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  “Aye, I will keep that in mind, but you should not have had to shoulder all this on your own. We have been friends and family for centuries. You should have come to me somehow for help. This business of you and Megan not having your telepathic ability is serious. We need to bring our healers to work with both of you.”

  “I do not know who the traitor is, so it might be best to just leave that be for a while. I am not willing to put anyone else in harm’s way.”

  Seamus stopped in front of the window and looked out. After a few minutes he turned and said, “If I had known that the lass’s mother was Bernadette, I would have made it a point to somehow come to you. I am sure you now understand why I did not contact anyone. My biggest regret is that I did not get back in time to save Bern. I am so very sorry.”

  “Seamus, I will be forever in your debt for saving my niece. Oh shite, speaking of which I am sure by now she is tormenting poor Sean with more questions than he will know how to answer. So I must take my leave, but we will get together again either tonight or tomorrow.”

  Seamus laughed. After his brief encounter with Megan today he could easily envision her pestering the hell out of Sean. “Yes my friend, I will come over to your cabin in the morning. You will need this night to talk to Megan as I am sure I stirred up a hornet’s nest when I spoke to her this afternoon.”

  “Aye, that you did.”

  They said their good-byes. Donovan stopped before he and Patrick left. “One other thing. Would you like me to relay any message to your family? Maybe let them know you are alive? Since you have not been around in a while, I am sure you do not know that Noel mated with your sister Shannon. So it should not be difficult to let them all know you are fine.”

  “Shannon and Noel? Well, I will be damned. I never thought that buggar would ever settle down, and to Shannon. I can bet she is keeping him on his toes. When did this happen?”

  Pictures of his younger sister danced through his mind, her running like a gazelle through the woods with her sandy-blonde hair streaming down her back, then that fiery look that came into her gray eyes when she got angry. He remembered seeing that look in Shannon’s eyes many a time when she was around Noel. The Fates had quite a sense of humor. The memories faded as Seamus heard Donovan answer his question.

  “Three years now. And aye, she is giving him a run for his money. They seem quite suited for each other, though, and are very happy.”

  “And to your question, yes, that would be grand if you would pass on to my family that I am alive and well. However, you need to tell them they must still stay away for a while longer. At least until we can figure out if there are any of those bastards left.”

  “Aye, as you wish.”

  And then they were gone.

  Seamus dropped to the chair, his chest tight with the guilt over failing to save Bernadette. Talking to Donovan and Patrick had brought that time flooding back. The smell, the pain, but worst were the screams as they tortured the others. His head pounded and sweat covered his body as he relived that time. Closing his eyes, he tried to erase the horrors of that month. He knew he would not be able to function if he didn’t.

  Chapter Four

  Megan paced back and forth through the great room for over two hours. Still there was no sign of Donovan and Patrick returning. She could see the sun shining outside. A handful of cottony clouds interrupted the azure sky. A breeze toyed with the leaves in the trees, beckoning her to come and play. Instead, she was stuck in the cabin all because of some idiot she stupidly mention to Donovan. He had acted as if she had consorted with the devil himself. Although to her, Seamus looked more like a god.

  “Pet, would you please sit down before you wear a hole in the floorboards.” Sean shook his head.

  Dejected, she complied, but within seconds she was back to pacing.

  “You remind me of a lioness stalking back and forth in her cage. How do you and Patrick manage to keep up such a pace? If I moved as much as the two of you, I would drop dead.”

  Megan smiled; she could not resist her uncle’s playful jabs, but the empty space outside the window drew her attention back to it.

  “Where could they be all this time?”

  “Not to worry, Pet, they have found Seamus and are talking to him as we speak.”

  “How do you know for sure? What if he hurts them?”

  “Megan, Seamus may have a few inches on them, but I can guarantee you if it came down to it, they could knock him flat.”

  She really did not want anything to happen to Seamus either. For some reason, even though he looked dangerous, he intrigued her. She felt drawn to him. She had enjoyed his company, even if he sounded a bit unstable, with his talk of magic and power. Her Uncle Donovan seemed taken aback when she questioned him about what Seamus had called her “empowerment.” It was almost as if he did not know how to answer her. Well, if he ever got back, maybe she could get some answers.

  Sean kept pretty tight-lipped except for stating that Seamus was a friend of the family that had disappeared shortly before Megan’s kidnapping. He must have been in his early teens when he went missing, because from the look of him he could not be more than five years older than her. Of course, she was coming to realize, guessing ages was not one of her strong points. She would swear her uncles were all in their thirties as well, but she knew they were all at least in their fifties. Her pacing came to a halt as Patrick and Donovan walked through the front door. She bombarded Donovan with questions.

  Laughing Donovan said, “Slow down, Little Bit, you sound like a machine gun.”

  Donovan’s words made little impact on Megan. She needed answers. “You have to tell me everything. I have a right to know what is going on.”

  “Aye, and I will, but I cannot answer questions when you fire them off without taking a breath.”

  At that point, Jim plowed into the room, looking a bit anxious himself. “Well, did you find the son of a bitch?”

  Donovan looked over toward Jim and scowled. “We found him. I will ask you to refrain from calling Seamus names when you do not know anything about him.”

  Her dad’s eyes blazed and his hands balled into fists. “Oh, so now you’re going to defend him because he is some long lost friend. Who, might I remind you, disappeared not long before Bern and recently accosted my daughter.”

  “Wait one bloody minute, Jim; you do not know the whole story. First, he did not accost Megan. He happens to have saved her from a fall off the ledge. Second, you might like to know, before you go off half-cocked, he was the one who saved Megan that night, helped her escape, and brought her as close to the house as he dared in wolf form. Which I can guarantee you was quite a feat.”

  Donovan’s stance made him look like a prizefighter posing to throw his first blow. “You would not have seen too many other people who would have put someone else’s needs above their own, especially after being caged and pumped full of drugs for over a month. Now, because of Seamus, we also know for a fact that Megan was taken with Bern.”

  Megan’s breath caught. Wolf form? As she watched, her father turned deathly pale and sank into the chair behind him. Jim stammered, but finally whispered, “He was there?”

  “Aye, and he gave us a great deal of information about the goings on of the place. It would seem that we have a traitor in our own ranks. Worse, it seems they had been doing experiments on us long before they captured Seamus or Bernadette.”

  “How can you be sure he is not the one who has been giving away information? He hasn’t been seen or heard from in years.”

  Megan wanted to jump into the fray. Her mind reeled with numerous questions as she listened, but neither her father nor her Uncle Donovan allowed an opening in their embroiled exchange.

  “It seems they have created some drug that prevents us from changing form. It holds us virtually powerless and blocks our communication pathways. This left Seamus unable to talk to his family in the way of our people. He would not dare go to them either because this group also implanted
a tracking device in him. I have contacted Shannon and Conor to do some research into it.”

  As Megan listened to their conversation, other words started to fall into place. Wolf form, telepathic speaking, Tuatha De Danann, empowerment, and her uncle’s words this morning about her mother not changing and ripping them apart. Overwhelmed she stumbled into a chair, as her mind raced. She stared at her uncle in disbelief. Finding her voice she said, “Are you saying…is it true…that I’m not human?”

  In the blink of an eye, everyone in the room focused their attention on her. Donovan moved toward her. Megan’s father jumped from his chair and ran to her. Her father knelt and took her hands in his. “No, Meg, of course you’re human. This has nothing to do with you.”

  Donovan plopped down on the chair arm, reached around her shoulder, and yanked her toward him. "Jim. I have let you keep your blinders on too long. It stops now. It has kept Megan in the dark about her heritage. It is time she learned the truth."

  Jim surged to his feet; his anger a palpable thing. The room tilted for a moment as her father spat out his words. “You don’t know for sure what abilities she has.” The disgust in his voice caused Megan to recoil. Her mouth as dry, as a cotton ball, she could not force out any words.

  “I know you loved my sister dearly. You were as devastated at her loss as the rest of us. Therefore, I am going to let your attitude slide. However, I can no longer allow you to keep the truth from Megan. She will be coming into power in less than three weeks. It is time she learned who and what she is.”

  “She is my daughter, and I forbid it.”

  “Jim, I know you wanted to protect her all these years, but you cannot change the inevitable. You can no longer ignore what Megan is. You loved Bern not just as a woman, but also because of who she was. Megan is no different. She will always be your daughter. But Megan exudes power. Before the kidnapping, she exhibited her adolescent abilities. After talking to Seamus, I now know why she lost those powers.”

  Jim sank back to the floor, his head in his hands and his shoulders slumped in defeat. He looked as if he had aged ten years in a matter of minutes. “I can’t lose her as well.” His words were barely a whisper.

  Megan felt torn—she wanted to comfort her father, but she needed to know more.

  Donovan’s voice changed, softened. “You will not be losing her, Jim. She will be the same person she is now with extra abilities, as you well know.”

  Her father’s head jerked up; a spark of fight lit his eyes. “No, that’s not what I’m talking about. If she changes, they will come after her again. Look what they did to Bern. They butchered her for God’s sake.”

  Megan gasped. The room around her darkened and her head felt disconnected from her body. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Donovan’s curse cut through the black curtain enveloping her.

  A sharp, alcoholic smell accosted her nose. Through a long, dark tunnel, she saw Sean holding a brandy snifter with about an inch of golden-brown liquid in it.

  “Drink this, Pet.”

  With a shaking hand, she took the glass and gulped down the amber alcohol. The burn of it sliding down her throat caused her to choke and she had trouble catching her breath. Sean stood her up and walked her to her room. Like a living puppet, she followed his lead.

  “Now, Pet, I want you to lie down for a wee bit. I promise I will wake you in about an hour or so and we will explain everything to you.” He helped her into her bed. She continued to shake and sob as he pulled the quilt over her. He sat on the bed and just held her as she cried until she quieted and eventually started to drift toward sleep. Sean’s footfalls echoed as he left the room and in a few moments she heard him say, “She is asleep, and thank the gods for it, after the two of you made a right bollocks of the whole bloody matter. I have never seen two bigger eejits in my entire life. You two acted as if she was not even in the same room. Then to blurt out about how Bern died in front of her like that. You never even told her that her mum was murdered did you Jim?”

  She tried to comprehend her Uncle Sean’s words as sleep swept over her.

  Megan dreamt, but there was nothing concrete she could grab hold of, except she kept seeing a big black wolf pushing her through the woods and snuggling up next to her to keep her warm when they rested. When she woke, her Uncle Sean was sitting, or rather half dozing, in the chair next to the bed.

  “So you are awake, then?” He asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes when he noticed her watching him.

  Megan pushed herself into a sitting position against the headboard. “I’m not sure if I want to be. I’m hoping you’re going to tell me this is all a dream. And now that I am awake, you’ll say I’m really human and have no power whatsoever. Then you’ll say everything is just the same as it was before.”

  “Ah, Pet, I wish I could. You are quite human by the way. Only, now you will have the great advantage of being able to wield magical powers. I am going to let Donovan tell you of your heritage. Once he has, you will find it is not as horrible as you might think at this moment.”

  Megan thought about it for a while and then asked, “How was my mother killed? If she had these great powers, you all talk about, how come she couldn’t save herself?”

  Sean’s face flushed red. “I am afraid that is one question in this entire business none of us can make heads or tails of. From what Seamus told Dono and Paddy, the people who kidnapped you both used some type of drug to stop Bern from changing and from communicating with us. Still, even with the injuries your mum sustained, she should not have died. That is the part that has all of us so baffled.”

  Now that she had Sean talking about her mother, she was going to try to get as much from him as possible. “Can you tell me about her? Not the way Dad or even Uncle Donovan talks about her. I mean what she was like.” Megan was not sure Sean was going to tell her as he stared out the window. To her surprise he actually spoke.

  “She was the most unique person you could ever want to know. She looked a lot like you, but with slightly darker hair and grayer eyes. She was always so happy in life. Nothing ever seemed to get her down. She made everyone laugh with her antics. She would joke and use her power to wreak havoc on the rest of us. Even as a child, she was the most mischievous little brat according to Donovan and Patrick. You know you were very much like her before the kidnapping.”

  He continued to tell her about her mother. In total awe, she listened with fascination at his tales. He had her laughing so hard the rest of her uncles and her dad came into the room to make sure she was all right. After a while, they all began to contribute memories of their own, and before long, the whole group rocked the walls with laughter.

  Megan’s sides hurt from laughing so hard. Tears ran down her face, only this time they were tears of joy. It was so nice to have everyone talking about her mom in such a loving and happy way.

  Later they all went to the kitchen and had dinner, still talking of Bernadette’s and her brothers’ childhood days. This was a part of her mom’s life no one ever shared with her before. Joy filled her entire being. She felt much closer to the mother that she never knew or at least couldn’t remember. Even her dad seemed happy to be hearing all of it.

  After dinner, Donovan came to her. He said it was time to go for a walk so he could tell her all about her heritage, and to give her some information on what to expect on her birthday. Her lip trembled and perspiration pooled in her armpits as she followed her uncle. After hearing so many wonderful things about her mom, she knew she needed to find out the rest. They ended up on Spy Ledge as Donovan explained about the Tuatha Dé Danann and what she could expect over the next few weeks and beyond.

  By the time Donovan had finished, her mind reeled. How was it possible that she would be able to move from place to place with just a thought, or to envision an object and have it appear in her hand? She could become an animal at will and have powers beyond any she ever dreamed. It was hard to wrap her mind around it all.

  “But how is it you can’t talk
to me in my mind the way you talk to Sean and Patrick? You said I used to do that, and the other day I remembered, or at least had the sensation I had previously had conversations that way.”

  “Oh you did, Little Bit. We used to talk all the time together that way. Up until the day you were kidnapped, my mind was all we needed to communicate with both your mum and you. The last thing I heard from Bern were the words ‘Run Megan,’ then my head filled with a blinding white-hot pain.”

  Megan felt another memory trying to break through, but then it was gone.

  Donovan continued, “From that point on, I could not contact either one of you. When I talked to Seamus, he explained they used some drug that somehow prevented us from communicating on that level. He is still not able to communicate telepathically himself, even after all these years. That is a very difficult thing for him; as we use this process frequently, when we want to communicate with one of our family members from a distance.”

  “So, I may never be able to communicate telepathically?”

  “To that question Megan, I have no clue. I have contacted our healers to see if they can come to some conclusion on that.”

  “Speaking of Seamus, you said he was the one who saved me. Was he the wolf?”

  “Yes, he was in wolf form when he was captured, and due to the drugs they used, he could not transform back. It was no easy task to save those that he did, you included.”

  “I wish he could have saved Mom, too.”

  “That we all do, but none more so than Seamus himself. He said he never saw her, only you. He knew her, so he would have done anything in his power to have saved her if he could have.”

  “So he didn’t know who I was when we talked earlier. He did seem quite upset that I knew nothing about being a Tuatha Dé Danann or even what it meant.”

  “His family ranks very high among our people, and he has very strong beliefs. He is right about the fact that I have neglected to explain all this to you years ago. However, I refused to go against your Da’s wishes. Your Da was so afraid that if we started explaining this it could cause some sort of problem for you. Being that you had none of your adolescent powers, I saw no harm in leaving you in ignorance until closer to your empowerment. Your Da always kept me informed as to any memories that started to surface. When you had your dream the other night, he called me. We thought it best I come here in case you started remembering more. However; unforeseeable to us all, you ran into Seamus, and…well, we made a mess of telling you the truth after.”