Free Bannockburn Binding (Beloved Bloody Time) by Tracy Cooper-Posey

complicated double belt around his waist and re-settled the sword at his hip, underneath the big cloak over his shoulders. The belts sat over a robe that ended just above soft leather boots. Nayara could see a linen shirt peeking beneath the robe. Everything was embroidered and embellished and glowed with wealth.
    “You don’t know that time at all,” Nayara ventured.
    “I’ve been there,” Christian replied. “How do you think I got the marker from her?”
    “Demyan knows the time much better. He travels there frequently, he knows the language—”
    Christian rattled off a short sentence in a language Nayara didn’t recognize. “I don’t know much Gaelic,” he added. “But Scots will serve me everywhere but the remote highlands.”
    Christian the linguist. Nayara sighed, her last argument defeated.
    Brenden, their security chief, strode over from his glassed-in office and dropped a reading board down on the desk next to Christian. “Tally is just overdue, man. You know how this goes. If you don’t give her time to sort things out for herself, you might make it worse.”
    Christian looked up from adjusting his clothing. “It’s already worse.”
    “What, you know that in your gut?” Brenden curled the corner of his mouth up in distaste. His opinion of travellers who used gut-instinct was well-known. Brenden relied on data, facts and information even if those facts were slender and the data scanty. Brenden believed a vampire lost any sense of true instinct when they lost their humanity. All they were left with was an ability to guess…and guess wrong. So he never guessed and he crucified travellers who did so on his watch.
    Christian’s jaw flexed and tightened. “Tally has been travelling for how long, Brenden? Thirty years? More?”
    Brenden frowned. “Thirty-three, next month.”
    “Has she ever, in those thirty-three years, once been late to return?”
    Brenden’s frown deepened. “I’d have to look it up.”
    “Don’t bother,” Christian said, picking up the reading board. “The answer is no. Despite some hair-raising disasters and tourists gone astray, Tally has coped.” He glanced at the board. “She’s been in 1314 for nearly five weeks when it was supposed to be a day trip.” He looked at Brenden, then at Nayara. “If someone of Tally’s calibre hasn’t returned after five weeks, you can be certain there’s something seriously wrong.”
    Nayara nodded at Brenden, who crossed his arms over his great chest and glared at Christian. “We should be sending an issues expert in,” he growled.
    “By all means, send them if you wish,” Christian replied, with a graceful nod of his head. He turned and headed for the arrival chambers. “Tell them they can catch up with me.”
    Brenden swore softly as he watched Christian walk away.
    Nayara patted his arm. “Leave it be,” she told him. “Christian is good at his job. He’ll get her out, Brenden.”
    “He shouldn’t be going anywhere near her!” Brenden growled. He curled his hand into a fist. “I wish someone would get around to explaining how vampires still manage to fuck up their lives over matters of hormones when they don’t have any hormones left in their systems that still work.”
    “You know that’s not why he’s going back—”
    “Bullshit,” Brenden interjected.
    “What’s bullshit?” Ryan asked, from behind them.
    Nayara stepped aside to include Ryan in their conversation and explained where Christian was going.
    Ryan rubbed his temple thoughtfully. “Nayara is right,” he told Brenden. “Christian has all the right skills. He can get Tally out of just about anything and he can call for help if he needs it. Why he’s doing it is irrelevant.”
    Brenden scowled.
    Ryan patted the big man’s shoulder. “If it helps, think of what Tally will do to Christian when she realizes that he has come to her rescue.”
    Brenden grinned. “She’ll scrag him,” he said dreamily. “Or worse.”
    “Exactly,”