Free By the Light of the Scottish Moon - Unrated (My Kilted Wolf, #1) by Red Phoenix

Coming Home

    F reya McKenna gazed out of the airplane window at the blue ocean below. Even from way up here, she could see the white crest of the waves. She loved that about the ocean—the fact that it was its own force but still influenced by the moon above.
    The sky was a dark blue except for a few billowing clouds. It had the look of heaven to her so she turned away, sliding down the window shade in anger.
    Why did life have to be so cruel?
    A month ago, things were normal before she got the dreaded news: “We found something on your scan…”
    That something turned out to be stage-four pancreatic cancer which was growing at a rapid rate. She’d been advised to start an aggressive combination of chemo and radiation, but opted out. What was the point? If she was going to die anyway, she might as well pass this life on her own terms, surrounded by the hills of her homeland—the country of her ancestors—the place that called to her soul.
    Freya regretted she had no one to share her last weeks with. Her parents had died two years ago in an automobile accident, so she was pretty much alone in the world. She held onto the fact they had lived good, long lives and were spared this terrible end to their only dochter . Although she did have one sibling, her brother worked for one of the larger law firms in Texas and was consumed by his work, ignoring his wife and kids.
    Cameron had no time to spare for her, but Freya didn’t really care. The sad truth was that they’d grown apart over the years, and she wasn’t even sure she liked the person he’d become. She felt no sorrow that he would not be there for her when she died.
    Freya looked at a young family across the aisle and sighed, regretting that she’d never had kids of her own.
    She’d been married once, right out of college. Unfortunately, the man morphed into a violent creep after their wedding vows. Being the sole focus of his jealousy and anger, she quickly determined never to have children with the loser. Even though she took her vows seriously, it didn’t take her long to realize that if children didn’t deserve to be abused by the dunderhead, then neither did she.
    Freya divorced the asshole a year after they married, causing a scandal in her Catholic family, but she never once looked back.
    Instead of raising a family, she went back to college to get a nursing degree and poured herself into caring for her patients. They became her dear friends, and the staff she worked with became her family; her life was complete.
    How morbidly funny , Freya thought, snorting to herself. She’d devoted her life to helping dying cancer patients, and now fate had seen fit to make her one of them.
    Life sure had a perverted sense of humor—however, she could appreciate the irony of it—now that she was finally headed home.
    Scotland…that green jewel of the world.
    Her parents had moved from her homeland when she was just a tiny bairn , so she had no memories of the place. However, it remained a part of her. If she must die, then it would be on Scottish soil.
    From your dust I was made, and I will return again…
    Freya walked off the plane in no particular hurry. She lingered at baggage claim, listening to the pleasant Scottish lilt of her fellow passengers. It was lovely to see families reconnecting, and to watch lovers unite.
    Life would move on, even if she would not, and that brought Freya comfort.
    She’d rented a small house in the village of Kilchoan, a charming stone cottage that had been converted from a barn. One of the locals had transformed it into an enchanting getaway, complete with a mature garden to welcome guests and a spiral staircase beckoning them upstairs to the romantic bedroom suite.
    As soon as Freya had seen the cottage online she’d felt a soul connection to the place, knowing it was where she was meant to die. As soon as she’d secured reservations, she felt a deep sense of peace. She was no longer afraid of what was to come…

    The drive