by Donna Grant
“The Cuillin mountains are different. They were aptly named for a reason.”
She rose to her feet, dusted off her bottom, and then shrugged on her backpack. With a small movement of her hand, the fire she created disappeared. “We go now.”
Phelan couldn’t hold back his smile. The woman was spectacular when her fawn-colored eyes flashed with determination.
He used the rocks behind him to gain his feet. “Aye, we’ll go. But slowly.”
“Slow it is, then.”
He followed her out of the hollow and averted his eyes while trying not to smile when she’d taken two steps and her foot slipped on some loose pebbles.
“Fine,” she said with a huff after she righted herself. “Go on and say ‘I told you so.’”
Phelan instead cupped the back of her head and kissed her. He gazed into her eyes and whispered, “Be careful, but keep moving. Slow and steady.”
“What is it?”
“I want off this narrow section before you give me gray hair,” he lied.
She puffed out a breath, but when she took her first step, Phelan saw she was being more cautious than before. Thankfully, a half hour later they came to a wider portion of the mountain.
Phelan took the lead again. His eyes were always searching, looking for a sign of the Druids or the danger. If the threat was to Aisley, he could easily defend her and get them both to safety.
If he was the one at risk, he hoped Aisley could use her magic to get herself away.
He glanced at her and was met with a smile. Phelan knew it was the right thing to do to come to Skye. If they could contain the selmyr, then it was one less thing they had to battle.
Coming to Skye alone might not have been so wise. Yet he wanted to do something for the group of men and women who had welcomed him at MacLeod Castle. Maybe it would make up for not going to them four centuries ago.
Maybe it would help heal the wound that cut through his soul.
* * *
Aisley knew something was bothering Phelan. It was the subtle differences in the way he moved and looked around them. He’d gone from hiker to predator in less than a heartbeat.
There were no trees on the mountains. Just rock as far as the eye could see. Bright green grass carpeted the lower hills and valleys and sometimes even halfway up a mountain.
The peaks of the mountains looked imposing and daunting. She wondered how far up they’d have to go before Phelan found what he was looking for. Which made her frown. What exactly was he looking for?
“Phelan, where are we going?”
“Deeper into the mountains.”
She suppressed a frustrated sigh. “Why?”
“The Druids,” he said over his shoulder. “I told you that.”
“Yes, but you didn’t tell me where we were going.”
He slowed until she was even with him. A grin pulled up one corner of his mouth. “I doona know where the Druids are, beauty. The farther we go into the mountains the more of a chance we have of finding them.”
“And if we don’t find them?”
“We will.”
His confidence should have bolstered her own. Instead it irritated her. “I don’t like being kept in the dark about things. It makes me feel untrustworthy.”
Phelan halted instantly and his eyes pinned her. “This isna about trust, beauty. It’s about keeping you safe. You bring up trust at every turn.”
She swallowed nervously, wondering if he would press her for answers about who she was running from. Aisley looked away because she knew Phelan was right. She did have trust issues. Big ones.
“The Druids are here,” Phelan said, his deep voice softened. “I can no’ see them, but I feel them. I’ve no answers for you other than that. I hope they’ll talk to us with you beside me.”
Aisley looked into his blue-gray eyes. “You think they know what you are?”
“A Warrior? Aye. It’s why they’re watching us. I’m sure they also want to know what you’re doing with me.”
“Surely they know of those at MacLeod Castle?”
He raked a hand through his hair and shrugged. “They may no’. You have roots here, Aisley. Your blood links you to Skye. If the Druids talk to anyone, it’ll be you.”
“Phelan, look, I’m sorry,” she said and licked her lips. “I just … it’s just … so—”
“Shh,” he said over her. “There’s no need for an apology, beauty.”
“There is,” she insisted when he continued walking.
It took her more energy to climb up the steep slope behind him. Her breath came in great gasps, and the cool air that had come in with the rain was gone.
Sweat covered her brow. Aisley couldn’t get her jacket and sweater off fast enough. She stuffed them, as well as her beanie, into her pack and sighed with relief.
She grabbed a bottle of water and lifted it to her lips when she spotted a face in the rocks below and to the left of her. The vibrant blue eyes blinked up at her without fear, without alarm.
It took Aisley a moment to make out the face belonged to a female. A stunning one at that with long black hair. Aisley parted her lips to call to Phelan, and in that instant, the girl vanished.
Aisley jerked her head to Phelan to find him watching her with furrowed brows. “There was a girl there,” she said and pointed to where the face had been.
“I knew they were close,” Phelan said. “We need to keep walking.”
“Why didn’t she speak?”
He lifted one shoulder. “They’re getting closer to us a wee bit at a time.”
Aisley slid her pack back onto her shoulders and started after Phelan. His long strides ate up twice as much distance as hers could. She thought he would be happy that a Druid of Skye had been so near, but it was the exact opposite. He was worried, and it didn’t take his searching gaze or the gold claws extended from his left hand to tell her that.
It was in the way he walked, as if he were looking for something to kill.
Aisley imagined this was how he would be when he came for her. His jaw tight, his eyes devoid of emotion. A Warrior through and through.
She took in a deep breath when they reached another plateau. Turning around slowly, Aisley took in the views.
“Wow,” she murmured. Her eyes landed on Phelan to find his lips flat and a frown marring his forehead. “What is it?”
“I—”
She didn’t hear the rest as pain exploded in her head. Aisley clutched her head with her hands and bent over. Agony shot through her like small pieces of glass cutting into her brain.
“Aisley.”
No. It couldn’t be. Her stomach fell to her feet with dread.
“You’re mine!”
She screamed when something cut into her upper left arm. The force of the attack sent her off balance as it spun her. She tried to pry open her eyes to see where she was, but the pain was too much.
“Mine!” the voice bellowed in her mind.
Another cut, this one deeper, toppled her onto her back. Something was pressing on her chest, the weight of it blocking her air. Her lungs couldn’t expand to draw in breath. She was suffocating.
She knew who was attacking her. And Jason wouldn’t make her death quick.
* * *
Phelan couldn’t make his body move fast enough. He dropped his pack and launched himself from the edge of the mountain as Aisley fell off the side.
Something, someone had pushed her. He knew it, just as surely as he knew that he wasn’t going to let her die.
He caught her against him and reached out with his other hand to grab hold of anything he could find. His fingers came in contact with a rock protruding from the side of the mountain, and they came to a bone-jarring halt that jerked his shoulder out of place.
Phelan gritted his teeth. He forgot all about the pain when he saw the blood dripping from Aisley’s arm, and the trickle that fell from her nose. She was breathing but unconscious.
He glanced down to see a small outcropp
ing about thirty feet below him. Phelan released his hold on the rock. He landed on the outcropping with Aisley cradled in his arms and his knees bent.
In one jump, Phelan had them back atop the plateau. He removed her pack and gently lay Aisley on the ground, then knelt to look at her wounds. There were three slashes across her arm. One was so deep it went to the bone.
With one claw lengthened, he cut his wrist and let his blood flow into her wounds. As soon as he saw the injuries heal, he released the breath he’d been holding.
But Aisley wasn’t out of the woods yet. Phelan let his blood drip into her mouth. It took her a minute before she swallowed it, but as soon as she did, he could see her body healing.
He wanted to search for whatever had attacked her, but he couldn’t leave her. The longer she lay unconscious, the more agitated he became.
There had been something in the air, something evil and malicious. He’d felt Wallace’s magic an instant before Aisley grabbed her head in pain.
But if it had been Wallace, why hadn’t he also attacked him? Wallace made no secret of his hatred for those fighting against him. It would have been the perfect opportunity for Wallace to capture or kill him.
Instead, the assault had been on Aisley.
Phelan jerked his shoulder back into place and then pulled out his phone. His finger was about to press Charon’s number when Aisley’s eyes opened. She drew in a long breath, and her gaze found him.
“You’re all right now,” he told her.
A lone tear fell from her eye to fade into her hair. “You aren’t safe with me, Phelan.”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
Aisley waited for Phelan to question her. Instead, he ran the backs of his fingers along her cheek tenderly. His blue-gray eyes studied her solemnly.
“How do you feel?”
She took stock of her body and was amazed to find there wasn’t a twinge of pain anywhere. “Like nothing happened. Did I dream it?”
“Nay, beauty,” he said dejectedly.
That’s when she understood what he had done. “You used your blood to heal me.”
He gave a single nod. “It was Wallace. I doona know why he attacked you and no’ me, but I’ve put you in grave danger.”
“You don’t understand,” she said as she sat up, even as he tried to keep her lying down. Aisley pushed his hand away. There could be no more secrets. Phelan had to know everything. She couldn’t live with herself if he blamed himself for what was her fault.
“I do,” he said over her. “We need to head back to the hotel. I’ll call Fallon. He can teleport some Warriors and Druids here to protect you while the rest of us search out the Druids here for answers on the selmyr.”
Aisley rolled her eyes. Damn but Phelan was stubborn. “First, I’m not turning back. We’re here. And the Druids can help you defend against Wallace.”
Phelan got to his feet in one smooth movement. “Do you even know what happened to you? I saw it all, Aisley.”
“And I felt it.” As horrible as it was. She suppressed a shudder just thinking of the agony she’d endured for just a few minutes.
If that’s what Jason had in store for her, she was determined not to let him get close again.
Aisley climbed to her feet and stood in front of Phelan. “The part of my past I didn’t want to tell you. It’s time you knew. Everything.”
“What was that?” Phelan asked, his forehead furrowed as he narrowed his gaze over her shoulder.
In a blur of movement, he was gone, chasing after whatever he saw. Aisley retrieved her pack and his and started after him as fast as she could.
She lost sight of him when he went up and over one of the mountains. Carrying two packs made climbing difficult. She’d had no idea Phelan put so much stuff in his pack. It weighed twice as much as hers.
Aisley grunted as her thigh muscles screamed in protest from the strain as she trudged up the incline. The rips in her sleeve allowed the breeze to cool her heated skin, but it also reminded her that Jason was back.
And Phelan deserved the truth.
Even if she wasn’t ready to attack Jason herself.
Out here in the middle of the Cuillins was the perfect place to die. It was the home of her ancestors. It would be her final resting place. It was fitting, in a morbid sort of way.
She brushed hair out of her face that had come down from her ponytail. The ascent up the mountain was the most challenging climbing she’d ever done. As much as she hated to do it, she had to stop and rest.
Aisley gave herself five minutes. She used that time to relieve the weight of the packs from her shoulders and to drink as much water as she could.
Then she was back to climbing. She didn’t see another soul for the next forty-five minutes. Though she tried not to notice the time, she couldn’t help but wonder where Phelan was. What would make him leave her like that?
“Bugger it,” she ground out when her foot slipped for the third time on a bit of rock she was trying to get a foothold on.
The rock wasn’t big enough to take even the tip of her foot. She tried for a fourth time only to have her foot slide off again.
She was about to find another place to climb when a hand appeared in front of her face. Aisley looked up to find Phelan. She took his hand, and he effortlessly pulled her up beside him.
“I saw a Druid,” he said as way of explanation.
Aisley set down the packs and grabbed the water as she tried to get her breathing under control. She drank half a bottle before she lowered it and glared at him. “You could’ve told me that before you raced off.”
“Aye. I need to work on that. I’m used to being alone.”
“It’s courtesy,” she said, winded.
Phelan pointed to the valley below. “We need to go there.”
“Did you find the Druids?”
He smiled sheepishly. “No’ exactly.”
“Lead the way then.”
Phelan took his pack and tried to grab hers as well. Aisley jerked it out of his grip and reached for a bag of nuts she’d seen. She slid the pack onto her shoulders and tore open the package of cashews to munch on as they walked.
The entire way down the mountain all Aisley could think about was spilling her secrets. She could be a coward and tell him as they walked. But she wanted to look him in the eye so she could gauge his reaction. It was how to start that was the problem. She couldn’t just blurt out that she was Jason’s cousin.
If she told him she was looking for a way to fight Jason, then Phelan would want to know how she knew him. It was all so damned convoluted.
More clouds rolled in to block the sun. It helped to lessen the heat, but fortunately, there was no more rain. The weather had changed so many times that Aisley wouldn’t be surprised if it began to snow.
They finally reached the valley. Bright green grass stretched in an endless sea before her, only broken by the occasional boulder that protruded from the ground.
Aisley turned in a slow circle looking at the valley, the mountain peaks against the white clouds, and the shadows those same clouds cast on the mountains.
Phelan’s hand brushed hers. His pull on her was so great she was incapable of ignoring him. Her eyes slid closed when his fingers brushed her jaw and gently turned her face to him.
His lips grazed hers in a whisper of a kiss. He murmured something in Gaelic she didn’t understand, and then he claimed her mouth.
Roughly, fiercely. Savagely.
Aisley’s body came alive under his touch. She moaned, answering the demand in his kiss. Her arms wrapped around his neck as he molded her body against his.
His arousal was pressed against her stomach. Her hips rocked against him, wringing a groan from deep within him. He whispered her name as he kissed down her throat.
“I need you,” she said.
She dropped her head back while his mouth moved to her neck. His hand cupped her breast and squeezed. She knew it was wrong to make love to him right before she t
old him she was drough, but Aisley couldn’t help herself.
There was no denying her body—or Phelan.
“They’re watching,” he said.
“I don’t care. I need to feel you inside me.”
He dropped his head against hers. “As much as I want to lay you down and strip you while making love to you in this place, I’d rather no’ be watched while I do it.”
Aisley couldn’t help but grin. She plunged her fingers in his dark locks and held him. If only she had the magic to stop this moment in time.
The Druids who dared to control time paid a hefty price. Not only did Aisley fear the consequences of trying, but she didn’t have the magic for it—even with her black magic.
“Do you hear that?” Phelan asked and lifted his head.
Aisley listened carefully, but heard nothing. “No.”
He took her hand and pulled her after him as he walked deeper into the valley. They walked another ten minutes when she heard it.
“Water,” she said.
Phelan smiled. “A waterfall, if I’m correct.”
A laugh bubbled within her as he started running. She followed, their hands still linked. The sound of the water grew the closer they got to it until it was a deafening roar.
They came to a halt when they reached a cliff that dropped off into the most beautiful emerald-green water Aisley had ever seen.
The waterfall was below their feet coming from a stream to her right. The water tumbled over rocks before plummeting into emerald depths. Surrounding the water were sheer walls of rock and more boulders protruded in the water below.
“In all the times I’ve been here, I’ve never found it,” Phelan said.
Aisley glanced from the water to him. “Found what?”
“This is the Fairy Pool.”
“I’ve heard of this. It’s a tourist destination.”
Phelan squatted down and looked over the side to the water. “Nay, beauty. No’ this one. This is the real Fairy Pool.”
“Meaning?” she prodded.
His gaze lifted to hers. “You’ve magic. Do you think you’re the only one who has it?”
“Well…” Aisley trailed off because she didn’t want to admit she had thought that. Then she lifted her chin. “I knew there were Warriors.”
