Midnight's Kiss

by Donna Grant

  “Aye,” they said in unison.

  Ronnie rolled her eyes. “Great. I’m not ready to die.”

  “I willna allow that to happen,” Arran promised.

  Camdyn crossed his arms over his chest. “Then tell me why the dig site versus a castle no one stands a chance of getting to.”

  Arran looked from Camdyn to Ronnie. “Because we willna be alone. Camdyn, call Fallon and the others. I want the site surrounded by Warriors by the time we arrive. Keep them hidden, though.”

  “And Druids?” Camdyn asked.

  “Nay. Whoever is after Ronnie will sense their magic. It’s better to keep it to just the Warriors.”

  Camdyn’s lips twisted in a frown. “Now I have to tell my wife that.”

  “Tell me what?” Saffron asked from the doorway.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Camdyn demanded as he went to her.

  Saffron opened her mouth to answer when Ronnie saw her eyes go milky and begin to swirl. Camdyn cursed and caught Saffron before she fell as she tipped sideways.

  A few moments later, Saffron blinked her eyes, once more the tawny hue Ronnie knew.

  “What did you see?” Arran asked.

  Saffron looked at Camdyn, her eyes sad, before she turned to Ronnie and Arran. “I saw Declan’s mansion.”

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  Ronnie was still reeling from watching Saffron have a vision. She hadn’t had time to process what Saffron said when the sound of glass shattering made her duck and cover her head with both arms.

  It was as if time slowed to a crawl. Ronnie turned her head to see Arran and Camdyn release their gods at the same instant. Arran’s roar was long and loud, his gaze intent on something behind her.

  And Ronnie had a feeling she knew who it was.

  The pale green Warrior.

  Arran put his hand on her shoulder, his claws careful never to touch her, and gave her a slight shove to put her behind him. That shove sent her toppling over, but she didn’t take her eyes off him.

  Camdyn and Arran stood like a wall between her and Saffron and the Warrior. Ronnie barely felt Saffron grab her hand she was so focused on Arran.

  “We have to leave!” Saffron shouted.

  Ronnie knew Arran could be killed, and even though the intruder was outnumbered, the fact he had returned didn’t bode well.

  In the next instant, two more Warriors joined the pale green one.

  Ronnie’s stomach fell to her feet like lead as the tables turned on Arran and Camdyn. But neither man seemed affected by the shifting odds.

  Arran took a deep breath, his chest expanding while his gaze was riveted on the Warriors. His hands flexed, and his knees bent slightly.

  Ronnie saw how Arran’s weight was evenly distributed so he could move in any direction in a split second. Camdyn’s stance was much the same.

  Unlike the other three Warriors, who stood straight, amusement in their eyes. Even Ronnie, newly initiated into this world of magic, could tell these three Warriors weren’t battle-hardened.

  That was the difference between Arran and Camdyn—who had battled for hundreds of years—and newly made Warriors. Still, Ronnie couldn’t help her fear that somehow Arran might be killed despite his prowess and superiority.

  Saffron was still trying to get her out of the suite when the Warriors attacked Arran and Camdyn. Ronnie wasn’t surprised when Arran shifted to keep the fight as far from her as possible.

  “Ronnie! Move!” Saffron yelled.

  Ronnie ducked in time as a vase careened toward her. It jerked her out of her trance. She turned to Saffron and nodded.

  They both got to their feet and pivoted to the door to find another Warrior. He smirked menacingly as he took a step toward them.

  Before the Warrior had finished that step, he gasped, blood bubbling through his lips. Ronnie’s eyes widened as she saw a copper-colored hand punch through the Warrior from behind, to emerge holding a heart.

  Ronnie watched the Warrior topple to the floor. Her gaze moved to the man who had saved them. By the dark copper of his skin, he was obviously a Warrior. However, he also had thick copper-colored horns protruding from his head near his temples and curling around to his forehead.

  But whose side was he on?

  “Charon, thank God,” Saffron said with a sigh.

  Charon tossed aside the heart and stepped over the fallen Warrior to sever his head. He stood, his dark hair held back in a queue, and glanced inside the suite.

  “Help them,” Ronnie urged him.

  Charon took a step inside the suite. Arran happened to turn in their direction. He locked eyes with Charon and barked, “Get them out now!”

  Charon didn’t need to be told twice. Saffron was already running toward the elevator when Charon took Ronnie’s arm and pulled her behind him.

  Ronnie looked over her shoulder, the suite growing more distant with every step she took.

  “He’ll be fine,” Charon told her as he looked in the elevator when the door opened, and then promptly shoved her inside.

  Ronnie moved to the back while Charon stood before the doors like a sentry. He had tamped down his god, but that didn’t hide his threatening demeanor or the warning in his dark eyes.

  “How did you know?” Saffron asked.

  Charon didn’t even look at her as he said, “Camdyn asked that I stay near just in case. No’ long after his call, I got one from Arran.”

  “Arran called you?” Saffron asked, disbelief written on her face.

  Charon gave a single nod.

  “We can’t leave them,” Ronnie said, uncaring—for the moment—why Saffron seemed so surprised that Arran had called this new Warrior. “They need help.”

  Charon chuckled. “Nay, Druid, they do no’. They’ll be fine.”

  The elevator dinged, and the door opened to the lobby of the hotel. Police were swarming inside while everyone else rushed out of the hotel. No one noticed the three of them as Charon ushered them out through a side door of the hotel and into an alley.

  Ronnie walked on wooden legs. Outside she could hear the roars of the Warriors. Was it Arran? Had he gotten the upper hand? She stopped and looked up at the hotel.

  “He’ll be all right,” Charon said tenderly. “Now that he knows you’re safe, he’ll be able to do what he must.”

  Ronnie looked into Charon’s brown eyes. The kindness and intelligence gave her a measure of assurance she needed to go on without Arran. “And what is it that he needs to do exactly?”

  “Kill the bastards,” he answered with a sly smile.

  Ronnie nodded, perfectly in tune with Charon’s assessment. She turned to the sleek black Mercedes CLS two-door to find Charon had already moved the driver’s seat and was waiting for her to climb in.

  It wasn’t until they were all in the car and Charon drove away that her hands began to shake. Adrenaline was playing havoc with her body.

  Ronnie leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Which was a dreadful mistake, since she kept seeing the pale green Warrior attack Arran.

  “Where are we going?” Ronnie asked a short time later, once her heart had stopped pounding.

  Charon looked at her through the rearview mirror. “I have explicit instructions to get you to the dig site. No detours or stops allowed.”

  “Arran’s orders?” Saffron asked.

  “Oh, aye,” Charon said dryly.

  * * *

  Arran made sure Charon had Ronnie and Saffron in the lift, and then he and Camdyn let loose the rage and violence they had been holding back.

  He wanted to kill all three Warriors, but the smart thing to do would be to keep at least one alive so they could get some answers.

  Arran was battling two. He ducked a claw, only to release a bellow of pain as the second Warrior sank his claws into Arran’s sides.

  He elbowed the Warrior to try to get free while the first growled as he lifted his hand again and readied to take Arran’s head.

  “No!” s
omeone shouted.

  Arran caught a glimpse of Camdyn standing over the decapitated body of his opponent. He and Camdyn shared a smile.

  “What are you smiling about?” the Warrior who had his claws in Arran asked.

  Arran propelled them backwards until the Warrior crashed through the wall that separated the living room from Ronnie’s bedroom. With the Warrior dazed, Arran jumped up and faced his adversary.

  “I’m smiling because you lost the moment you tried to attack us.”

  The Warrior attempted to rise, but Arran rammed him against the far wall and put his claws to his throat. “Twitch wrong, and I’ll take your head.”

  “Dale!” the Warrior yelled to the light green Warrior.

  It took only a glance to see that Camdyn was gaining the upper hand with Dale, but as soon as Dale saw Arran had his comrade, he leapt out the window.

  “Seems like Dale isna going to help you,” Arran said.

  Camdyn kicked a part of the broken couch out of his way as he stormed to the Warrior. “The only way to save yourself is to tell us what we want to know.”

  The Warrior looked from Arran to Camdyn and back to Arran. “I’m newly made.”

  “Aye, that’s obvious,” Arran said flatly.

  The Warrior flinched at Arran’s claws at his throat and swallowed. “What do you want to know? Ask, and I’ll tell you.”

  “Who sent you?” Camdyn asked.

  The Warrior shook his head. “Ask anything but that.”

  “That’s what we want to know,” Arran said. “Tell us, or we kill you.”

  “I tell you, and I die,” the Warrior said.

  Camdyn frowned. “How newly made are you?”

  “A few weeks.”

  Arran looked at Camdyn and jerked his head back to the Warrior. “A few weeks? And you have control of your god?”

  The Warrior’s forehead furrowed deeply. “I doona know what you mean. The god inside me has never tried to gain control.”

  “Fuck,” Camdyn ground out, and punched the wall, his hand sinking through the plaster.

  Arran leaned close to the Warrior. “I doona know who it was that released your god, but I’ll find out. Make it easy on yourself and tell me.”

  “I can no’.”

  “Then tell me why you were after Ronnie.”

  The Warrior shrugged and leaned his head back against the wall to try to get away from Arran’s claws. “Dale is our leader. He knows why. I was simply told to attack and kill you.”

  Camdyn crossed his arms over his chest. “Why? Why come after us?”

  “This one,” the Warrior said, and jerked his chin to Arran, “has been followed for some time. They’ve been at the dig site, watching.”

  “So you know of the magic there?” Arran asked.

  The Warrior nodded. “We do.”

  “So you want what’s there.” Arran made a sound in the back of his throat and shook his head. “Did you think you could just walk in and take it?”

  “After Ronnie was ours and you were dead, aye.”

  “You didna count on me though, did you?” Camdyn asked.

  The Warrior’s lips flattened. “Nay.”

  “Dale failed in his mission,” Arran said. “I doona think your leader will be pleased. Tell me, will they kill you if we let you go? After you’ve given us all this information?”

  The Warrior glanced at Camdyn but didn’t utter a word.

  Arran didn’t give up though. “How much trouble has this master of yours gone to in finding and creating Warriors? A lot, I would think.”

  “How many new Warriors have been created?” Camdyn asked.

  “None of that should matter to you,” the Warrior said with a satisfied smile.

  Arran shared a look with Camdyn right as he saw the red laser dot on Camdyn’s chest. “Duck!” Arran shouted as bullets began to fly.

  He jumped sideways, stretching himself out horizontally as he dived for the door. A bullet grazed his thigh and another slammed into the wood near his head.

  Arran landed hard on his side and quickly rolled behind a chair that was barely standing. Camdyn crawled out of the room on one arm while the other gripped his forearm and blood seeped through his fingers.

  “Shite,” Arran murmured.

  The bullets had yet to stop, and at this rate it was simply a matter of time before he got hit. And by the pallor of Camdyn’s skin, those bullets were the hated X90s—bullets filled with drough blood, which Declan had used against them.

  Arran reached for his phone in his back pocket to find it busted from the fight. He showed the phone to Camdyn, who had managed to find shelter behind the portion of couch he had kicked earlier.

  Camdyn shrugged, letting Arran know he didn’t have his phone either. With no way to call for backup, they were well and truly screwed.

  Arran thought of Ronnie, of how sweet she had tasted, how wonderful she had felt in his arms. How right it was to be with her.

  He wanted more of her, needed more of her. He hadn’t realized how much he longed for her until she came into his life.

  There was no way he was going to die now. Not after just finding her.

  “I’ve got an idea!” he hollered to Camdyn over the bullets ricocheting around the room, and looked at the open window.

  Camdyn shook his head. “You’ll be hit before you make it.”

  Maybe, but it was a chance Arran was going to have to take. At least Ronnie was safe now. Regardless of what happened to him, Ronnie would always be safe. His brethren would see to that.

  Arran shifted so that he was squatting, his hands on the floor keeping him steady. The men atop the building across the street stopped to reload.

  He measured the distance from the window to the roof. It was going to be close, but all he had to do was time it perfectly.

  Arran waited until the next round of bullets paused as the men reloaded again. And then he stood up. Using all the speed and power of his god, he ran to the open window and leapt across the wide street to land atop the roof where the men were.

  He landed and rolled before he come to his feet with a little slide. Then he turned to the men. “You missed.”

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-NINE

  Ronnie woke up just as Charon pulled to a stop at the dig site. She rubbed her eyes, wincing at the sandpaper feel as she did so.

  “You need to rest,” Saffron told her.

  Ronnie sat up so she was leaning between the two front seats. “What time is it?”

  “Six in the morning,” Charon answered.

  She leaned her forehead on the seat back. “I’ve already missed two days from work. Not to mention some artifacts were found yesterday, so I need to get in there.”

  “You won’t be doing anyone any good if you fall asleep on your feet,” Saffron said.

  Ronnie smiled as she looked at Saffron. “That’s what I’ve always loved about you. You tell it like it is.”

  “It’s a trait that has to grow on people.”

  They shared a laugh as Charon sat with his hands on the steering wheel, looking around the site with the same meticulous gaze that reminded her of Arran.

  “There is so much magic here I can no’ tell if it’s Druids or something else,” he said.

  “Arran said the same thing,” Ronnie said. Her smile slipped at the thought of him. “When will he get here?”

  Saffron covered Ronnie’s hand with hers. “As soon as he can. He was parted from you only for your safety.”

  Charon opened his door and stepped out of the car, unfurling his tall body clad in jeans and a dark blood-covered tee. He helped Ronnie out but didn’t release her hand when she began to walk away.

  “You willna see us, but we’ll be here,” he whispered.

  “Thank you. For getting us out of there … and for this.”

  He gave a nod, and then got back in the car. Saffron waved at her before Charon drove them away.

  Ronnie watched them, unsure what to do. She should go back
to work, but how could she concentrate on anything if her mind was filled with worry for Arran?

  Then there was the knowledge that someone wanted her. “The new darkness,” she murmured. Without a doubt, she knew that’s who was after her.

  Did this new darkness know that she had let loose the monsters? Or was there another reason the evil wanted her?

  Did it really matter? Evil was evil, and no matter the reason, she refused to side with it. Arran had told her he didn’t believe she would bring about the destruction of their world.

  She would hold that in her heart and carry it with her in the dark times. For she knew dark times were coming. They had already arrived.

  Right on the heels of the best night of her life. It was cruel, but fate was rarely kind.

  Saffron believed Arran and Camdyn would make it out alive, as did Charon. Ronnie had no other recourse than to believe the same. If she didn’t, if she allowed herself to think that he was gone, she wouldn’t be able to face the day.

  “There you are,” Andy said as he walked up and hugged her. “We missed you. How was the fund-raiser?”

  Ronnie forced a shaky smile as she thought of the event and how she’d spent it in Arran’s arms. It had been a night of magic, a night to be cherished. “Wonderful.”

  “Wonderful?” Andy repeated as he looked at her suspiciously. “That didn’t happen to have anything to do with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Dangerous, did it?”

  Ronnie allowed him to lead her to her tent. She knew Andy realized something was wrong, but he kept her talking, kept her thinking of anything other than what was wrong. “It might have. All right, it definitely did.”

  Andy let out a whoop and pumped his fist in the air. “About damn time. You deserve someone good, Ronnie.”

  She nodded, because he was right. She did deserve Arran. “We received several donations, too. So it looks like we’ll be digging at least five more years.”

  Andy lifted her tent flap and smiled. “It’s Christmas and my birthday all come early. That’s awesome news.”

  “It is.” She stood in her tent and looked around. It seemed so barren without Arran. All the reasons to smile went out the door. She couldn’t pretend she was fine, couldn’t feign happiness when all she could do was worry whether Arran was alive.