Mated By The Demon Collections: Paranormal Romance Read online

  He had to laugh at the facts in front of him. It must be the grief of losing Bradon. He finally figured out, or at least it seemed reasonable enough to him.

  Conor walked over by the door to the room the servant had taken the medicine a bit ago. The servant must have stayed with her to make sure the medicine helped. He tapped on the door and it was answered by the lady.

  “Hello can I help you?” She whispered keeping her voice low. “I don’t want to wake her up, she’s finally resting peacefully.” She stated.

  “Do you want me to sit with her for a while? Just in case you have something to do? It is fine with me.” Conor asked.

  The servant looked back at the bed and finally shook her head. “Okay, for a little while if you could.”

  He had sat on the chair beside the bed and looked over at Heather McCloud. Thankfully her eyes were closed so he didn’t have to worry about getting lost in her eyes again. But the thought made him smile.

  Conor sat beside the bed, knowing that he could see why Bradon had loved her so much. He could sense the same amount love that she had given to Bradon. He could have sworn he had witnessed her heart breaking at his news.

  It made his heart hurt for her. He touched her arm and looked down at her again. “I’m sorry to have to give you this news. I hope you can forgive me as the messenger one day.” He knew she couldn’t hear him. But it made him feel a bit better. Maybe he would say it to her one day when she would listen.

  For now though he simply tried to watch to make sure she didn’t seem to be in too much pain. The witch had told him if it didn’t work for four hours to give her more.

  He also remembered her other comment. “It may not work for four hours at first. So just watch her carefully, she might lose the baby if she gets too upset.”

  Conor knew that this was something that would hurt any mother deeply. He had remembered his own mother losing his little sister. Of course it may not be the same, since his little sister was 3 when she died. This baby wasn’t born yet, would it be as bad? He thought, then quickly reminded himself, her husband is dead too.

  This was not something that she would be able to handle, he thought as he looked at Heather. It was far different from what his own mother had gone through. At least his father had still been alive. He had remembered how quiet his mother had grown to them all at that time. But he also remembered how his father had taken her into his arms on more than one occasion.

  “Shh, it will be okay, you still have me, and Conor. We both need you.” He had heard his father tell his mother on more than one occasion. Conor had no doubt the only reason she made it out of that time in her life was his father.

  “I’ll be here for you.” He said down to her, though she wouldn’t hear the words. But it made him feel a bit better as he said it.

  Chapter 6

  Heather remembered waking up crying out a few times. Each time she would see Conor sitting there, and he would give her more of the liquid.

  “Here just swallow a little bit of this, the witch said it wouldn’t hurt the baby.” He would say and help her drink.

  She would drift back down into a world where Bradon was still alive and they were living as a family. She knew waking up and having the medicine wear off would poke all kinds of holes in this dream. But it was the best way she knew how to handle the pain right now. The fact that the medicine helped her create a world that seemed so real made it nice.

  Feeling the familiar burn of the liquid as it ran down her throat, Heather let the happiness of her desires take her off to this land again. Heather smiled as she pictured her and Bradon, he was holding their child. At this time he was looking down at the child and smiling. She just watched from the side, seeing something that she knew would never happen.

  She was still waiting for the effects of the liquid to hit her at this point. So immersing herself too far would make the cracks appear too quickly. Even if the witch said the medicine was okay for the baby, she didn’t want to try and take a lot of it.

  So she would try with all her might to wish the medicine into her body. She wanted the pain to be completely gone for only a little bit. Life was much easier to live when she didn’t have to think of how it really was right now. Wished as she might, each time the medicine seemed to take longer to kick in and work.

  It was hard to live in the world where Bradon was never coming back too. Right now all she had was her dreams. That was the only place she would ever see Bradon again. The grief was crippling to her, her body shook as the tears would overwhelm her.

  She felt a hand on her shoulder. That must be Conor’s trying to comfort me. She still didn’t know if she was more mad at him or thankful to him. Her emotions were far too volatile right now to figure out. This was why she tried to not focus much on him, instead she wanted the pain to end.

  “We hadn’t even talked about the baby and what to name it.” She thought sadly. If he would have only stayed home, she quipped in her mind once again.

  There was a part of her mind that was mad at Bradon for going. He had been selfish was what that part was saying to her right now. She had been so mad at him for going, he wouldn’t listen to her fears.

  “Stop being so childish, your old enough to know this is just bunk.” He had stated.

  “How can you say that after we have finally conceived a child? And that after only one visit to the witch and her medicines.” Heather had commented to him.

  “Just because the witch has medicines and we got pregnant doesn’t mean you can now see the future.” He had stated with anger in his voice.

  She had seen it wasn’t worth pushing him anymore after that point. He had spoken and she had pushed him as far as she had been willing to do. Heather wasn’t happy he was going, and there was no doubt he knew that. But she knew that she would be so upset if she didn’t see him again and she had been so mean to him the day he’d gone. It would be something that would have made her feel even worse than she did right now. Instead she had stopped saying anything and let him go, while her heart had broken while he rode away.

  She relived the moment that she first saw Conor and tried to push past him. She had seen the body on the ground. Hoping beyond anything that it wasn’t Bradon, but she had found otherwise. She had hit his body, cried, held him and prayed he would wake up. But none of it had helped out. Here she was in the bedroom, and his body was still out there.

  Overwhelming grief hit her once again at the loss of Bradon. “Why did you have to go?” She asked again.

  Picturing the scene in her mind , this time she played it out differently. This time in her fantasy, he had answered differently.

  “I’ll stay home with you since you don’t want me to go.” He had said in this fantasy. Even though she knew it was not real she accepted the answer.

  He had stayed home and she was much more pregnant now, it looked like she would be giving birth any day now. She smiled, she was enjoying this fantasy.

  They had made love instead of him riding off to go to war. She had always enjoyed those times when they were together. He had been the only man to touch her body in her life, and he knew every inch of it very well.

  Her mind allowed her to explore this fantasy deeper as the medicine was finally fully into her body.

  Chapter 7

  He watched her closely after giving her a dose of the liquid. It hadn’t seemed like it had been but maybe a couple of hours from the last dose. He didn’t like that she seemed to be doing bad. But the witch had warned him.

  So he sat and kept watch for more signs of trouble. As he watched he saw her face turn peaceful. She even smiled in her dream. She looked astonishing when she smiled. He could imagine how she would look smiling at him.

  He felt guilty about the feelings he was having towards her. But each and every time he would remember his promise to Bradon. “I could marry her, tell her it was his wish. Would she go along with it?” That was the real question.

  Conor thought back to the many stories where Brado
n had said she was stubborn.

  “I tell you what she’s one hard one to control.” Brandon had said to Conor once.

  “So you fight all the time?” He had asked and wondered why his friend would be there if that was the case.

  “No we never fight. I just listen to her and smile and we usually do what she wants.” Bradon had laughed at the admission.

  Conor had laughed as well. He could see why Bradon would do everything for her. He thought of his friend and grew sad. He would miss him a lot. Bradon had helped him out many times in the past. Once he probably had even saved his life.

  Conor thought back to that night again. He had been drinking in the bar, it had been because of a girl. She had bugged him about why he had left her too much. He was sick of always seeing her all around the town.

  “I don’t love you, what don’t you understand?” He had finally yelled out at her. Conor had tried to be kind for so many times, but he had enough of her pestering.

  The girl had crumpled on the ground and cried. He had taken the moment to walk to the bar, leaving her behind him on the ground.

  “Give me a bottle.” He had told the bartender when he sat at the bar.

  Getting the bottle he took the cap off and swallowed half of the contents in one shot. The next half of the bottle was gone just as quickly. “Give me another one.” He said.

  By the time he met Bradon he wasn’t certain how many bottles he had finished. But he knew he was standing in front of a guy who was huge. Conor knew he wasn’t small himself, but this guy looked like a tree compared to him.

  For a split second Conor wondered what had happened and then the tree had hit him. It had been hard. Mixed with the effects of the alcohol he almost went down. But he sobered up enough to get into the fight.

  Conor couldn’t remember why they were fighting, but he wasn’t going to just allow the guy to kill him. The adrenaline in his body soon ended and he was on the ground in earnest. The tree was pummeling him and he had the feeling he would black out soon. He knew if that happened he wouldn’t wake up again in this world.

  The thought hadn’t scared him when he had it, but had made him think. He opened his eyes and tried to block the punches again. He got his arms up enough that he watched as a man walked up behind the tree and said. “Stop it now.” He had heard the man order the tree.

  He felt no punches hitting his body, it felt good. But he watched as the tree turned on the man behind him. In a second the tree was on the ground knocked out cold. The man who had stopped the tree helped Conor off the floor.

  “Let’s get you out of here before he wakes back up.” The man had commented and helped him walk out of the bar.

  Conor wasn’t sure how long he had been out when they got back to the room the man had taken him. But when he came awake he saw that the man was sitting there watching him.

  “Hey good to see you awake.” The man had said to Conor.

  “Who are you? Why did you save me?” Conor asked.

  The man had laughed and said. “My name is Bradon McCloud. It wasn’t really a fair fight, I could tell you were simply too drunk to know what happened.”

  Conor had looked at him and asked. “What happened?”

  “It seems that you had deflowered his sister and then left her crying on the street. When he came looking for an apology you had laughed at him. He didn’t take to kindly to that and decided to kill you.” Bradon explained.

  Conor had laughed at the story. “Well thanks for saving me. I guess I’ll have to move again.”

  He saw the look pass over Bradon’s face as he asked. “Move again? How many times have you done this in the past?”

  “Only a couple times really. It isn’t my fault these girls fall for me.” Conor had stated.

  “Well my advice to you my friend is that you start teaching women a bit better.” Brandon had said.

  Conor had thought about it and was trying to be much more careful now. But he still hadn’t found a woman who made him want to stay. Instead of breaking their hearts and telling them he was gone, he would simply pack up and move on. That way if they had an angry brother who was bigger than him, he wouldn’t have to find out the hard way.

  Bradon had nursed him back to health for several days. Conor had never understood the kind and caring individual fully when he knew him. He had always seen him as something special and someone he was happy to have meant.

  Now that friend is gone for good, he thought sadly. The fact was what he was feeling was nothing compared to what Heather was feeling right now though. He couldn’t imagine how hard this was for her right now.

  As he looked down at her face again he saw the flush of it. She was red and it looked like pleasure was across her face. She smiled and he could tell by the smile it was full of seduction. Conor wondered what it would be like to have that look directed at him.

  That look would be something that would drive him wild, he had no doubt about it. It was a look of love, not just lust, but love. He made sure he had fully registered the look before moving on in his fantasy.

  He kept his eyes open and thought about her looking at him that way. He felt the thrill run over his body. Conor had many erotic scenes flash through his mind at once. Each and every one he felt guilty about though.

  “Would I ever be able to make love to her and not remember Bradon?” He asked himself honestly. He didn’t know the answer to that question though.

  Chapter 8

  Heather didn’t know how long it had been since she had been awake and not felt pain. She did know that no matter how long it had been Conor was still here now. A few times she had woken up to see Sylvia by the bed. She had asked about him to find that he was sleeping in the guest room.

  Now she finally felt a little better though. She still had the ache for Bradon. But she didn’t feel the need to break down as often as before. Now it would only hit her once in a while, and not with as strong emotions as at first.

  She knew it didn’t mean she loved Bradon any less, but that she was focusing on their baby. Their child was important to both of them. With that child, she would have some small part of Bradon still. It made her smile thinking about now, and there was none of the usual hysterics after the thought this time.

  Heather figured she must be getting better. This time she had woken up to find that Sylvia was just waiting for Conor to come and fill in for her.

  “I make lunch for him around this time. So he’ll come and sit with you for a bit.” Sylvia had told Heather when she had asked about Conor this time.

  She shook her head, but didn’t think about asking Sylvia how long she had been out, not right now at least. The fact that some man she had never meant had sat by her bed to watch her was odd. She would have expected it from Bradon, if he was still alive. But that was different he was her husband. Conor on the other hand was simply a guy she had heard a few stories about from time to time.

  Now that she wasn’t as upset about Bradon she knew she should really thank Conor for bringing him back to her. There were plenty of times she had simply wanted to kill him too though through the haze of pain.

  But with her mind being semi-normal, she knew that it would be the wrong thing to do. No she shouldn’t be that way to him. Especially since he had sat with her all this time and then she looked up at Sylvia.

  “How long was I out?” Heather asked Sylvia.

  “You were in and out, you weren’t always sleeping. But you don’t remember those times probably. I got you up to clean you up every day though and of course you had to eat to make sure the baby got his nutrition.” Sylvia answered.

  “How long have I been in bed, off and on?” Heather asked more directly.

  “Overall about three weeks now I would say.” Sylvia answered.

  Heather was shocked, she didn’t remember much of that time at all. A little bit here and there would flash into her mind.

  “Is the baby okay? Heather asked.

  “I’m going to have Mr. McGregor go and bring t
he witch. Are you okay now so that I can go find him?” Sylvia asked Heather.

  “Yes I’ll be fine.” Heather answered. It sounded a bit hollow to her to say the words though. Her heart still ached and she still longed for Bradon to be back. But in the long run what choice did she have, she had the baby. At least this was her hope, and she would think that way until the witch would come to visit her.

  Heather didn’t know how she would check for sure. But she trusted the old witch. After all it was because of her medicines that there was a baby in the first place. “I’m so happy to have you, please be okay.” She said to her belly and rubbed it.

  Sylvia came back in and behind her was Conor. He looked down at her and said.

  “I couldn’t believe it when she said you were awake. I had to see for myself. I’ll go and fetch the witch right now.” He said and ran out of the room.

  Heather simply looked up at Sylvia who was smiling. She wasn’t sure but she thought maybe it was a look of respect on her face, or maybe something else.

  “He stayed around all this time?” Heather finally asked.

  “Yes ma’am he was very worried about you the whole time.” Sylvia replied.

  She shook her head not sure what to say. Bradon would want her to be nice to him, it was clear that from this side Conor had really loved Bradon. They had been as close as Bradon had said each time he told a story about this man.

  Heather had asked him once, “why doesn’t he visit then?

  “I don’t know for sure. He’s always moving around in between little towns, maybe he just doesn’t have time.” Bradon had stated on more than one occasion.

  She had to wonder as well, why hadn’t he ever come? It still haunted her memories. She had always wanted to meet Conor after a few of the stories Bradon had told her.