by Donna Grant
Laura smiled and Charon forgot all about Banan as he walked past him.
“How are you feeling?” Charon asked as he sat on the edge of the bed.
She paused as if taking stock of her body. “Rested. What happened?”
“The selmyr hit the Range Rover, and there was a bit of an accident.” He heard the sound of the door closing, which signaled that Banan had left.
She looked away, her hands fiddling with the edge of the blanket. “How badly was I injured?”
“No’ bad. Just a few bumps.”
“Liar,” she said softly, and met his gaze.
He could never look into her green depths without drowning, and now was no different. “You’re healed now. That’s all that matters.”
“Who healed me?”
“Con.”
Her eyes widened. “He can heal?”
“Apparently. And quickly, as well.”
“I must have been bad off.”
“It’s over now,” he said and entwined his fingers with hers.
The fingers of her other hand lightly caressed his forehead. “Then tell me why you’re frowning. What has you so worried?”
She knew him well, possibly much too well. “Everyone is gone from the castle.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I. It’s the one place the Warriors and Druids always stayed when they had a choice. It was the one place they knew they were the strongest.”
Her arm lowered to the bed, and she used it to help push herself into a sitting position. “Have you spoken to Phelan?”
“Nay.” Charon rose from the bed and paced. “Aiden is waiting on me as well. I’ve tried to call them both. Neither answers.”
“Call again,” she urged, and motioned to the phone.
Charon looked at the mobile phone resting on the bedside table. He reached for it and dialed Aiden’s number. Just as before, it went straight to voice mail.
He hung up and dialed Phelan’s number. Charon let out a sigh of relief when Phelan answered on the second ring.
“Phelan,” he said.
“Where the bleeding hell have you been?” Phelan yelled. “I couldna get ahold of you.”
Charon sank onto the bed and leaned forward, his head resting in his hand as he braced his elbow on his leg. “My phone was crushed, and then when I got a new one, I couldna reach you.”
“What’s going on?” Phelan demanded.
Charon closed his eyes when Laura’s hands rubbed his back as she sat up. “So much. The selmyr attacked again. They got Laura’s sister and mother.”
“So Laura has her magic back?”
Charon glanced at Laura. “Aye. We got her away safely, though.”
“We?” Phelan repeated, his voice holding a note of concern over the phone.
“I’m at Dreagan.”
There was a long pause before Phelan let out a string of curses. “If they helped you with the selmyr, that means they know of us.”
“Aye.”
“And the Druids?”
Charon smiled into the phone. “Aye.”
“What are you no’ telling me?” Phelan asked in a deadly calm voice.
Charon looked out the window in time to see an amber dragon fly near the mansion. “They’re dragons, Phelan.”
“No’ possible,” he said immediately. “There’s no way they could have kept that a secret from us.”
“They did. For a verra, verra long time, too. Trust me. I’ve seen them in action. The selmyr doona like them, and I think they’re the only things that can stand against the selmyr.”
Phelan sighed loudly into the phone. “I’m glad you and Laura are all right. I was getting worried.”
“Join us here.”
“I can no’. Fallon sent me to Oban to meet up with Galen, Quinn, Aiden, and Britt.”
Charon stood, his hand clenched at his side. “So Wallace didna get Aiden and Britt?”
“No’ yet. I’m checking the perimeter around the cottage where the group is to hole up, and Quinn told me Wallace did something to prevent Fallon from jumping them away.”
Charon didn’t like what he was hearing. Their one advantage was the powers they were able to use as Warriors. The Druids already had an influence in that they could stop a Warrior. If Wallace took away their power, the Warriors were no better than the mortals walking around.
“Fallon could teleport himself away, but no’ the others,” Phelan said. “Fallon plans on coming here in a bit and trying again. He thinks the farther away from Wallace, the better their chances.”
“What do you think?”
Phelan chuckled. “I think I’m itching for a fight. Wallace has done enough. Now, thanks to Aiden, we have Britt, who is making headway with discovering what it is about drough blood that hurts us so much. When Galen told her how you reacted, she said she wanted a sample of your blood.”
Charon didn’t like being reminded that he had nearly died. Twice. The second time he had only been healed by Laura’s magic. And that had been purely by accident, since she hadn’t known what she was doing.
“Why is no one at MacLeod Castle?”
“That’s the first I heard about it,” Phelan said softly. “We’re scattered, Charon. We’re more powerful as a group, and Wallace knows it.”
Charon put his hand on the window as lightning forked in the darkening sky, showing him several more dragons flying through the clouds. “Then we group once more.”
“How? Especially with what’s happening in Edinburgh?”
“We’ll have to make a choice. Wallace knows we’ll help innocents. He’s counting on it.”
Phelan snorted. “He’s now the one underestimating us.”
“Exactly. Talk to those at the cottage. I’m going to call Fallon.”
Charon disconnected the call and immediately tried Fallon, but couldn’t get him on the line. He tried Larena’s, Lucan’s, Hayden’s, and even Broc’s phones before he tossed his mobile on the table.
“They aren’t answering?” Laura asked.
Charon faced her and shrugged. “Phelan knows only a little more than I do about their whereabouts. I’ve got a bad feeling.”
“Then go to them.”
“In Edinburgh? No’ a good place to bring the dragons.”
She tossed aside the covers and walked into the bathroom. “Give me a few minutes to take a shower. By the way, clothes would be nice. Don’t think I can wear this oversized shirt while I’m battling Jason.”
When he didn’t reply, she turned at the door and looked at him. After losing her mother and sister, how could he tell her he still wasn’t completely sure of her loyalty?
The Warriors and Druids needed to be unified, because Charon had a feeling if they lost this battle with Wallace, it was over for good.
“I went to my parents’ home to get my magic back,” she said.
Gone was her smile. She looked sad and weary, and Charon wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t believe her still or because she lost her family. Or both.
“How were you going to do that?”
She shook her head with a half smile as she looked at the floor. “I kept asking myself that as I drove to them. I had no magic, and I knew they could hurt me with their own, but I had to try.” Her gaze lifted to his. “I had to try for you. I knew the only way for you to believe I was on your side was to get my magic back and use it against Jason.”
Charon crossed the room in four strides. He rested his hands on her shoulders, ever amazed at the remarkable woman that she was. There were tricks Declan and Deirdre had used to get into a Druid’s mind to control them.
There was no need for Laura to know about that. Once he got her back with the other Druids, he would ask Dani to look into Laura’s mind and see if Wallace had bespelled her.
“You could’ve been killed,” he said.
She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “You didn’t leave me much of a choice. My life hasn’t exactly been a good one, but I found a
home in Ferness. You gave me that, Charon. You gave me a job and even though you might not realize it, you helped give meaning to my life.”
“Is that why you fell so easily into my bed?” he teased, unaccustomed to such praise from anyone.
She didn’t smile in return. Instead, she rose up on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around him, her face breaths from his. “No, you fool of a man. I fell into your bed because I’ve wanted to be there since the first moment I laid eyes on you.”
He moaned at the touch of her lips on his. Charon tried to hold back his desire and let her take the lead in the kiss, but his need was too great.
With a slight turn of his body, he had her pinned against the bathroom door. He slanted his mouth over hers and showed her just how much he yearned for her in his arms.
Her soft, pliant body only made his blood scorch through his veins. They had no time for pleasures of the flesh, but he couldn’t release her, couldn’t think of anything but the Druid in his arms.
“Charon!” called a voice outside the bedroom door before there was a knock.
Charon grudgingly ended the kiss. “I don’t think as long as we’re around the Dragon Kings that I’m going to be able to do more than kiss you.”
“It doesn’t appear that way, does it?” she asked with a laugh.
The pounding on the door started again. Charon released Laura and waited until she shut the door to the bathroom before he opened the bedroom door.
He frowned when he saw Guy standing with his face set in grim lines. “What is it?”
“The selmyr. They’ve surrounded us. We willna be leaving to help your friends anytime soon.”
“I have to leave,” Charon stated. Anger surged within him, and Ranmond was quick to urge him to battle. Charon promptly tamped down his god, but not before his skin flashed copper.
One of Guy’s dark brows rose in question. “Is your god difficult to control?”
“I thought you knew all there was to know of Warriors.”
“We’ve watched you,” Guy admitted. “We know some seemed to give in to their gods.”
Charon looked at his hands and allowed his claws to extend. “When Ranmond was first released, he drowned out my own thoughts. His need for blood and death was overwhelming. As god of war, that’s all he thought about, all he longed for. It would’ve been easy to give in to his demands.”
“Why did you no’?”
When he looked to find Guy’s eyes reflected genuine curiosity, Charon tamped down his god until his claws disappeared and said, “Deirdre put my father in the dungeon with me. Ranmond was in control then. I killed my own father. It was that realization after I had calmed down that helped me get the upper hand on my god. Every day is a battle to stay in control.”
“Even now?”
“Even now. Especially now,” Charon admitted, and glanced at the bathroom, where Laura was taking a shower.
Guy flattened his lips. “We might be able to distract the selmyr for you to leave, but it willna take them long to know what happened. They’ll come for you. You’ll never make it to your friends.”
There was no way Charon was going to accept that. There had to be some way he could get himself and the dragons to his friends.
Suddenly he smiled and began to chuckle. “We willna be leaving Dreagan, Guy. We’re going to bring Wallace here.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Aiden blew out a harsh breath and looked at the midnight drenched land. He felt a little of the pressure taken off his shoulders since they had arrived at the cottage. But that would last only until Wallace found them.
He peered around the door of the cottage to find Britt’s head leaning against the back of the chair, her eyes closed. Her beautiful purple dress was torn and dirty, her glorious mane of blond hair was in disarray, but it didn’t stop the need clawing inside him to kiss her again.
His hands fisted at his sides, eager to feel her skin beneath his palms and learn every inch of her.
He could wake her. They were alone for the moment since his father, Galen, and Phelan were outside, patrolling the area. Yet Aiden knew how exhausted she was. It wouldn’t be fair to wake her, especially when he didn’t know the next time they would be able to rest.
“I’ve always heard it’s not nice to stare,” Britt said, and smiled, her eyes still closed.
Aiden’s gaze dropped to the swell of her breasts and the ample view the deep plunge of her dress afforded him.
When he finally raised his gaze to Britt’s face, her eyes were open and trained on him. She wordlessly held out her hand.
Every fiber of his being shouted for him to go to her. Just one taste, one touch. That’s all he needed to sustain him for a few more hours.
Aiden closed the short distance between them and placed his hand in hers. The corners of Britt’s lovely mouth lifted softly. She tugged him down until he squatted beside the rickety chair.
“This is the first time we’ve been alone since dinner,” she whispered.
His balls tightened at the husky, desire-filled sound of her voice. “Aye.”
“Then kiss me instead of wasting this time,” she said, and leaned toward him.
Aiden didn’t need to be told twice. He covered her mouth with his. The brush of her lips, the sweet taste of her kiss broke through the carefully constructed wall he’d erected around himself so long ago.
He wasn’t able to hold back the swell of longing that claimed him. And he didn’t want to.
It felt good to let go. More so when Britt’s hands delved into his hair and a soft moan sounded in her throat.
Aiden had never truly understood—or appreciated—the love shared between his parents and their private smiles and whispered words. Until that moment with Britt in his arms.
It all became perfectly, crystal clear.
He ended the kiss and stood. His head was filled with thoughts of Britt while his body burned for her. Yet, he had dragged her into a dangerous world she had no place in.
And he had no right to want her there.
“Aiden?” she whispered, her brow furrowed.
He turned his back to her. If he looked at her, if he saw the desire burning in her blue eyes, he wouldn’t be able to stay in control.
That control hung by a thin thread as it was. Knowing she was so close quickly had that thread unraveling. It was only the thought of her death that kept him from giving in to his body’s need.
“There’s no place for you in my world,” he said into the silence.
The chair creaked as she rose. Aiden prayed that she would storm out. Her anger would keep her away from him. It was his last resort, since he knew he was too weak to keep his distance. The more he was with her, the more times he kissed her, only strengthened his yearning to keep her by his side.
He was shoved in the shoulder, spinning him around. Britt’s face was set in hard lines as she jabbed a finger in his chest.
“I’ve never met a more controlling, confident, maddening man in all my life. How dare you make decisions about my life. That’s for me to do. And only me.”
Her eyes blazed with anger, and it only made Aiden’s blood burn hotter.
“This is the twenty-first century, and you need to remember that,” Britt continued. “I’m not some weak female who needs you to come to my rescue. I’m perfectly capable of saving myself.”
Aiden barely heard what she said. His gaze was trained on her mouth while he battled the urge to drag her against him.
“So, I’m making the decisions for me. And I choose you, Aiden MacLeod. Get used to it.”
The words scarcely penetrated his brain before she rose up on her tiptoes and placed her lips on his. The kiss was frantic as their mutual need fueled the other to new heights.
Aiden backed her against the wall. There he kissed her as if it were their last night together. He poured every ounce of need, of the urgent, insistent yearning into the kiss.
Britt had to touch him, had to feel his warm skin. She tore
at his shirt until she heard buttons hitting the wooden floor.
The deep, resonant moan that filled the room when she placed her hands on his chest made her heart skip a beat. How she had longed to caress him, to run her hands over his finely sculpted chest she’d glimpsed only in his tight shirts.
Her head tilted to the side when his mouth trailed down her neck, his tongue and lips doing wonderful, wicked things to her flesh.
Her fingers clung to his thick shoulders when he tugged down the strap of her dress. It fell against her arm while his fingers caressed softly, seductively along her skin as he followed the edge of the dress until he came to her breast.
“Lovely,” he whispered near her ear.
Chills raced along her skin as she silently begged him to take more. She was offering all of herself, if only he would take it.
He kissed down her chest, following the same path of his fingers until he came to her décolletage. There he paused before he cupped one of her breasts.
Britt sucked in a breath, her heart pounding uncontrollably. No one had ever made her shudder so wantonly with just a few kisses, but Aiden wasn’t like any other man in the world.
A gasp tore from her mouth when his thumb moved over her nipple, causing her breasts to swell and her nipples to harden painfully.
“Aiden,” she whispered, her knees threatening to buckle.
He kneeled before her, his hands gripping her hips as he lifted his face to her. His smile, so gorgeous, so irresistible made her blood race.
She bit her lip when his hands smoothed down the outside of her legs until they reached the hem of her dress. Then he dipped his hands beneath her dress. His eyes burned with desire as his hands slid up along her skin, dragging her dress with them up over her hips to her waist.
Desire centered low in Britt’s belly. She craved his touch as her body craved oxygen. And she feared she would never get enough of him.
“So damn beautiful,” Aiden murmured before he placed a kiss next to her navel.
Britt’s head dropped back against the wall and her eyes slid shut. His hands were everywhere, touching her, learning her as she longed to do to him.
Her sucked in a breath when his thumbs hooked her panties. Slowly he pulled the lace down until the garment puddled at her feet.
