RAEN PERSONALLY SEARCHED all of Gordon’s land for Diana before returning to Dun Aran in hopes of finding her there. He knew he had been a fool to speak to her out of fear instead of love, and he would convince her to forget his irrational proposal. Even if it was safer for her in her time, he knew he could not live without her in his.

At the castle Diana was nowhere to be found, and when the clan’s horses were brought back from the mainland, Treun was not among them. Raen spoke to every member of the warband that had gone with him and Diana to the Gordon’s castle. Two clansmen reported seeing Diana, dressed in the laird’s clothes, saddle and ride off on her gelding.

“I saw her looking to the ground,” one of the men said. “As she does when she’s tracking.”

That she would go in search of the undead by herself terrified Raen, who went to his rooms to pack what he needed for his journey. She did not know Scotland or the mortals of this time. She would give that away the first time she spoke to anyone. Being a woman dressed like a man would make every clan suspicious of her. The ignorant and often superstitious villagers might think her a witch. After dark she could be captured and enthralled by any undead who desired her.

Raen went down to the great hall, where he saw Lachlan and Kinley talking with Neac. For the first time since the awakening he didn’t feel any interest in whatever clan business they were discussing. All he could think of was his woman, out there alone somewhere, furious with him and unaware that she’d put herself in grave danger.

As soon as he saw him Neac hurried over. “You dinnae have to search for Diana,” the chieftain said.

“I have naught to do but that,” Raen said, and went to the laird. “I drove her away. I am going after her. I dinnae ken when I will return.”

Lachlan offered him a message scroll and said, “Have a look, lad.”

Raen took it and read it, but the words made no sense. “Lamont wishes to keep Treun for his daughter? Why would he…oh, fack me. She’s there now? Why didnae you say before?”

“She’s not there.” The laird turned over the paper to show him the rest of the message. “Lamont says she was taken from the gatehouse by a druid.”

The air in Raen’s lungs turned to lead as his gaze shifted to Cailean, who sat by the hearth and was staring into the flames. A druid. He felt his body harden as if he were about to go into battle. Dinnae kill him, no’ yet. He strode over, seized the front of the druid’s robe, and dragged him out of the chair.

“What did you do to Diana?” Raen demanded, lifting him until his boots dangled above the floor.

“Master Aber,” the druid managed to say. Sweat popped out on his pale face. “You must ken I wouldnae ever… I cannae… Please put me down.”

Raen had never been a man to inflict harm on the helpless, and he had always had great respect for the magic folk. None of that mattered to him in this moment.

“Answer me now, and true, or I will put you down in the facking fire and watch you burn.”

Cailean gulped. “’Twas Master Flen. I am his acolyte. I’ve no choice but to obey him. He discovered where the lieutenant would be, and bid me go there with him. To enforce the ruling, ’tis all.”

Raen dropped him to the floor, but Tormod immediately stepped in and backed the druid up against the wall.

“You helped Bhaltair send Red back to her time? She’s clan.”

“We will deal with the druids later, Viking,” Lachlan said. “Now we must retrieve Diana. We can use the sacred grove here to reach her. Cailean, can Kinley safely pass through the grove now that she is immortal?”

The druid nodded quickly. “The resurrection spell healed all of her wounds, as it did the clan’s. They willnae return in any time, as yours didnae when you last went through the grove, my lord. But my lady, surely it would be better if…” His voice trailed off as he saw how everyone was glaring at him. “Or no’.”

“You need to deal with the undead,” Kinley said to the laird, “not to mention Bhaltair, so I’m not taking you with me this time. But trust me, I’ll be back, and I’ll have our cop.”

Lachlan kissed his wife, and nodded to Raen. “Go.”

“I am coming with you,” Tormod said, taking down an ax from a weapons rack.

He paused to glance at Lachlan who gave him a nod.

“Fine, but you can’t bring that,” Kinley said. She turned to address them both. “When we arrive you have to let me do all the talking. Also, you can’t freak out over things. If we have to go into the city after Diana, it’s going to be really scary, but you just have to stay calm.”

“I dinnae care about your city,” Raen told her flatly. “I go there only for my lady.”

Kinley touched his arm. “Let’s move.”

They left the stronghold and hurried out across the glen to the grove where Diana had originally crossed over from her time. Raen felt something very old and powerful in the air as soon as Kinley entered the grove.

“Hold onto me while we’re crossing,” she warned them as she stretched out her hands. “And don’t let go. I don’t want to lose either of you to the space between time. Ready?”

“No,” Tormod said and wrapped his arm around hers. “Yes.”

Raen held her free hand, and Kinley stepped forward into the center of the grove. The ground beneath them shook, and then vanished.

The last time Raen had made this journey he had been dying. Now he was fully awake and aware, and felt the immense power hurtling them through eight centuries to Diana’s world, and it seemed a good time to entreat the gods. I know ’tis my fault, and I shouldnae have driven her from me. I will accept any punishment you wish. Please, take us to her.

A heartbeat later they dropped out of the portal, and Raen found himself standing between two oak trees in front of the smoothest, most perfect curtain wall he had ever seen.

“Okay,” Kinley said, looking around them. “We’re at San Diego General instead of Horsethief Canyon. Oh, my god. I think this is a portal.” She touched one of the oaks. “Or it was.”

“You have strange names for things.” Tormod said as he stared up at the huge building. “Is this Diana’s stronghold?” He turned his head to gape at a pretty young blonde in a tank top and shorts. “Oh, tell me that wench ’tis her sister.”

“She doesnae have blood kin,” Raen told him, and felt another stab of guilt. He had been so adamant about keeping her safe that he hadn’t considered how miserable she might be in her time, where she only had her work.

“This is a hospital, a place where sick people are brought to be healed,” the laird’s wife said, frowning. “The portal must have brought us here for a reason. Maybe Diana got hurt when she was forced through by Bhaltair. Come on.”

Tormod stared at everything they passed inside the hospital, but Raen only scanned the faces of every woman within sight. “Kinley, she is no’ here.”

“We’ll check with patient information,” she told him, and walked up to a huge, curved object behind which mortals were sitting and working on strange devices. “Hi, can you tell me if Diana Burke is a patient here? She would have been admitted last night.”

The woman checked one of the lighted gadgets and nodded. “She’s in intensive care, room four-bee. Are you family?”

“Yes, I’m her sister,” Kinley said, and pointed to Raen. “This is her husband, and her brother.” As the woman stared at all three of them she added, “We were just at a cosplay convention. We’re immortal highlanders. Don’t we look authentic?”

“Uh-huh,” the woman said, and handed Kinley three slips of paper with large Vs on them. “It’s about time some family showed up. Intensive Care is on the seventh floor. Visitation is restricted to thirty minutes, and you can’t leave anything in the room.”

Kinley had them walk into a large metal box, which jerked and hummed as it rose, and dinged when it stopped. When they walked out they were in another, new place crowded with mortals and more gadgets and bedchambers. From there she guided them through the crowded corridor to a room where the bed had been draped.

Raen could smell Diana, and jerked aside the curtains, only to freeze. “My lady?”

All of her glorious mane was gone, and in its place was a flimsy, short cap of thin, fragile-looking hairs. Her body now looked too thin and fragile, and her eyes appeared sunken and cloudy. The left side of her face drooped, and she didn’t react at all to their presence.

“She can’t speak,” a kind voice said, and a woman dressed in white entered the room. “Ms. Burke had several grand mal seizures, and then a stroke when she reached the ER. I’m afraid it’s common with her type of brain tumor.”

The woman took hold of Diana’s limp hand and pressed her fingers across her wrist as she stared at her own bracelet.

“My sister never told us about her illness,” Kinley said carefully. “I think she didn’t want to worry us. Will she be having surgery?”

“Oh, my dear, I’m so sorry. There’s nothing we can do for your sister now but make her comfortable.” The woman adjusted one of the tubes attached to Diana’s arm. “When you’re finished visiting, we would like to discuss transferring Ms. Burke to a hospice facility.”

Kinley nodded, waited until the woman left, then turned to Raen.

“I can’t take us back from here. We have to move her to where we crossed over, between the oak trees.” She glanced over her shoulder at the door. “All right, this will have to be quick and dirty.” She turned to Tormod. “I need you by the elevator. If anyone tries to stop us, you knock them out.”

“The elevator is the metal box with the glowing discs?”

Kinley nodded and the Viking slipped out of the room.

“I’ll be right back. Stay here with her,” Kinley said, and followed Tormod.

Raen gently picked up Diana’s hand to hold it between his. “What I said to you before we parted was a lie. I can keep you safe. All you must do is stay with me.” He leaned over to kiss her cool brow. “You must, you ken, for you bear my mark.” He turned her palm up to kiss it, and saw the jag of ink had vanished. “I forgot that you are as you were before you can to Dun Aran. It doesnae matter. You are mine.”

A spark jumped from his face to her palm, and etched the mark again.

Diana opened her eyes, and one side of her mouth curled up. “Ouch.”

At that moment Kinley came back into the room pushing a chair with large wheels that contained a pile of garments. She handed Raen a large white coat.

“Put this on,” she ordered and then donned one herself. “Once I disconnect her from the equipment, I need you to put her in the wheelchair. Then we’re going to take her to the elevator.” She looked down at Diana and smiled. “Hey, lady. You didn’t think you’d get out of the clan that easy, did you?”

Raen watched as the laird’s wife quickly removed all of the wires and tubes from Diana’s body, and then eased his arms under her and lifted her from the bed. She felt as weightless as a child, and once he placed her in the chair Kinley covered her with a thin blanket.

“Don’t look at anyone, and walk normally,” she said before she opened the door.

She looked left and right, and then pushed Diana out of the room.

The mortals working around the rooms didn’t notice them. But as they drew close to the elevator, where Tormod was standing, another woman wearing white stopped and peered at Diana, and then Kinley.

“Where are you taking this patient?” the woman demanded.

“Downstairs,” Kinley said, sounding bored as she went to press the button on the wall between the metal boxes.

“But she isn’t scheduled for–”

The woman squealed as Tormod turned her around, lifted her up, and kissed her until she clutched his neck.

The doors to the elevator opened, and Kinley rolled Diana inside.

“You are very comely,” the Norseman said. “I wish I could bring you back for me.” But he lowered the dazed woman to the ground, and darted into the elevator just before the doors closed. When he saw Kinley’s face he shrugged. “I couldnae hit her over the head. She is a healer.”

Raen held onto Diana’s thin hand as the elevator descended, and then pushed the wheelchair out and walked rapidly toward the clear doors. He heard some of the mortals calling to them, but didn’t stop until they were outside. He lifted Diana out of the chair, wrapped the blanket around her and carried her to the space between the two oaks.

Kinley and Tormod joined them, and the laird’s wife smiled down at Diana as she tucked her arms through the men’s. “Time to go home.”

Raen held onto Diana tightly as they fell into the portal’s tunnel, and felt her growing heavier in his arms as they made the journey back to Skye. When he looked down at her, he saw her hair thicken and grow out in long, shining waves of golden red. Her face grew symmetrical and smooth, and her eyes brightened as she met his gaze.

The next moment they were standing in the oak grove, surrounded by red deer who stood and watched them with big dark eyes, before returning to their grazing.

Carefully Raen lowered Diana to the ground, and looked all over her. Seeing her restored to herself made his throat lock up.

Diana raised her hands to touch her head. “I have hair again.” She uttered a little laugh. “I had to wear a wig for like a year.” She looked at Kinley and Tormod. “Thank you. You just saved my life.”

The laird’s wife hugged her. “You’re my sister in any time.”

Diana turned to Tormod. “You blew your chance to get rid of me for good.”

“Aye.” He scowled. “Dinnae ever do that again. If you do I will have to kill many druids, and they will come back and curse me or feed my soul to the dogs of the gods.”

“Come on, Viking,” Kinley said. “Let’s go tell my husband we’ve got our tracker back before he kills many druids.”

Raen waited until the pair left.

“I had a dream of finding Bradana in the pond, that night we were at Gordon’s stronghold. Her face changed to yours, and the undead were drowning you. When I woke up and saw them attacking you, ’twas as if I’d had an omen. That was why I spoke to you so coldly. I wanted you to go back so you would live.” He hesitated. “Why didnae you tell Bhaltair that going back would kill you?”

“He wouldn’t care,” she said quietly. “But I should have told you.” She shook her head a little. “I’ve been hiding this tumor for a very long time. I intended to keep my job up to the very last second. I also wasn’t sure coming to your time cured me, and I didn’t want you to think that was the only reason I wanted to stay.” She paused and looked at the ground. “Maybe it was in the beginning.”

“This was why you were angry with me after Seoc died,” Raen said and touched her cheek. “’Twas not about your mother. ’Twas about you.”

“I kept my condition secret for as long as I could. I lied to my boss and told her that I was cancer-free. But I fought it, Raen. I tried medication, chemo, radiation and even something called alternating electric field therapy. For that one they stuck an electrode on my scalp and made me carry around a thing that constantly zapped the tumor.” She rubbed her head. “Nothing worked. When I crossed over, I had only a few weeks left to live, so when Kinley told me she’d been healed…well, it gave me some real hope. Then you and I went for a swim, and the ink started to fly, and I thought, maybe I could have it all. My life and you.” As she looked up at him, her hand pressed down over his heart. “So I’ve got the life back.”

“And me,” he said, smiling down at her as he covered her hand with his. “You’ll no’ be rid of me as easy as that.”

Unshed tears glittered in her violet eyes as Raen bent down and slowly kissed her. She held onto him tightly, her soft lips melding into his, and her spiced-honey scent filling his head. But after a long moment, she drew back.

“There’s one more thing,” she said. “I know where the nobles and the legion are.”