by Donna Grant
Arran had no words in response. He didn’t want to be a good man. He wanted Ronnie, but in order to have her, he had to destroy her world. What kind of man did that to the woman he loved?
“Let me take you to her,” Fallon said. “We’ll leave the artifacts, and then you can see if you want to talk to her.”
Arran opened his mouth to answer, and in the next instant Fallon had jumped them from the warehouse to Ronnie’s tent at the dig site.
“Shite,” Arran muttered as he stepped away from Fallon. He could feel Ronnie’s magic.
It surrounded him like a blanket, soft, comforting. Powerful. Alluring and erotic. His cock swelled with need and his hands clenched air, wishing it was her.
He wanted to go to her, to pull her into his arms and kiss her for hours. He wanted to lay her down and make love to her in a thousand different ways. He wanted to tell her of his love, of the way he wanted her in his life.
He wanted so many things, but the time for them had come and gone. After all the many years of his life, he’d finally found the woman for him. And he’d lost her.
“Take me home,” he begged.
Fallon said not a word as he touched his arm and they teleported away.
Just before Ronnie entered her tent.
* * *
Ronnie rushed into her tent because she’d heard Arran’s voice. Her stomach fell to her feet when she found her tent empty save for the large crate.
“Oh, Arran,” she whispered as she pulled out an artifact.
He hadn’t stayed because she’d said she never wanted to see him again. But she did want to see him. She wanted to see him, to talk to him.
To hold him.
God, how she missed his touch. She’d thought she could go through life without needing someone, but she’d been proved wrong so effortlessly.
Her artifacts were returned, but she’d rather have her Warrior beside her. If only she’d gotten to her tent sooner. If only she’d never said those cruel words to him. She hastily blinked to keep the tears at bay.
Ronnie moved aside the straw and saw something among the packing material. She reached down and pulled out a cell phone. Her heart pounded with dread as she recognized the beat-up old phone she’d seen countless times.
She flipped open the phone and saw Pete’s name carved crudely above the numbers. Her world began to spin as realization crashed upon her.
It wasn’t Arran who had stolen. It was Pete. Arran had known, but he hadn’t told her. Not that she’d given him the chance, or believed him when he swore he hadn’t taken anything.
Ronnie tossed down the phone and grabbed the keys to the Range Rover Arran had driven. She ran to the SUV and climbed inside.
She might not know how to find MacLeod Castle, but she knew where to start looking—MacLeod land.
CHAPTER
FORTY-FOUR
Arran stood in the great hall of MacLeod Castle and briefly watched the Druids still embracing their husbands after their return.
He’d never felt more out of place than he did at that moment, because all he could think of was how right it would have been for Ronnie to be among the Druids.
How right it would have been to walk into her arms after battle and simply hold her.
The knowledge that it would never happen was what made him start for the door. Until everyone caught sight of Fallon.
It was all the women talking at once that made Arran turn around and find out what was going on. Fallon was soon surrounded, but even with enhanced hearing, it was difficult for Arran to discern what the women were trying to say.
Fallon closed his eyes as if it pained him too much to even be in the castle. Arran understood the discomfort of his friend. He might not have had Ronnie for over four hundred years, but the little time they’d had together left a mark that would forever alter him.
Arran was turning to leave when something moved on the stairs out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw Larena. She was staring at Fallon, her smoky blue eyes filled with tears.
As one, the Druids grew quiet. Only then did Fallon open his eyes. And he caught sight of Larena. He slowly pushed his way out of the Druids as Larena descended the stairs.
For several minutes they simply stared at each other, and then Fallon pulled her against him, his told tight as he buried his head in her blond hair.
Arran was happy for his friend, but it made his heart ache even more. He left the hall quietly and shut the door behind him. The sun had once more claimed the sky though it was only four in the morning.
He walked down the stairs and across the bailey to the gatehouse. The gates of MacLeod Castle stayed open now, but there had been a time when Arran and the others had them bolted and they patrolled the battlements waiting for an attack from Deirdre.
Though he didn’t miss the attacks, he missed how simple life had been. It had been easy to hide who they were. It had also been easy to keep people away from the castle.
Arran let out a long sigh and walked beneath the gatehouse where he paused for just a moment trying to decide where he would go. To the cottages that had once been a small village a little ways from the castle? Or to the cliffs?
It was the call of the water, the smell of the sea that pulled at Arran. He turned right and made his way to the cliffs.
He’d come here often through his time at the castle. The first time he’d seen the castle sitting at the edge of the cliffs he’d been in awe at the sheer magnificence of it, the beauty that had held him spellbound even before he’d felt the touch of magic.
The stones had been weathered by wind and rain, but the castle was built to last, and MacLeod Castle showed that best of all. It had survived many battles, and even being burned by Deirdre. It had seen untold number of deaths, but instead of being a place to stay away from, it offered hope to any who sought it.
He stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down to the beach below. Huge boulders rose from the water like giants reaching for the sun. Those same boulders had been used by each of them to cast nets into the water for fishing.
During the summer there was hardly a day they hadn’t been down at the beach, sitting in the sun or swimming. Arran peered over the side to look at the hollowed-out sections in the cliffs. Several of them were caves, and one had been used to hide the Druids during an attack by Deirdre.
Arran inhaled, the salt thick in the air. The sea was in constant motion, the waves white-capping as far as the eye could see.
It was effortless for him to allow his thoughts to wander as he looked at the ebb and flow of the tides. They made it easy for Arran to stop thinking of what to do and give in to the memories of centuries prior, and days past.
The crunch of a boot on the grass broke through his thoughts. He turned his head slightly to find Fallon walking toward him.
It was good to see him happy again. Arran wondered if he would ever find happiness again. How could he stay away from Ronnie when he wanted her so that his chest hurt from it.
“I worried you left as Malcolm did that fateful day so long ago,” Fallon said.
Arran bent and picked up a small rock by his foot. The day Fallon referred to was the day Deirdre had captured Malcolm and released his god. Malcolm had left the castle during an attack, and no one had known it until it was too late.
“I’d say good-bye if I was leaving.”
Fallon held out his hand for the stone. “So you are no’ leaving?”
“I doona know what I’m going to do. All I can think about is her. All I want is her.”
“Then go get her.”
Arran wished it were that easy. He handed Fallon the stone and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m happy to see Larena is all right. What happened?”
“Sonya isna sure. Maybe it takes longer for the magic to work against this new drough blood being used.”
“That’s no’ a good sign. How are Malcolm and Charon?”
Fallon tossed the stone in the air and easily caught it. “They’re recove
ring. Slowly. Larena has been with Malcolm since I brought him in. And that was a good try in changing the subject.”
“It was a try,” Arran said with a sigh. He didn’t want to talk about Ronnie, because it only made him miss her even more. If that was possible.
“You didna know me before Larena, but I was no’ a man you would’ve wanted to be around.”
Arran glanced at him. “Quinn told me how you turned to drinking because of what Deirdre had done.”
“It wasna just the killing of our clan. It was the fact I considered myself a monster. It wasna until Larena that I began to imagine we could use what I thought of as a curse to help save people.”
“We are monsters,” Arran said softly. “We hide the castle from the world so they willna find us. Do you know what they would do with us if they ever learned what we are?”
“I doona want to even think about it. My point, Arran, is that Larena made me a better man. She made me want to be the person I had always thought I would be. I had to fight for her, and there were times I wondered if I should. But then I would think of life without her and I knew I’d do whatever it took to have her as my own.”
Arran turned his head to him. “Even if she had said she never wanted to see you again.”
“Even then. I knew from the first moment I touched her that she was the other half of my soul. I would’ve walked to Hell and back if it meant I could have Larena.”
Maybe Fallon was right. Maybe Arran needed to fight for Ronnie. He didn’t have to tell her it was Pete who had stolen from her.
Fallon reared back his hand and let the stone soar over the water and travel far into the horizon before it skipped four times and sank beneath the waves. “I see by your look you’re actually contemplating how to get her back.”
“I doona want to live without her. No’ even for one second.” And once the words were said aloud, Arran comprehended just how far he would go to get her back.
“Do you need me to jump you to her?” Fallon offered.
Arran turned on his heel and started walking. “Nay,” he said over his shoulder.
He’d use the time it took to get to Ronnie to figure out all he wanted to say to her.
* * *
Ronnie pulled off the road and put the SUV in park as she stared at the trees. She was officially on MacLeod land, and had been for a few miles. But she had no idea where to go. She’d asked Arran nothing about the castle or where it was located.
Sure it was hidden by a shield of magic, but MacLeod land was massive, with the one road going through it. Did she look toward the sea, or did she look the other way?
Ronnie put the Range Rover in drive and eased her way along the trees. Arran had driven to her site, which meant there had to be some kind of drive or hidden road. If she could find it.
She looked on both sides of the road, and fortunately for her, there were few people on the road at this time of night.
“Morning,” she corrected herself.
It was very early morning, and exhaustion was beginning to wear on her. She needed rest, but she didn’t want to stop looking. Not until she was forced to.
Ronnie had to halt and pull fully off the road as a car came at her. She looked in the rearview mirror to make sure the car passed safely, and that’s when she saw the unmistakable ruts from a vehicle.
She threw the SUV in reverse and backed up. Her heart was thundering in her chest as she turned off the road.
“Please let this be right. Please let this be the place.”
She kept chanting that over and over as she slowly drove the vehicle through the dense trees following the obvious path that was used as a road. Suddenly the trees stopped to an openness that stretched endlessly before her.
The bright green grass then gave way to the deep waters of the ocean that met the sky on the horizon.
“Wow,” she whispered.
Ronnie kept having the disturbing feeling that she needed to turn around and leave, but it was that feeling that kept her foot on the accelerator. The feeling grew intensely until she drove through what felt like an invisible wall. And then she saw the castle.
“Oh, shit.”
She stopped the Range Rover and put it in park before she hesitantly got out. The castle rose like a stone giant from the cliffs, large, beautiful, and imposing. Six turrets like large beacons stood against the sky while the gray stones seemed to welcome her.
Ronnie looked around to see a smattering of cottages. Those same cottages hid some of the castle from view. She glanced at the drive that led around the cottages, but decided to proceed down the narrow road through what looked like a village.
The cottages were devoid of people from what Ronnie could see, but she spotted furniture through open shutters.
Once she was through the village, she got a good look at the castle. And it took her breath away. It looked like a classic castle, only without a moat or drawbridge.
A massive gatehouse stood sentry and connected the battlements that ran around the castle. She could well imagine the views the towers offered.
This was where Arran and the others lived. Now she understood why it meant so much to him. It wasn’t just because the castle was striking in the setting of the green of the grass and the different blues of sea and sky against the stark gray stones.
The castle projected magic even she could feel.
Ronnie stuck her hands in her back pockets and tried to imagine what life would have been like for Arran before he’d been thrown into the future.
Now that she was here, she wondered if he would even want to see her. Fallon hadn’t believed her at first, and she wasn’t even sure if he did now. He hadn’t come back for her. Maybe that was because they were still looking for Andy.
Ronnie had left a message on Saffron’s phone about Andy, but Saffron had yet to return her call.
She turned her head to the side and froze as she caught sight of Arran. He stood about two hundred yards from her and just stared.
Minutes ticked by as neither moved. Ronnie knew she had to take the first step. After all, she’d been the one to send him away.
She started toward him, but still he didn’t move. The closer she drew to him, the more she wondered if he would acknowledge her.
Ronnie stopped when she was ten paces away. “Jason never had Andy.”
“We know.”
She’d hoped for more than two words as a response. “I swear it was him. I’d never have agreed to help Jason if I’d known he had tricked me.”
“I know.”
Another two words. She was about to scream, she was so frustrated. “You found the stolen artifacts.”
He gave a single nod.
Ronnie rapidly blinked to hold back the tears. She had really screwed things up. The one man she could have been happy with, and she might have ruined it all. “I came … I came to tell you…”
“Aye?” he urged, and took a step toward her.
“I came to say … I love you.”
He moved so fast she didn’t see him until he was right before her, and pulling her into his arms. “What did you say?” he whispered.
Ronnie looked deep into his golden eyes. All the hopes and dreams she had of their life together she let reflect in her eyes. “I love you.”
“Say it again.”
This time she smiled, her heart pounding. “I love you.”
He closed his eyes as his arms tightened their hold. “I could only hope you’d feel it.” His lids lifted and desire darkened his gaze. “I was coming for you. I was going to make you listen to me, no matter how long it took.”
“Why?” she asked excitedly.
His smile was slow, seductive. Hungry. “Because I love you.”
Nothing else existed beyond that. All Ronnie felt was Arran’s wonderfully solid muscle against her, his insistent lips as he kissed her.
The kiss robbed her of all her fears as he slid his tongue past her lips and into her mouth. He groaned and deepened the kiss. Her arms
wound around his neck while her fingers plunged in the cool silkiness of his dark locks.
Within Arran’s embrace she felt safe and sheltered. Loved. It was a feeling she’d never had before, and one she would do anything to keep.
She ended the kiss despite his growl of frustration. Ronnie tried to get her breathing under control as he rested his forehead against hers.
“I’m sorry for thinking you stole from me. I should’ve listened to you.”
His body tensed beneath her hands for a moment, and then he began to relax. “How do you know it wasna me?”
“I found Pete’s phone in the crate. Why didn’t you tell me it was him?”
“You thought of him as a father. I didna want to hurt you.”
“So you allowed me to think it was you.” She gave him a soft punch in the side that resulted in his grunt. “Don’t ever do that again.”
He grinned boyishly. “Promise.”
“Where is Pete?”
“Long gone. He willna steal from you again. That I vow.”
Ronnie rested her head against his chest. “What now?”
“Now I take you to my bed.”
She laughed, but quickly grew serious. “I meant about Jason.”
“I knew what you meant. I’d hoped to avoid that for a wee bit. We’ve hurt him, but it’s far from over. If our battles with Deirdre and Declan were any indication, I think Jason will come at us hard.”
Ronnie leaned back to look at him. “He wanted me to find magical objects for him. He’ll be looking for them. Maybe that’s what I should concentrate on. I want to help. I want to be able to use my magic to defend myself, not to just find artifacts in the ground. I want to be a part of this war.”
“You need to learn to use your magic, but I’m no’ sure I want you a part of the war.”
“Too bad. I am a part of it. I’ll be safer with you.”
He slid a hand around her neck into her hair. “You know I’ll always protect you.”
