by Donna Grant
It was the skin pulled tight over their bones, as if their bones were part of their skin.
“Ugly buggers,” Phelan murmured.
Charon took a deep breath and called to his god. He’d give Ranmond complete control if it meant he got out of this alive and was able to end Wallace.
“We take out as many as we can. If you get a chance, make a run for it up to the top of the mountain. It’ll give you a vantage point to see Jason and attack,” Charon said.
“Fuck you,” Phelan snarled. “You take your place at the top of the mountain. Neither of us is going to die, so stop talking as if we are.”
Leave it to Phelan to put things into perspective. Even though Charon knew they didn’t have the full powers of their gods, they were Highlanders.
“Never surrender,” he stated as a selmyr lunged at him.
Charon didn’t know how long they battled the creatures. His body was riddled with bites, no matter how they tried to keep the selmyr at bay. They moved too quickly, and Charon was fading fast.
He ducked as a selmyr swung a hand at him. Charon’s feet slipped on the grass and he fell. He dug his claws in the ground and shouted at himself to get up. There was a deafening roar that filled the air. Charon glanced up through the flailing limbs of the creatures and saw several dragons above him.
A moment later, and the selmyr were scattered to the wind as four dragons landed. It took three tries before Charon could get to his feet. He braced his hands on his knees and looked to the midnight blue dragon.
“Thank you,” he told Banan, and then looked at the other three dragons.
Phelan turned from the blue dragon to the yellow, to the black, and then to the amber dragon. “I didna think anything could surprise me again. Dragons. Fuck me,” he mumbled with a grin.
Charon nudged Phelan as the amber and black dragons took to the skies. “We need to get in place.”
Together they hurried to the place Charon had left to help Phelan just as the yellow dragon flew over them and roared.
“It’s time,” Charon said.
Phelan’s smile was deadly as he focused on the Jaguar XF following the small car that held Aiden, Galen, and Quinn. “Wallace dies today.”
* * *
Aiden eased off the accelerator as the car began to fishtail. The road was nothing more than a trail, barely wide enough for the small Fiat they drove.
Just as Galen and Quinn had predicted, Jason Wallace caught up with them ten miles ago. Aiden would have preferred to keep a bit of distance between them, but his father had other ideas.
“Slow down, we’re losing them,” Quinn said as he kept a lookout through the back window.
Aiden clenched his jaw, wishing they had stolen a vehicle with newer tires. The car’s engine whined as they went up a steep part of the road that would take them over a mountain.
“Soon,” Galen said.
Aiden glanced at him to find the Warrior’s eyes were still trained dead ahead. An hour past, both Galen and his father had shifted into their Warrior forms, as if they were eager for the battle.
In some ways, so was Aiden. Jason Wallace did nothing but cause trouble. But Aiden’s hatred for all Wallaces went far deeper than just Jason’s current spree of evil.
It was Delcan Wallace and his band of mercenaries who had killed Aiden’s closest friend, Braden. They had grown up together at MacLeod Castle, learning who they were and their magic. For hundreds of years, they were inseparable.
But all that changed in one single night. Aiden knew how precious a life was. He’d taken it for granted before then because of the magic of Isla’s shield.
He no longer took life for granted. With his thoughts on Britt, he pressed hard on the accelerator and gunned the car up the last few hundred yards of the mountain.
“Where the hell is everyone?” he asked. “I thought there was supposed to be a big battle and we were bait.”
Quinn’s head appeared between Aiden and Galen’s seats. “They’ve been waiting for us.”
Aiden was about to ask what he meant when they crested the hill and a line of ash-skinned creatures stood before them.
“Ram them!” Galen yelled.
Aiden didn’t hesitate. He looked in his rearview mirror and saw Wallace’s car skid to a halt and the selmyr surround them.
But Aiden wasn’t in the clear yet. He winced when he barreled through the selmyr, but the creatures simply latched on to the car.
“Keep going!” Quinn shouted. “Doona stop, Aiden!”
Aiden locked his elbows and put the accelerator on the floor just as an arm busted through his window and an ash-skinned hand with unnaturally long fingers clamped around his throat.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Laura was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the chanting and drums that sounded as if they were all around her. She recognized them immediately. She’d only had a fleeting touch with the ancients, but they had left a mark upon her soul. One she knew she would never forget.
And now she was with them again. Laura breathed deeply, contentment filling her as her magic touched every fiber of her being.
It wasn’t just the ancients she felt. Laura could sense the magic of the other Druids in the room. The sheer force of it all left her reeling.
There was no wonder why the droughs feared a group of mies gathering together. The amount of magic that was coming from them was more than Laura thought possible.
“Focus,” Reaghan said. “Think of our men. All of them. We need to keep them protected from the selmyr.”
Laura’s mind instantly filled with visions of Charon. The voices of the ancients pulled her to them, protecting her from the war that waged just a few miles from them.
She didn’t want to be protected though. She wanted to be out there with Charon.
“You are,” the voices of thousands of ancients said at once. “Your magic is with him, even now shielding him from being seen by the selmyr.”
It was as close as Laura could come to battling with Charon, and it would have to do. She poured every ounce of her magic into the room to mix with the others.
“Steady,” Isla whispered.
Laura’s breaths were coming in great heaving gasps from the effort it took to keep her magic focused. It never occurred to her to quit. Charon’s life hung in the balance, as did every Warrior who fought against Jason Wallace.
She might not know a lot about her magic, but Laura knew she could do this much for Charon. She would do so much more if it meant he would come back to her.
He had to come back to her. There was no way she would lose him. Not now. Not after finally having him in her life.
With that thought, Laura dug deep for more magic. The drums and chanting became so loud they drowned out everything else. She didn’t know how long she listened to them, and then it no longer mattered.
* * *
“There!” Charon shouted to Phelan, and pointed to the car just as it came over the mountain.
A second later, two other vehicles followed the first. And then dozens of selmyr were standing in the way.
“Shit,” Charon said and took off running.
Phelan caught up with him as they used their incredible speed to race over the land. Out of the corner of his eye, Charon saw other Warriors come out of hiding and rush toward the car driven by Aiden.
Charon could see one of the selmyr had broken through the driver window and had a hand around Aiden’s neck. But Aiden never slowed the car.
Quinn kicked out the passenger window and leaned out of it while he used his claws to slice the selmyr’s face that had a hold of his son.
More of the ash-skinned creatures were attacking Jason’s vehicles, because they had been fool enough to stop.
The car Aiden drove abruptly turned and slid to a rocking halt. Instantly, Galen and Quinn were out of the car. Charon was surprised when the selmyr that had a hold of Aiden was thrown backwards. The car door was jerked open and Aiden stepped out, his face a mask of fury.
“Just like his father,” Phelan said.
Charon didn’t have time to agree as they reached the vehicle and selmyr surrounding their friends. “Pull out their spines!” he shouted as he fell to one knee and slid to the first selmyr.
He wasted no time in grabbing the spinal cord and ripping it out. The others were quick to follow his example. And it worked on the selmyr who had their back to them. It was another matter entirely when they faced the creatures one-on-one.
Charon and Phelan moved to either side of Aiden as they battled two of the creatures. Aiden used his magic while Charon and Phelan used their speed to confuse the selmyr.
It didn’t take them long to kill both of the beasts. And when those bodies hit the ground, more took their places.
“Bloody hell!” Aiden yelled.
Charon silently agreed. At least the Kings would keep the rest of the selmyr away as they dealt with the ones nearest them.
“We can no’ continue like this!” Quinn barked.
There was a blast of magic that knocked all of them to the ground. Charon’s ears were ringing from the force of it. He shook his head and rose up on his hands to look around him.
The selmyr they had been fighting were either dead or knocked unconscious.
“Charon?” Phelan called from beside him.
He looked at his friend and shrugged. Then his gaze shifted to Wallace and his Druids.
“Let them finish him,” Fallon said as he walked up.
Charon got to his feet and saw what looked like a bubble around Wallace. It was magic that kept the selmyr away from him, but it only drove them crazy to get in, which was evident by the way the selmyr kept throwing themselves at it.
“No’ our worry,” Aiden said as he climbed to his feet. There was a pause, and then he said, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
Charon and the others turned to find dozens more selmyr coming right at them.
* * *
Aisley sat frozen in the car. Dale had pushed her onto the floorboard when he slammed on the brakes. For the rest of her life, she would hear the sounds of those creatures hitting and jumping on the car as they sought to get inside.
She’d had but a glimpse of the ash-skinned monsters, but that’s all it took to scare her. They were evil. Evil knew evil, and there was no denying that’s what they were.
Between their strange, eerie growls and bellows and Jason yelling at everyone, Dale leaned down and whispered for her to stay inside.
She met his gaze, and she saw the dread he couldn’t hide. Whatever was attacking them was meant to be feared.
Aisley stayed hidden until she dared to peek her head above the dash. Her stomach dropped like lead as she saw the sheer number of the creatures. There had to be hundreds of them.
They didn’t have the speed of a Warrior, but they could disappear and then reappear in a second.
She searched around the car until she found Dale. He was battling three of the creatures. They were tall, and their long arms were able to keep Dale at a distance while they inflicted their damage.
Their talons looked to be twice as long as Dale’s, but that’s not how they attacked. They waited until he was fending off one of them while the other two drew in behind him and sank their teeth into him like vampires.
Aisley gasped, her hand covering her mouth. She quickly looked at the other droughs and found most of them being fed off of by the creatures.
She swung her head back to Dale. He looked sad and resigned, as if he were ready to die. Aisley slid to the driver’s side and reached for the handle to open the door to help him when he mouthed “No.”
A tear fell onto her cheek. She wiped at the condensation clouding the window and directed a blast of her magic at the monsters biting Dale.
They fell back, disoriented. It gave Dale time to get to his feet. Seeing him so unsteady had her sending another blast of magic at the three.
Dale had saved her so many times. By staying in the car, she hoped to confuse the creatures into not knowing where the magic was coming from.
But they zeroed in on her straightaway.
“Oh, damn,” she murmured.
One moment the monsters were looking at her, and the next they were gone. Aisley blinked, and suddenly they were next to the car door.
The long, slim fingers of one of the creatures reached out and grasped the door handle. Aisley locked the door and looked up into the cold, sinister black eyes of the beast.
There was a loud roar she recognized as Dale’s, and then he launched himself at the three again.
Almost in tandem, there was a blast of magic that hurled Aisley against the seat, knocking her head backwards. She opened her eyes to see Jason had done what Jason did best—look out for himself.
She sneered as she saw the large bubble of magic that surrounded him. Each time one of the monsters ran into it, it was killed instantly.
Yet, the bubble of magic did more than that. For every time they rushed the bubble, it seemed to take out more and more of Jason’s magic.
“It’s weakening him,” she mused.
Aisley looked back at Dale to find him trying repeatedly to get to his feet. Bite marks covered his neck and arms, and she was sure there were more beneath his shirt she couldn’t see.
She unlocked the door and opened it only to have him lean against it when he stood and block her exit.
“Let me help you,” she said once the thunder passed.
Dale shook his bald head. “Get away from here, Aisley.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
He glanced at the creatures at his feet that were beginning to wake. “This is your chance to end Jason’s hold over you. I willna survive this. Neither will he, by the looks of it. You can.”
Aisley licked her lips. “You’ve helped me so many times. Get in, and let me help you.”
“Nay, lass. I have to do this. Now, get out of here and live the rest of your life for the both of us.”
She shook her head, but he pushed her back inside the car and shut the door before she could protest. Aisley screamed and ducked her head when one of the creatures’ fists came through her window as it reached for Dale.
“Dale!” she screamed as he was once more fighting the monsters.
Aisley realized that some of the other beasts began to notice her. They couldn’t get to Jason, the other Druids were dead, Dale was locked in battle, and she was an easy meal.
She started the car and jerked it into reverse. Aisley stomped on the accelerator and plowed into one of the monsters before she turned the wheel as she slammed on the brakes and then threw the car into drive.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Malcolm stood over two dead selmyr as he watched his brethren from the forest. There were more of the damned creatures sneaking up on his friends, but he couldn’t reach all of them.
A sudden gust of wind that had the rain falling sideways got his attention. He turned to glimpse a man running through the woods as naked as the day he was born.
Malcolm turned his attention to the man. Malcolm searched for a trace of magic, but it wasn’t Druid magic he felt. It was something else entirely. Just as Malcolm went to search for the man, the air stirred around him.
“You’re needed.”
Malcolm spun around, his teeth bared and his legs bent, ready to attack. The man merely looked at him with his long dark hair plastered to his head and a brow raised.
“There is a Warrior and a Druid coming on to our land,” the man said. “They have an infant. If the selmyr get to them—”
“Camdyn,” Malcolm said and straightened. He looked at the man in front of him. “Who are you?”
“My name is Rhys, and I’m one of those,” he said and pointed to the sky.
Malcolm lifted his eyes in time to see the sleek body of a dragon as blue as sapphires. He’d thought he saw something in the clouds earlier, but now he knew he most definitely had.
“Your friends are coming in through the ma
in road,” Rhys said.
When Malcolm looked back at him, Rhys was running out of the trees. And promptly shifted into a yellow dragon.
There was no time for Malcolm to stare in wonder. Camdyn and Saffron would need his help. He turned and raced through the trees as fast as his god would allow.
He came to the top of a mountain and spotted the dark green Audi Q7 barrel around a tight corner in the narrow road. Malcolm didn’t bother with running down the mountain. He leaped instead.
Malcolm landed on the road, knees bent and one hand on the ground, as the lights of the Audi plowed toward him. He stood and met Camdyn’s gaze through the windshield.
Camdyn stomped on the brakes as the SUV slid to a halt. It rocked against Malcolm before he jumped onto the roof.
“What in the name of all that is holy?” Camdyn yelled from the window he had rolled down.
“Drive!” Malcolm shouted. “And doona stop until we reach the house.”
There was a pause, and three selmyr walked onto the road. Malcolm heard little Emma give a cry from inside the vehicle. There was no way he would allow Camdyn, Saffron, and especially Emma to be touched by the vile creatures.
“Drive!” Malcolm barked.
He barely had time to grab a hold of the SUV as Camdyn stomped on the accelerator. The vehicle rammed two of the selmyr, knocking them flat. But one managed to grab hold the side mirror and smash a hand through the window to make a grab at Saffron.
Malcolm leaned to the right and made a huge arching swipe of his hand. A satisfied smile tugged at his lips as his claws made a clean cut, beheading the creature.
He then kicked the body away. Malcolm looked straight ahead, the bite of the rain piercing his skin like shards of glass the faster Camdyn drove.
A few more selmyr dared to venture toward them. One even landed on top of the SUV with Malcolm. The selmyr peeled back its lips, showing elongated fangs.
The creature swiped a long arm at Malcolm, who managed to duck, but not without feeling the talons scrape his back. Malcolm lay across the top of the roof and rolled toward the selmyr, knocking the beast’s legs out from under it.
