Chapter Thirteen
“I’VE GOTTA SAY, Julie, though I enjoy a good adventure, this isn’t working for me.” She couldn’t remember the last time she was so upset. “If being thrust back in time into a supernatural world isn’t enough, I’ve got to deal with a couple of full grown men behaving like children!” She shook her head. “Why’d Aidan respond so strongly anyway? That was crazy!”
“I think we both know what that was all about.” Julie strode alongside her. “Aidan’s finally confronting his demons. Or should I say dragon.”
While she nearly said ‘why now?’ the answer was obvious enough. The Claddagh ring was at work, trying to free his heart so he could love another.
“That’s exactly right,” Julie murmured.
“You can read my mind?” she asked, surprised.
“Here and there.” Julie offered an apologetic grin. “Sorry, I’ll try not to. You coming into your magic and your growing connection with Aidan makes it sort of tough, though.”
“My magic,” she murmured, still trying to come to grips with that. Something she could admit Aidan was helping with a great deal. “I would’ve laughed at you if you’d said that a week ago.”
“I know, crazy, right?” Julie looked at her curiously. “How’s Madison doing anyway? And have the others shown up at the house in New Hampshire yet?”
“Madison’s...Madison.” She chuckled, glad to talk about something else. “Destiny and Alyssa are there, but not Ciara.”
Julie narrowed her eyes as she caught Chloe’s various thoughts.
“So Madison’s starting to catch on by the sounds of it.” Julie repeated what Madison had said about there being six, but Julie only needed one. “Sounds like she's referring to the Stonehenge’s. There are six altogether, but Tiernan and I only needed to seal off one from the evil brotherhood.” She contemplated Alyssa and Destiny. “Based on them eyeing the ring box on the mantle, they're catching on too. Especially Destiny, considering she didn’t even want to open the box.”
“Won’t that be a problem?” she asked. “I know my ring made my transition back in time, and everything that’s taken place a thousand times easier.” She frowned. “So what happens if one of us doesn’t put the ring on?”
“I don’t know.” Julie shook her head. “But it’s not something we need to worry about right now.” She eyed Chloe cautiously, slowly steering the conversation back to where it began. “I think exploring the dreams and dreamlike states you and Aidan are experiencing is more important.”
“Yeah, when he's not picking fights with dragons for no good reason,” she muttered, fully aware, despite how aggravating, that Aidan was finally releasing some pent-up anger.
She also recognized the real reason for her current frustration with him.
It wasn't so much because he had fought Cray, but for the same reason his cousin had chastised Aidan to begin with. The jerk had inwardly sworn his undying devotion to Maeve even as he comforted Chloe. Even after he kissed her. Because hehadkissed her. That hadn't been a dream.
Which led her back to square one.
Julie was right. Best to focus on their bizarre dreams before anything else.
First, though, she wanted to find out what had happened to Julie and Tiernan at the Irish Stonehenge before they arrived here. What Grant was going to tell them about last night before he vanished.
She was about to ask, but unfortunately, all hell broke loose before she could.
A flurry of activity sounded to her right. A split second later, she was tossed over someone’s lap on a horse and flying through the woods.
She screamed in horror.“Aidan! Cray!Anyone!”
She felt the growing distance between her and Aidan, almost as if it were a palpable thing. A visible connection in her mind’s eye. It was so strong that it made the anger she had felt at him seem foolish now.
All that mattered was seeing him again. Being near him.
“Then be near him again,”the same feminine voice from Edinburgh Castle whispered in her mind.“Take what is rightfully yours. Follow your curious nature and be with him.”
Her curious nature? What did that mean? Yet shewascurious about the powerful connection she had just felt between them. What was that exactly? What would it look like if it were more than just a sense? Perhaps a ley-line beam of light? A stream of sunlight? When said sunlight suddenly washed over the forest despite the tree cover, she smiled.
It would look like sunlight brightening the way between them.
Driving away the shadows and the heartache of the past.
Moments later, as if drawn by the light, byher, Aidan was there.
