Forbidden, The Bittersweet Vampire Chronicles, Book 1 Page 6

  Chapter 5

  As they wove their way between the sleeping forms of the MacDonnel clansmen, Ariel inhaled a deep breath of the cool night air, trying to sooth away any traces of the apprehension she’d begun to feel since gathering as a large group for the evening feast. Ariel had certain…abilities…some of which she’d rather not mention to anyone else. And earlier, the first stirrings of ‘death’ had softly whispered in her ear, rattling her calm. Surely that unusual wisp of a sound had just been a trick of her imagination.

  Yes, that was it. She was just tired. Nothing to worry about, she convinced herself. And yet, perhaps she should warn her loyal friend, Edgar, just in case.

  Ignoring Kaid, who propped himself up on one elbow when he heard their approach, she turned right and walked the outskirts of the slumbering men to find the guard that was her rock whenever she needed him. Though Ariel had learned to stumble around a little and pretend otherwise, she could see perfectly in the dark, therefore, she saw the giant bear of an older man grin when he recognized who was coming towards him, his eyes lighting up with warm affection mingled with a spot of concern.

  When she was close enough, he spread his arms, wrapping her in a big, burly, welcoming embrace.

  Ariel could always tell how pleased Edgar was when she sought him out for comfort just as she had when she was a toddler...

  [Ariel~past]

  Supposedly, the first time she’d heard him speaking from afar, in that oddly familiar, gravelly voice, she’d flown as fast as her chubby little legs could carry her, all the way down to the guard post by the gate, where he was starting his shift for the day. Unbeknownst to her at the time, Edgar had recently lost his wife and son in childbirth. When she’d finally reached him, her big violet eyes had stared up…up…up…in fascination at the tall-as-a-tree bearded man. Then she’d stretched her chubby little arms out towards him. The other warrior by the gate, and the two men in the guard post above, had insisted that he needed to pick her up.

  A bit warily, he’d finally plucked her from the ground, at which point, Ariel had immediately wrapped an arm around his neck. Then she’d analyzed his face, gently poking and inquisitively tugging on his scruffy beard and hair as she twisted the rough strands around her tiny fingers. They had soon drawn a small crowd, and even though Ariel smiled at the other men who curiously came up to gently talk to their lord’s newly-adopted daughter, when anyone made an attempt to take Ariel away from her newfound friend, she had mulishly turned her face into the huge man, holding on even tighter. From that point on, a sort of bond had formed. And for the next few years, until she outgrew naps, you could occasionally see a guard on duty at the massive gate, with a small child snuggly wrapped in a plaid and hoisted up on one burly arm, taking her afternoon nap against his chest. Sometimes Ariel had even crawled up to sit on his shoulders, piling her little plaid on top of his head so that it inevitably draped on either side of his face. Then she would lay her cheek on top of the plaid and fall asleep.

  [Ariel~present]

  The pair of them had been quite a sight to see. But during all of those interactions, as well as right now, Ariel could sense how pleased Edgar secretly was with her for singling him out, for making him feel needed and important to her.

  “What did those boys of yours do now?” he asked in that gruff, raspy voice that Ariel utterly adored. The tone was very similar to a voice that sometimes sang in her dreams.

  Even though nobody could overhear them, Ariel still lowered her voice as she assured him, “Bran was just goading me like normal, nothing new. I actually came over here to discuss a private concern I’m having.”

  He pulled back to look down into her sweet face. “And what would that be, lass?”

  Ariel absently rubbed his brawny upper arm. “Something isn’t feeling quite right to me this eve.”

  “Alright,” he nodded grimly, “anything specific?”

  Ariel shook her head.

  He gave another nod. “I will make sure everyone is extra vigilant and on alert.”

  Ariel smiled up at him. “I knew you would either way. Thank you.”

  He stared at her for a long moment. “Thank you for the warning.”

  “Well, hopefully nothing will come of it.”

  After wrapping her in another big bear hug for a moment of revitalizing comfort, they both knew it was time for Ariel to be on her way before the future Lord got too territorial. “Och, lass, now back over to Kaid you go, before he starts that fierce growling he’s known for. I’m sure he is but a breath away from stomping over here to drag you back, as it is.”

  With one last squeeze, she stretched up to give Edgar a peck on the cheek, then turned to go.

  Upon returning to her spot, Bran was already lying down, his broad back to her. Kaid was sitting up, impatiently waiting. He abruptly pulled Ariel down next to him. She could feel the anger rolling off of his muscular frame.

  Catching her jaw in his hand, his voice was full of lethal focus as he hissed, “I don’t like when you go to Edgar instead of coming to me when you’re upset!”

  Ariel felt the blood seep from her cheeks. Kaid was unbelievably harsh with anyone he felt was taking her affection away from him. That’s why she and Bran had kept their relationship a secret before. Knowing that she had to put on her most convincing argument, Ariel vehemently whispered, “I was only telling him good night! But don’t even bother pretending that you actually care about me anymore!”

  His brow furrowed in surprise. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he growled ominously, his hold on her tightening.

  “You don’t even want me around anymore! You disserted me last night because you like Kristin better than me! I’m just a burden that’s always in your way these days,” she exaggerated dramatically, trying to get Kaid on the defensive. Burying her face in his chest, Ariel whispered, “And now you’re planning on getting married and completely abandoning me!”

  A snort of amusement came from Bran.

  Ariel did not find this situation to be the least bit funny! She was trying to distract Kaid from his negative thoughts about her friend, Edgar. Swiveling in Kaid’s grip, she whacked her non-friend on the back with her fist, hard enough that Bran grunted in surprise, than burst out with even deeper chuckles of amusement.

  Rolling towards them, Bran assured her, “Just because Kaid wanted an extended time of privacy with another girl, doesn’t mean that he loves you any less. He still wants you around. He’s just getting on up in years and, after a while, dallying in the barn becomes hard on an old man’s knees and back.”

  “Careful,” Kaid inserted softly, his tone wryly amused.

  “Our boy hasn’t told me the name of his future bride, either, but I can already tell that he’s excited about whomever he’s picked. So we need to be happy for him.”

  “I’m happy for him,” Ariel grumbled sullenly and felt Kaid's ire completely cooling. She wanted to be happy that he would soon marry. She really did. Watching Kaid’s face with wide-eyed curiosity, she whispered, “Do you know if Father has made arrangements for me to marry, as well?”

  Kaid opened his mouth to speak, but no words immediately came out, causing Ariel’s shoulders to droop.

  “I’m sure he will find someone for you,” Kaid loosely extended. “If not, there’s always Bran,” he teased with a quiet laugh, the sound warm and deep.

  “At this point, I think Bran would prefer Robert over me,” Ariel muttered, just to annoy her ex.

  “Really?” Kaid chortled low. “That is new information that I’d never considered.”

  Ariel felt Brandos roll towards her again, his hands clamping around her waist in an aggressive gesture. “Darling, do we need to have another talk?” Bran’s tone was close to a growl.

  Taking advantage of this very rare opportunity to get Bran in trouble, she softly gasped at where he’d placed one of his hands…right at the area where she’d been injured by his sword. “Don’t…” Ariel breathed, arching a little as she cringed
away from Bran’s hard grip.

  Ariel felt a burst of fury immediately flood thru Kaid as he growled orders for his male best friend not to touch her on that side again, that she was still healing from her sword injury.

  With a breathy whimper, Ariel hid her face against Kaid’s neck until she could stop smiling. She heard Bran’s disgruntled grumbling as he re-settled under the covers. A small amount of guilt tried to trickle through Ariel but she firmly flicked it away. Bran definitely deserved it, and Ariel had to garner revenge on the brute whenever an opportunity actually presented itself. This was for all the times he’d purposefully gotten her so angry that her eyes had glowed, just so that he could sneer under his breath how normal it looked. She should be grateful to him for training her to keep her emotions under control when she was in a volatile situation, but she didn’t feel like being thankful. Ariel just wanted her friend back…but it didn’t look like that would ever be a possibility.

  Wanting to calm her best friend, Ariel looped her arms around Kaid’s neck. “How about I keep you and Bran can have your betrothed?” she half teased, playfully pecking a kiss right next to his mouth and then exuberantly pressing her cheek against his as she tightened her arms around the big warrior’s neck.

  She could tell that her possessive statement and sweet display of affection had immediately dampened down any lingering anger and greatly pleased Kaid.

  Wrapping thick arms around her, Kaid held her against him as he patiently waited to see if she would continue.

  In a loud fake whisper, she added, “Maybe you could give your betrothed some coin to marry Bran.” Grinning, she leaned over and pressed a kiss near the other side of his mouth and then affectionately snuggled her face against his left cheek as she hugged him tighter again. He liked that.

  “It would have to be a lot of coin, though,” she teased, unable to prevent a muffled giggle from escaping because she knew Bran was becoming irritated. “Perhaps you could skip all that counting and just hand her a big gold bar. That amount might be enough.”

  An amused chuckle came from deep within Kaid’s throat. “Whatever you want, lass,” he gently rumbled, gazing down at her with adoring eyes.

  “Really?” she asked with feigned excitement.

  “Of course,” he replied generously.

  “I love you!” she whispered, sleepily laying her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes.

  Not loosening his grip, Kaid scooted further into the bedding and gently reclined with her resting against him.

  “You’re both addle-brained,” Bran muttered, waiting on Kaid to rotate Ariel to the middle before dutifully moving backwards and firmly squashing her between the two of them in an effort to keep her warm during the cold highland evening.

  Silently reaching back, Ariel gently pinched Bran for calling her addle-brained. She always retaliated. It was in her nature. His almost silent chuckle, however, confused her. He was in an odd mood.

  Sometime during the night, Ariel felt Bran carefully shift around and gently tug at the blankets on top of her slender form. His muscled arms carefully drew her out of Kaid’s slumbering hold, tucking her against his own side while he adjusted the furs around their bodies. Ariel was still in a dream-like state from last year’s hunt--during a time when they’d been far from enemies--so she snuggled her face into the crook of his shoulder, affectionately pressing her lips to the side of his warm neck.

  Ariel thought she heard a soft approving groan.

  “Bran-ny…” she drawled sleepily, her soft tone tinged with laughter as Ariel used the private pet name that she had only ever used when they were in a relationship, and alone, because he would always pretend that the name aggravated him. Then he’d lock his hands with hers, playfully shoving her backwards so that he could pounce. This always led to a lot of laughter, wrestling and a whole lot of kissing.

  When Ariel felt the large warrior suddenly stiffen, it jolted her out of her sleep-tranced fog, her mortification increasing as she slowly realized what she’d just said.

  Lifting her head a little, Ariel’s hair flowed across Brandos’ chest as she grumpily glared down at him, her gaze softly glowing. Pointedly wiping the back of her hand across her mouth to remove the kiss from her lips, she then childishly pretended to wipe it across Bran’s tunic.

  Green eyes narrowing, he immediately pinched her hard on the bottom in retaliation for the name and kiss removal, and she couldn’t help but be amused by his expression. She quietly laughed, her soft chest vibrating against the hard surface of his.

  Still smirking, she modestly pushed away, but he rolled to the side, his muscular arms relentlessly pulling her back on top of his warm, broad frame and holding her there. He really was acting weird but Ariel was too tired to care either way. Thankfully, he was not the only one who could be exasperating. Mulishly trying her best to annoy him now, Ariel adjusted her body on top of his chest, frog-style, with the sides of her knees pressing into his ribs. Flipping her hair, she angled long, soft curls to cover his whole face as she tucked her cold nose against his neck. Smiling wickedly, she then rested her head next to Bran on his beloved, spotless pillow.

  Disgruntlement quickly settled over her, however, when her actions failed to annoy him. In a last ditch effort to be tediously over-demanding, like the women Bran hated, she grumpily whimpered, “My back hurts.”

  “Liar,” Bran grumbled low in his throat, carefully moving her silky hair off of his face. Then his big hands slid down to cover her back, large fingers patiently kneading. Despite her irritation with his high-handedness, she softly moaned in approval. Feeling safe and secure in his strong hold, she sighed contentedly, and immediately fell back into a drowsy limpness. Her imagination was obviously playing tricks on her when she felt his mouth pressing against the side of her head before sleep completely overtook her again.

  [Ariel~past]

  Before their relationship had abruptly ended, Bran had often come into Kaid’s room after the evening meal to relax, dutifully asking Ariel if he could share “Sephy’s spot” before claiming the empty area on the huge, extremely-soft bed. Ariel didn’t remember who Sephy was, or even if Sephy was a boy or a girl. But every time Ariel left the front gate, she would stop and use her finger to trace a big ‘S’ on the outer wall in the same spot, as if that was some sort of signal to Sephy so that she/he/it would know where Ariel was staying. As she traced over the ‘S’, she would ask the guards if Sephy had come yet. When they teased her, inevitably answering no, she’d remind them to make sure to let Sephy in.

  Also, out of habit, she had continued to faithfully save Sephy a spot, even in the dining hall at the head table where Ariel sat next to Kaid. The spot was small, but Ariel loyally saved it for Sephy. She usually served Sephy a sweet cake in a small trencher and then later she’d decide that Sephy was full and eat it herself, which never failed to make Kaid’s lips twitch in amusement.

  Numerous times when Bran shared Sephy’s spot in bed, he’d end up feeling too comfortable to move and drift to sleep right there. Usually, the next morning Ariel would awaken, lying on her side with one strong, thick forearm crossed over the front of her chest and a huge hand latched onto her shoulder to keep her held to the warm, hard body pressing into her from behind. And, yet, whenever she opened her eyes to see Kaid asleep in front of her, his large hand clasping her arm or tangled in the long, curly ends of her hair, it had often baffled her for a few sleepy blinks of time, wondering who could be holding her. Then Ariel would softly smile, pleased with her boyfriend’s possessiveness. Gently easing out of the warrior’s tight hold, she would always have to move back over to Kaid in order to keep Bran from getting in trouble with his best friend. They had been lucky Kaid was such a deep sleeper.

  Since the day he’d broken up with her, Bran had only slept in Kaid’s room a few times. On one occasion, he hadn’t asked permission if he could share Sephy’s spot--a verbal request that Ariel had always required. When she’d pointed this out as he stood by the bed, he
’d scoffed, “Sephy isn’t even real! And if this Sephy person was real, I wouldn’t want to meet him, or her, or it. No doubt Sephy is just as weird and strange as you are!”

  One moment Ariel had been sitting up in bed, the next instant she’d had Bran pinned to the wall by the throat, his feet slightly dangling off the ground. With her hair flying behind her in an unnatural state, her violet eyes blazing and her fangs bared, she’d slowly growled out, “If you ever say a bad word about my Sephy again I will hit you so hard that your jaw breaks and your teeth shatter and I will not heal you! I may be a freak but you will look like a freak. Do you understand me, Bran-dos?”

  “Aye,” he’d gritted out, thoroughly enthralled by her beautiful, angry visage and barely able to hear his own response because Kaid was laughing so hard.

  Ariel had abruptly dropped Bran to his feet and then negligently turned her back on him, as if she wasn’t the least bit worried about him trying to retaliate.

  Slowly straightening his tunic, Bran grumbled almost approvingly, “Someone is a bit…feisty…this evening!”

  Kaid was lying on the bed, holding his stomach, gasping for breath, still making loud chortles of amusement. “I’ve been waiting forever for you to spew off some insolent comment about Sephy!” he hooted. “Forever!”

  “Thanks for the warning, friend,” Bran grumbled almost disinterestedly, his eyes still securely fixed on Ariel, who was now calmly sliding back into bed.

  “If I had warned you, you would have done it even sooner. I figured I’d let you take your life in your own hands at your own risk. Plus, it gave me something to look forward to.”

  With an excessive amount of dignity, Bran had then inquired if he could share Sephy’s spot. Once Ariel disdainfully slid her eyes over to him, stared him down for a long moment, then regally nodded her agreement, Bran had climbed onto the bed next to her. After Kaid had fallen asleep that night, Bran had crowded in close to Ariel, his rock-hard arms wrapped around her from behind, one hand possessively resting on her stomach or low on her hips. And any time she’d tried to wiggle away, it had made him twice as aggressive. It was as if he’d wanted to silently claim her and the only way he knew how was by holding onto her as tight as he could.

  Another night, Bran had taunted her during the evening meal and she had immediately retaliated by “accidently” throwing a small, baby carrot across the table and hitting him right in the middle of his forehead. Ariel had pegged him so hard that the carrot had bounced back, at which point she had efficiently lifted her arm up and caught it in the air.

  The “Oops!” Ariel had sweetly exclaimed was followed by hearty, explosive laughter from the men around her and she just barely managed to dive backwards in time to avoid Bran’s murderous, lunging reach across the table.

  Kaid's amused, “You’d better hide well this time, lass!” had followed her as Ariel quickly fled outside into the moon shrouded darkness. Then--to avoid Bran’s pursuit of revenge--she’d used a talent that no one was aware she possessed. Ariel had jumped up to Kaid’s second floor window, gracefully bounding up and inside with very little extra effort. From her advantageous viewpoint, Ariel had smirked as she watched Bran get more and more frustrated while he meticulously searched for her in the courtyard and inner bailey. Several people had followed him out to watch the spectacle.

  With his back to the castle, Bran had stopped for a moment to slowly survey the walls for any movement and Ariel had actually been so bold as to shoot an arrow at him from her lofty perch. The sharp point had left two holes thru his favorite plaid as it plunged between the lower half of his upper legs and stuck into the ground in front of him.

  Ooohhh…he had been so furious. And the fact that the other clansmen had witnessed her small victory and hooted with laughter had not helped his arrogant pride one bit, or his temper.

  When Bran stormed into Kaid’s room later that night, he’d come to an abrupt halt, completely shocked to see her nestled in bed next to his sleeping best friend, especially since he’d had his most trusted and loyal companions watching every entrance for her return…

  Slowly pivoting around, Brandos radiated utter menace as he softly shut the door and very carefully placed the bar down. His eyes flashing green fire at her, he walked to the water pitcher and bowl, meticulously washing his hands and face before drying them off with a cloth. Apparently, Bran wanted to be neat and clean before he killed her. As he turned and locked eyes with Ariel, he was practically growling in anticipation of getting his hands on her.

  A little panicky, Ariel flicked the covers off and bounded out of bed.

  Bran froze in front of her, his green eyes fixated on the long, long legs that were now on display.

  “What are you wearing?” he hissed in a low savage voice.

  In a tone that indicated he was daft for not knowing, she replied, “One of Kaid’s old tunics.”

  His jaw clenched in muted fury.

  She sent him a baffled look. “Why does it matter what I wear to sleep in?”

  “You have nightdresses that are far more appropriate! That one doesn’t even cover your knees! Not even close!”

  “Well, I wasn’t going to announce where I was hiding by traipsing down the hall to my room to get a nightdress. Plus, I like this tunic. It’s not so confining.”

  “Obviously!” he grumbled, green eyes glowing dangerously.

  “It’s not like you’ve never seen my legs before, Brandos. We’ve been swimming together since we were little.”

  “You’re older now. It’s different.”

  “It was not that long ago that the three of us played chicken at the pond, me on Kaid’s shoulders and Lauren on yours. And when our legs were showing that day you didn’t complain one bit! And you sure didn’t seem to mind that her long legs were wrapped around your overly thick, pompous neck, either.” Her eyes narrowed in remembrance.

  A look of pure male satisfaction crossed the warrior’s face and he gave a soft chuckle. Ignoring her exaggerated insult, he purred, “Well, Lauren didn’t stay on my shoulders for very long once the game began, now, did she?”

  Instantly defensive at his tone, she rejoined, “The point of the game is to knock off the opponent on the other person’s shoulders!”

  The sparkle in his warm green eyes indicated how much he’d enjoyed her jealousy as he niggled, “I don’t think pulling her hair was very nice of you.”

  Ariel gave an indignant gasp. “She jerked my hair first and scratched me across the face.”

  “She was trying to get you to fall off. When you retaliated by slinging her across the pond by her hair, that was a little different.”

  Ariel suppressed a small giggle. “Kaid almost drowned, he was laughing so hard.”

  “Until he saw the blood running down your face,” Bran remarked with a sarcastic twist of his lips.

  Ariel cringed. “Umm…yeah…he has stated several times since then that I’m not allowed to ‘play’ with her anymore.”

  Brandos gave another low chuckle. “I don’t think she’ll ask you again.”

  “I told her I was sorry!” she muttered impatiently, her face flushing.

  “Kaid still growls under his breath sometimes when he sees her.”

  Ariel's expression softened with fondness.

  “He’s not very forgiving of someone who intentionally harms his baby girl,” he mocked, using one of Kaid’s oldest pet names for her.

  “Except for you!” she disputed indignantly. “He allows you to harass me all you want.”

  He shrugged wide shoulders, his tone matter-of-fact. “I’m his best friend. It’s practically my responsibility to pester his little sister.”

  Ariel nodded with feigned disinterest. “Yes, because you’re basically like another one of my brothers.”

  One darkly arched eyebrow contradicted her.

  “That’s how I think of you, at least,” she shrugged nonchalantly. “As the annoying fourth brother I never wanted.” She tittered at her own joke, savo
ring his pursed lips and feigned look of irritation.

  Ariel angled her body towards the bed. “You locked the door. Does that mean you’re staying in here tonight?” she casually asked, her tone deliberately indifferent. “If so, I suppose I can go ahead and lie down. I need to get comfortable before I listen to your long, heartfelt apology for being so mean to me earlier while I was trying to enjoy my evening meal.”

  His low chuckle was quite menacing. “Oh, do you?” Bran’s green eyes were fixated on her, an almost admiring look on his handsome face.

  Smiling impishly, Ariel nodded then started to turn away. Gasping softly, as if she had just thought of something good, she turned back to him, her eyes wide and sparkling with excitement. “Or, if you want…” she whispered, “…I could show you how I got away from you this evening.”

  Bran continued to stare down at her, obviously trying hard not to look intrigued.

  When he didn’t respond to her offer, she deflated a little and shrugged, but before she could turn away he grabbed her upper arms and pulled her into his chest, quietly hissing into her ear, “Alright! Fine! Show me!” He was obviously irritated with himself for being unable to resist his own curiosity.

  Bran’s green gaze suddenly narrowed on her lips and it seemed to Ariel that he held her for a few heartbeats longer than necessary, no doubt tempted to squeeze the life out of her, or something equally as fun.

  Wiggling free, Ariel walked across the room to her wooden chest and pulled out her boy pants. When she turned back around his eyes were definitely riveted on the long expanse of smooth, bared leg she was exhibiting.

  With a small, confused smile quirking her lips, she put on the boy pants beneath the tunic, then walked to where he still stood by the window. Lifting up on tip-toe, she set her hands on his muscled shoulders to whisper the rules by his ear. “You cannot tell anyone. You cannot wake up Kaid. And, you have to promise not to leave this room during my demonstration, even if something goes wrong.”

  Pursing his lips, he grudgingly nodded, used to her strange rules.

  Moving over to the uncovered window, she sat down on the wide ledge and pulled her legs up.

  “Be careful doing that,” Brandos cautioned, his chest lightly brushing against her body.

  “Don’t bump me or I will think that you’re really trying to murder me,” she teased. Leaning further out the window, she whispered, “I was just going to show you this medal loop where you can put a rope through…” With no warning, she abruptly tumbled out the window.

  Ariel heard Bran’s rough exclamation right as she felt her body bang against the side of the castle, her left arm caught in his frantic grip.

  Darn it!

  It was probably a bad time to get the giggles, but she couldn’t seem to stem her outpouring of humor as Bran’s muscled bulk easily tugged her light frame back up and over the window ledge, practically crushing the air from her lungs as his thick arms protectively locked her against his broad chest. She could hear his wild heartbeat. The big warrior obviously mistook her shaking with laughter for crying and soothingly patted her back. “It’s alright, lass. You’re safe now.”

  Wiping under her eyes, she lifted her face and grinned up at him as she chided, “Thanks for catching me, Brandos, but you messed up my trick.”

  “I saved your life!” he hissed indignantly.

  Staring at him with a fondness that stemmed from old times, she patted his chest consolingly. “Your reactions were amazingly quick and I appreciate your impressive efforts on my behalf…especially considering how much you dislike me, but I can jump out of the window and then back in all on my own.”

  He stared at her for a long moment, calmly digesting this new tidbit of information. “No rope?”

  “No rope.”

  He raised one dark brow, grudgingly impressed.

  “Do you want to see?” she offered, even though he still seemed to have a death grip on her.

  Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly.

  “You could toss me out…” she offered cheerfully.

  Bran looked at her, his head cocking to one side, quiet amusement in his shrewd gaze. “Very tempting…”

  [Ariel~present]

  Way before dawn, something in the vast clearing of sleeping warriors, roused Ariel from sleep. Not ready to wake up, she snuggled in deeper and felt the hard, male arm tighten around her. Failing to go back to sleep, Ariel soon realized what had stirred her awake.

  The noise.

  It was a beautiful, soul-moving sound that struck both joy and utter terror in her heart. It was the sound that indicated an approaching birth…or an impending death. A sense of unease inched the length of her spine. Amongst her clan, Ariel was the only one who could hear it and she had learned long ago to pretend otherwise.

  Stiffening, Ariel breathed quick and shallow, her heartbeats thudding in her ears as she slowly lifted her head. The sound was a light clamor right now but oddly spread out above the large clearing where the MacDonnel warriors slept. She was the only female…so it couldn’t be a birth. She was far from pregnant. A sour thought. That meant it had to indicate death. From the multiplied sound, it meant that a whole wagonload of death was coming their way.

  She heard Bran’s low, sleep roughened whisper in the dark. “What is it, Ariel?”

  Tipping her head down, her eyes were filled with torment as she absently stared into his green gaze, her mind elsewhere as the magnitude of her precarious situation washed over her, leaving Ariel drenched in fear. “Bran…” she whispered almost despairingly, her voice a quavering mess.

  “What is amiss?” he demanded.

  Visibly steadying herself, she took a deep breath and gently shook her head. “I—I can’t tell you.” Her voice sounded strained and taut. “I don’t trust you with my secrets anymore.”

  “Why are your eyes aglow?” he drawled, determined to find out.

  She was pale but defiant. “Because that’s what the eyes of weird, evil people do. They glow,” she gritted out evenly.

  “Your wee claws are digging into my arm,” he mused idly.

  With a tiny gasp, Ariel released her hold and looked down at Bran’s wrist where five bloody cuts indicated that she had unconsciously hurt him.

  “I’m so sorry,” Ariel whispered awkwardly, agonized and embarrassed at what she had unintentionally done. Pressing her hand over the wounds, she easily healed the bloody gashes. Lifting her head, she found him watching her closely.

  “I think you did it on purpose,” he teased.

  Ariel shrugged. “Think what you want.”

  “What’s wrong with my favorite lil brat?” he persisted.

  Trying to hide the quaver in her voice, she negated his words with a stiff shake of her head. “I’m not your favorite little anything anymore, if I ever was to begin with.”

  “You were,” he confirmed quietly.

  A slight bitter tone entered her next words and she didn’t even care. “Your favorite gullible idiot?”

  A muscle knotted in his jaw. “The end of our relationship was a result of decisions that you made.”

  Ariel blanched, suddenly understanding. He was obviously talking about her marriage proposal again. When she’d gone to her father and told him that she wanted Bran for a husband. Her decision to do that had apparently turned him against her. The color drained out of her face, leaving her lips bloodless and trembling. The fact that he found her actions so offensive hurt Ariel’s heart. He thought she’d been reaching too high, and was insulted that she thought herself his equal. The turbulent emotions in her glowing eyes suddenly went away as she wearily closed her eyes and put a trembling hand to her head. “If you thought so little of me, you should not have wasted your time,” she told him flatly. “Not that it matters any longer. You’ve quickly made up for lost time by courting half the girls in the clan since our break-up.”

  Seething with resentment, Bran taunted, “You really think I waited until we’d broken up to start seeing o
ther girls?”

  An icy finger touched Ariel’s heart at his hurtful admission and she recoiled away from him, paling even further.

  He caught her wrist. “And who have you been seeing?” he asked suspiciously.

  Ariel’s mind didn’t hear the suspicion, she only heard him pointing out what she had already figured out on her own…that nobody apparently wanted her. But Ariel’s pride prevented her from admitting that she’d been all alone since they’d broken up.

  Unfortunately, she couldn’t keep the unhappiness out of her tone. “I’m going to find a bush.”

  He didn’t like that at all. Grabbing her waist, he pulled her back down on top of his thick chest.

  Inwardly drooping with defeat, Ariel didn’t struggle against Brandos because she refused to let him see how much his admission had hurt her. She lay there limply as he tucked her head under his chin, one hand in her thick mane of pale hair, the other rubbing up and down her back. Ariel was once again grateful that Kaid was such a deep sleeper. It was his one shortcoming as a soldier but it had kept her and Bran from getting in trouble with him hundreds of times.

  Despite his harsh words, Bran’s actions seemed friendly enough and she allowed her body to once again relax into the security of his strong, well-made form, but she did not drop her guard against him. After waiting a few moments, she wordlessly pushed herself to her feet. When Bran made as if he was going to follow her, she hissed, “I need privacy!”

  As Ariel soundlessly wove through the mass of sleeping soldiers, she quickly analyzed which men had the humming noise above them and by the time she made her way past a perimeter guard, down a path, to the privacy of a bush, she knew that out of the four hunting parties they would split into when the sun came up this morning, it was her hunting party that was destined to meet their destruction.

  Thankfully, for the first time ever, Kaid and Brandos would be in a separate hunting party from hers. Today they were scheduled to have a highly anticipated contest of skills to see whose group could bag the most birds. Bran and Kaid were more than eager to see how their bow skills matched up to her unnaturally accurate archery abilities.

  Exiting her bush, Ariel came out to the darkened forest path and sat down, leaning against a small, sturdy tree and giving her back to the thoughtful guard who watched her closely from a good distance away. When she felt a wave of anxiety wash over her protector, she knew that Bran was approaching. No doubt her guard didn’t relish the thought of having to go toe-to-toe with that vicious, tall, bulk of muscle if Bran suddenly started in on her, like he normally did.

  “William,” she heard Bran’s deep voice acknowledge the young guard with a nod of respect. Then he was walking down the rock strewn path.

  Stopping next to her, Bran nudged her in the rear with his boot.

  In a stage whisper, she quipped, “Robert? Is that you?”

  “Very funny,” he growled, nudging her in the backside again for punishment.

  Although she had teased him, Ariel was worried and on edge. She flashed him a challenging look, her eyes glowing a warning that he’d better not press his luck.

  She felt a wave of approval from him before he gave a husky laugh. He loved when her eyes were aglow with evil intentions. She’d always liked that about Brandos. Her softly glowing eyes attracted him.

  His sarcasm heavy, he mocked, “You took a long, winding path to your desperately-needed bush.”

  She shrugged. “I’m not a child and it’s not your job to follow me.”

  He gave a low growl. “Just in case you haven’t noticed, you’re the only female in a huge group of males.”

  “There are guards on duty.”

  He snorted. “Yes, but any guards who are drinking spirits to keep themselves company sometimes don’t make the best decisions when they see a warm lass in their area.”

  “What does it matter to you? You’re not in charge of me and you’re not my babysitter.”

  Ariel felt the wave of annoyance that came over him. For some reason he hated when she threw his words back in his face from the day of their break-up and reminded him that he wasn’t her babysitter.

  “Tell me what has you on edge,” he demanded in a low, rumbling voice. “I’ve honestly never seen you that worked up. You were practically vibrating.”

  Looking back down at the ground Ariel absently traced a pattern in the dirt with a small stick. In a quiet voice that was deceptively neutral, she said, “If I’m going to tell you what’s bothering me, there’s a few questions I want you to answer first and you can’t just walk away and ignore me!”

  Thick arms crossed over his chest as he let out an impatient breath. “Fine. What are they?”

  “Who was the girl?” she asked quietly.

  He stared at her blankly. “What do you mean?”

  More than anything Ariel wanted to remain cool and detached. “Who was the girl you were dating when were still together?” she asked her ex-boyfriend frankly.

  Scratching his chin, he stood there tall and unfazed. “I lied about that,” was the blunt reply. “I was never seeing anyone else while we were together.”

  Ariel felt the relief pouring through her entire being. “Well, we were together a long time...”

  “I’m not a cheater,” he assured her smoothly.

  “I never thought you were until you said that earlier. I wanted to know how much more was a lie. I was so naïve and I still am.” She shrugged. “I thought that everything was fine between the two of us when we were together…so obviously I’m not a very good judge. But then that makes me wonder if I mixed up other things in my head.” She shrugged. “I mean, were we ever really in a relationship or did I just presume that since you were kissing me a lot?”

  He let out a little growl. “Of course we were in a relationship!” he hissed.

  “For how long?”

  “Is this really necessary?” he growled impatiently.

  Ariel silently waited for him to answer the question.

  “Years, alright? We dated for several years,” he finally admitted.

  Ariel visibly relaxed. “Well, at least I’m not completely crazy even though I obviously missed a lot of signs that you were not at all happy with me,” she admitted self-consciously. Her mind briefly flickered over the fact that they had been together for years and yet Bran’s lengthiest relationship since her was only a few weeks long. “Since you’re not very good at keeping quiet about anything that irritates you I guess I just assumed that you’d tell me if something was bothering you. Having all of your low-opinions dumped on me at the end wasn’t very easy for me to deal with.” She gave a small snort of laughter. “You should probably feel sorry for the next male that I start seeing. I will probably question his happiness constantly and send him climbing up and over the wall in order to escape me.”

  Even though Ariel could tell that one of her comments had spiked his anger, she didn’t care which one.

  Standing up, she took a deep breath and let it out. “We made a deal.” Not giving Bran a chance to say that he no longer wanted to hear what was bothering her, she looked up into his handsome face and whispered, “Alright Brandos, I need you to quietly mention to some of your most able-bodied men that you have an odd feeling in your gut. Tell them to be on their guard today and prepared for an unexpected attack. However, don’t make such a loud stink that Kaid will worry over my safety and rearrange our groups.”

  Hands on hips, he quietly looked into her mesmerizing eyes for a moment longer, before demanding, “An unexpected attack from whom?”

  With sorrow filling her eyes, Ariel shook her head. “A great amount of death is starting to link itself to our clan, Brandos, but I can’t tell in what form it will be delivered.”

  “Explain to me how you can tell,” he urged quietly, his tone very serious.

  Ariel took another deep breath. “Remember when I was little and you’d carry me back home thru the village?” She didn’t wait for him to nod before continuing, “Every once
in a while I’d make you impatient when I wiggled free and ran up to a random hut. It’s because I heard something there, Bran. A beautiful song. It was like an increase of angelic presence in the spiritual realm right above that particular dwelling. Over time I realized what that sound meant. Within a day of that mesmerizing noise starting, either a babe would be born or someone was slated to die.”

  He stared at her for a moment. “Alright…” the warrior slowly nodded in easy acceptance, patiently waiting for her to explain further.

  Ariel’s eyes filled up with emotion at his calm, easy acceptance of what she was telling him. She had always cherished that character trait in Bran. He never questioned her instincts in supernatural areas or tried to tell her that she was wrong. When she was little, however, he had wisely cautioned her to avoid telling anyone else—besides him and Kaid--about her secrets and, for that, Ariel was immensely grateful to him. Kaid didn’t even know everything that she could do. Nobody did.

  “Brandos, when I was up in the clearing, I would have either guessed that a good number of us had contracted a deadly plague or that one of our groups would be slaughtered in an attack.”

  He watched her for another long moment before calmly asking, “Are you planning on mentioning this to Kaid, as well?”

  “To be honest, I don’t think we should mention it to Kaid or anyone else. If something does happen, it was never brought up.”

  That seemed to make him livid. Bran’s voice was low as he growled, “Kaid was put in charge of this hunt because your father wanted to give him more practice in a leadership role. Lord MacDonnel stayed home this year just for that purpose. Kaid has a right to know if something bad is coming.”

  Stepping forward, Ariel wrapped her hands around his thick upper arms--as much as she could, anyway--then calmly glanced up into his angry face. “Bran…let’s talk that conversation through, alright? Soo…I tell Kaid what I told you. He tells me that maybe it’s just my imagination or maybe the angels singing represent the amount of feathery birds his group is going to kill--because you and I both know that this is his favorite hunting area. We argue. He sulks. We argue some more. He gets angry, saying that we are a very well-trained clan and he believes any of his clansmen will be able to hold their own in a fight. I agree with him, but tell him --for some reason--fate is thinking differently today. He sulks some more. He grumpily mentions the idea of moving hunting areas to our large group of warriors, who all pitch a fit and don’t want to budge from where we’re currently located. I end up wanting to stab him. We go in separate groups. Something bad happens. He feels guilty forever. Or nothing happens, I never hear the end of it, and he has zero faith in my instincts from that point on.”

  Despite the severity of the situation, Bran lightened her mood by chuckling. “I see your point. And, you’re right. It wouldn’t just be Kaid. The group, as a whole, would not be willing to leave, nor would your father move locations if he were here.”

  Ariel nodded. “My instincts are also making me wary of playing with fate too much. I don’t know the consequence that could arise but the dread that fills my stomach tells me that it could be just as bad.”

  They spoke of their options for a little while longer before Brandos asked, “What of Kaid? Can you tell if he will be harmed?”

  “I’m almost certain that he will be fine but the spiritual realm was so full that I couldn’t pinpoint with total accuracy.” She pursed her lips. “If I can get him to take a walk with me in the morning, I will be able to tell for certain.”

  Bran snorted. “You know Kaid will follow you anywhere,” Brandos murmured, clearly relieved that his best friend would not be in danger. Then he quietly looked at her, curiously waiting.

  Ariel inwardly smirked, knowing that Bran was wondering about his own safety. With a straight face, she glanced down at his feet and asked inquiringly, “Are your feet bothering you?”

  “No,” he spoke negligently, obviously distracted, no doubt trying to figure out a subtle way of asking after his own welfare without giving up his grumpy disposition or having it look as if she were doing him a favor.

  Her brow furrowed. “That’s odd. Are they feeling warm? It almost looks like they’re glowing.”

  That got his attention. “Glowing?” he repeated, finally giving his boots more than a cursory glance.

  “Aye, it looks like there are bright candles starting to light up around your ankles.” She angled her head, pale curls brushing against the rosy softness of one cheek as she continued to stare.

  His brows drew down in confusion as he glanced back up at her. “Candles?”

  She shrugged in apparent confusion, her eyebrows lowering in grim concentration. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Casually placing a hand flat on her chest, she gave him a mock glance filled with concern. “I hate to speculate but it’s almost like flames are starting to move up your body.” Ariel bit her full lower lip. “Hmm…maybe if you are quick to repent and you start being nicer to me…”

  She heard his quick indrawn breath. “What do you mean flames are…?” He broke off when he saw her lips twitch and realized the rest of what she’d just said. Then he lunged for her, flinging her up in his arms in a cradled position and squeezing her painfully tight as she muffled her chortling laughter against his chest. “I am going to throttle you!” he growled into her ear. “You will not be able to sit down for a week! Maybe two!”