by Donna Grant
But the one that never left him was Duncan’s furious gaze right before Malcolm killed him.
Shame and self-loathing consumed him. He didn’t merit friends, he didn’t warrant trust. And he certainly didn’t deserve the pleasure given to him by the Druid.
He wanted to know her name. She’d been right. He should have asked for it. He’d wanted to keep her at a distance, and thought he could do that by not knowing her name.
Just another of his mistakes.
Malcolm knew the only reason he was still welcome at MacLeod Castle was Larena, and he’d treated her badly. Family, she’d said, it’s family no matter what.
Was that the only reason she kept in touch with him? Malcolm hoped it wasn’t. He needed Larena now, now that it was probably too late.
The fact he had no idea how Larena was faring in her battle against the drough blood didn’t speak well of him. There was no excuse for him turning his back on her.
Malcolm hated himself even more. He should call Larena, but then he didn’t know what to say. The others didn’t need to know of the Druid. They would want to know where he was and what he was doing. He didn’t want to lie to them anymore. It was better if he held off talking to them.
He turned his head on the pillow to look at the Druid. But for how long could he hold off? He’d done the worst job imaginable in gaining the Druid’s trust, and he doubted she would tell him anything for months to come.
And what if the others called for him to battle Wallace again?
Malcolm was eager for another try at the bastard but leaving the Druid wasn’t an option after what had happened last time. Nor could he bring her with him.
The Druid turned on her side, facing him, as one of her hands came to rest on his chest. Malcolm stilled, afraid to move for fear that she would stop touching him.
Slowly, he pulled his arm from behind his head and gently placed his hand atop her small one. Her chest rose and fell evenly as she slept the sleep of the innocent.
“You’d have been better off with one of the other Warriors. I’m no’ good for you,” he whispered.
They were words he’d never be able to say if she were awake, but they needed to be said. She was a good person who was now tainted because of him.
“I’m no’ good for anyone.”
Not for the first time he thought of asking one of the Dragon Kings to take his head. Larena and Fallon would no longer have to worry about him. And perhaps his death might make up for some of the atrocities he’d committed in Deirdre’s name.
He had so much to make up for, so much to answer for. How he wished he could go back to feeling nothing, because the constant emotions were sending him an ever-changing landscape that he never quite got his footing on.
Malcolm closed his eyes and tried to find some semblance of quiet in his mind. He wanted just a few minutes in order to get his equilibrium back.
He was going to need all the help he could get regarding the Druid. Once she woke, he had some explaining to do. Firstly, she needed to know who he really was.
Then he could try and learn what had sent her running from Cairn Toul to a circle of stones he hadn’t known existed. How she knew of them was on the agenda as well.
Thinking of the Druid helped to calm his mind. The more he thought of her and felt her magic, the further away the memories that hounded him went.
Malcolm let out a deep breath and rubbed his thumb on the back of the Druid’s hand. Tomorrow would be a new day in more ways than one.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
Evie came awake with a start. She’d heard her name whispered in her mind. Gradually, she pulled her hand from under Malcolm’s and sat up so she could look out the window to the standing stones.
They were calling for her. Just as Cairn Toul was.
But whereas the rocks of Cairn Toul wanted her to return, the stone circle wanted her to do what she’d come for.
Evie looked at Malcolm to find his eyes closed. She wasn’t sure if he was asleep or not. A glance at the clock on the bedside table said she’d slept for almost two hours.
She still had a little time before she had to meet the kidnappers, but the more time she wasted, the more anxious she became. The only thing she could do was get out of the bed and see if Malcolm woke.
Evie crawled out of the bed at such a slow pace a snail could have passed her. By the time she was standing by the bed looking down at Malcolm, she wanted a drink to calm her nerves.
As quietly as she could, Evie gathered her clothes from the bathroom and hurried into the dining room to change. She pulled one of the chairs out in order to place her clothes down.
No sooner had her clothes left her hand than she was jerked around against a hard chest. She looked up into Malcolm’s azure gaze and her heart raced when she saw his desire.
“You thought to leave the bed without telling me,” he whispered in a deep, husky voice that sent chills of anticipation over her skin.
“You can’t make love to a lass like that and not expect her to get hungry,” she said as she quickly came up with the fib.
Evie’s stomach fluttered when he traced a finger along her jawline to her chin before tipping up her face to his. Some deep emotion moved across his gaze.
“It’s madness,” he whispered. “Madness for you. I tried to deny it, and even tried to run from it. But I can no’. What have you done to me?”
Her lips parted at his words. The honesty reflected in his gaze surprised her. Malcolm had been many things in the short time she’d known him, but the man standing before her now with the raw emotions made her fall a little in love with him.
“Your name, Druid. What is it?”
She blinked back the tears and swallowed. “Evie. Evie Walker.”
“Evie.”
He said the name like a caress. Her knees went weak, and she had to grab his arms to stay upright. The fact both were naked didn’t go unnoticed.
She used the time to run her hands up his chest to revel in his hard muscles. There was the smallest jerk from him when she touched his scarred shoulder.
The skin was smooth there, but also raised and puckered. She then stroked a finger down one of the scars running the length of his side.
He moved so quickly she wasn’t prepared for it. When she next looked up, he had her on the table, one of his arms hooked beneath her knee. She urged him toward her and reached down to grab his engorged staff.
Malcolm almost spilled right then. Her soft hands knew just how to touch him. He hadn’t meant to take her again, but he’d made the mistake of touching her.
He bent and took one of her turgid nipples in his mouth and suckled until she cried out. The harder he sucked, the faster her hands stroked him.
Malcolm found her clit and began to move his thumb back and forth slowly, lightly. Her soft cries grew louder as he felt her body begin to stiffen. But he wasn’t yet ready for her to climax.
He moved to her other nipple and softly bit down as he pushed a finger inside her. Evie moaned and lifted her hips for more.
When he removed his hand, she guided his cock to her curls. Malcolm slid inside with a groan. She was as hot and tight as before. Her slick walls drew him in deep.
Malcolm lifted his head to look down at her heavy-lidded eyes and parted lips. She was stunning all laid out on the table.
He began to move slowly within her, pulling out until the head of him remained before filling her once more. Her soft cries of ecstasy were his undoing. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d given a woman pleasure. It was like there was no one before her, before Evie.
Malcolm straightened and flattened his hand on her stomach as he rotated his hips. Her eyes pinned him, looking deep as if she peered straight into his black soul.
Her other leg came up and wrapped around his waist, urging him faster. He complied, eager to hear his name upon her lips again as she peaked.
The faster he pumped within her, the louder her cries came. Sweat glistened
over her skin while his thumb circled her clit. The walls of her sex clamped down, sending his desire spiraling.
Malcolm leaned over and took her lips in a fierce kiss, their tongues moving in time with their bodies. Her nails dug into his back as her legs tightened. He thrust harder, deeper to send them down a chasm of hedonism.
They climaxed together, the pleasure blending and melding until it erupted into a fiery storm of decadence so blinding, so consuming that neither would ever be the same.
Malcolm ended the kiss and looked down at the amazing woman who had touched him like no other. He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of her, but he knew he wasn’t ready to be parted from her just yet.
There was no need for words as he pulled out of her and carried her back to bed. As he lay her down, she took his hand and tugged him beside her. She turned on her side away from him, and Malcolm found himself molding to her back, his arm thrown over her waist.
For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, he smiled.
And then he found sleep pulling at him. He hadn’t done more than rest for a few minutes at a time since becoming a Warrior, yet being with Evie changed everything.
Malcolm didn’t fight the sleep. He let his eyes fall closed as he held Evie in his arms.
* * *
Evie struggled to remain awake for the next two hours. Malcolm had rolled onto his back and was lightly snoring. It was the only way she knew for sure that he was asleep.
It was the only reason she got out of bed once more and hurried back into the dining room to dress. Since the rain was still falling, she looked in the coat closet and found a rain jacket and boots.
She paused at the back door and looked down the hallway to where Malcolm slept. Hopefully she would be back before he woke and she wouldn’t have to tell him anything.
Evie quietly closed the door behind her and pulled up the hood on her jacket before she started toward the stones. They hadn’t stopped calling to her since she’d arrived.
She slipped on the wet ground as she started down the hill and lost her footing. Evie landed hard on her bum and slid all the way to the bottom.
“Well, that’s one way of getting down,” she said as she stood and shifted in her wet and muddy jeans. “Ugh.”
Evie forgot about her jeans as she ran to the standing stones. Once she reached them, she placed her hand on one and sighed.
“I’m here.”
She’d forgotten to look at the spell again, and her phone was back at the house. Evie dropped her forehead and wanted to scream in frustration.
“We know it,” the standing stones said.
Evie’s head jerked up. “Tell me then, please.”
“Come insssside the ring.”
She didn’t hesitate to do as they asked. The stones had never lied or led her astray before. There was no reason for her not to trust them.
Malcolm hadn’t seemed to like them, however. Then again, he hadn’t liked Cairn Toul either. With that, she didn’t give it another thought.
The rain came down in torrents and lightning was her only source of light. She sighed when, in a bright array, lightning forked across the sky and showed her the circle was made up of two rings of stones.
Evie walked through the first ring. The second ring of stones stood closer together. She paused beside one and placed her hand upon it. It vibrated slightly. She tried another stone to find it did the same.
She looked up, blinking through the rain and wished she could see the stones in the daylight. Then she laughed at herself.
“I’m a Druid. I have magic.”
Evie walked through the second ring of stones and used her magic to create small fires in between each of the stones in the outer ring.
She gasped when she saw the sheer size of the megaliths. They were enormous, towering over her as if she were no taller than an ant.
All over the stones were Celtic symbols carved into them. The second ring of stones stood a little over five feet apart. When she looked in the middle of the ring she found a large flat stone set atop a wide boulder on one side.
On the other was a long, skinny megalith that looked as if it had been purposefully laid flat.
Evie walked into the middle and closed her eyes. She could imagine the Druids who had once stood where she was. How many hundreds of years had Druids touched these very stones?
Now, she was one of them.
“I was never alone, was I?”
“Nay. We are alwayssss with you, Druid.”
If only she’d known this before she put up that damned site. But the entire site was coming down as soon as she could get to a computer. It had caused her enough grief.
“What do I do?”
“Kneel before the small altar.”
Evie walked to the stone that was laid flat and knelt before it. Upon closer inspection she noticed that the megalith wasn’t smooth like the others, but was conclave with more symbols etched into it.
Except these symbols weren’t any that Evie recognized. She ran her hand along the stone and felt a jolt of magic go through her. She jerked her hand back, fear replacing her enthusiasm.
“Thisssss is ancient black magic, Druid. Proceed with caution.”
“Good to know,” she said sarcastically.
Why they couldn’t have told her that before, she wasn’t sure. Then again, she should’ve been smart enough to know to be careful with any kind of black magic.
“Now what?”
“Repeat after usssssssss…”
Evie began the spell, and with each word the air grew heavy, the pressure around her forcing her down. She felt as if it pressed upon her body, making it impossible for her to rise from her knees.
She struggled to breathe, and the words grew more and more difficult to say. Evie had to place her hands on the ground just to remain upright.
“I can’t finish,” she said when she realized the wind and rain were howling around her as fiercely as a tornado.
“Finish it!” the stones demanded.
Evie wasn’t sure if she should. Then an image of Brian flashed in her mind, and she knew she’d do whatever it took to get him back.
She took a deep breath and repeated the words the stones told her. There were six more lines she said before she felt something in her hand and looked down to find a dagger.
The handle was made of onyx, and the blade was long and curved. Fear began to build because she knew she hadn’t held a weapon before she walked into the circles.
“Slice both wrists and hold them over the altar. Five drops from each must touch the stone.”
Evie rose up on her knees and held her left arm over the altar with the blade against her skin. “I willingly give my soul for black magic.”
She sliced her wrist and counted the five drops before she switched the weapon to her other hand.
* * *
Malcolm shot out of the bed as he felt the drough magic begin to rise up. He knew without looking that Evie wasn’t in the bed with him.
He raced from the house toward the feel of the black magic. With every step he prayed that Wallace hadn’t gotten to Evie.
Because both Evie’s magic and the drough magic were coming from the standing stones.
He released his god as he approached the circle. With a roar, he jumped over the two circles of stones to land in the middle. When he stood, he found Evie kneeling before an altar as she cut her wrist.
For a second, he stood rooted to the spot. She was becoming drough. Why would she willingly give up her soul? What would push her to do something so violent after she swore to him she wasn’t Deirdre, wasn’t evil?
Malcolm didn’t know whether to stop her or allow her to continue. He didn’t have all the facts. If he stopped her, he didn’t know what could happen. If he didn’t stop her, he knew exactly what he could be forced to do.
A drough with the same magic as Deirdre, living in Cairn Toul? The coincidences were too great to ignore.
Evie had freely given her
body to him, eagerly plunged into the bliss of their lovemaking. All the while knowing she was coming to do the spell.
“Nay!” he bellowed and raced toward her.
Malcolm tried to grab the last drop of blood before it hit the altar, but the wind and rain made it impossible. He clenched his teeth and raged as the black smoke rose from the stone and started for Evie.
He wrapped an arm around her stomach and tossed her away from the smoke as an evil laugh reverberated through the megaliths.
Malcolm rose to his feet and stalked toward Evie who backed away on her hands and bottom until she hit a stone. She used the stone to gain her feet.
“Why?” Malcolm yelled. “Why did you do it?”
“Because I must!” she shouted over the rain. She pushed back the hood of her jacket and wiped at her face.
“You didna need to become drough. All you had to do was ask me!”
She blinked, her face going pale. “You weren’t there. I had to make decisions on my own!”
“You’re a drough now! I was here, Evie. All you had to do was talk to me.”
Her face crumpled. “No one else will suffer for what I did to put us in this situation.”
“You can no’ possibly comprehend what you’ve done. What do you think that black smoke was? It was Satan, and you’ve given him your blood—and your soul. He owns you now.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
Malcolm watched Evie slide down the stone to slump on the ground. He tamped down his god and fell to his knees beside her.
“Why?” he asked her again.
Her throat moved as she swallowed. “They kidnapped Brian. This was my only choice so that no one else was harmed.”
“Nay. Only you’ve lost your soul.”
He wanted to get the information out of her right then. Malcolm sighed. He knew all about doing awful things in order to save family.
The label of murderer and betrayer was his to shoulder for eternity because he had protected Larena. How could he fault Evie for doing something for her brother?
Malcolm’s skin sizzled as magic began to gather. It wasn’t Evie, so that left the stone circle. They weren’t happy he’d interfered, though they had gotten what they wanted. Another drough.
