After Midnight

May

Outside of Ullapool

Rain pattered steadily against the windows and onto the roof, beads of water running down the panes of glass highlighted by moonlight to form patterns on the floor. But Kurt wasn’t aware of any of it. He kept seeing his brother’s face on the screen right before he set the warehouse to blow and made his escape. He and the Druids with him had also managed to escape.

It had been so long since he’d had contact with his family that he actually began to believe they had released him. He should’ve known better. His mother didn’t let anything go. Ever. He had become complacent, had gotten too confident. And he would pay for it. If Parker found him. His little brother was as ruthless and uncompromising as their mum. Maybe more so. The difference was that Parker didn’t have the intelligence or control Diana Barclay did.

Kurt rubbed his eyes, wincing at the discomfort it caused. He’d gotten in a few cat naps throughout the day but didn’t dare allow himself to really sleep. He couldn’t. Parker and the Druids had been on his heels for days. Kurt would lose them, only for them to pick up his trail. This cat-and-mouse game was draining and tedious, and the lack of rest was taking its toll. At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before Parker found him.

Kurt rose from the table, his body protesting. The only light in the kitchen came from his open laptop and the green light on the coffee maker. He shuffled over and poured another cup. Was it his sixth? Seventh? He had lost count.

He stared at the dark liquid before placing his hands on the counter and hanging his head. His eyes were so heavy. He lost the battle and let his lids close. He only wanted a second to rest, but the next thing he knew, he was falling. Kurt jerked awake and hastily righted himself. He shoved his hands into his hair, still damp from the shower, and blinked his weary eyes several times to try to wake up. The coffee was hot and bitter, but it was the only thing keeping him awake.

After half a cup, he made his way back to the table and sank into the chair, punching a button to wake up his computer and check for any signs that Parker and his associates were getting close again. Kurt was ready to leave at a moment’s notice. He’d been in the small flat for a day, and that was usually when he had to go in search of somewhere else to hide. However, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep it up. He should’ve been able to shake Parker by now.

He sipped his coffee and scrolled through the CCTV footage he’d hacked, searching for the unnamed faces of those with his brother. Unease crept in when he found no trace of Parker or his cronies. Ice slid through Kurt’s veins as he set down his cup and hastily typed the address of where he’d stayed in Aviemore to scour more video footage.

It didn’t take him long to find the sleek, racing-green Jaguar F-Pace turning the corner under the streetlamps and coming to a halt outside the house he had stayed in. Parker exited the passenger side, and the driver and two others followed. Two other SUVs pulled up, and more Druids climbed out. They swarmed the house while Parker stayed back, his hands in his pockets, watching as others did the dirty work.

Kurt shook his head. Some things never changed.

He should’ve viewed this hours ago. If he had been thinking clearly, he would have. He clenched his hands and took a deep breath to focus, blinking to ease the discomfort in his dry eyes. He observed Parker’s men exit the house and shake their heads. His brother straightened and looked at the man on his left. Words were exchanged, and the Druid got out a map and spread it over the vehicle’s bonnet as everyone gathered around. Kurt had seen them perform the locator spell before. He had countered it each time but couldn’t remember when he had done it last.

“Bloody fucking hell,” he muttered and shoved away from the computer.

As he did, his shirt rubbed against his chest, making him hiss in pain. He unbuttoned it to look where he had tattooed a warding emblem. He was in a bad way if he had forgotten that.

Every time he blinked, it was like someone rubbed sand into his eyes. His stomach growled, but the thought of eating another protein bar turned it. Instead, he drank more coffee and settled in front of the laptop again. He hadn’t paused the video, so he had to rewind to get back to where he’d been. Little things like this would do him in.

Little things that shouldn’t be happening.

Little things he’d never done before.

He returned to the recording and watched Parker’s group repeat the locator spell several times. His brother couldn’t get a good lock on him, but Parker could get a generalized location. Kurt couldn’t zoom the video, and with it recording at night, the shadows and shine of the streetlamps made it challenging to see specifics. Luckily, he could make out one Druid circling a section on the map.

Kurt’s gaze shifted to Parker, and he waited for his little brother’s temper to flare. Surprisingly, he remained calm as he spoke. The moment he finished, everyone climbed into their vehicles and drove away. Now that Kurt knew the direction they were headed, he tracked the vehicles through Aviemore but lost them where there were no cameras. Several tense minutes later, he found them again on the A9. He looked at the timestamp and then searched the footage of the Longman Roundabout. Just as he suspected, they took the second exit to stay on the A9 before heading to the A835 exit on the Tore Roundabout.

“Fuck,” he muttered, dread filling him.

He’d been fighting sleep when he should’ve been leaving. He started to rise, only to sit back down. There was no more room for mistakes. Before he headed out, he needed to know exactly where Parker was.

Kurt jumped to another view and scanned the recording until he located the F-Pace. Following it as best he could, he suddenly lost it and the SUVs trailing Parker.

Panic thudded in Kurt’s chest. His instinct was to run, but a thread of apprehension kept him seated. He shoved the heels of his hands into his eyes and took a couple of calming breaths.

“Focus,” he told himself. “You have to focus. The next place you go, you can sleep. But you can’t do that now. You just need a little more time.”

Kurt lowered his hands and lifted his head. His fingers flew across the keys. When he found his brother this time, he followed the Jaguar from camera to camera, watching in horror as it took an exit he was familiar with.

His stomach churned with fear. His brother could be headed anywhere, but Kurt knew that for the lie it was the moment Parker got on the A87. Kurt didn’t need to look at a map to know they were headed to Skye.

To Sabryn.

He leaned back in the chair as he hit pause on the footage. He didn’t trust himself, so he replayed every recording to ensure his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him. A look at the bridge entry into Skye confirmed his suspicions when he saw the Jaguar.

Parker was a London Druid and forbidden from setting foot on the isle, but his brother was ignoring that directive. Parker was the perfect soldier, doing whatever it was their mother, Diana, told him. If he was on Skye, it was because London—or Diana—had decreed it.

But there was only one reason for Parker to go to Skye: to draw Kurt out. He shouldn’t have told his brother or Diana about his feelings for Sabryn. He’d hoped that part of his life was dead and buried, but he should’ve known he wouldn’t get away that easily.

Kurt stood and slammed the laptop shut in one movement before stuffing it into his rucksack and hurrying out of the flat. Parker and his Druids were already on the isle. It would take Kurt a little over two hours to get there. That wasn’t good enough.

With his blood pumping and more awake than he had been in days, he kept to the shadows and looked for a car to steal. He sent a prayer of thanks when he found a mid-nineties Volkswagen Golf sitting by itself. To his surprise, the door was unlocked. Kurt slid behind the wheel, popped the cover on the steering column, and reached past the battery and ignition for the wire bundle. He stripped the wires and brushed them together. The moment the engine roared to life, he put the car in drive and sped off. He pressed the accelerator to the floor as he wove through the village to the motorway. He didn’t care about the cameras that caught him speeding. He’d return the car and pay any fines he incurred once he reached Skye.

The thing he had both yearned for and dreaded for the past six years was nearly at hand. Sabryn wouldn’t take discovering his true identity well. She would be furious, and he deserved everything she would say and do to him. Elias, Carlyle, and Finn would take her side and would likely be just as angry. All of them had that right since he had deceived them for years.

Kurt glanced at his speed as he flew down the motorway. He couldn’t remember the timestamp of Parker reaching Skye. Had he already found his way to Carwood Manor and confronted Sabryn? The house was sentient. Surely, it would sense that Parker couldn’t be trusted and keep him out.

“What was the fucking time?” Kurt asked as he slammed his hand against the steering wheel.

His mind was jumbled, his body spent. He was running on fear and caffeine. There was no time to think about sleep as he wove through the light traffic and pushed the car faster. The needle on the speedometer couldn’t go any further, but he didn’t let up on the accelerator. Too much depended on him stopping Parker.

He needed to warn the Knights. They could prepare before he got there. Kurt reached over to the passenger seat and blindly dug around in the front pocket of his rucksack, searching for his mobile. When his hand brushed everything but his phone, he yanked the bag onto his lap and fished around some more, but still couldn’t find it. He gave up and began to take items out of the pocket until it was empty. He kept his eyes on the road and opened every compartment, looking for the device, only to remember it had been plugged in on the kitchen counter.

“Fuck!” he shouted, furiously tossing the rucksack aside.

Another bloody mistake. And this one could cost someone their life. He could pull over and contact the Knights via his laptop, but he’d already lost hours because he hadn’t checked his brother’s whereabouts. He decided to keep driving and prayed it was the right choice.

All these screwups could get his friends killed. Kurt gripped the wheel tighter and wondered if there was a spell to propel a car faster. Even if there was, he didn’t know it. Parker wanted him. All Kurt had to do was find his brother before he located the others. Most of their group would be at Carwood Manor, which meant no one could get to them—at least those within its walls. But what about the others not at the house?

Everything fell away as he focused on the road and the cars around him. He had always loved driving, even before he’d gotten his license. He’d taken every driving course there was out of sheer enjoyment for learning how to handle a vehicle. Now, he poured all he had absorbed into getting him to his friends.

He wove around cars with expert precision and took turns like he was on a racetrack. He blasted down straightaways as if on the Autobahn. All the while, he prayed the magic of Skye would protect his friends. Especially Sabryn.

If Parker found her…Kurt couldn’t even finish that thought.

He didn’t take his foot off the accelerator until he crossed the bridge from the mainland onto Skye. A brief look at the time on the dash showed he had reached the isle in just over an hour, but there was no time to relax. Not when Sabryn was in danger.

Kurt kept having to take his foot off the pedal because he was going too fast as he drove through Kyleakin. With his thoughts still on Sabryn, he turned and headed to the manor. The Knights called Bronwyn’s house home for the moment. It was also where everyone gathered—everyone except for him.

He debated going to Rhona as the leader of the Skye Druids for a moment, but this was Knights’ business. He owed it to his team to come clean about who he was and why he had kept his identity a secret.

Before Parker found them.

After an hour of over a hundred miles per hour, it was nearly impossible for Kurt to keep his speed down. The numerous winding curves didn’t hamper him or calm the urgency to reach Carwood as quickly as possible.

“I should’ve called for Balladyn,” he muttered.

Why hadn’t he called for the Reaper? Balladyn could’ve teleported him to the manor in seconds. He inwardly berated himself for one more screwup. Kurt would never forgive himself if someone got hurt because he hadn’t been thinking straight. He should’ve thought it all through instead of reacting—even if it was warranted after what’d happened in Washington, DC.

Finally, Kurt reached the drive to the manor. He turned on the blinker and pressed the brake to slow, only to discover his leg shaking. Adrenaline coursed through him, making his heart beat rapidly, and sweat break out on his forehead. He parked next to a black Range Rover, feeling numb and more scared than he had ever been in his life.

His brain was on autopilot, and before he knew it, he was out of the car and headed to the front door. His heart beat like a drum against his ribs with every step, hard and fast. This was it. This was when he told Sabryn. Of all the ways he had imagined this moment going—and there had been thousands—it had never looked like this.

He stopped before a door softly lit by sconces and adjusted the rucksack he didn’t remember grabbing. Briefly closing his eyes, he rapped his knuckles on the door. No sooner had he knocked than he remembered it was three in the morning. Everyone was asleep.

He turned and looked out over the land. The best thing to do would be for him to look for the F-Pace until a more reasonable time. Maybe he could confront Parker, and Sabryn would never need to know.

“Bloody fucking hell,” he muttered.

He should have searched for Parker first. One more mistake. Fortunately, with it being so late, no one had to know he was here. He took a step toward his car when the sound of locks turning reached him, followed by the soft squeak of the door’s hinges as it opened. Years of hiding were ingrained in him, and he almost ducked behind one of the cars. But it was too late. He had been seen. Maybe it was time he came out of the shadows and faced the consequences of his past.

“Can I help you?”

Of course, Elias would answer the door. Kurt took a deep breath and turned to face the Scotsman. Elias’s bright blue eyes were filled with curiosity and wariness as he held the door and stood just inside the manor in a tee shirt and sweatpants, his blond hair tousled from sleep. Kurt had stared at the pictures and watched videos of the Knights for so long that he knew them as well as they knew each other. The problem was, they didn’t know him. He’d always kept a barrier between them.

“Mate? Are you all right?” Elias asked, a worried frown creasing his brow.

Kurt shook his head. “Not even remotely. I have a lot to divulge, but you need to know that London Druids are on the isle and coming after all of you.”

Elias’s face went hard as Kurt spoke, and suspicion hardened the Scotsman’s gaze. “Is that so? And I’m supposed to believe, even with that posh accent of yours, that you are no’ one of them?”

“I was. Once. I haven’t been for a long time. And you know that, actually.”

“I doona know you.”

His legs grew weak. Kurt wished there was something he could hold on to before he collapsed. “You know me as Sabertooth.”

Elias searched his face for a long minute. “Bollocks. Saber would never show up. He would’ve contacted us another way.”

“I would have if I hadn’t left my mobile behind.”

“I doona believe a word you’re saying.”

Kurt nodded slowly. He should’ve expected this. All the responses he had put together went right out of his head the moment Elias opened the door. He removed his rucksack to take out the laptop and opened it. Kurt had to forcibly blink his eyes to focus so he could find the footage of the warehouse explosion where he had been found. He pulled it up and spun the computer around so Elias could see, then hit play.

He watched Elias’s face as the video showed Parker and a group of Druids busting into the warehouse. Just as it finished, Kurt played the second video that showed him escaping seconds before the warehouse blew.

“As you can see, that’s me. That was where I had set up. I never wanted any of you to know where I was, but I was always close. Just in case.” Kurt slowly closed the laptop and held it at his side. “I have other videos and recordings I can pull up to prove how I’ve helped the Knights.”

Elias remained silent, his stare on Kurt.

“The Druids are after me,” Kurt continued. “And my brother is leading them. They’ve been after me for days, growing closer each time. Tonight, they stopped coming for me and headed here.”

“Why?” Elias demanded.

Kurt really wanted to sit down. No, what he needed was to close his eyes. Just for a second. “Parker knew I’d show if he went after Sabryn.”

“Sabryn?” Elias repeated, his brow puckered. “She knows who you are?”

“Not in the way you think. She knows me as Kurt Barclay.” There. He’d said it. His real identity was out. There was no going back.

There hadn’t been before, but once he spoke his name, there was a finality to it.

Elias glanced behind him as he braced a hand on the door, a look of shock on his face.

Kurt inwardly winced. “She told you about us, then. That makes sense with as close as you all are.” He would have thought about that if he were thinking straight.

“I doona know the whole story. She doesna speak of it. But I know you hurt her.”

“I did. And I knew she wouldn’t allow me into the group if she knew who I was. But I had skills that could help you all.”

Elias grunted. “So, you put them to use while deceiving us.”

“I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t important. I wanted to alert you to what’s happening.” He needed to get back to the car and sit before he fell over. How many hours had he been awake now?

“I suppose you want us to take care of this problem for you?”

Kurt returned his laptop to his pack with slippery fingers. “It’s my problem. I’ll handle it.” He held out the rucksack to Elias. “The password is Sabryn. It’ll get you into everything. You’ll find a folder with a list of safe houses. I’ve been moving them into aliases each of you has used in the past. There’s also a contact in there to the only other white hat hacker I trust.”

“I’m no’ taking that.”

Kurt set the bag at his feet and turned to go. He focused on the car and how many steps it would take him to reach it. He had pushed his body past its limits, but he only needed a little more time. Elias would make sure Parker didn’t get close to Sabryn. Maybe then Kurt could sleep for an hour or two before he started his search for his brother.

“What are you planning?” Elias asked.

“Parker won’t stop coming for me. Ever. He has orders, and he always carries them out.”

“Orders? From whom?”

Kurt glanced at the stars. “Diana, our mother. I’m glad you know the truth about me. I should’ve done this from the beginning.”

He started for the car again. The muscles in his legs shuddered, causing him to stumble forward into the side of it.

Gravel crunched behind him. “You’re in no shape to do anything but climb into bed. When was the last time you slept?”

“I can’t remember.” Kurt opened the door. He was so close to sitting he could almost taste it.

The door was shoved closed before he could get in.

Kurt swiveled his head to Elias. “Remove your hand, please.”

“You’re a Knight.”

Kurt squeezed the bridge of his nose. Now that he had delivered his warning, exhaustion settled over him like a heavy blanket. He wavered precariously. If only he could sit. “As soon as Parker has me, they’ll leave.”

“You doona know that.”

“They want me. Now, remove your hand from the door so I can go.”

“I’m afraid I can no’ allow that.”

Kurt parted his lips to respond when everything went black.