Slave Gold (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

  SLAVE GOLD

  Prologue

  Whoever shall find the slave gold will know much turmoil until love unfolds.

  The voices will sing their hymn and pull you from within.

  The paths you take will be divided and the choices you make

  will be forever united.

  No time, space, or age will withstand or endure, unless the love you feel is pure.

  Love is a gift from the Gods and will last through the ages

  for those who will discover love untold.

  Branwen, the Celtic goddess of love and beauty, the daughter of Lir, placed the spell on the pure-gold slave bracelet and hurled it toward the Earth as she stood atop the tallest mountain, using her powers to send it far from her just before she died of a broken heart after the loss of her best friend and brother, Bran. Knowing she would never find that which her heart sought, a mate of her own, Branwen vowed that at least whoever found the slave bracelet would be able to choose love over heartache.

  Chapter One

  The hair on Shannon Regis’s nape stood on end as she stared at the gleaming gold bangle. It looked so old and she was puzzled, because usually gold dulled as it aged, but not this piece. It seemed to almost…glow. It was approximately an inch wide, and the intricate design reminded her of overlapping Celtic knots, but the gold intertwined, the pattern was seamless, so the knots never stopped. Two crosses in what appeared to be a lighter rose gold broke up the elaborate weave but still flowed within the design.

  Unable to stop herself, she reached out and touched it with the tip of her finger. Her vision narrowed as her skin connected with the bangle, until it was all she could see. She felt her hair shift as if a breeze had threaded through her tresses and lifted them from the back of her neck. Goose bumps rose on her skin, and a voice filled her head. The chanting was unfamiliar, in a language long forgotten. How she knew that, she had no idea, but the voices filled her heart and soul with hope and joy.

  Withdrawing her finger from the warm gold, Shannon looked up to see the shop assistant studying her curiously, and then she smiled at the older woman, who returned her smile.

  “You like it, yes?”

  “Yes. I’ve never seen this shop before.” Shannon frowned, looking around. The shop was tiny, wedged in next to the grocery store on the corner. The interior was tiny and crammed with odd artifacts. It seemed like a junk shop, and normally the shabby fur coats on a rack by the door and the shelves of books with cracked spines wouldn’t have enticed her inside. But Shannon had found herself walking in the front door like something inside had been calling her. She dropped her eyes to the jewelry case again. Amidst the cut glass and tarnished silver, the gold bracelet gleamed like something from another world.

  She looked back at the shopkeeper, who was as nondescript as her shop. Shannon was pretty sure she’d never seen her before in her life, which was odd for small-town Utah.

  The whole thing was odd, she realized. “I walk this way every week to get groceries, and I’ve lived in Moab my whole life. Why have I never seen this place before?”

  “You were not meant to see it until now,” the woman answered cryptically.

  “Huh?” Shannon had expected the shopkeeper to say they had just opened, though if she were honest, the place looked like it had been there for decades. Maybe I just never noticed it because it’s so small.

  “I see you’re interested in the slave gold.” The shopkeeper moved around the counter to stand on the other side of the display case. “Isn’t it a beautiful piece?”

  “Yes, it is. What did you say it’s called?”

  “Some call it the slave gold bracelet. It is very old. There are legends about it.”

  Shannon raised her eyebrows. This woman was yanking her chain. “Let me guess, legends about slaves.”

  The shopkeeper smiled mysteriously. “Any bangle like this is called a slave bracelet. That’s merely the style. But this one is unique. They say that when this bracelet chooses an owner, it will take her to her true love, no matter where in time or space that love resides.”

  Shannon laughed. Yeah, this woman was nuts, or else she thought Shannon was. “Well, it wouldn’t work for me. I haven’t got a true love.”

  The woman only smiled again. “The universe is vast.”

  Shannon didn’t answer. This woman didn’t know her. She couldn’t know what Shannon was certain of, that no one in the world cared about her. Her own family hadn’t, and Shannon’s whole adult life had taught her that lesson over and over again.

  No time-traveling bracelet was going to help her.

  “Do you want to buy the bangle?”

  Shannon sighed. She did, but she didn’t think she had enough cash to splurge on it. It looked like solid gold to her.

  “I would love to be able to purchase it, but I don’t think…”

  “One hundred dollars.”

  “What?” Shannon gasped. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. It is meant to be yours.”

  Shannon looked at the woman skeptically. There was no damn way that bangle had a purchase price of a hundred dollars, but when she looked the woman in the eyes again, she could only see sincerity. Shannon’s mind next threw up the objection that she had a hundred dollars, but it was her only hundred dollars and had to buy her groceries for the next few weeks. Nonetheless, Shannon reached into her purse and dug around for her wallet. Without removing her gaze from the shopkeeper, she opened it and pulled out a bill. With a quick glance at it, she handed over the last of her money. For some reason, the fact that she had no cash left didn’t worry her. Shannon felt a peace settle over her. A calm and tranquility she had never felt in her whole life encompassed her mind, body, and soul.

  Watching avidly while the shopkeeper cleaned the bangle with a cloth until it seemed to glow, Shannon drew in a ragged breath as the woman then placed it into a box lined with some sort of navy velvet-looking material. The snap of the box closing the bracelet from view seemed to shatter the almost trancelike state she had been under.

  Shannon finally looked up to see the woman studying her intently, but when Shannon took the jeweler’s box, the shopkeeper only gave a polite smile. After thanking her, she made her way out of the shop into the crisp spring air and turned in the direction of her apartment.

  As soon as she closed the door behind her and kicked off her shoes, Shannon headed to her kitchen and put the kettle on. While she waited for the water to boil, she pulled the jeweler’s box from her purse and placed it onto her small, scarred wood table. She didn’t open it, however, instead finding other little chores around the apartment. She couldn’t have said why she was avoiding looking at the bracelet when she’d just spent her last dime on it. She just knew she had to be ready before she did.

  Ready for what? For it to take you to your one true love? Shannon snorted, reaching for a coffee cup. She didn’t buy the shopkeeper’s fairy tale for one moment. Love just didn’t happen in Shannon’s life.

  The whistle from the kettle drew her attention. With a sigh she turned away from the box and made herself a mug of coffee.

  Once she had her coffee, Shannon sat at her table staring at the box. The hair on her nape prickled and stood on end, and the strands of her shoulder-length tresses felt as if they were being ruffled by a slight breeze. Looking around, she gave a mental snort and berated her overactive imagination. All her windows and doors were currently closed, so she had to be imagining things.

  Taking a deep breath, she reached over and lifted the lid. A slight buzz filled her ears, and she felt herself being drawn to the gold once more.

  No matter how hard she tried, Shannon co
uldn’t pull her gaze from the gleaming bracelet. The buzz in her head got louder and louder until she could hear a woman’s voice chanting in her head. Her vision blurred until she could only see the glowing gold, and without conscious thought, she reached out until the bangle was within her grasp. Almost feeling as if she was back in that dreamlike trance, Shannon threaded the jewelry over her hand and onto her wrist and then to her upper arm. Why she placed it so high up on her limb, she couldn’t have said if asked. It just seemed like the right thing to do. Warmth shot up her arm and spread across her torso, expanding until her whole body felt heated.

  She clutched at the edge of the table to keep herself steady, because she couldn’t focus on her kitchen. It felt as if the room she was in was spinning around her and every time she opened her eyes and tried to see, nausea roiled in her belly. Her head pounded and the chanting got louder and louder until that was all she could hear. Her body felt like it was swaying, but Shannon knew she wasn’t moving. The hard wood beneath her fingers and palms was a testament that she was still sitting at her kitchen table. She squinted through slightly open eyelids and wished she hadn’t. The room was spinning around her so fast now, everything was a blur.

  Just when she thought she would throw up, Shannon felt as if her body was being tugged by some unseen force. Although she gripped the edge of the table and clung as hard as she could, she was fighting a losing battle. Her fingers felt like they were being pried from the wooden surface one by one. A hysterical laugh bubbled up in her chest and escaped her mouth, and her eyelids felt so heavy she didn’t even bother trying to open them again.

  Shannon’s body felt as if it was as heavy as lead, yet she had the feeling that she was as light as a feather, floating on an errant breeze. At the same time, she sensed she was whirling as fast as a tornado. She knew that was a contradiction, but that’s what she was feeling.

  The loud feminine voice chanting in her head ceased, and the roar of the whirling wind stopped. Shannon had the experience of floating down on a cushion of air, and when the sensation finally stopped, she felt as if she were lying on a cloud. Warmth wrapped around her, and she snuggled into it and let sleep claim her.

  * * * *

  Shannon yawned and stretched and then opened her eyes. She blinked a few times and then squeezed her eyelids shut again. Her breathing began to escalate and her heart beat a rapid tattoo against her breast. With confusion and anxiety pulsing throughout her body, she slowly pushed herself into a sitting position and stared all around.

  Grassy fields stretched before her, bordered by a thick copse of trees. The air was cool, but the sun was shining down on her, increasing the heat she was already feeling from her anxiety. Sweat trickled down between her breasts and beaded on her brow and upper lip. She pinched herself hard to ascertain whether she was awake or dreaming. The action only made her yelp, and she looked down to her arm, seeing where she had squeezed the skin between her nails. Little grooves were left behind in her skin. So she was awake, but where was she?

  How long she sat there on the ground in a stupor she had no idea, but finally her brain kicked in. She scrambled to her hands and knees then she rose to unsteady legs. Turning in slow circles, she looked for any sign of life. A screech far above prompted her to look up. Shielding her eyes from the bright glint of the sun, she saw what looked to be an eagle riding the thermal air currents high up in the sky. Silhouetted against the backdrop of the sky, blue-tinged mountains stood in the distance, their peaks covered in snow.

  “What the fuck?” Shannon whispered. “Where the hell am I?” She scrutinized the mountains more closely. They looked nothing like those near Moab, but maybe she was just seeing them from a different angle. She’d somehow ended up outside of town.

  Shannon didn’t have a history of sleepwalking, and while things were a little fuzzy, she was pretty sure the last place she remembered being was her apartment. So how could she have ended up in a field by some mountains? The more she thought about it, the more freaked out she got until she was nearly hyperventilating.

  “Calm down, Shannon,” she told herself, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths. “Either you’re suffering from temporary memory loss and wandered outside of Moab or something crazy has happened and you could be anywhere in the world. Since I can’t really deal with the latter, I’m just going to have to operate on the assumption I’m still in eastern Utah.” She sighed and turned back to look at the trees.

  As she moved again, the shifting weight on her upper arm, the one she hadn’t pinched, drew her attention. There, encircling her bicep, was the gleaming gold of the Celtic bracelet she had bought earlier that day. Well, she presumed it was still the same day. She reached up and tried to pry the heavy band from her arm. But she couldn’t see how to remove it. There didn’t appear to be any clasp or catch like before, but she couldn’t seem to find where the closure had been. Nothing. Even though it wasn’t too tight on her arm and she could move it around, she couldn’t slide it down or up. It seemed she was stuck with the thing.

  Licking her dry lips, she wondered what the hell she should do. She was thirsty and hungry and had no idea where the fuck she was. Deciding she couldn’t stay out in the middle of nowhere, she turned toward the right and began to walk. Maybe she would come upon a house, and when she found out where she was, she would call a cab.

  The copse of trees had seemed much closer when she had started out, but by the time she reached them she was hot, tired, and sweaty. The trees and their leaves moved in the slight breeze, swishing almost as if they were talking to each other. Oh God, Shannon. You are losing your mind. No, wait. You’ve already lost it!

  She stood staring into the copse and trepidation raced up and down her spine. Shannon felt that once she took a step into the trees, her life would never be the same. With a heavy, heartfelt sigh at her overactive imagination, she began walking. The air among the trees was much cooler since she was out of the sun, and her trepidation faded away. Now she felt almost expectant, like she was waiting for something to happen. The sounds of animals scurrying in the underbrush didn’t startle or bother her, and she wondered why she felt so calm.

  Giving a shrug, she concentrated on the path her feet were taking. If she wasn’t careful, she would hook her foot in one of the large tree roots and break or sprain an ankle.

  Another sound in the distance made her look up. Tilting her head slightly, she listened carefully to try to ascertain the direction it was coming from. She could hear the roar and babble of water, and she needed to find it to quench her thirst.

  All the rivers and creeks around Moab would lead her into town, and she’d been walking long enough that she couldn’t be far.

  Yet she walked half an hour longer before she found the source of the noise. She emerged from the trees onto the banks of a rapidly flowing river. Just upstream, a majestic waterfall crashed down into a deep pool.

  Shannon put her hands on her hips, frowning. This didn’t look anything like the Colorado River just outside town. No other stream was this big. So where the hell was she? She was thirsty enough that she almost didn’t care. Getting onto her knees, she cupped the life-saving liquid into her palms and drank her fill then washed her face and hands as best she could without a cloth or soap. Feeling marginally better and more refreshed, she rose and began her trek once more.

  This time she stayed with the river. She had nothing to eat but at least she wouldn’t die of dehydration. She would eventually meet up with Moab if she followed the river, or she’d find other people and houses on the outskirts of town. None of the trees and bushes were familiar to her, but she gave a mental shrug. She wasn’t much of a gardener since she lived in an apartment and had no opportunity to plant one, but these ones looked way different from what she was used to.

  Shannon walked for what seemed like hours, and her feet were aching. The light dimmed beneath the trees as the sun set. It would be nighttime soon, and she didn’t want to spend the night out in the forest, but she might hav
e to since she’d found no sign of life. Maybe I’m walking in the wrong direction. She looked up at the sun to see where due north was, but she couldn’t see where it was situated in the sky. The tree branches and foliage were too thick. If she didn’t find somewhere to shelter soon, she would end up stumbling around in the dark.

  Then the shopkeeper’s prediction came back to her. The woman had said the bracelet could transport the wearer through time and space. Shannon snorted again. She was letting the woman’s paranoia affect her since she was lost. A shiver raced up her spine when a rustle in the leaves on the ground sounded close by.

  “Shit, what if there are wild predators?” she mumbled, trying to remember what wild animals were indigenous to this area.

  Stopping, she looked around for somewhere to rest for the night. She didn’t want to accidentally bed down next to an animal’s lair or to have one of them come upon her while she slept. Turning to study the trees, she saw one that had branches down low and followed its path with her eyes.

  Yes, that one! Taking the opportunity to quench her thirst again, she drank deeply of the crystal-clear, unpolluted water. Once done, she wiped her wet hands on her jeans and walked to the base of the tree. Gripping the lower branch with her hands, she walked her feet up the trunk and then pulled herself up.

  When she got to the top side of the branch, she sighed with relief. The bough looked like it had started out to be two branches but had melded together. There was a slight indent in the middle which would be perfect to cradle her ass. She would have to hang her legs on either side of the limb, but at least she would be able to lean her back against the trunk and sleep without the fear of falling off. Wrapping her arms around her to ward off the chill in the air, Shannon shifted around until she got comfortable and sighed.

  The stress of the day after finding herself in unfamiliar territory caught up with her, and she yawned. She had a bad feeling that she was no longer near Moab. How the hell am I going to get back home if I don’t know where I am? The trees weren’t the same and neither was anything else. Everything felt strange and she felt almost out of sync—like nothing was real. Hopefully when the sun rose she would wake up to find she had dreamt the whole thing.