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Highlander's Courage: The Matheson Brothers, #12
Highlander's Courage: The Matheson Brothers, #12
Highlander's Courage: The Matheson Brothers, #12
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Highlander's Courage: The Matheson Brothers, #12

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The legend of the vampire comes alive.

Some call Cairstine one of the dark fae. She holds the ability to morph and can shift into any creature she desires, whether shrinking to the size of a bat, extending to the width of a dragon, or anything in between. She hasn't walked in daylight since her childhood years, has taken her nourishment by feeding from her immortal sisters, but as one of the ancient fae, it's now time for her to come up against her greatest adversary. Her fated mate.

Liam is his clan's doctor, a warrior shifter of immense strength, and when Cairstine arrives from the year 1211 into his twenty-first century time, he's riveted by her. She holds one of the rarest of their people's fae abilities and her immortal soul needs healing. Her desire to embrace the dark is drawing her deeper and deeper into despair and now he is left with no choice. He needs to bring his mate's soul back into the light, or else she'll destroy them both.

Each book in this series is standalone, and can be enjoyed out of sequence.

THE MATHESON BROTHERS SERIES

Highlander's Desire, #1

Highlander's Passion, #2

Highlander's Seduction, #3

Highlander's Kiss, #4

Highlander's Heart, #5

Highlander's Sword, #6

Highlander's Bride, #7

Highlander's Caress, #8

Highlander's Touch, #9

Highlander's Shifter, #10

Highlander's Claim, #11

Highlander's Courage, #12

Highlander's Mermaid, #13

LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 12, 2019
ISBN9781386862956
Highlander's Courage: The Matheson Brothers, #12
Author

Joanne Wadsworth

Joanne Wadsworth is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author who adores getting lost in the world of romance, no matter what era in time that might be. Hot alpha Highlanders hound her, demanding their stories are told and she’s devoted to ensuring they meet their match, whether that be with a feisty lass from the present or far in the past. Living on a tiny island at the bottom of the world, she calls New Zealand home. Big-dreamer, hoarder of chocolate, and addicted to juicy watermelons since the age of five, she chases after her four energetic children and has her own hunky hubby on the side. So come and join in all the fun, because this kiwi girl promises to give you her “Hot-Highlander” oath, to bring you a heart-pounding, sexy adventure from the moment you turn the first page. This is where romance meets fantasy and adventure… To learn more about Joanne and her works, visit her website: http://www.joannewadsworth.com

Read more from Joanne Wadsworth

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    Book preview

    Highlander's Courage - Joanne Wadsworth

    Chapter 1

    A few hours later...

    ––––––––

    Standing rigidly at the window of his chamber on the upper floor of Matheson Castle, Liam Matheson seized the windowsill and searched the predawn forested skyline. Since Cairstine’s arrival a fortnight past in his twenty-first century time, she’d never left her return to the keep this late. Daylight was her enemy, the sun’s rays her end should she get caught in the sunlight.

    A screech and there, a golden-white speck appeared along the horizon.

    A golden eagle skimmed the treetops, breezed over the battlements, one wingtip scraping the stone crenellation.

    He shoved his window open wider and with another hard beat of her wings, she pulled back and landed on his windowsill, her wings lit an even brighter gold by the sunlight. Smoke billowed from her plumage, and he bellowed, his yell echoing across the bailey as he nabbed his plaid draped over one shoulder and bundled her in it. With his heart beating a mile a minute, he tossed her onto his bed, pulled the window shut, and flung the heavy blue drapes across.

    A squawk as she emerged from under his plaid, claws digging into his brown fur bedcovers.

    Damn it, Cairstine. Shift now. He dropped to his knees in front of her, the white rug at the end of his bed cushioning the impact. Let me see where you’re hurt.

    She ruffled her singed feathers and jabbed her beak into the underside of one wing. Tendrils of smoke curled into the air, then right before his eyes, the muscles and tendons of her scorched wing healed, her immortal blood coursing strongly through her. With a waggle of her tail feathers, she peered at him with her emerald eyes, gold specks twinkling within the stunning depths.

    It is my duty to protect every member of my clan. She couldn’t continue to play with fire the way she had.

    She cocked her head, looked directly at him down her beak.

    Aye, aye, I can see you’ve healed, but I still need to examine you fully. He shoved to his feet, flicked on the overhead chandelier to better illuminate his chamber and returned to her. I do have other patients to see. Shift, and make it quick.

    Another blink.

    If you won’t shift, then I’ll begin my examination with you just as you are, you stubborn bird. He took one deep calming breath, or as calming as he could when frustration sizzled through him at this level. What was it about this woman that always brought his protective urges to the forefront?

    He lowered to his knees once more, cupped her feathered under-neck and smoothed his other hand over the top of her eagle’s head. She had incredibly velvety-soft feathers. Gently, he traced along the delicate lines of the sides of her bird’s face, her strongly-hooked beak resting on his wrist as he did. Down over her body, he ran his fingers, across the golden-white feathers of her back where her plumage intermingled with lighter brown and darker brown tones.

    Having calmed a little, he uttered, Spread your wings fully out.

    She extended them.

    For once you finally obey. With her majestic wings reaching from one side of his four-poster bed to the other, he glided along the upper curve of one wing and then the other, all the way to both her wingtips. The skeletal structure of her wings was light, yet that structure also held powerful force. He reached underneath her belly and rubbed where he couldn’t quite see, her body no longer showing even one mark of her close call with the sun.

    Once he’d finished, he nodded and she tucked her wings away and shuffled her belly even higher up, a low trill vibrating from her throat.

    I’m not petting you again. He couldn’t keep his smile from breaking free. Damn it. Why can’t I ever stay angry at you for long? And don’t answer that question.

    A rub of her feathery cheek against his chest then she hopped off the bed and tap, tap, tapped across the floorboards. She circled around him as he stood, brushed against his tan trouser-clad leg and caught a loose cotton thread dangling from his white lab coat. She tore it free with her beak and after another three hops, dropped the thread into his corner wastebasket.

    If that’s your way of saying sorry, then apology accepted. That should rile her.

    Bright lights sparked, a stunning display that sizzled and burned, and then in the place of the eagle, Cairstine now stood in an emerald gown with sweeping skirts that flared to her slippered feet. Her bodice was laced tight and the upper swells of her breasts rose above the confines of soft velvet. An incredibly delicious sight. One he shouldn’t be looking at. He lifted his gaze and locked it on one of her ears where she’d tucked a lock of her golden hair behind it. There was smoke, he uttered far too huskily, so he started again, There was smoke, and if you’d been out in the dawn sun one more second, you would have burst into ashes.

    It takes more than a mere second or two for the sunshine to turn me into ashes. I watched Mairi burn until nothing more remained of her. I assure you, it took several minutes. A flick of one hand, a nonchalant shrug.

    Were you and Mairi close? He’d read a few brief words about Mairi’s death from within one of the ancient tomes in their clan library, written in Cairstine’s own hand.

    He’d always been fascinated by this woman’s morphing skill, that only three of their ancient fae had ever held it, two now remaining. Mairi had been born only one day before Cairstine, while Enya had been born the day after her. Three immortal fae children born with the same rare skill at exactly the same time, all able to morph into any creature they desired. Such a thing had never happened again, their skill that rare.

    Mairi and I were sisters of the heart. She stepped up to him, her long golden lashes drifting to her cheeks then sweeping up again, the gold specks in her eyes disappearing and the emerald darkening to a swirling raven color tinged with bloodred. The pull of my dark fae skill grows deeper within me.

    I’m aware. Her eyes gave clear evidence of her growing hunger, which had his bear stirring in his middle, the words he’d spoken coming out all rumbly and hard.

    As one of the remaining thirty-five unmated males in his clan, he, like his fellow kinsmen, all awaited the next full moon when they’d know who among them had forged a mated bond with her.

    Enya has never walked as close to the dark as I do. She is gentleness and sweetness, while I am the exact opposite.

    There are times when your sweetness shines through. When she opened her mouth to deny his words, he frowned and pressed a finger against her lips. I said sometimes.

    The legend of the vampire stems from me. You’d best no’ forget it. Cairstine pulled away from him. You have yet to meet my dragon, Liam. She sends fire surging forth, could scorch this Earth until not a single tree or a blade of grass remained. The world should fear me. Chaos will reign if I ever become one of the Bloodthirsty.

    You like to erect walls, but they can be toppled.

    As one who knows of my inability to walk within the daylight, you might one day be charged with the duty of destroying me. You’ll be thanking me for those walls then.

    You’re clearly hungry. His claws sliced out, his need to ensure she fed rising swift and sharp.

    Retract them. She squeezed his fingers, but his claws remained out. Liam, she growled with a pleading look and a grimace as her own claws speared out, when you allow your bear to rise, he calls to my inner bear. You must restrain him.

    Will you feed from me? That’ll help restrain him.

    No, feeding from you would be too dangerous. I can feed only from my sisters or Cherub. I cannae kill them should I take too much, whereas you, I could drain you dry. She shook her hands, pulled her claws back in.

    I’m not sure where Ailith or Lilias are this morning. Cherub either. He couldn’t leave her until she’d fed and replenished her strength. You and your sisters hold the ability to speak telepathically. Put a call out to them. I’ll wait while you do.

    I’m no’ a child to be ordered about. Except she tapped her head and went quiet, thankfully giving into his wishes.

    How far away are they? he asked when she remained quiet.

    I cannae reach them, Cherub either. They must all be busy. She gave him her back as she swished away through their shared bathroom connecting their bedchambers.

    It looks like you’ve got no choice but to feed from me. He marched after her, swiped his handkerchief from his pocket, strode past the marble vanity with its wide basin and wrapped the cloth around his bicep. A tug to tighten the knot and he pumped his fist which sent his blood coursing down to his wrist. The second best vein he had, the first was right over his chest, but he doubted she’d feed from him there. Too personal.

    I said no to feeding from you. She entered her chamber and with a lift of one hand, sent the burgundy drapes swishing across her window. Another flick and the bedside lamp got lit. She dropped down onto the end of her four-poster bed with a bounce. Palms pressed against the white-quilted covers, she narrowed her gaze on his wrist. I willnae starve if I miss a meal.

    There is no need to miss a meal, not when I’m offering to feed you, and don’t give me the spiel again about draining me dry when I know damn well you’d never hurt me. It goes against your very nature to bring harm down upon the heads of your kin. He shoved his wrist in front of her face. Take my blood. I freely give.

    You are very annoying. Pushing his wrist aside, she kicked off her slippers, one smacking into his calf and the other hitting her cherrywood dresser with a thunk. She blew out a long breath, then suddenly went white.

    He caught her before her head hit the covers, her breathing shallow.

    Icy-cold skin.

    Eyelids shut.

    Pulse stuttering at her neck.

    She was an immortal.

    What the hell was going on?

    Immortals didn’t show these signs of decline.

    Chapter 2

    Deep in the Highlands, centuries earlier, mere hours before Mairi’s death.

    ––––––––

    Mairi, where are you? Cairstine lifted her flickering torch high within the darkened depths of the labyrinth of caves where her dearest friend sometimes retreated to when things overwhelmed her. A fortnight had passed since they’d last spoken, the longest length of time they’d ever gone without seeing or speaking to each other. Cupping one hand to her mouth, she shouted Mairi’s name again.

    Sheer silence pulsed back.

    Brow furrowed, she reached out with her mind for what felt like the thousandth time that day and as had happened previously, she hit naught but a dark barrier. It could mean several things, either her friend was blocking her, sleeping, or simply beyond her telepathic reach, but her instincts told her it was the former.

    Gritting her teeth, she trekked onward, the caves winding deeper into the bowels of the earth, her flame barely lighting the gritty ground. She had to duck her head in some places, the tunnel thinning for a short stretch here and there before widening again. With her breathing loud in the darkened depths, the air damp and—she stumbled, got drenched in the heady metallic aroma of blood. A ton of blood, the sweet perfume of it funneling toward her from somewhere up ahead.

    Another few steps, and the air thickened even further with the rich scent.

    Goodness, but the last time she’d been exposed to this much blood in the air had been the night when she and Mairi had soared in their dragon forms over a remote village along the coastline of the Isle of Lewis. Centuries ago now.

    They’d arrived as an attacking Viking’s long-ship rode the swell away from the village’s secluded bay. Raucous cheers had sounded from the Norsemen wearing horned helms and full battle gear, their ship’s bow curved high and built with the likeness of a dragon’s head atop it, the square sail catching the breeze and sending the warriors swiftly across the sea.

    She and Mairi had scoured the village, then caught sight of a lad of eight stumbling along the shoreline. They’d followed him, the wee boy crying as he squatted near the lifeless body of one of his kin, the waves washing in and slapping his small form, those waves almost tearing the boy out into the deep blue, the corpse along with it.

    The child’s death would have been imminent should they have left him there, so instead, they’d buried each and every one of the slain villagers, then taken the child with them back to the realm of the fae. They’d placed him into the safe hands of one of their healers. ’Twas all they had been able to do for the boy.

    Taking another deep breath, she walked around the bend in the passageway and halted in front of a darkened side chamber.

    Dinnae come any closer. Weak words echoed toward her from deep within the blackness.

    She lifted her torch higher, caught a touch of Mairi’s shadowed form hunched in one corner. Regardless of her friend’s warning, she crossed the threshold. Whenever Mairi had needed her, she’d been there for her and she had no intention of deserting her friend now. No one else understood their dark skill as they did, of how a single drop of blood could send their senses reeling, the heady allure calling to the very depths of their being. Blood sustained their lives, allowed them to exist, and to shift into any creature they desired.

    I said no closer. Firmer words as Mairi pushed to her feet, her red eyes glowing in the light of her lamp.

    You’ve been blocking my telepathic calls. Why? Another step, her booted feet crunching on something. She lowered her torch and the flickering flames moved over—oh hell, hell, hell.

    Bones covered the sandy floor of the cavern,

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