by Donna Grant
Never one to back down from a challenge, Malcolm nodded. “Where does this race end?”
“At the cabin on the east range. Do you need a map, Warrior?” Rhys teased.
“I’ll find it, and still beat you, Dragon.”
“What are you waiting on?” Rhys said with a laugh as he took off running.
Malcolm was quick to follow, feeling freer than he could ever remember. Evie had steadied him while giving light to his bleak world. By doing so, she released him from his prison.
There was evil to kill and Wallace’s machinations to work out, but none of that mattered at the moment. He had his woman, a babe in her womb, and his friends. Nothing was going to hold him back from having it all. Not now.
Not ever.
* * *
Jason parked his hunter green Jaguar XF two miles from the border of Dreagan land and climbed out. When he discovered the dragons had been hiding on none other than Dreagan land, it all clicked into place.
The teleportation spell still hadn’t worked, much to his fury. There hadn’t been a spell he couldn’t work with ease since he returned from the dead. Why the teleportation spell was different he wasn’t sure.
He looked around the forest before he glanced at the sky. Any moment he expected to see a dragon. The dragons would sense him near, he was sure. It hadn’t taken him long to work out that he’d been on Dreagan land when he had died during the battle with Charon and Laura.
At least the selmyr wouldn’t return. Aisley had somehow managed to trap them again. The dragons, however, were still a concern. They’d remained hidden for so long that there wasn’t much known about them.
No matter how many questions he had asked, Jason received few answers. He wasn’t concerned though. His magic was strong enough to kill whatever he needed to.
“First, there’s the little matter of Malcolm,” he said with a smirk.
How easily Evie and Malcolm believed he would allow them to live together until the babe was born. He wanted them to let their guard down before he struck again. Jason’s intent had been to wait a week, but he found he enjoyed toying with Malcolm too much to put it off.
With a simple spell, Jason discovered Malcolm and Evie were apart. The timing was perfect. He closed his eyes and thought of Malcolm, the link between them snapping into place.
His smile grew as he imagined Malcolm’s furious expression. But the Warrior would come.
* * *
Malcolm instantly halted, grabbing his head as pain exploded. Then Jason’s voice filled his mind. Malcolm roared, he and Daal both struggling against the intrusion.
“There’s no use fighting,” Jason’s voice said. “We have a link, Malcolm. My blood in you. There is nowhere you can run, no place you can hide that I willna find you.”
“What do you want?” Malcolm demanded as he fell to his knees from the agony of Jason in his head.
“You.”
“Never!”
“How foolish of you to leave Evie. Even with the dragons.”
Malcolm squeezed his eyes closed. He drew in a deep breath and flattened his hands on the earth before he lifted his head and searched for Wallace. “Come on out, you son of a bitch.”
“Ah, my mother was a bitch, but I’d prefer if you didna call her such. And I willna be the one coming to you. You will come to me. I have what’s most precious to you after all—Evie.”
Too many times Jason had fooled them. Malcolm wouldn’t fall into that trap again. He yanked out his mobile and tried to call Evie. Only to find there was no reception.
Malcolm jumped to his feet and ran to the highest point on the mountain, scrambling over rocks, jumping from one boulder to the other, ignoring the pounding of his head. But his phone still wouldn’t connect.
“I’m waiting, Malcolm. The longer I wait, the more I hurt her.”
“You wouldna dare to harm the bairn.”
Jason’s laugh was loud as it bounced around Malcolm’s head. “There are other ways I can torture your woman. How long will you let her suffer before you come and claim her?”
Malcolm knew it was a trap, but how could he not go to Evie? He glanced around hoping to catch sight of Rhys or even another dragon flying, but there was no one.
For the first time, Malcolm hated the solitude he’d always sought. He couldn’t stand there a moment longer if there was even a shred of doubt that Evie could be in Jason’s grasp.
“Turn southwest, Malcolm. I’ll be waiting.”
Malcolm wanted Wallace out of his head, and as soon as he found the bastard, he would make sure Wallace was never able to command him like that again.
The farther southwest he walked, the farther he moved from the manor—the one place where there were people who could help. Malcolm paused several times, debating on returning to Dreagan and getting the dragons in the hopes they reached Evie in time. But in the end, Malcolm couldn’t stand the thought of Evie harmed by Wallace in any way.
A quarter of an hour later, Malcolm topped a hill and stopped. Wallace was somewhere in the forest below. Malcolm tried to feel Evie’s magic, but he was too sickened by the stench of drough.
Malcolm walked into the forest, picking his way through the trees. He had gone a hundred yards when movement to his right caused him to pause. There, leaning against a tree was Jason Wallace.
“Where is Evie?” Malcolm demanded.
Wallace shrugged. “Back at Dreagan Manor I suppose.”
“So you doona have her?” Malcolm was sick to his stomach, but that was soon replaced with blinding fury.
“Nay, I do no’.”
Malcolm wanted nothing more than to rip him apart, but he wasn’t fool enough to attack by himself again. He turned on his heel and began to walk back the way he’d come when Jason’s magic slammed him face-first against a tree.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“You said Evie and I could be together.”
Jason laughed as he walked to him. “And you believed me? How many times have I kept my word? You should know better.”
Malcolm struggled against the magic holding him, to no avail. “What do you want?”
“Your child. And doona even try and tell me you were going to hand over the bairn. I’m no’ daft enough to believe that.”
Malcolm seethed, Daal plotted. But none of it did any good while they were trapped. Wallace then walked around the tree where Malcolm could see his face. “Evie willna leave the protection of Dreagan.”
“You mean the dragons?” Wallace smiled slyly. “Oh, but she will. She cares a great deal for you. She’ll do whatever I want.”
“And what do you want?”
“To keep you two apart.”
Malcolm ground his teeth together, desperately trying in vain to keep his temper under control. “Why?”
“You mean none of those at MacLeod Castle have worked it out? This is too good to believe,” Jason said and rubbed his hands together. “Give me a second to enjoy this.”
“Wallace,” Malcolm growled.
The smile died and Jason glared at him. “No one gives me orders, least of all you. I think you liked your time with Death. He’s been waiting for your return, but this time there willna be anyone to bring you back.”
Malcolm ignored the bark of the pine biting into his cheek. He realized too late that Wallace was going to put Evie in a position to make a decision of whether to save him or not.
“She’ll protect our child,” Malcolm said. Evie was strong, she knew right from wrong. She would know the goodness of their child mattered more than his life.
Wallace leaned back against a tree and laughed. “Perhaps. But by keeping the two of you apart, I’m ensuring that hate and anger will fester inside her. That will then transfer to the child.”
Malcolm closed his eyes and silently screamed his rage. Would Evie think he abandoned her, or would she know Wallace had him? Either way, he wouldn’t be with her.
He wouldn’t see her belly grow with their child,
wouldn’t hold her in his arms, wouldn’t laugh with her. He wouldn’t see their child born and hold the bairn.
Evie returned his feelings, but she gave him hope as well. Hope for a new life and a family—both of which he’d never thought to want. For a few precious days, they had been his.
But after all his sins, he should have known he could never have that kind of happiness.
“Doona worry, Malcolm. I’ll let you see your child for a moment before I take it to raise as my own.”
“Why no’ just kill me?”
“Because I may need you. If something happens to this bairn, you and Evie need to be around to give me another.”
It was the last straw. No longer did Malcolm contain his rage or hold back Daal. With one vicious roar, Malcolm released his god as lightning forked from his hands to split the trees around him.
But Wallace’s magic was too strong for him to get away. He could do nothing but bellow his frustration as Jason cut him, then gave him two drops of his blood.
Agony exploded throughout Malcolm’s body.
And then he saw Death.
CHAPTER
FIFTY-ONE
“It’ll be fine,” Jane said for the third time, but as Evie stared out the window listening to the cry of the rocks and stone, she knew that wasn’t true.
A door slamming was followed closely by boot heels striking the wood floors and growing closer. Evie faced the door, hoping to see Malcolm’s form fill the doorway.
Instead it was Rhys.
“Where is that sodding Warrior?” Rhys asked with a cocky, lopsided grin. “I knew he wouldna pay his debt.”
Evie’s stomach dropped to her feet like lead. “He isn’t here.”
Rhys’s smile slipped. “When he didna arrive, I thought he returned to you.”
She shook her head and grabbed the back of a settee to remain standing. Jane and Cassie both began to ask questions of Rhys at once while Elena rushed from the room, and Larena wrapped an arm around Evie.
“Malcolm is strong,” Larena said.
Evie swallowed hard. “You didn’t see him lying on that bed. Something has happened to him, I know it. I feel it here,” she said and put her hand over her heart.
“He probably just needed a bit of time to think,” Guy said as he came into the room. “Malcolm has been by himself for a long time, Evie.”
Larena gave her arm a squeeze. “Guy has a point. Malcolm often went off by himself. We’ll go find him for you.”
Evie looked to the doorway to find Ramsey and Banan standing behind Guy and Rhys. The men turned as one and strode out of sight while Larena quickly followed.
They put on a good show, but Evie wasn’t buying any of it. She walked around the settee and into the foyer on wooden legs, deafened by the stones surrounding her from the mountains and beneath her feet.
“The shouting has gotten worse,” she said. When the group talking amongst themselves didn’t hear her, Evie repeated it louder.
Ramsey’s head jerked around to her, his silver eyes pinning her. “What did you say, lass?”
“I think the real reason Malcolm didn’t tell anyone about me was because of where he found me.”
Guy shook his head slowly. “Shite. It all makes sense now.”
Larena looked from Guy to Evie. “What are you talking about?”
“Malcolm followed me because of my power,” Evie said even as the stones shouted louder. “I hear the stones. I wrecked and had no money. The mountain kept calling, and I needed somewhere to go.”
“Cairn Toul,” Ramsey murmured.
Evie nodded and reached behind her for the wall. The room was spinning, but she kept her gaze locked on Guy to remain standing. “He told me of Deirdre, of the evil that had taken place there. But I couldn’t leave. Until Brian was taken. Now, the mountains all around me are shouting so loud it’s deafening.”
“What are they saying?” Guy asked as he took a step toward her.
“Just one word over and over.”
Ramsey was suddenly beside her, one hand on her arm with the other wrapped around her. “What is that word, Evie?”
The room tilted and she with it. It was only Ramsey’s aid that kept her on her feet. “Death. They keep saying death.”
Evie heard the distant drums of the ancients. She tried to focus on them, but the rocks were too loud. She welcomed the darkness as it descended upon her.
Ramsey lifted Evie in his arms as she lost consciousness. He looked up to see Rhys’s and Guy’s worried looks. “You said Wallace had Death in his blood now. Is that what the stones are telling Evie? That Death is coming?”
“Perhaps,” Guy said.
Rhys shook his head. “Or it could be that Death has Malcolm.”
“That would mean Wallace is here,” Banan said.
Ramsey glanced down at Evie. “And took Malcolm.”
“But he let them go,” Larena said, her voice rising in irritation. “Why would he let Malcolm, Evie, and Brian go if he would return for one of them?”
“Brian,” Banan said and sprinted from the house.
Ramsey turned and started for the stairs. “Evie’s had a shock. I doona know what it will do to her or the bairn she carries.”
Elena was already on the stairs and motioned him after her. “Bring Evie. We’ll look after her.”
Once Evie was resting in her room with Elena and Cassie, Ramsey hurried back to the main floor where Larena was pacing the foyer.
“She kept saying she had a bad feeling,” Larena said. “I dismissed her words, thinking she just missed Malcolm.”
“You couldna know.”
Larena halted and glared at him with her smoky blue eyes. “Malcolm didn’t trust us, and because of it, we didn’t know what Evie’s magic could do.”
“We know now. What we doona know is if Wallace was here and got to Malcolm somehow.”
“Why take Malcolm?”
“So he can make Evie do whatever it is he wants.”
Larena rubbed her temple. “This has got to stop. Jason Wallace has got to be stopped.”
“Agreed. First, we need to find Malcolm,” Ramsey said as the front door opened and Con walked in, followed by Hal and Banan. “We should call Broc.”
“It may come to that,” Con interjected. “We’re patrolling right now.”
“Wallace could easily evade your Kings on foot,” Larena said.
Con’s black eyes fastened on her with cool intensity. “They are no’ on foot. And no’ even his magic could shield him from us.”
“Is there no magic that can hide someone from you?”
There was the slightest hesitation before Con said, “There is, but nothing a Druid can do.”
“Then Malcolm could be fine and just needing some time alone,” Larena said, the hope in her voice too great to ignore.
“We can no’ know for sure just yet.”
Ramsey was in complete agreement with Larena when she pulled out her phone and called Broc.
* * *
Malcolm had dealt with the debilitating pain hours before, but this time it dragged him down with a force that left him reeling.
It was excruciating, agonizing.
Horrific.
The darkness was consuming, the burning horrendous, and the muscle being ripped apart was unbearable.
Through it all he kept Evie’s face in his mind. As his bones were broken one by one, he thought of her clear blue eyes.
As his limbs were ripped from their sockets he thought of her dark curls.
As the skin was flayed from his body he thought of her smile and how it could light up a room.
All the while, Death’s sinister laugh sounded around him. That laugh was cold, callous. It was ruthless, merciless … unforgiving.
And it was never going to let him go.
Malcolm held on to the hope that Evie was safe. She was with the Dragon Kings. Neither the Kings nor the Warriors would allow anything to happen to Evie. Between all of them, they would come up
with a way for his child to be born without evil.
He had faith in Evie, in the feelings she stirred in him. She would know he hadn’t left her of his own accord. Wallace was wrong to think separating them would bring about Evie’s hatred.
She already held hatred for Wallace, but it would be the goodness, the purity in her soul that would save their child. Malcolm should have realized that sooner. They had fretted for nothing, but there was no way to tell her now.
He threw back his head and bellowed in agony, as a white-hot poker was jammed into his spine. Death enjoyed pain and torment, he reveled in misery and suffering.
Daal’s roar sounded alongside his in his mind, and Malcolm welcomed the god within him. If he could keep in contact with Daal, then there might be a chance to withstand some of what Death had in store for him.
It felt as if he had been brutalized for weeks, but it was probably only hours. He had months ahead of him, months of the same cruel treatment.
If only he could use the currents of lightning that begged to be released. But Death managed to immobilize his power, just as Death was hindering Daal.
Malcolm had gotten free of Death once. He would do it again. He might have had help the first time, but he had something to live for, something he would pluck the stars from the sky for—Evie.
* * *
Evie opened her eyes, her heart just as heavy as before. The stones still chanted death, but they weren’t as frantic as earlier.
“Evie,” Cassie said as she rose from her vigil near the bed.
Evie sat up and pushed the blanket off before she swung her legs over the bed and stood. There was a new element in the voices of the rocks—sorrow—and it made her soul cry out.
Elena reached the door and put her hand upon the knob. “Evie, what is it?”
“Let me pass.”
Elena hesitated a moment before she opened the door. Cassie and Elena fell in step behind Evie as she walked from the bedroom. She didn’t care who followed her. All she wanted were answers, and the ones who could give them to her were gathered below.
Evie wasn’t certain how she knew that, only that she did. She walked down the first flight of stairs and was descending the second when she heard Guy’s voice. She couldn’t make out what he was saying though.
