Highlander's Kiss (Clan Matheson #1)

“What are their names?”


“Aleck and Adair.” Talking might help. “My father was a great warrior who held fae blood and my mother had the most caring heart. She studied herbs and aided our healer when needed. Both came from the fae village.”

“How did they pass? If you don’t mind me asking.” He stroked her hip and she wriggled closer at his gentle touch.

“No’ long after Arabel and I came of age, the Chief of MacKenzie requested a meeting with Gilleoin and my father. He wished to enter into negotiations for the marriage of his son, Jeremiah, to one of Gilleoin’s nieces since Gilleoin had no daughters. That marriage was to be between Jeremiah and me. At the time our two clans were no’ yet at war as we currently are.” She covered his hand with hers. She couldn’t halt her need to share even more. “Unfortunately that meeting was just a ruse. I sat in on it at my father’s request in order to keep an eye on Colin and Jeremiah MacKenzie’s auras. They lied, which I didnae pick up on, and in doing so I misread their true intentions.”

“What happened next?”

“Later that week, as soon as my parents arrived at Colin MacKenzie’s keep to complete the negotiations, he had them tossed into the dungeon and then a demand sent to Gilleoin. My uncle was told to hand over his lands on the tip of Loch Alsh and in return the MacKenzie would release my parents. Of course many demands volleyed back and forth between them, and for several months until it became clear to Gilleoin that the MacKenzie was unable to listen to reason. That’s when my uncle set out for their stronghold with an elite contingency of his warriors. Gilleoin’s intention was to sneak in under the cover of darkness, rescue my parents and then return with them, but instead he discovered they’d been slain at the MacKenzie’s own hand, several months prior and afore the first demand had even been sent. Gilleoin was furious and attacked. When he left, ’twas with a bloody trail in his wake.”

“No one should have to lose their parents, and certainly not the way you and Arabel did.”

“I would never wish what my sister and I have gone through on anyone.” She plumped her pillow under her cheek. Her eyelids fluttered down and she pushed her eyes back open. All that had happened this day had tired her. “It has helped to speak to you of this.” It truly had.

“I’m glad you’ve shared this with me.” He tucked her closer, slid his hand right around her waist and palmed the lower curve of her back. “Go to sleep. I’ll watch over you as you rest.”

“Do you always watch over your patients with such dedicated care?”

“Always, but I shall be watching over you as if my very life depended on it.”

“You are so very kind and caring, exactly as Cherub said.” She focused on his aura then hers. No tugging.

’Twas a shame their auras didn’t move toward each other’s, as those who were soul bound did. He would make a wonderful mate. Certainly, the woman he was soul bound to would be one lucky lass.

She closed her eyes and drifted.

The dark rose and took her swiftly away.





Chapter 2


The ancient House of Clan Matheson, 1210.



As dawn broke the following morning, Cherub paced the chief’s solar, the missive she, Kirk, and Finlay had received from the Chief of MacKenzie scrunched in her hand. Their enemy had sent them yet another demand, one that had her frustration and fury rising. She clasped her hips. “The nerve of the man.”

“Calm down, my love.” Kirk stepped in her path and gripped her shoulders. Sheathed wrist daggers glinted from under his rolled cuffs, his tan leather vest stretching tight across his broad shoulders. “We’ll sort everything out.”

“Aye, we will.” She unraveled the missive and traced her finger along the top line.



A marriage of alliance is what I seek. Bring Gilleoin’s niece to me, the aura reader Julia, and following her marriage to my son Jeremiah, I shall forthwith return Aleck and Adair Matheson into your hands.

You have a fortnight to answer this summons. Expect their death if you dinnae.



“Kirk, in this missive MacKenzie states that Arabel and Julia’s parents live, which is a complete and utter lie. Gilleoin himself snuck into MacKenzie’s lair with an elite team of his own men and searched the dungeons for Aleck and Adair. When he didn’t find any sign of them, he seized one of the guardsmen and learnt exactly what had happened. The MacKenzie slaughtered them, with his own hands no less. They’ve been gone for so long, well over a year. Why is MacKenzie now attempting to revive them from the dead?”

“What if they never truly perished?”