Bound by Tears (Cauld Ane Book 6) Read online

  “What kinds of things can you do, Sophia?” Charlotte asked.

  “I can heal pretty much anyone,” Sophia said. “I can also heal plants and animals. I didn’t know that was what I was doing, but Papa told me. When Mom and I got into our accident, I had major internal bleeding, but it didn’t last very long. Mom broke her leg, but I was able to touch her and heal her.”

  “How do you know about the plants?” Charlotte asked.

  “Oh, that was so cool,” Sophia said, her face brightening. “Grandpa had put one of Nana’s plants out with the yard waste, and I was helping to sort everything. As soon as I touched one of the plants, it turned green and the leaves kind of raised up. Right in front of me. It was so weird. I thought maybe it just hadn’t died and so did he, so we put it back in the house, and it still looks great.” She glanced at Ari and then back at Charlotte. “Papa said it’s part of my gift.”

  “That really is cool,” Charlotte said.

  “If this gets out,” Ari said, growing serious, “you could all be in danger.”

  “It sounds like it’s already gotten out.”

  “You have nothing to worry about,” Niall said. “You will be protected.”

  Charlotte rolled her eyes. “I know that you and Connall will protect us, and obviously, Ari will protect Sophia, but if we don’t know who these people are, we don’t know who we’re being protected against. What if their powers or gifts or whatever are way stronger than ours?”

  Ari shook his head. “There’s no way.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “There may be the occasional Cauld Ane or Kalt Einn who might have stronger powers than you do individually. For instance, Pepper, you could not defend yourself fully against me because I am your Papa, and your gift is partly from me. But no one would be able to defend themselves from two of you, and if the three of you work together…well, I pity the person who would be stupid enough to try.”

  Charlotte glanced at Pepper, and the girls laughed.

  “Did you hear that, Con?” Pepper said. “You’re gonna need to behave when my sisters and I are together.”

  Connall shook his head. “No monster creating, Ari.”

  “Sorry,” Ari said with a smile.

  “When will you know what we’re up against?” Pepper asked.

  “Kaspar and Jesska arrive tomorrow, and we’ll regroup then. Don’t worry, elskan. We’ll take care of everything.”

  “Have you sorted out where you’ll stay?” Charlotte asked.

  Niall and Connall still weren’t comfortable with Ari staying in their homes. Megan had assured Pepper and Charlotte she understood their reluctance, and she and Ari made other arrangements.

  Megan nodded. “We have suites at the Caledonian.”

  Charlotte noticed Sophia frown at that. “Do you think Sophia could stay with us?”

  Sophia perked up. “Please, Mom?”

  Pepper and Charlotte grinned. “Please, Mom,” they added in stereo.

  Megan laughed, her eyes filling with joyous tears. “Okay, okay. If you would like her to stay, she can stay.”

  “We would like her to stay,” Charlotte said.

  Megan shook her head. “You have no idea how I’ve longed for my girls to call me Mom.”

  “Girls’ day tomorrow,” Pepper announced. “The men will all be trying to figure out what’s going on anyway, so maybe we can tour the Mile and have lunch. Just the five of us.”

  “Our family will be here tomorrow as well, love,” Connall pointed out.

  “That’s right.” Pepper smiled. “So we’ll take everyone.”

  “I love that idea,” Charlotte said.

  “I do too,” Megan agreed.

  “It’s not too much?” Charlotte asked.

  “No, honey,” Megan assured. “I love the idea of getting to know the people you love the most.” She glanced at Ari and then back at Charlotte. “I wanted to talk to you about something, actually, and we’ll do whatever you want to do, but I’d like to spend some time in Scotland…an extended amount of time. With both of you. Pepper, we can come to Inverness…or just I can. I absolutely understand if it’s too much too soon.” She sighed. “Whatever you’d like to do.”

  Charlotte could see that Megan wanted to be sensitive in the wake of Ari’s bad judgment, but she could also see the longing on her face. The longing of a mother for her children. “I would love that,” Charlotte said.

  “I would too,” Pepper said. “And knowing how hard it is to be separated from your mate, I would never ask you to come alone.” Charlotte saw her squeeze Connall’s knee and figured he was probably objecting to something, albeit telepathically. “I think we can work something out where both of you can stay. Right, baby?”

  Connall stared at Pepper for a few seconds and Charlotte wasn’t sure what he’d do, but in the end, he nodded his agreement. Pepper grinned in victory. “I love you.”

  Connall rolled his eyes, but leaned over to kiss her with a smile.

  “I say let’s plan our day tomorrow,” Megan suggested. “Over dinner perhaps?”

  “Great idea,” Charlotte agreed. “I’m starved. Max and Niall just happened to cook tonight.”

  “Shut up!” Pepper said. “I can’t wait for this!”

  Charlotte giggled and led everyone to the dining room before helping her family serve up a feast that should have been touted as award winning. She had to admit, she was disappointed that chicken alfredo wasn’t on the menu, but petite game hens served on a bed of roasted vegetables, with garlic mashed potatoes were certainly much fancier. Luckily, the meal wasn’t indicative of the relaxed conversation and casual atmosphere as the new family got to know each other. Charlotte found herself laughing often throughout the evening, and she smiled at Niall as she took in her new life. She was loving every minute of it.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  A FEW DAYS later, Jesska followed Kaspar onto the plane, awed by the size of it and the fact that it didn’t look like any airplane she’d ever been on. “This is huge.”

  “That’s what she said,” he retorted.

  Jesska giggled. “Well, that too, but admittedly, the plane’s just a tad big larger.”

  Kaspar laughed. “It’s the family plane. We have two others that are smaller, but with such a long trip, I thought you might be more comfortable on this one.”

  “As long as it’s safe, I don’t really care. I just like the idea of joining the mile-high club with you.” She grinned. “We will get to do that, right?”

  “Absolutely.” He kissed her. “That’s a promise.”

  Austri, Jens, and Camilla were already moving around the interior, making sure Kaspar and Jesska’s every need was seen to. “Yðar Hátign, við erum í undirbúningi fyrir flugtak.” (Majesty, we are preparing for takeoff.)

  “I’ll show you the bedroom when it’s safe to move around,” Kaspar promised, and led her to large captain’s chairs near the windows. She chose the window seat and secured her seatbelt. He sat beside her, linking his fingers with hers.

  Jesska dropped her head on Kaspar’s shoulder as the plane took off and closed her eyes, relishing the peace that enveloped her. The day before had been somewhat stressful, having to give a sworn statement to the police about Jason’s threats, but she was glad she didn’t have to see him or testify to anything, at least for the moment. Her statement was enough to get him thrown back in jail while he awaited a new trial. He appeared to be sticking to his story, but his lawyers were pushing for him to recant, so a new trial was still a possibility.

  Her parents had surprised her by showing up at the police station and, after her task was done, Kaspar took everyone out to lunch. Her parents liked him, and Jesska could see the bridge she’d charred years ago was slowly being rebuilt.

  Kaspar ran a knuckle down her cheek and kissed her forehead, smiling at her with his ‘what-are-you-thinking’ smile.

  “I love you,” she said.

  “You do?”

  She nodded. “
Yep. A lot a bit.”

  Kaspar chuckled. “Back atya, baby.”

  “How long until we can…you know?”

  Have I created a monster?

  She nodded. A really horny one. “I’m not sure I’m going to get used to speaking this way.”

  Yes you will.

  He tipped her chin up and kissed her. Jesska couldn’t get close enough, especially strapped in. Curling her hand around his throat, she broke the kiss. “Not fair, Kaz.”

  Patience, sweetheart.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. Screw patience.

  The ding of the seatbelt sign going off had Kaspar out of his seat, unbuckling Jesska, and tugging her to the bedroom at the back within seconds. He kicked the door closed and divested her of her clothes with lightning speed.

  She giggled when her bra flew across the room and ended up hanging on a knob on the dresser.

  “That was planned,” he quipped.

  “You’re amazing,” she retorted and tugged on his shirt. “Off. Now.”

  Kaspar released her only long enough to remove his clothing and settle her on the bed.

  Jesska’s introduction to the mile-high club lasted most of the night and the next morning, she stretched with a groan. “I need a shower,” she grumbled.

  Kaspar chuckled, rolling over to pull her close. “You did get a workout last night, but we don’t sweat, baby.”

  “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need a shower,” she said. “Bad dreams kind of do that to me.”

  He eyes grew concerned. “You had a bad dream?”

  “Not a nightmare or anything.” She smiled. “It’s that moment when you’re having a romantical dream and you smell something weird and you’re pretty sure you’ve rolled into your own armpit.”

  “Romantical?”

  “Definitely romantical,” Jesska said.

  Kaspar laughed, a deep, rumbling, belly laugh. “Are you hungry?”

  She nodded and ran a finger down his chest. “Definitely.”

  “For food.”

  “Oh. No. Not really.”

  Kaspar kissed her and fed a different hunger before they took a break for sustenance.

  * * *

  Arriving in Edinburgh, Jesska tried to take in everything as they drove to Niall and Charlotte’s house. “Have you been here before?” she asked.

  Kaspar nodded. “A few times, yes.”

  “Will we have time to explore?”

  “Absolutely,” he promised.

  “How long do we have?”

  “A week, baby,” he said. “Then I’ll take you home.”

  “You can be away for a week?”

  “Camilla has everything under control.” He pulled her fingers to his lips and kissed them softly. “So, yes, I can be away for a week.”

  Jesska grinned, leaning into him. “I love you.”

  “Love you too, baby.”

  How long until I can get you naked again?

  Kaspar chuckled. A few hours.

  Too long.

  I’ll figure something out, then.

  “Promise?”

  He leaned down and kissed her. “Promise.”

  Austri pulled the car up to a medieval-looking Georgian townhouse.

  “Wow,” Jesska breathed as she stepped out. “It’s stunning.”

  Kaspar nodded and took her hand, leading her to the front door. He kept his arm around her waist as he rang the doorbell, and then the door was open and Jesska was pulled into a bear hug by Sophia. “You’re finally here!”

  “Hi, honey,” Jesska said, hugging her niece tighter. “How are you?”

  “Good,” Sophia said. “Come and meet everyone. Oh my gah, Jess, my sisters are so cool.”

  Jesska stepped inside and didn’t have much time to appreciate her surroundings before she was dragged upstairs and into a large great room where Megan sat with a group of people Jesska didn’t know. Megan stood and rushed to her for a hug and then introduced her and Kaspar to the family.

  * * *

  The next morning, Jesska smoothed her hands down the thighs of her jeans as she stared at herself in the mirror. She looked so different. Younger…better. Her skin was incredibly clear, not a blemish in sight. She still had a few freckles, but they looked less like sun damage now. And her hair was beginning to lighten. The dye she’d put in her hair two months ago was fading, and her hair was rapidly returning to its natural blonde.

  “I don’t think I’m going to miss the black,” Kaspar said as he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

  Jesska giggled. “I haven’t seen my natural hair color in almost ten years, so this is going to be an adjustment for me.”

  “Why black?”

  “Technically, it’s called darkest brown.”

  Kaspar chuckled. “I stand corrected.”

  “It started as a rebellion, I guess. My soul felt black, so I wanted everything to match my mood, but then everyone began to know me like this…which meant I could forget my old life a little.” She turned to face him and looped her hands around his neck. “But now, with this new part of our journey, I like the idea of going back to the real me.”

  “I love all parts of you,” Kaspar said. “So, blonde, black, purple…no, perhaps not purple.”

  Jesska laughed. “I promise I will refrain from purple.”

  He leaned down and kissed her. “Thank you.”

  “Are you really not joining us this morning?”

  “I have a few things to catch up on, but I will meet up with you at lunch. Along with the rest of the men.”

  Jesska sighed. “You are leaving all of your wives to shop alone. You do realize how unwise that is, right?”

  “Which reminds me,” he said, and pulled out his wallet, handing her a credit card. “Shop to your heart’s content.”

  “Oh, really?” she asked. “What’s the limit?”

  “Limitless.”

  “All cards have limits, Kaz.”

  “That’s not actually true, baby.”

  “Seriously?” she challenged. “So, I could, I don’t know, buy a house for two-point-five-million dollars, outfit it with a million bucks worth of furniture, and then buy myself a hundred-thousand-dollar BMW, and do it all on this card?”

  “Yes.”

  “Shut up!”

  He chuckled. “It’s limitless.”

  She shook her head and handed it back to him. “Um, no way am I carrying this around with me. What if I lose it?”

  “Then I’ll get you a new one.”

  “It’s worth a lot of money.”

  “It’s a piece of plastic,” he countered.

  “A piece of plastic that’s worth a lot of money.”

  Kaspar laughed. “Baby, it’s protected. It’s yours to do with as you like.”

  “I really don’t have a limit?”

  “You really don’t have a limit.”

  “Oh, okay.” Jesska bit her lip. “But I won’t really buy a house and a car.”

  “I know you won’t, baby. They’re difficult to fit on a plane.”

  “There is that,” she conceded, and held her hand out. “Hand it over.”

  He shook his head. “Take it from me.”

  “I’m trying.”

  “No, I mean, try to take it.”

  Jesska frowned. “I don’t get it…oh, wait. Without picking it up, you mean?”

  “Yes.”

  She giggled. “How?”

  “Imagine where you want the card to go and then use your hand to guide it.”

  “That easy?”

  “That easy,” he confirmed.

  Jesska stared at the card in Kaspar’s hand and waved her hand. It went skittering to the floor. Kaspar laughed and raised it back to his hand. Jesska tried again and again, only managing to get it out of his hand.

  Kaspar’s phone buzzed and he pulled it from his pocket. “We’ll work on it more,” he promised, handing her the card and answering the call. “Austri. Já. We’ll be right down.”


  Jesska grabbed her purse. “Is Austri coming with me?”

  “Yes.”

  “But I thought Kade has his security, as do the Gunnachs…and Ari and—”

  “You made your point,” Kaspar said, cutting off her diatribe. “But I don’t know anyone other than Ari’s men, so you will have Austri for the day.”

  “But what will you do without him? Jóvin would be fine.” Kaspar frowned, and Jesska raised an eyebrow. “You can’t seriously still be mad at him.”

  “I’m not discussing this with you, Jesska.”

  She crossed her arms. “You’re punishing him for making sure I was safe. Does that sound right to you?”

  “He was supposed to stop you from leaving.”

  “And he tried!” she snapped. “Outside of chaining me to the towel rail in the bathroom, he didn’t really have a choice.”

  “Well, then he should have chained you.”

  “If he’d really done anything remotely close to that, you would have had his head…or stuck him in some dungeon somewhere!”

  “I don’t have a dungeon.”

  “You’re being an ass.” She threw her hands in the air.

  “I’m an ass because I want you protected?”

  “No, you’re an ass because you refuse to see that even you wouldn’t have been able to stop me from leaving that frickin’ hotel room, and Jóvin made a judgment call—the same one you would have made, I might add—and he protected me from beginning to end. Case in point, I’m standing in front of you right now, and without a scratch on me.”

  Kaspar dragged his hands down his face.

  “Let’s go. We obviously need a little time away from each other.”

  Jesska stalked out of the hotel and to the elevator without waiting for Kaspar.

  * * *

  Kaspar reached for his phone, jostling Jesska, who was wrapped around him like ivy. He’d adjusted the security detail and sent Jóvin with her during their shopping excursion, which had earned him “brownie points,” but had not gotten him entirely off the hook. Kaspar had to admit that she’d made a valid point and, once he wrapped his mind around said point, he was quick to tell her that she had been right, but he wouldn’t go so far as to apologize to Jóvin. Jesska had responded by running his credit card up by almost ten-thousand dollars, somewhat disappointed that he hadn’t reacted to the paltry amount.