Falling for Angels - Hazel Hunter Page 0,2
forest on fire.
We didn’t. We took the girl to her village, where her grateful parents cried all over us. On the way back to Dun Dorchas, Griogair told me the undead guy had probably stowed away on a supply boat. He’d have the garrison search the woods until they made sure it was just the one.
“Thank you, my lady,” the captain said once we’d taken care of the horses, and bowed to me. “You saved two lives today.”
Shy guys could be cute, but Griogair took it to a whole new level. I reached up and pulled him down until we bumped noses.
“My real name is Gabrielle. I can’t cook, clean or do girl stuff, but I can ride, patrol, and knock down your castle with a couple of high kicks. The other reason I came back was for you.” Then I kissed him until we both gasped. “Now, what are you going to do about that?”
Well, you can imagine. No, you really can’t. But after we got hitched I made all the girls refer to my husband as McAwesome.
Chapter 3
Brothers
The man I fell in love with in fourteenth century Scotland decided to kick me to the curb the day I got back. The minute we were alone, just as I was ready to pounce on him, he dumped me.
“You’re a jewel, Caroline,” Raibeart McGillean told me as he stood by the window. The sunlight gilded his bronze hair, and made the green in his hazel eyes glitter. “Yet I cannae take you as my mate.”
My jaw practically fell off my face. “What? Why not?”
“’Twould never work.” He turned to regard me. “Forgive me.”
“Have you ever been in a plane crash?” I walked right up to him, which put me on eye level with his chest (there’s a reason he’s called Bear, and it’s not because he’s teddy-size.) “I was. If I go back to my time, I’ll end up a nice big smear on future Scotland.”
“You neednae.” He looked like he wanted to say something else, and then shook his head. “I’ve guard duty.”
I watched him practically run out of the chamber. Bear had been crazy about me when I’d left. Now he was acting like I might give him an STD. Not that it would matter if I did; among other things the McGilleans never got sick.
Maybe it was the aging thing.
I’d grow older and eventually die; as an immortal he never would. But thanks to my druid blood I’d be reborn and come back to him, right? So, it couldn’t be that. The only other problem we’d had was his slightly bipolar personality, and him forgetting things I’d told him, but I’d gotten used to that.
I left the castle and went for a walk. It started to rain, of course, so I had to duck under a huge oak. I sat down between its roots and watched the sun set. As tears blurred everything I wondered if I could cry myself blind, so I’d never have to see Bear again. Only problem with that was I saw him even now, staring at me.
“I can’t even,” I told him.
“I’m Ruiseart,” he said, not in my ex-boyfriend’s voice. The way he moved as he walked toward me was also different from Bear. “Raibeart’s brother.”
An identical twin brother. Great. Now I’d have two reminders of how much my life sucked.
He reached out to help me up before I could dodge his hand, and I found myself standing in a torchlit meadow with a bunch of half-naked teenage boys and this tat-covered ancient dude. Two of the boys stepped up to a big rock, and I realized they were younger versions of Bear and his bro. They each had a bloody, decorated circle carved into their chest.
“The Brothers choose well,” the old guy said, and touched their wounds. Light came from under his palms. “Never can ye be parted from the other now.”
The boys began to glow, and then the shimmering sort of melted together.
I blinked, and I was staring at Ruiseart. “Bear dumped me because of your spirit deal? I can share him.”
“’Tis how that changed after the druids awakened him,” Ruiseart said. “Raibeart forbade me tell you. Only ken ’tis our bond to blame, my lady.”
He walked off, and I marched back to the castle. Of course, I couldn’t find Bear to tell him to quit sending his brother after me. No one seemed to know what he was guarding, so I went to talk to Coach Jennings. She was