First Thirst (Craving 1)

I would have to make this lass aware of the dangers.

Jeremy had said we needed to walk her through it all slowly, but I dinnae agree.

This lass must nae be harmed. We have to tell her what she is up against and allow her to choose her own way. Aye, we brought her here to help me, but at what cost?

Looking at her now, the thirst burns through me. Why? I haven’t felt this intense need since I discovered the orchard, Wolf-Rose. Something about everything she is makes me want to taste her—her tongue, her lips, her skin…her blood.

Luckily, I had the dried bulb and root cuttings in an old snuffbox I carry around with me in case of an emergency. I planted them and within the month, I had a veritable forest of it growing around the place I made m’own.

Twenty-two years I have been here.

Suddenly, I had to tell the lass and plastered m’self to the shield, but she did a thing with her finger and transported herself to the Great Hall.I had to take a few steps on m’side of the wall to follow her from the Great Hall as she made her way to the library. Bloody hell, I can’t seem to take m’eyes off her.

Right then, I forced m’self to think of something else and concentrated on the problem at hand and Jeremy’s insistence that we keep her in the dark until she has acclimated to the estate and to the fact that I am a vampire trapped in another realm.

I dinnae agree with this plan.

I kept poor Sarah in the dark. She knew I was a vampire, aye, but she dinnae know about Allora. This bonnie lass needs to know and be prepared.

Jeremy is afraid she will bolt and that is nae a good reason to keep her ignorant of the dangers ahead. She moves in a way that makes me hard and hungry.

I want to feel her near. I want to reach out and touch her cheek…when I suddenly realized that I had picked up on her scent.

Impossible! I havena been able to smell anything on the other side for all these years. Was I imagining this? I took another whiff. She was honey sweet with a touch of pine and something else, something I couldna name. She wore nae perfume. This was her own scent.

She looked up and across to me.

Nae, nae, impossible. Jeremy had spelled the shield so that she would nae be able to see me. She walked right up to me and stared.

And damn, bloody damn, her violet eyes slay me with warmth and innocence and drags out m’humanity, which says I must make her run far away.

As her frown deepened and she continued to stare at the shield, I found I couldna keep m’eyes off those full breasts demanding attention. Och aye…beautiful and womanly and her nipples were begging for a kiss—m’kiss.

How the hell had she avoided being taken by some strapping young man for a mate? How was it she had no man in her life—no man at all.

M’dick was hard with need and dripping. M’eyes were riveted on her, on her every move. I watched her pull her sweater down, as it had ridden up from her waist and displayed the creamy skin of her midriff. She would soon make her way to the library to meet with Jeremy, but he wouldna tell her what danger she might be in. He needed to tell her. She eyed m’shield once more and then grimaced and turned away. What had she seen? What had she sensed?

I had to keep her safe from Allora, which meant she needed to be told, and then whatever she decided, we needed to do before Allora found out about her existence.

Once Allora knew there was a descendent of the witch who put me here, all hell would break loose and she wouldn’t rest ‘til that descendent—Bobbie was dead.

The thought of Bobbie being hurt…of Allora taking her life, made me physically ill.

Jeremy had kept tabs on Allora all these years and we were lucky she had nae thought to return to Scotland yet, but I know her and I know one day she would want to come back and see MacLeod in ruins. She would want to taunt me. That day was coming.

Besides that, she always returned for a time to Brently Manor. It was almost a compulsion of hers.

“Bobbie, lass,” I called out loud.

She turned from contemplating the shelves upon shelves of books and went still. “Did someone call me?”

She heard me? How could she hear me?

“Bobbie…go home,” I hurriedly told her. “Ye are in danger here.”

“What? I can’t quite hear you. Wow, you sound miles away. Are you talking through some device?” she pursued as she began examining the room.

“Nae, not a device,” I said.