The group loaded silently into the large black SUV and Cullen began driving back to Madadh-Allaidh Saobhaidh. Gaven and Hagan were afraid to speak. They didn’t know what to say to Cullen after everything that had happened. But both men looked at each other with hope as they each felt some of the muffled fear in the back of their minds ebb away. Something was happening with their mates that was making them less frightened. The men didn’t know what it could be. Their bonds weren’t strong enough to project thoughts over this kind of distance. But there was hope now. The two men sat impatiently in the back seat.
Sarah had about a million questions she wanted answered. But she wasn’t able to ask Cullen about his mating with Aislinn with the others present. The only positive thing Cullen could get from having all the upset and conflict before leaving was that he didn’t feel harassed by his wolf to pull over and play with Aislinn on the way back to the den. Now that he knew Aislinn was alright he had gone back to dwelling on the things she had said to him. He still didn’t know what to do about the traitors.
“I think we have another problem,” Aislinn said, trying to ignore the upset radiating from him that she knew she had helped to cause.
“Just what I need,” Cullen growled. “What now?”
“When I was sleeping in your room during your shower I had a premonition and then another one when I touched Gaven. But there was more to that one than just the stuff it told me about the captured people.”
“Okay,” he said shortly. “Again I say what now?”
“You don’t have to be so snippy. I’m sorry,” she snapped back. “But I’m not taking back what I said. I’m just sorry you’re being so upset by it.”
Cullen growled and shook his head. “What did you see?” he said impatiently.
“I don’t know exactly yet. But I figure you’ll be pissed if three days from now I figure it out and tell you then, but have to admit that it started today.” Aislinn was staring out the window.
Sarah sat forward at that point and snapped at both of them. “The two of you need to stop blowing so hot and cold. Get over it. Aislinn if you have something to say just say it.”
Aislinn glared at Sarah over her shoulder but continued anyway. “I saw the Tairneach manor in both visions. The first time I ended up looking at a book with gaelic writing in it. The second time I was in a kind of dungeon. First it was full of your missing people but then they all disappeared and a bunch of new people appeared. They weren’t weres though. I don’t know who they were. But one of them tried to talk to me. That’s weird because my visions have never interacted with me before.”
Aislinn felt Cullen’s anger ease as his brain began to work on what she had just said. “So what do you think it means?” he asked in a relatively decent tone.
“Like I said I don’t know. The fates must think that the book was important. Wasn’t Rafe stealing books and burning buildings? But I don’t know what he was stealing the books for. As far as the people go I don’t know.” Aislinn thought about it all. “I know that the first vision already happened and I was too late. I don’t know what that means. The second vision hasn’t happened yet. The man seemed to be reaching for me. Like he wanted me to help him.”
Sarah stared out the front window of the SUV. “Well Rafe was stealing the books from druids. He was after the stone circle and he was out to turn himself into the biggest baddest thing he could mix together. The books could be maps, could be recipe books, could be something he was planning to do next that we don’t know about, or could be nothing. Any way you look at it Rafe is dead so he can’t be using the books. But if they’re at Tairneach manor then Jenna or someone else there must have them.”
“So even if she does have a bunch of books and she goes and turns the basement into a prison for some people who don’t deserve to be in prison. It’s not like that has anything to do with us,” Cullen said. “We’re going to get our own back. But I’m sorry Aislinn, I’m not going to start a war over books or some unknown prisoners. I can let the feds know that Jenna’s up to something that could result in trouble. But that’s it.”
Aislinn sighed. “I understand what you’re saying. But I’ve yet to have a premonition that didn’t apply to me in some way. Even when I had the vision at the Taigh-Oèsda I knew that I needed to tell you but it was still Rafe and I was drawn into it. In the end whatever these premonitions mean it’s going to catch up to me. They always do.”
Cullen’s brow furrowed. “Well we’ll deal with it when it happens. For now we have enough going on.”
Aislinn knew she was being dismissed. I can tell that this feeling sharing shit isn’t going to be all fun.
Cullen growled back angrily.
Aislinn leaned back in her seat and watched out the window. She shortly fell asleep in the silence, trying to direct her dream back to the premonition from before in the hopes of getting another look at that book. As she slept she felt more conscious in some ways than she felt when she was awake. It was an odd sensation. She had never tried to direct her premonitions before. They had always just happened. When Aislinn had been a child her grandmother had always discouraged exploring the talent. Then there was college and Aislinn had believed she had more important things to learn about. Especially since the visions were never significant until Rafe came along. And then there was Rafe. He had made her frightened of what she could do and all her energy was spent trying to avoid it or unsuccessfully block him. It wasn’t until Cullen came along and she felt safe that she began to think about using it to her own advantage. She felt like he gave her strength somehow.
Aislinn felt herself drifting. There was something odd pulling at her. She felt as though she wanted to go back to the reservation. But she wasn’t sure why. The harder she tried to bring back the book she had been looking at the farther away it seemed to get. She was able to summon fleeting images and feelings of fear and acceptance that she knew didn’t belong to her. There was also a floating feeling of evil, angry, determination. While it reminded her of Rafe there was a difference to it. Rafe had been scary crazy. This feeling was more cold and lost. It wanted something and Aislinn knew that it would never find what it wanted.
No matter how hard she tried to bring the premonition, throughout all of the strange feelings and flashing indistinguishable pictures, she wasn’t quite able to summon up a vision like the ones that just happened. Aislinn felt like she was barely missing something and if she just tried hard enough to focus she could make it all come clear.