Relic - Jaid Black Page 0,39

scene, his sword lifted and ready to throw. The feeder was caught off guard. Angus dispatched his sword into the air, a whooshing sound going by as if in slow motion. The heavy thing found purchase in the Xenocann’s heart. It fell to the ground.

“Don’t go near it!” Octavia shouted, still fearful for her husband’s life. His aim had been true, but she was taking no chances. Octavia and James both opened fire, bullets piercing the feeder’s heart until the organ was pulverized.

Her breathing shallow, she turned wide-eyed to Angus. “You did it,” she murmured, laying down her gun. She ran into his awaiting arms and hugged him tightly. “You killed it.”

His breathing was as ragged as her own. He kissed the top of her head before declaring, “I but stunned it. ‘Twas you and James who killed it.”

“No, it was you—all you!”

Truthfully, she didn’t care who had rendered the death blow. Octavia’s only concern was that the Xenocann was well and truly dead. She wished she could rewind time and bring back Finlay and Oliver, but she knew there was no going back.

The men all gathered around, clapping backs and cheering. It wasn’t until they set about to do the grim work of gathering their dead that Octavia’s gaze found James. Neither one of them said a word, though both of them were thinking the same thing: they still didn’t know why the feeder had stayed close to the water.

It was knowledge that would give them both nightmares for weeks to come.

Angus explained to his clan that Finlay and Oliver had met a bad end by a bear. The families of the fallen had been inconsolable during the funeral, which Angus could hardly blame them for. He wished there was aught he could do, yet understood there wasn’t. Only time itself would heal them mayhap a wee bit.

By the time he was able to join Octavia in their bedchamber, his wife was already naked and sound asleep. Pulling off his plaid, tunic, and boots, Angus joined her on their bed. He kissed all over her body, his fingers tweaking her erect nipples. She moaned a bit afore waking in truth.

“I love you, wife,” Angus told her as he plunged his cock deep inside her. He groaned. “I have loved you since the moment I first saw you.”

Octavia wrapped her arms around him. Her breathing hitched as he slowly rode in and out of her. “I love you too, husband. I have loved you since the moment I first saw you.”

Angus made love to her with an overflowing heart, hoping to put his bairn in her belly this very eve. He would mayhap never ken the forces that had brought her to him, yet wouldst he ever be thankful for them.

“I love you,” Angus whispered again. “I will always love you.”

“And I you.” Octavia smiled. “Forever.”

Epilogue

Eight weeks later

The wind whipped her hood back onto her head as Octavia and Angus made their way down to the beach. It had taken some coaxing to get him to bring her here, especially since he knew her period was way overdue. They were likely to become parents in about seven months’ time.

“I must quit giving into your every whim, wife.” Angus dismounted before helping her off his horse. “The weather is awful this day.”

Autumn was here and with it came unpredictable gusts of wind and rain. She squeezed her husband’s hand.

“I just need to look one last time,” Octavia assured him.

“What is it you hope to find?”

She shrugged. “Something—anything—that will answer why the Xenocann came this way despite its biological instincts.”

“Three times we have come looking,” Angus pointed out. “Never do we find anything.”

An hour later, Octavia realized today would be no different. As much as she hated to accept the fact, her husband was no doubt right. She needed to let the question go because it was never going to be answered.

“Let us head back,” Angus prodded. “The cook is making your favored apple tarts again.”

She inclined her head. “You’re right. I’m being ridiculous.”

“Nay. ‘Tis just your way, figuring things out.”

Later that evening, Octavia stood near the battlements to the south side of the castle. She absently stared down into the water as she waited for the evening meal to be readied. She was about to walk away when a strange glimmer caught her eye. She squinted as she pulled the hood of her cloak onto her head to keep her hair from batting in the wind. She stilled.

Far beneath the ocean, so deep that she could barely make out even its tip, sat a metallic structure shaped like a pyramid. At first she had thought it was a rock, but the gleam told a different story. Had she not known what she was looking at, it would have been easy to miss the thing altogether.

Her breathing hitched. She recalled the conversation the human collaborators had engaged in just prior to shoving Dr. Kincaid into the portal.

“This is the last departure!” one of the human traitors shouted to his comrades. “Where’s Dr. Fancy Pants?”

The last departure…

Finally everything made sense. Goosebumps worked up and down Octavia’s arms as she at last figured out what it was the Xenocann had been seeking. With the portal closed, it had wanted a ride home.

Octavia shivered as she looked up at the sky. Somehow the alien knew that a ship could be located in the Highlands in the year 1301 A.D. She could only be glad that the portal was closed—and she could only pray that another would never be opened.