Chapter Six
Day Two
The Morning
Seven A.M.
After the sun came up, and Elizabeth opened her eyes, she heard breathing that wasn’t hers, and at first, it freaked her out. Well, after the dream she had, regarding Ceit and finding her icy heart, who could actually blame her.
It had felt so goddamn real.
Elizabeth didn’t understand why she’d had it, and she assumed it was exhaustion related. It had felt like she’d not slept in days because, in fact, she’d NOT slept in days.
Yeah, that talk with the dead woman had been wild.
Sitting up, apart from her dream, there was still the mystery of why she heard semi-snoring.
Truthfully, it sounded familiar.
Why did it sound like Michael?
And why could she hear it in her room?
He’d been on guard duty plenty of times where he took a nap nearby, and she’d know that familiarity anywhere.
Looking over the end of the bed, there was a mattress on the floor blocking the door with the two men cuddled up together. At first, she was confused.
Then, she was jealous.
She missed being cuddled.
She missed being held.
She missed her husbands.
It was crazy that she had four, and here she was, alone with none of them near her. Then again, that had been her choice, so she could find herself.
And she wasn’t.
So far, there was still a hole in her soul.
The worst part was that she didn’t know how to fill it back up again.
Hopefully, her time here helped Elizabeth navigate this so she could figure out if she was going back to the FBI or not. As of that moment, she wasn’t.
She had two weeks to figure it out before she was due back to work, and in that time, there was a lot to come to grips with in her world.
Only, now, she needed to figure out what was going on here.
Were the men worried about her last night, and that was why they were camping on her floor in front of the fire?
And speaking of fires, this castle was hella drafty. All she recalled through the night was the cold that seemed to wrap around her, relentlessly.
Carefully getting out of bed, she moved toward the mattress and crouched down.
When she touched Michael, his eyes popped open, and he yelped as someone was staring down at him.
That someone looked like Ceit.
It made Graham do the same thing, and both men sat up with a start.
“Woah, it’s just me. What is this?” she asked, as they were staring at her. “I woke up, and there were two men in my room—and not the men who SHOULD be in here. Out of all of them, this is not the combo that need to be here.”
Immediately, Graham started laughing.
Beside him, Michael just sighed.
“Jesus, Elizabeth. You scared the hell out of us. Wear a bell,” he muttered.
Truthfully, they both slept for shit, watching the bed to make sure she didn’t move, or nothing popped into the room to make their lives hellish.
Like a ghost.
At his comment, she snorted.
Why?
That was all kinds of crazy that she’d managed to sneak up on him. He was an Archangel, and he was pretty damn stealthy himself. That he didn’t hear her…
Something was up.
“Are you okay, Lass?” Graham asked.
She was confused.
“Yeah, except I don’t know why you’re in here. You both could have just woke me up and told me you were sleeping in here. You could have slept in the bed. You’re gay. I’m not. We all would have been fine. I can distinguish between husbands and sons. I’m smart like that.”
Michael was still staring at her.
And she didn’t like how he looked freaked out.
Had something happened?
Was security breached?
It took a lot to get a Marine to have that particular look on his face.
“What?” she asked. “Why do you look like you saw a ghost?”
Yeah, he was still so worried about her.
It had been a wild night, and NOT the kind he liked to have anymore. Guarding her was never an issue. Worried she was going to hurt herself because of a ghost…
Not fun.
“You don’t remember what happened?” he asked, curiously.
She looked confused.
By that, did he mean her going to bed at eight last night? Because that’s the only thing she’d done to make up for lost sleep.
“No. What happened?”
Michael looked at his husband, and then, they both stared at her.
“Guys, you’re worrying me,” she said.
THEM?
They were worrying her?
Oh, well, they had news for Elizabeth. She was about to be incredibly freaked out.
“The whole castle woke up when you opened the kitchen door and set off the alarms.”
She blinked.
Huh?
How did she do that from bed?
“What?”
He wasn’t done.
“Yeah, we woke up and followed you through the castle. The doors have alarms, and once I set them, if you don’t turn them off, I’m alerted. I thought someone broke in.”
She sat on the mattress beside them, and immediately, her heart began pounding in her chest.
What was this?
“I opened the door?” she asked, thinking back to her dream and what happened in it. In that DREAM, the door was partially open—calling to her.
They both nodded.
“Then, you went to the foyer, moved a chair, stood on it, and touched the painting.”
She didn’t like this. In her dream, she’d walked with Ceit to the foyer but didn’t do the rest of that. Instead, they talked about her heart.
But it was too close for comfort for her.
“Guys, that’s not funny.”
Oh, well, tell them about it. They’d had to watch her do all of it.
“You don’t recall it?” Graham asked. “Really, Lass?”
She shook her head.
Oh, and she was scared because she had a dream where she walked out an open door, went and stood in the foyer with Ceit and talked about the painting.
Michael continued.
“Then, you went to the crypt, that was suspiciously open and unlocked, stood there, then you decided to lay on top of her crypt to take a goddamn nap. IN THE CRYPT, ELIZABETH! What the hell?”
Oh.
Jesus.
Christ.
He wasn’t done.
Not even close.
“You had us freaked the fuck out all night. You looked like you were in a trance. You didn’t say anything, and you didn’t do anything weird, other than the last part. What the hell was with sleeping on a crypt?”
She didn’t like this.
Not.
At.
All.
Silently, she sat there.
“What?” Michael said. “Talk to us, Honey, because something went on that was weird. We can’t explain it. It was so crazy that we had to sleep blocking your door. I don’t overly exaggerate, and I don’t get freaked out easily, but I’m doing both of those things now.”
Oh, this was bad.
Elizabeth had that feeling in the pit of her stomach, and it had her scared stupid.
So, she shared.
“I had a dream. I woke up, and it sounded like someone was banging doors and things downstairs. So, I went to investigate.”
Graham was horrified.
Why would she do that alone?
WHY?
“Lass, you should leave that up to us. You could get hurt. Our job is to keep you safe. What if someone jumped you?”
Both she and Michael stared at him.
“What?” he asked.
Michael had bad news for his husband.
“You don’t want to tangle with her in a fight. She’s vicious and learned how to fight from the Marines. She’s got some Archangel and MRR in her. Don’t worry about her in a fight. Scotland doesn’t have a lot of guns. Anyone who comes at her with the intent to brawl, isn’t safe. She’s fine.”
He blinked.
“Uh, okay.”
If his husband said so. Hopefully, though, they didn’t have to witness that.
For now, Michael needed more information, so he focused on Elizabeth.
“Continue.”
She did.
“So, I went downstairs, and Ceit was there. She wanted to talk. She was talking in Gaelic, but it sounded, more like slang in Scottish. I could understand her though, so we talked.”
Neither man spoke.
Why?
The ghosts here had made Gabby sleepwalk, and almost to her death. So, that was the same old fear, now unlocked again.
“When I came down, I thought someone opened the door, and I went outside. It was pitch black, so I’m likely the one who set the alarm off.”
Well, yeah, they knew because there were cameras. Graham had checked them when they bunked down in her room, after they tucked her back into bed.
They watched the whole thing, and it was freaky.
“Ceit and I talked about her heart. She wanted me to find her icy heart and told me not to trust the words. I don’t know what that means.”
Both men were confused.
“Maybe it’s nothing,” Graham stated. “Maybe it’s more. I don’t like it,” he admitted.
That was when Elizabeth could see the look pass between them.
“What aren’t you telling me?” she asked.
Michael shared.
“The castle has been dead silent for a month. You came here, and you look like her. Then, the water bubbled,
and the painting fell, and now you’re sleepwalking as you have conversations with her. I’ve known you seven years, Elizabeth, and you’ve never sleepwalked before.”
She was aware.
“I don’t know if I should be wary or maybe I was just tired,” she admitted. “I’d gone without a good rest for almost a week. Catnaps only work for so long.”
He shut that down.
Oh, Michael always sided with the most logical, or safest side when it came to shit like this.
“I’d be wary. Because we just walked with you while you were dreaming, but we couldn’t hear her. The castle was quiet. You were the one who was haunted this time.”
And that freaked her out.
This was the last thing she needed. Ian and Gryphen had promised her that this place had calmed down, and this didn’t seem like it was calm.
It was HAUNTING HER.
Now, they needed to get to the bottom of this.
“What did she want?” Michael asked.
Elizabeth thought back to the dream.
“She wanted me to find her heart. We talked about why I was here, and we both were looking for ourselves. She told me she lost her love, and she told me Duncan never loved her. We discussed the curse a little, and how she’s the only one who can break it.
She said the only way for me to break it was to find her heart. ”
They listened.
“She said he took that from her, too. I just don’t know what she means. She’s dead, and her heart is LONG gone by now. She’s dust other than her bones, right? Please tell me her heart’s not in some jar somewhere. I don’t need that kind of vacation.”
They reassured her.