. Those brats made a mess of her store, so I’m going over to help her clean up.” “What time is it?” “Almost eleven.” “Good heavens, I slept the morning away. Give me ten minutes and I’ll go with you.” “Un-uh. You shouldn’t be lifting stuff, and we don’t need a supervisor.” Megan didn’t argue, since she was feeling a bit lazy this morning anyway. Besides, with Cam gone all afternoon, she could curl up next to the woodstove and finally start working on her survey. Megan picked up a piece of toast Cam had left on her plate. “Did Rose say if anything was stolen?” “She can’t tell yet because of the mess. She said the candy rack was definitely a target, and that they must have been inside for quite some time because the place is littered with empty wrappers.” “They b
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten C amry didn’t even try hiding her smile as she approached Jack’s bandaged hand with the sewing shears. She was beginning to understand why Megan had fallen for the guy. He was sort of endearing, she decided, her smile widening when she took a large snip of the shower-soaked gauze and Jack flinched. “I really can do this myself,” he said, trying to take the scissors from her with his good hand. Camry firmed her grip on his wrist and took another snip. “I can see what a great job you’ve been doing. Those are some mean-looking scars on your hands and wrists. They look like burn marks.” She stopped snipping and arched an inquiring brow. “Are they reminders not to tug on the devil’s tail?” Jack turned his uninjured palm up to look at it, then slowly closed his hand into a fist and dropped it to his lap under the table. “No, they’re to remind me why I became a pacifist.” She snorted. “How’s that been working for you?” She loosened the wet bandage. “So tell me, Jack, are you reall
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven “J ack Stone is Wayne Ferris?” Grace whispered, plopping down on the single bed in shock. Camry’s announcement brought utter silence to the tiny bedroom. Megan also froze in surprise, torn between wanting to strangle her sister and wanting to hug her for taking the burden off her shoulders—though she probably wouldn’t have been quite so blunt about it. Camry straightened with a box of baby clothes in her hands. “And he’s claiming he broke Megan’s heart so that she would come running home, because he thought she was in danger.” She shot Megan a frown. “Seems Meg forgot to mention that a man was murdered in camp just before she realized she was pregnant.” Grace looked from Camry to Megan. “But why was he calling himself Wayne Ferris?” “It was an alias,” Camry said. “He claims he was working undercover to get close to one of the students; that the kid was a runaway, and his parents had hired Jack to find him.” “Is this true, Meg?” Grace asked. “A man was murdered on your st
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve J ack sat on his snowmobile on the lake in front of Megan’s house, sipping coffee from his Thermos as he watched the MacKeage family in action. Greylen had arrived on a snowmobile laden with equipment about twenty minutes ago, and Grace MacKeage had pulled into the driveway in their SUV shortly after. Camry, in a coat thrown over her pajamas and unlaced boots on her feet, was battling the cold by dancing in place as she added her own two cents to the send-off. When Grace wasn’t playing the buffer between Megan and Grey, she was eyeing Jack, apparently trying to assimilate what she knew about Wayne Ferris with the man her daughter was heading into the woods with this morning. Jack shot her a wink. Grace immediately left the group and walked over to him. “May I offer you a word of advice, Mr. Stone?” she asked, her expression congenial. “I only take advice from people who call me Jack.” He pulled out a cup and large Thermos from his saddlebag, poured out some hot cocoa, an
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen J ack added more twigs to the small fire he had going, gave the remaining gravy a stir, and licked the spoon clean. He then settled back on his leather jacket and ski pants, which he’d taken off and laid over some fir boughs to make a bed. He closed his eyes with a sigh, thinking that if he got any smarter he might scare himself. Being out here alone with Megan was just like when they’d been out on the tundra, only better. This time there weren’t any squabbling students to babysit or honking geese trying to peck him for messing with their young; it was just the two and a half of them in the middle of miles of wilderness. Yup, he sure loved seeing a plan come together. Jack fell asleep with a smile, thinking life didn’t get any better than having the little woman off at work while he kept the home fires burning. With that thought warming his heart, he drifted off into dreamland. His mother visited him first, her radiant smile surrounding Jack with familiar serenity. “I
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen J ack walked into camp three hours later to find Megan curled up on his suit. He also found four empty candy wrappers and half a bag of cheese curls on the ground beside her—which explained the orange powder all over her face. “Trust me, playing possum only gets a person in trouble,” he said, knowing damn well she was awake. He picked up the bag of cheese curls and stuffed them in the pack basket. “Been snooping, have you? And eating my stash?” “You ate my lunch,” she shot back, as she snuggled deeper into his suit. “What time is it?” He picked up the candy wrappers and threw them in the basket. “Time to dig out the satellite phone and let Greylen know you won’t be back by sunset. The last thing I want are your uncles and cousins coming out to search for us.” She still didn’t move. “You call him. He won’t lecture you.” “No, he’ll just be waiting on my doorstep with a shotgun.” “Daddy prefers a sword,” she mumbled. Jack straightened with the pot in his hand. “A sword?”
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen D amn him, he was going after her gear! She knew it because he hadn’t actually promised that he wouldn’t—apparently thinking that if he didn’t lie to her, she might start trusting him again. He’d obviously forgotten about lies of omission. Megan settled back on the bed of fir boughs he had made after he’d built the fire, and opened his jacket to feel the heat on her neck and chest. She cupped her belly in her hands. “Oh, baby,” she whispered. “I nearly killed us both trying to avoid that…that thing. No, make that all three of us, because Jack would have died trying to save you and me.” She scooted closer to the fire. “So what do you think?” she asked her belly. “Is Jack Stone the sort of man we want in our lives? I think he really does love me.” She patted her belly. “He definitely loves you. I can’t count the times I’ve caught him staring at my stomach. You’d think he’s never seen a pregnant woman before.” She picked up a stick and poked at the fire. “He said he used t
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen J ack woke with a start, unsure if he had dreamed the words or if Megan really had said them. Either way was trouble. When he opened his eyes, Megan’s face was mere inches from his, her expression expectant. Before he could say anything, she cupped his cheeks and touched her lips to his—not with her usual damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-ahead urgency, but with endearingly gentle determination. His arms automatically tightened around her. “This isn’t wise, sweetheart,” he whispered, even as his lips moved of their own volition across her jaw toward her ear. “You’re just restless and edgy right now.” “No, I’m horny,” she said, her hands gripping his hair to better direct his exploration of her throat. She tossed back her head to expose her neck, and arched into him with a shiver. When in hell had she removed all her clothes? “I want you, Jack. I want to feel you inside me.” It sure as hell didn’t get any more direct than that, did it? And she hadn’t called him Wayne, so she
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen I t was just breaking dawn when Megan opened her eyes to find herself wrapped up like a mummy in the sleeping bag. The fire was roaring, her clothes were in a pile beside her, and Jack was nowhere to be found. He’d left a beer bottle full of water next to her clothes, along with a power bar—which meant he’d had at least one more stashed someplace yesterday. Megan squirmed free of the sleeping bag and sat up, only to scramble back under the covers when she realized how cold it was. She reached out one hand to her clothes, sighing in relief to find that Jack had set them by the fire to warm up. She pulled everything under the sleeping bag with her, then contorted in every position imaginable while getting dressed. She was panting by the time she slipped into her boots and stood up. Not bothering to put on her ski suit yet, she headed behind her favorite tree to take care of business, then hustled back to the fire and slipped into her suit. She grabbed the bottle of wate
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen “I would ask what yer intentions are toward Megan.” Jack stopped chopping and looked across his snowmobile’s seat at Kenzie. “Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing.” If his expression was any indication, the huge Scot obviously didn’t like having his question answered with another question. Jack was beginning to see why Grand-père admired these historically fierce Highlanders. Kenzie Gregor could be a throwback himself; despite his modern clothes and short hair, Jack could easily picture the man on a medieval battlefield, wearing a kilt and wielding a sword with lethal accuracy. The guy was well over six feet tall, and when he’d taken off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, Jack had seen enough muscle to make a bear turn tail and run. Or make a woman’s heart melt? “Megan’s like a sister to me,” Kenzie said as he began chopping again. “It’s just as well you feel that way about her. She doesn’t particularly like tall men, anyway.” Kenzie looked over the sle
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen J ack threw down his pen and rubbed his face with a frustrated sigh. He glanced at his watch, saw it was nearly midnight, and decided to give himself twenty more minutes before he set out on his rounds. The snowmobile trip from hell—and a bit of heaven, too—had ended thirty-six hours ago, when Robbie and Greylen had finally dropped Jack off at his house. Megan had been nowhere in sight, but he hadn’t expected her to be. Most likely her parents would be keeping her within arm’s reach for a while, once Greylen told Grace how close they’d come to losing their daughter. Megan and Camry had to stay at Gù Brath for a couple of days anyway, until Megan’s busted pipes were repaired. It seems both Pine Creek and Frog Cove had experienced a bit of a crime wave while Jack had been away. It would probably take Simon a week of Sundays to recover, and another week to finish writing all the reports. That’s why Jack had given him today and tomorrow off and was pulling double duty toni
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty A fter dropping Tom off, Jack drove to TarStone Mountain Ski Resort. He slowly rumbled up and down the parking lot looking for a white Lincoln, then drove up to the entrance of the three-story hotel. He asked the horrified doorman to leave his cruiser where it was parked, stepped inside the bustling lobby, and walked past the line of patrons at the registry desk. “Is Greylen MacKeage available?” he asked the clerk who spotted his badge and came over. “No, sir, he’s not. But Callum MacKeage is available. Or I could page his brother, Morgan, if you prefer.” Jack didn’t want to go to Gù Brath and chance running into Megan. “I’ll speak with Callum, thank you. Would you please call Greylen and ask him to come over here? And also give me a printout of your guest list that would include what they’re driving?” “I don’t know if I’m supposed to do that, sir.” “I’ll handle this, Derek. Thank you,” a gentleman said as he appeared in a doorway behind the counter. “Chief Stone, if you
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one “Y ou know you’re certifiably crazy, don’t you?” Camry said as she drove their “borrowed” trail groomer up the ski lift path of TarStone Mountain in the pitch dark. “Which means I must be crazy, too,” she muttered, giving Megan a sidelong glance before turning left into a narrow cutting in the woods. “I mean, it’s one thing for a panther to actually be a man, or for Robbie’s dead mother to turn into a snowy owl, because that makes convoluted sense for the magic we grew up with. But a dragon, Meg? Hold on!” she yelped when the right track of the snowcat rolled up onto a fallen log. Megan braced herself so she wouldn’t slide into Camry. “Why not a dragon?” she asked as soon as they leveled out. “If they don’t exist, where did the idea for them come from? Somebody had to have seen something that looked like a giant lizard with wings. Who could make up a creature like that?” “The same person who made up all the mythological beasts,” Camry countered. “Someone with a reall
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two I t was noon the next day before Jack found himself cruising back down the lake. He felt surprisingly well rested, though his head still hurt from the rousing arguments he’d had with his ancestors, which had inevitably ended with long-winded lectures from each of them. Walker had dropped off to sleep after only two hours, and every so often Jack had glanced at his brother with envy. When the Old Ones had finally left just before dawn, Jack nudged Walker awake, and had just finished dressing when their mother entered the lodge looking for her older son. She and Walker had sat with Jack while he’d eaten a breakfast of power bars, and they’d chatted about any number of mundane things. Jack was sad his mother hadn’t brought his son for him to play with, but Jack’s father was babysitting. Walker was immensely pleased to learn the baby might be named after him. Then, when Jack’s eyelids had grown heavy, his mother had cradled his head in her lap and sung him to sleep. When
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three D inner turned out to be a birthday party for Elizabeth’s youngest boy, with nearly every kid in town in attendance. Grace told Jack he was welcome to join the adults in the living room; no, he wasn’t expected to bring a present; yes, Megan was around someplace. “Feel free to hunt her down,” Grace had offered just as the birthday boy—Joel, Jack thought his name was—demanded his gram’s attention in the kitchen. Apparently there was a major crisis over the cake’s looking like Big Bird instead of Curious George. Feeling a bit overdressed in the tie and blazer he wore under his police jacket, Jack lingered in the huge foyer of the MacKeage fortress for several minutes, working up the courage to venture into the chaos. In that time he witnessed no fewer than a dozen kids, ranging in age from five to thirteen, sliding down the curving banister at breakneck speeds—with no adult to supervise them. The kids did appear to have a method to their madness, though. The older one
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four J ack turned up the volume on the television, then returned to packing his gear as he listened to the news. The Great Discovery, which had happened three days ago, was still making the headlines. Canada certainly was on everyone’s map now. And Cùram de Gairn was a lot more powerful than Jack had realized, not to mention a genius. There had been a small natural disaster, all right, but it hadn’t been crude oil that had bubbled to the surface. Instead the earthquake had spawned several frothing geysers of the purest, sweetest water ever discovered, from what was being referred to as the largest subterranean aquifer in the world. And the upside was the First Nation People living in that area were scrambling to bottle the clear liquid gold for international export. Jack buckled his pack shut, then walked over and picked up his rifle. He opened and closed the breech to double-check that the weapon wasn’t loaded, then replaced the regular scope with a night-vision scope.
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five I t was late the next afternoon before a very silent Camry stopped the snowcat in front of Megan’s home, and an equally silent Jack and Megan climbed out. But just as soon as Camry drove off—speeding straight down the camp road toward Main Street—they both burst out laughing. “When I’m ninety years old,” Megan chortled, “I’ll still remember the look on Cam’s face when she finally realized what was happening.” “She sure can move fast when she needs to,” Jack said, his arm coming around Megan’s shoulders as he guided her up the porch stairs. “We are sooo going to pay for this,” she said, turning the doorknob, only just now realizing that she hadn’t locked up when she’d left in such a hurry yesterday. Was it really less than twenty-four hours ago? It seemed like a lifetime, she was so tired. “Do you think they’ll be able to get the smell out of the snowcat?” she asked with a giggle. Jack pulled her to a halt just as she started to open the door. “Whoa. You won’t get th
Chapter Twenty-five
Epilogue A t precisely 7:08 p.m. on March 20, the exact time of the vernal equinox and during one of the worst spring blizzards in recent history, Jack finally kissed his very pregnant bride in front of an eighteen-hundred-year-old priest, two drùidhs, six time-traveling highland warriors, and a whole slew of MacKeages and MacBains—none of whom thought it at all strange to have a dragon in the wedding party. Well, a few of the spouses did—especially Walter Sprague, Elizabeth’s husband. The poor high school principal had nearly fainted when William had walked into Gù Brath’s huge living room with Elizabeth on his arm, then taken his place beside Kenzie and Matt, the other two groomsmen. Jack had considered asking Simon to be his best man, but seeing how there was to be a mythological creature in attendance, he had asked Robbie MacBain instead. “Come on,” Megan said, dragging Jack down the makeshift aisle behind the procession of wedding attendants as they headed toward the dining room.
Epilogue
Letter from LakeWatch Dear Reader, Every day I am privileged to witness an abundance of animals going about their daily business in my little corner of this mysteriously interconnected world. And whether their creatural antics move me to laughter or tears, I am forever in awe of their powerful sense of survival, innate curiosity, and playfulness. At any given moment, I can look out a window here at LakeWatch and see something happening. My short list of visitors consists of common birds, squirrels, loons, osprey, eagles, fox, raccoon, deer, moose, and the occasional coyote. My husband, Robbie, and I have watched rutting bucks battle it out in our woods, os-preys plunge into the lake for their dinner, and chickadees land on unsuspecting visitors in search of a treat. We have stifled giggles as we watched baby raccoons swat at the wind chimes outside our bedroom window at one in the morning, and we’ve sucked in horrified breaths as a really brave or really dumb squirrel challenged a skun
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