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  Laughing herself, Megan whispered, “True, but I think we need to go back, it’s getting late and I need to put clothes on, because I think I’m beginning to sunburn in places I don’t even want to imagine.”

  She was on her feet and he had her clothed before she could blink. “Now we would not want that, would we? I enjoy touching you way too much to not be able to stroke all those places.” He led her down from the ledge and they headed back to the caves.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Megan stopped abruptly as they neared the cave and pulled Seamus off the path.

  Going on alert, but finding nothing tangible, Seamus tensed. “What is it, love?”

  “I’m not sure, but I just feel something’s wrong. Maybe I’m just too new at this and don’t have the hang of it yet, but I can’t seem to contact anyone.”

  Seamus tried to contact Colin, then his father and a few others to no avail. “Neither can I communicate with anyone else. We need out of this area now.” Concern for his family almost crippled him, but at the moment, he knew his major worry was to keep Megan safe. “Concentrate on sending all your power to me. I am going to try to shield our presence.”

  Seamus knew it was a daunting task trying to keep them concealed and at the same time trying to get them as far from the cave as possible. He tried contacting Shannon hoping she was home and not still in the cave. When she answered him, he was elated but knew something was wrong as she did not sound quite herself.

  “Shannon what is it?”

  “I have a blinding headache that started about five minutes ago and now I cannot contact Noel. I was about to transport to the cave when Mum screamed, holding her head. We have taken her to Brú na Bóinne. What is going on there?”

  “I have no clue, but something is definitely off. Megan and I had gone down to the lake and on our way back she got the feeling something was not right. We cannot contact anyone who is in the cave. Do not try to transport in there until you can find out what has happened. Can you scry and see what going on?”

  “Let me try and I will contact you soon. I will also get in touch with the King and see if he can give me some men and then we will be there. Keep Megan safe.”

  “I am doing my best. Do not come here until you are sure it is safe. Keep in touch.”

  While he talked to Shannon, he led Megan toward the trees, keeping them concealed from anyone that could be looking. “Megan, if you need to speak to me let’s keep it telepathic. I cannot sense anyone in the area, but Golden Enterprises seem to develop technology faster that we are able to detect it.”

  “God Seamus, could they have killed everyone, is that possible?”

  “A ghrá, do not jump to conclusions. We need to concentrate on getting you out of here. Shannon is going to deal with the rest.”

  Seamus led her into a heavily wooded area. He knew she was as anxious about her family as he was about his, but both knew they had to keep moving if they wanted to get out of this. He kept trying to sense any of the men that might be in the area, but all he could find were the normal forest inhabitants.

  He put a call out to the wolves in the area to see if they could tell him how best to keep moving and not run into any of these men. The wolves started giving him the information he needed. The Golden Enterprise’s men hemmed them in on all sides. How in the bloody hell have they gotten passed my spell barrier as well as Da’s and Quinn’s? From the wolves’ observations, there had to be at least twenty-five of them. He kept his communication up with the wolves as he skirted Megan and himself around some of them. “Megan, there is a wolf’s den about a mile north of here. There is a wolf pack there willing to allow us to join them in it. They are trying to be my eyes until we can reach the lair. Are you still able to keep sending your energy to me or are you beginning to feel too depleted?”

  “I’m fine, are you sure we can get there before one of these men find us?”

  Seamus knew she was frightened beyond belief. However, he could not be more proud of the way she was handling this. “I am certain they are not able to detect us with our combined power shielding us and the scrambler. If you start feeling as if you have to rest the energy flow, give me a little notice. I will be able to compensate for a while to give you a rest. I would prefer you not to push yourself too hard since you have just begun getting some of your powers and have not yet come into your full potential.”

  “Can you contact Shannon again and find out what’s happening back in the cave?”

  “I would prefer to wait until we get to the wolf den as it is very draining trying to do too many things at one time. She said she would contact me as soon as she knew what was going on.”

  He could see Megan was beginning to tire in spite of her assurance otherwise. They did not have much further, and he knew their combined energy would be safer, but he did not want to over tire Megan. “I can feel you getting tired. A ghrá, I want you to be able to continue to keep the energy flow up a bit longer. So I am going to pick you up and carry you the rest of the way.” Knowing she was going to start to argue he continued, “Please, a stór, we only have a short bit left, but you will either end up cutting your energy flow to me or you may just drop and then I will have to carry you anyway. If that should happen I may not be able to shield us as well.”

  “Fine, but I’m sure I’m okay.”

  He picked her up and continued up the slope. When they made it to the wolf’s den, they had to climb in. Megan hesitated when she came face to face with a snarling wolf at the end of a short tunnel. Seamus soothed the animal and encouraged Megan to continue. The den was very compact, and they scooted back as far from the entrance as possible. The wolves then took up a sentinel position in the front of them.

  “We should be safe here for now. Try to rest for a while. I can keep the shield going now by myself for a bit.” He could see her visibly relax. He was about to contact Shannon when she contacted him.

  “Seamus, whatever you do, get as far away from the cave as possible. Everyone in there is out cold and there are about fifteen armed men with them. I do not know if they will make it if we cannot get to them soon. The King is giving me thirty of his men, so we will be going in shortly. Once we are able to get it secured, I will send some of the men out to give you a hand. The rest will stand guard while we transport. In the mean time, be careful.”

  “Megan and I are shielded, and we are now in a wolf’s den north-northwest of the other cave. Just get them back to Brú na Bóinne as quickly as possible and then worry about us.”

  “Keep safe my brother, and your mate as well.”

  “You also, Shannon.”

  “Seamus?” Megan drew his attention.

  Seamus pulled her closer to him. “It will be all right, love. It will be all right. Now get some rest, I will watch over you.”

  Sometime later Shannon contacted Seamus to let him know they had rescued everyone and she was now working with the kings men to eliminate the rest of Golden Enterprise’s men. Seamus watched Megan sleep, hating to wake her, but knowing she would want to know how everyone was, he leaned over and kissed her gently.

  She stirred and then looked up at him through sleepy eyes. Within seconds, she was sitting up, wide-awake. “Did Shannon get to everyone? How are they? Is my Dad all right? Don’t just sit there. Tell me what is happening.”

  Seamus could not help himself; he started laughing. “Megan a ghrá, give me a second. How do you expect me to answer you when you fire questions off like that?”

  Looking sheepish, she said, “Sorry.”

  Seamus composed himself and then realized they were speaking out loud. Putting his finger to his lips, he spoke to her telepathically. “We have to be careful, a stór. No more talking aloud. There are still twenty or so men looking for us. Now, your Da is going to be fine, although he was in bad shape. Shannon and some of our healers transported him to a hospital. He will most likely be there a few days, but is recovering quite well.”

  “As for the rest of the family, th
ey are all at Brú na Bóinne and will be up and about in no time. In the meantime, we figure the safest thing for us to do at the moment is to stay here and wait. I can keep our shielding going and we will be better here than trying to stay away from them. How do you feel about that?”

  “It sounds like as good a plan as any.”

  The next few hours passed uneventfully. Seamus noticed Megan squirming and asked, “What is it, a ghrá?”

  “I’m just getting a little stiff sitting in the same position for so long. I’ll be fine.”

  “Why don’t you lay down with your head on my lap for a while and try to get some more rest?”

  She did and within a short time, she was asleep.

  Megan woke with a start as she heard Shannon screaming in her head. “Seamus! Megan! Pull in your energy…They have some type of goggle device that is picking up on our energy!”

  Nevertheless, it was too late. The blast that hit the wolf den was so strong Megan felt torn to pieces and then she felt no more.

  Megan regained consciousness feeling as if a truck had run her down. She ached all over. When she tried to move she found she was strapped to a table. She tried pulling against the restraints to no avail. ‘Don’t panic. There has to be a way out of this. Seamus will find me. He told me once we were mated he would be able to no matter what.

  She relaxed at that thought. Then she tried to contact him, “Seamus!” However, she felt nothing. Was he here as well? Maybe he was still unconscious. Give it a little time. Everything will be okay. Even as she tried to talk herself into relaxing, terror began to bubble up in her, almost choking her. Her gaze darted around the room frantically trying to find some reassurance that someone would help her. Instead, she saw sterile white walls and instruments that brought back horrible memories of being a child strapped to a table while someone cut and burned her. Then she remembered the sensation of her veins burning as substances where plunged into her body with needles. She could not hold back the scream as the memories assaulted her. Mercifully, the blackness once again over took her.

  The next thing she knew a woman slapped her awake, saying, “You have been here for ten hours; that is enough sleep for now. I’ve a number of tests to run.”

  Confused, Megan tried to scoot back from this woman but was unable to do so due to the restraints holding her to the table. Oh God, not a dream! Knowing now what this woman had in mind, fear assaulted her. She remembered what happened the last time she was in a place like this, and she tried desperately to get away from the woman. She tugged as hard as she could on the bonds holding her down, but accomplished nothing.

  “Trust me, witch, those restraints will hold. You might as well just lay back and relax.” She smirked, “Or at least relax, until I get started.”

  Terror once again choking her, she whispered, “Why are you doing this?”

  The woman, giving her a look of total disgust, replied, “That’s what I get paid to do.”

  Megan saw red. “You’re paid to torture and kill people, including innocent children?”

  Her look hardened as she glared at Megan. “I conduct tests on things such as you. Don’t call yourselves people, you’re an abomination.”

  Megan could hardly believe what she was hearing. How could anyone believe such garbage? “I’m just as human as you are.”

  “You don’t even come close, but all your powers won’t save you. For the next several hours, I’m going to flay you, stab you, and poison you as well as many other things. By the time I’m finished, you’ll wish you were dead. But, death don’t come for your kind. I’ll give you some time to heal from your wounds, and then I’m going to start all over.”

  In her mind, all Megan could do was scream for Seamus. He promised her he’d find her. Why hadn’t he come? If this woman was telling the truth, she’d already been there for ten hours.

  As if reading her mind, the woman said, “If you think that boyfriend of yours is going to come save you, think again. They put enough poison in him to kill even your kind. He would have died nine and a half hours ago.”

  “Noooo!” Yanking viciously against her restraints she yelled. “You bitch. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll kill you for that alone.” Anger welled up so hard she could feel her power gathering with it. Knowing this could be her only chance, she let it build.

  Remembering what Roarke had told her about holding the power and letting it strengthen, and then focusing on her objective, she waited. As soon as she thought the power built enough, she focused all of it toward the tray of tools and let it go. The instruments flew toward the bitch all at once. Needles stabbed and the plungers went down as if someone had a thumb on them, scalpels sliced long cuts down her body. With a look of horror on her face and a silent scream, the woman was dead before she hit the floor.

  The expenditure of such a great amount of energy left Megan panting with exhaustion. Knowing there had to be more people in the lab, she tried not to give into it. She had to get out of here, now. Once again, she tried gathering her energy to free herself from the straps, but it did not work.

  Finally, summoning enough power, she brought a scalpel up from the floor and cut through the first leather strap. Having a hand free, she took the scalpel and cut the second wrist strap. Then sitting up, she reached to do her legs, her body protesting as she stretched downward, she started to cut the strap from her ankles.

  Before she had time to free both her legs, two men rushed in, each grabbing one of her arms, while a third walked in more slowly with a syringe, which he plunged into her arm. Please somebody help me.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Seamus woke feeling groggy and sore. Both Shannon and Conor were leaning over him. Then remembering what had happened. “Megan?”

  Shannon turned her head away. “They have her.”

  As fear gripped him he asked, “How long?”

  Her voice wavering, Shannon said. “You have been out cold for about eighteen hours.”

  “Bloody Hell!” Dizziness assaulted him as he tried to push himself up.

  Conor put his hands on his shoulders to stop him. “You cannot move yet; you need more time.”

  “Conor, get away from me,” he growled. “I have to get to Megan.”

  “You will not be doing her any good if you keel over. By the gods, man, you almost died. They filled you with enough poison to kill anyone of us. If Shannon had not been as close or had not known where you were, you would not have made it.”

  Shannon turned to him then, tears falling freely down her cheeks. “I am so sorry, Seamus. I had to get you back here, so I could not follow Megan’s trail. Three of the King’s men went after her, but we lost contact with them. So far two have been found dead.”

  Hating to see his sister cry and feeling the anguish palpitating off her body, he pulled her into his arms. “Easy Sis, no one is blaming you.”

  Hugging him back, she told him, “Everyone is out looking for her. Goddess, Seamus, we did not know if you were going to live, and now they have Megan again, and we do not know if she is even alive.”

  As Seamus comforted Shannon, he tried to contact Megan. Having no luck he asked. “Has everyone lost their telepathic ability again?”

  Conor answered, “No, surprisingly, we can still communicate.”

  At least that is one blessing. Has anyone tried to reach or heard from Megan?”

  Shannon answered, though her words were muffled with her face against Seamus’s chest. “Many times with no luck. But then about eight hours ago, we all heard her scream ‘please someone help me’. None of us could get a clear indication of where she was before she was cut off. We have tried since then, but we are getting nothing.”

  Seamus tried again to contact Megan without luck. His anxiety grew over the fact he was not feeling any energy tie to her at all. He knew Conor was right about needing a bit more time in Brú na Bóinne, as he was as weak as a kitten, but he was not sure if he had the luxury of time.

  Conor tried to use logic on h
im. “Seamus, we are all worried over Megan, but if you do not take the time needed, you will not ever be able to detect her energy. If you wait an hour more, we will still have at least seven hours to find her. You have to be up to full strength in the event you need to transfer some of your energy to her. As weak as you still are, you will not even be able to connect your energies to track her.”

  His anger flaring, Seamus turned on Conor. “What if they have given her the same poison they gave me?”

  “Then my friend, it will not matter how soon you find her. My thought is that they gave you the dose they did so you would die and not be able to follow her. Once again proving this group knows too much about our people. As long as they did not load her up the same way they did you, her body will be able to fight it off in time. Our only true hope is for you to recover fully and then grab for her energy stream. I know she is your mate, but she also is my niece. I want you out there as fast as possible, but if you want to be able to find her, lay back and finish recovering, please.”

  With a nod, Seamus laid back down. Relaxing was not something he could do though. He closed his eyes and started concentrating on Megan, calling to her.

  Megan became aware of her surroundings again. She felt as though she had a ten-pound weight on her chest. When she looked down, she saw she was restrained differently than she had been earlier. This time they had her confined with heavy steel braces, two on each arm as well as one across her chest, accounting for the heavy feeling no doubt. Her legs were also banded, spread-eagle, and she was naked. Dread ate at her as she thought of what they might plan for her now.

  “Ah, I see you’re awake. We underestimated your powers earlier, but we shall not do it again. I was surprised that with the drugs you had any power. But I guarantee this table you are on shall prevent you from using any magic again.”

  Megan’s gaze whipped toward the voice to find a short, heavyset man with a balding head, beady brown eyes, bushy eyebrows, and jowls that flapped as he talked. He reminded her very much of an ugly dog. She would have laughed if she had not been so petrified.