Longmead Woods Trilogy Read online

  “The things we say as children often come back to haunt us, Your Majesty.”

  “But you were always so adamant you did not wish to breed.”

  Frederick flinched at the word. He had been taunted with it since he was a youngster and Edmund was well aware of that.

  “You do not seem yourself.”

  “Bringing a child into the world and becoming a parent is an enormous responsibility. Not everyone understands that.”

  The king sneered. “That was a cruel jab, Freddie, knowing as you do that the queen cannot carry a child to term.”

  And yet you mock me and talk of breeding.

  “What is it, Badger? You have not come here to congratulate me. Long journeys tire you and you avoid them.”

  “The child.”

  “Yes.”

  “I assume you are disinclined to raise the pup.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “It is obvious. You cannot bring up a child.”

  The duke froze. This is worse than I feared. He held his breath awaiting the king’s explanation.

  The princess bounded across the room and confronted the duke. “I should like to raise the young one.”

  Nothing in the king’s demeanor had given Frederick warning they wanted to rear the baby at the palace. A deep, primitive emotion had wrapped itself around the duke and he had found something bigger and more important than himself. And now Matilda wished to take it away. It would kill Nate and destroy me. Nothing is more important than my child and mate. But if he were to save his family, he had to hide his distress.

  “Why?” One word was all that Frederick could master.

  “You think I would be an unsuitable mother?”

  “I did not say that. But why my child and not one who has been orphaned? Or a relative’s baby?”

  “I am in need of a plaything. One of my dogs has died, and I thought a… pup of yours would be an interesting substitute.”

  The duke bit his tongue to prevent him lashing out. She wants my child to rear as a pet, not as a human.

  “Besides, your kind should not be allowed to procreate.”

  The duke wished to wipe the tight smile off Matilda’s face but his mind was reeling. He gasped for breath as though he had been punched. Tears welled in his eyes as he thought of his offspring torn out of Nate’s arms and given to this wretched woman. And to live as one of her pets, sleeping on the floor and fighting the dogs for food. Frederick had experienced grief when his parents died, but this crushed the air and the life from him.

  “If you agree, we shall remove Lord Elgin to the palace until his confinement ends. And afterwards, he will be…”

  “But he is unwell.” It was the first excuse that popped into Frederick’s head.

  The princess swung around, her face glowering. “Is it serious?

  “He has a fever, and the physician has given him a sleeping draft.”

  The king blanched. He loathed illness in anyone but himself, and any sign of a cough or an upset stomach had him fleeing.

  “Is it serious? I shall have my physician examine him.”

  “That is kind of you, Your Majesty, but we will know more come morning.”

  Matilda shouted to her guards. “Come. We shall see if your mate is truly ill or if this is a deception.

  The duke jumped in front of her. “I can have my steward check on Lord Elgin. He pulled the cord and rang for a servant but the princess’ men shoved him against the wall and he slid to the floor as his breath was knocked out of him. One of the men stood guard while the other hurried off with the princess. A fragment of Nate’s scent drifted in through the door before it closed.

  Frederick staggered to his feet as Edmund gargled broth which he spat into a spittoon and then tut-tutted to the duke about palace intrigues. But the alpha’s world was disintegrating around him and he paid the king little heed. I can follow them after they leave and rescue Nate. Vulcan is faster than any carriage. I know the secret entrances into and out of the palace.

  The duke placed a hand on his chest as his heart thundered. Although he had experienced both sorrow and happiness in his short life, he had never encountered fear as he did waiting for any sign they had Nate.

  The drawing room door burst open and Matilda charged in, eyes blazing. Frederick held his breath.

  “He is not in the house. We have searched every room.”

  Muddled thoughts dazed the alpha. Where is he? Has he escaped? Is he hurt, and she is lying?

  “Unless he has hidden himself.”

  A guard gripped Frederick’s neck with his leathery hand, and the duke gasped.

  “Is there a clergy’s closet in this house?”

  As air was squeezed from the duke’s body and the world dimmed, he shook his head as his fingers clawed at the meaty fingers that strangled him.

  The clergy’s closet. Please let him be there. She will never find the entrance.

  “Edmund.” Matilda’s voice was sharp as she strode to her brother. She shook him and he flinched. “Do you know of a clergy’s closet here? Lord Elgin is missing.”

  The king winced and jerked his wrist from his sister’s grasp. He glanced at Frederick and the years fell away. Instead of two grown men, they were boys, innocent and carefree as they played hide-and-go-seek in the wildflowers. But one was dying with the air being squeezed from his body while the other was the only one who could save him.

  “Well, is there?” Matilda’s voice was now a screech.

  While the king hesitated, Frederick pleaded wordlessly and his eyes began to close as darkness claimed him.

  “I have been in every room in this house and spent many contented hours here. The happiest of my life. To my knowledge, there is no such hidden chamber.”

  The guard released Frederick, and he struggled to get air inside him as he lay on the floor panting. Pain gripped his chest and while he was dizzy with relief and gratitude at being alive, his thoughts were only for his mate and the baby. Please stay hidden, Nate.

  “I shall return when the baby is born and you will have no choice but to hand it over. Or I shall kill your family.”

  The duke lay on the floor spluttering and was barely aware of feet stomping out of the room and the snorting of horses as carriage wheels rolled over the driveway.

  “Your Grace.” A pair of hands dragged him to his feet and despite his dizziness, and lack of breath, he tore along the corridor and through the kitchen to the pantry. Nothing seemed out of place as he eyed the shelves lined with pies, bread, cheese and bottles of stewed fruit and vegetables. Winters stood at his shoulder.

  “Are you certain they have gone?”

  “I have one of the stable hands following discreetly behind them, Your Grace.”

  Frederick knelt on the wooden floor and slid his fingers over the panels, frantically searching for an opening. Where is it? It has to be here. A splinter sliced through his hand and he grimaced as he stuck a finger in the tiny space between two boards and wriggled it until he heard a loud click. Five of the panels that formed a trapdoor opened, and he yanked it open to reveal a ladder leading into a small dark chamber.

  Nathaniel

  “Nate! Nate! Say something.”

  The trapdoor opened, and a sliver of light fell into the darkness as Frederick’s tormented face peered into the secret room. A burst of fresh air floated into the space and mingled with the staleness as Nate gulped in mouthfuls. The duke’s own familiar scent wafted into the clergy’s closet, greeting Nate like an old friend.

  “I am here, Freddie.”

  “Thank God.”

  The duke held out his hand and Nate clamored out. He wrapped his arms around his lordship and his tears soaked Nate’s collar. The omega held his mate as great shuddering cries wracked the duke’s body. Nate stroked Frederick’s head until the sobs quietened. He nuzzled his neck and inhaled the spicy aroma that both aroused and soothed him.

  Kissing his lordship’s tousled hair, the duke took a deep breath. “If
something had happened to you.”

  Nate placed his finger on the duke’s lips. “But it did not.”

  “And the child?”

  “We are both well, Freddie.”

  “But how did you know where to hide?”

  “I listened at the drawing room door and then had Winters lead me to the secret room.”

  The omega ran his fingers over the ligature marks on the duke’s throat. “What happened?”

  “It is of no consequence.” The duke waved to the steward. “Winters, some water for Lord Elgin.”

  “You were right, Freddie.”

  “About?”

  “The clergy’s closet was a safe place, and it protected me.” He stroked his curved belly. “And our baby.”

  The duke’s face crumbled as tears threatened again. He grabbed his mate’s hands and traced the lines on the palms.

  But the omega was distracted. A disturbance in his belly had his heart racing. He clamped a hand over his midriff, his fingers pressing into his sweat soaked shirt. Is something wrong? Please, God no.

  “Nate?” Frederick and the steward helped Nate into the kitchen and onto a chair.

  But the omega flinched as he experienced the sensation again, and he shivered as gooseflesh spiked at his skin. He cupped his bump, willing the baby to be well. Little one. I cannot lose you. He bent over whimpering, but as he felt it a third time, he gasped and sat up.

  “Freddie.”

  The duke knelt at his mate’s feet, his face pale as his lordship placed both their hands over the swollen belly. Frederick rubbed the bump, and his eyes lit up. “A kick?” His mate nodded.

  Frederick placed a kiss on Nate’s belly. The outside world faded and Nate was lost in thoughts of the future where the two would become three, and they would be a family.

  “We cannot stay here, Nate. Princess Matilda and her cohorts will not stop searching for you. Now we have thwarted them, they will seek revenge.”

  Nate gazed at the duke, uncertainty darkening his eyes. “Where shall we go?”

  Frederick hesitated. “I am not sure. But Cuddy and Eleanor and her family must come with us or the princess will terrorize and torture them for information.”

  “Our ancestors dealt with much worse, Freddie. They tried to exterminate us.”

  The duke’s eyes had a faraway look in them. “The ancient ones…”

  Nate shivered and glanced around the room, half expecting his ancestors to reappear. “Freddie?”

  “The woods. We must disappear into the forest.” The duke whirled around, shouting instructions at the steward. “Winters, gather provisions and lock the house. Any of the servants who wish to accompany us may do so, but we leave in an hour. We will travel by horse or on foot. No carriages. Pay the wages for six months of anyone who does not wish to come and tell them to flee. Send a message to my brother and sister to meet near the lake.”

  Nate brought his mate’s fingers to his lips and kissed them. “It will not be a secret where we have gone, Freddie. The servants and perchance a few of the alphas from the night at Hammond Manor may pass on gossip.”

  The duke stroked Nate’s cheek. “But the woods are deep and treacherous. And I know them better than anyone.”

  “And what of the king? He spent his childhood in and around Longmead. Does he know the old ways in and out of the forest?”

  “We used to play in the house and the gardens. Edmund rarely ventured beyond the first line of trees. He said they talked to him and it terrified him.”

  “Voices?” Distant memories tugged and prodded Nate.

  “Yes. They foresaw his wretched sister undermining him as monarch. Who knows if it was a prophesy or coincidence. But it will serve us well, Nate. Our little one was conceived in and will be born in the wilderness.”

  The duke glanced out the window. “We came out of the woods and now we shall return.”

  “I thought it was a dream.” Nate gazed around the room not seeing Frederick but something lost in the shadowy mists of the past.

  “What was?”

  “The voices. I heard them too.”

  The duke gazed into Nate’s eyes. “And did they speak of the king?”

  Nate shook his head. “I saw Matilda with a child, and the voices said ‘Beware.’ ”

  The End

  Copyright © 2017 Colbie Dunbar

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Cover Designed by Silver Heart Publishing

  Created with Vellum

  Frederick

  No, no. The voices are not real. Nate imagined them.

  Frederick, Duke of Longmead, swallowed the vile taste in his mouth as he clenched his trembling hands behind his back and paced across the drawing room floor.

  “You heard voices, Nate, and had a vision of Princess Matilda?”

  Lord Nathaniel Elgin - Frederick’s mate - nodded. “I was a child and did not recognize the princess but now having met her, I…”

  “Why did you not tell anyone?” Frederick’s high-pitched voice stung his ears, and he avoided Nate’s eyes.

  “I did.” The omega’s declaration was just as strident as his mate’s. “I told my governess, and she said it must remain a secret. She made me think it had been a dream, and I never spoke of it again.” Nate rubbed his pregnant belly, arched his back and moaned.

  What is wrong with me? He was a child at the time and now he is carrying my little one. The duke’s dominant alpha tendencies clashed with the softer, gentler side of him that was intoxicated with his mate and cherished the babe he was yet to meet.

  “I apologize for my harsh tone.” Frederick helped his lordship to the settee.

  “What does it mean, Freddie? Did my vision foretell our future?”

  “I do not know. I have paid little heed to superstitions about phantom voices and so-called visions.” The duke wrapped his arms around himself hoping Nate did not detect his half-truths. He had always assumed the ancient ones guided and coaxed him but as instinct rather than words. And he had never witnessed ghostly specters. I must hold my tongue and not distress Nate further. But we must be on the road before midday.

  The duke stroked his mate’s cheek and gazed out the huge open doors to the Longmead Hall formal gardens with its trimmed trees and bushes in orderly rows. Beyond the garden was a hedgerow of thorny brambles and briars that marked the boundary of the estate. Over the top of the shrubbery peeped the pine trees of the Longmead Woods.

  “I used to tease Edmund when he heard voices. I thought he was a coward not wanting to venture into the forest.”

  Prince Edmund, now the monarch, had been a childhood playmate of Frederick’s, and the two boys spent many hours together when they were younger.

  “You were a child yourself, Freddie.”

  The duke inwardly chastised himself. Poor Edmund, how he must have hated my mockery. “That is no excuse.”

  “And yet you say he hunts in the woods adjacent to the Longmead estate. How is that possible if he is terrified of them?”

  “As he got older, his fear vanished somewhat, but he never walked amongst the trees. He would only venture into the depths of the forest on horseback. Wild boar abound in the woods, and the king enjoys his weekly hunting expedition despite his tiresome cough and lameness.”

  Nate furrowed his brow. “The only time I have ever been in Longmead Woods was the night we were together.”

  Despite the princess’ threat of taking their baby, the duke smirked. “You were rather busy as I recall.”

  “Freddie, you made a joke.” The duke raised a brow at his mate’s teasing as he puzzled over Nate’s vision, but was interrupted before he could question his lordship further.

  “Your Grace.” Winters, the Longmead steward, strode toward Frederick. “Mrs. Markham and the kitchen servants are loading
the satchels and saddle bags with food and others are covering the furniture. I have gathered some of the valuables and placed them in the clergy’s closet.”

  “Do not concern yourself with the furniture, Winters. How many of the servants remain?”

  “Mrs. Markham, the stable boys, a handful of the house servants, Samuel and myself, Your Grace.”

  “And the rest?”

  “As soon as I placed silver in their palm, they ran off. A few were headed across the country and returning to their families while many of the young men were traveling to the coast hoping to get work as deckhands on oceangoing ships.”

  “Freddie!” Nate grabbed his mate’s sleeve. “The baby’s clothes Mrs. Markham made and the swaddling blankets and cloth are in the top drawer of the dressing table.”

  The duke patted his mate’s hand and reassured him they would gather the necessary baby paraphernalia. His thoughts were not on baby blankets and strips of linen, but the voices and vision Nate spoke of and whether they were related to their current predicament and how King Edmund was involved.

  Lady Eleanor Ainsworth, Frederick’s sister, was astride a gray mare and her daughters, Henrietta and Amelia, shared a chestnut yearling. The horses grazed on the lush grass beside the lake where Frederick had marked Nate and the two had lain together for the first time.

  Frederick had insisted on Nate riding his stallion, Vulcan, while he himself took a younger colt. Though Vulcan held his aristocratic head high and was almost as haughty as his master, he was strong and steady and not prone to skittishness. The servants sat two or three apiece on fillies or donkeys.

  Eleanor had discarded her riding habit for breeches and a tight doublet, while Nate paired his riding britches with an oversized shirt that flowed over his swollen belly. Frederick’s fingers clenched around the reins as he eyed his mate’s advanced state of pregnancy. Not for the first time, he considered returning home or heading north toward the mountains. I must keep them out of danger.

  Lord Cuthbert Trenton, or Cuddy, was the last member of the group to arrive. He trotted in on his horse and greeted his family. He was as fair as his brother and sister were dark. Pale blue eyes and wavy blonde hair were a stark contrast to his darker haired, gray-eyed siblings.