Midnight’s Lover

by Donna Grant

  Danielle squeezed Ian’s hand when she saw Gwynn’s hand begin to shake. Logan took the key from Fallon and together he and Gwynn put the key in the lock and turned. There was a loud click and then the cylinder lid flipped open.

  “Oh, my,” Gwynn said breathlessly as she pulled something out of the cylinder.

  Everyone simply stared at the cylinder with its many wooden dials that moved around the tube. Everyone but Ian.

  He sat still as stone when he saw the symbols on the cylinder. As if it were yesterday, he recalled his parents carving those same symbols again and again all over their cottage.

  “Anyone know the code?” Logan asked with a frown.

  Gwynn shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I should know it though, right? I’m the Keeper of the Tablet after all.”

  “No’ necessarily,” Galen said as he took the cylinder and inspected it. He moved the dials around and around.

  “Wonderful,” Broc said with a loud sigh. “More waiting. I had hoped this would be the map to Laria’s location.”

  The cylinder was passed around while everyone looked at the symbols. Talk turned to what the sequence could be, and after a bit they began to try different orders of the symbols to no avail.

  The more Ian looked at it, the more he realized that somehow, he knew the order.

  Ian cleared his throat. “Let me see it.”

  Everyone looked at him in surprise, but Camdyn passed the cylinder to him without comment.

  Ian released Danielle’s hand and ran his thumbs over the square pieces of wood carved meticulously with beautiful knotwork.

  “I’ve seen these before,” he said, his heart racing with the possibility.

  “Where?” Danielle asked.

  “My parents’ home. These symbols, all eight of them, were carved over and over in our cottage, in our barn, and in every piece of wood we owned.” He paused and turned the first row to the first symbol.

  “They made me and Duncan learn the order. When we asked why, they said that one day it would be important.”

  He clicked the second, then third row into place.

  “I had forgotten all about it until I saw the cylinder,” he murmured, and moved the fourth row into place.

  Ian snapped the fifth into place. “How could my parents have known I would need to know this?”

  The sixth row clicked into place. “This cannot be possible.”

  Danielle leaned over the table and touched his arm. “Anything is possible.”

  He looked into her emerald eyes and at the curtain of silver hair that fell over her shoulder. “Anything,” he repeated, and moved the seventh and eighth symbols into place.

  The end of the cylinder popped out, revealing a rolled piece of parchment. Ian carefully lowered the cylinder to the table and pulled out the scroll.

  “Is it the map?” Arran asked.

  Ian cautiously unrolled the parchment and simply stared at the map. “Shite. We’re really going to awaken Deirdre’s twin.”

  The hall erupted in cheers as Ian hurriedly passed the scroll to Fallon. Ian and Danielle simply stared at each other, smiling as the realization that it was all about to end sank in.

  And for the first time, Ian found himself thinking of a future without Deirdre and her evil.

  Danielle linked both of her hands in his, the cylinder between them. “I love you.”

  “I love you,” he said in return. He shoved the cylinder out of the way and pulled Dani across the table into his arms.

  He rose and kept a tight hold of her as she linked her arms around his neck. They didn’t need any words. The desire, the hunger was evident in both their eyes.

  “Don’t y’all want to celebrate?” Gwynn shouted over the noise.

  Danielle looked over Ian’s shoulder as he climbed the stairs to smile at Gwynn and her Texas accent. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

  EPILOGUE

  Two days later …

  Danielle rubbed her hands together as she faced Saffron. She blew out a breath and set her hands atop Saffron’s.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Saffron said.

  Danielle squeezed her hands. “No, I don’t, but I know I can now.”

  “The evil—” Saffron began.

  “Is manageable,” Danielle interrupted.

  Saffron’s walnut-colored hair was pulled away from her face in a loose knot, with strands falling about her face. Her soft brown eyes were trained forward, but she wasn’t actually seeing anyone.

  “I’ve lived with this blindness for years now. I’d rather stay like this than for any of the evil to harm you, Dani.”

  “I won’t be alone,” Danielle said.

  Saffron’s head cocked to the side a fraction. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that the others are going to lend their magic to mine.”

  Isla rested her hand on Saffron’s shoulders. “What Dani means is that she will be the one searching your mind for the spell, but our magic is going to boost hers.”

  “So all of you could be harmed,” Saffron said.

  “No,” Reaghan said. “The evil won’t touch us.”

  Saffron took a deep breath and gave a small nod. “All right.”

  Danielle looked at the other Druids around her with a smile. She saw Kirstin standing with Braden, and gave the Druid a smile. Kirstin had refrained from helping because she didn’t have much magic.

  With a nod to Isla, Danielle closed her eyes and called up her magic. To her right she could feel Ian’s presence as he sat beside her, offering her comfort.

  Danielle delved into Saffron’s mind, hiding the wince at the slimy feel of the evil that was in every corner of Saffron’s mind. Dani didn’t know how Saffron was handling such an invasion.

  And she also found herself wondering just how much of the evil was bleeding through into Saffron herself.

  The evil clung to Danielle, but she ignored it, concentrating on her magic while she searched for the spell to reverse Saffron’s blindness.

  She was deeper into Saffron’s mind than she had ever been before, and the deeper she went, the more the evil was. But just as the evil began to overtake Danielle, her magic caught the spell.

  Danielle let her magic follow it until she had it. It was a festering mass of inky darkness that moved about Saffron’s mind at will, touching everything.

  Dani let the spell fill her before she began to chant the words aloud for the others to hear.

  “Don’t release her yet,” Reaghan whispered into Danielle’s ear. “We have to find the spell to reverse this.”

  Danielle wanted to jerk away from the evil and scrub it from her skin, but for Saffron, she endured. It felt as if it were moving from Saffron through their linked hands into Danielle’s mind.

  She tried to turn her head away, her breathing becoming erratic as the evil sensed her fear.

  “Nay, love. It willna touch you,” Ian said, his deep voice calming her.

  Danielle inhaled a steadying breath and faced the evil, daring it to touch her.

  Around her she could hear the other Druids begin to chant. Saffron jerked, a cry filling the hall.

  “Hold her,” someone shouted.

  Danielle gripped Saffron tighter as the chant began to work its magic in reversing Declan’s spell. Over and over they had to repeat the chant, their magic gaining power each time.

  The cloud of blackness began to diminish inside Saffron’s mind, but Danielle could see it clinging, trying to dig deep into Saffron.

  The longer it refused to leave the more Saffron cried out from the pain.

  Danielle joined the chant, pushing her magic strongly against the cloud, until suddenly, after one last effort to remain, it was gone.

  Danielle opened her eyes to see Saffron being lifted into Camdyn’s arms.

  “Did it work?” he asked Danielle.

  “Yes,” she answered.

  Camdyn turned on his heel and walked up the stairs without another word.


  “You did it,” Ian said as he pulled Danielle into his arms.

  She fell against him, needing his strength and his heat. “It was so strong,” she said. “I’ve never felt such evil. It was everywhere inside her mind.”

  “Everywhere?” Galen asked.

  Danielle nodded. “Everywhere. It clung to me as well. It was oppressive and cruel. How could she stand it?”

  “We willna know until she wakes,” Logan said. “On a more positive note, Broc has recognized the standing stones drawn on the map.”

  Danielle glanced up at the stairs before she turned to the map as everyone else had. It was exciting and fearful to know they were about to embark on a journey that could get them all killed if they didn’t awaken Laria before Deirdre found them.

  “Here,” Broc said and pointed to the map. “Laria is on the Orkney Isles. The stone circle is called the Ring of Brodgar.”

  Fallon nodded, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared at the map. “A team of us needs to have a look around first before we bring all of us.”

  “Aye,” Larena said. “Especially since Malcolm told me Deirdre knows we’re going to awaken Laria. It could be a trap.”

  “I’ll go,” Camdyn said as he made his way back down the stairs.

  Lucan nodded. “Good idea. His power to move the earth could prove useful. I’ll go as well.”

  “Include me in this adventure,” Arran stated.

  Fallon looked around the hall and smiled. “Gentlemen, you leave at first light.”

  Danielle leaned against Ian as he put his arm around her. “You don’t want to go with them?”

  “Oh, I’ll be there,” Ian said. “Eventually.”

  She turned her head to look at him, her elbow on the table while her hand supported her chin. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means I have some other business I’d like to take care of.”

  “What might that be?”

  He took her hands in his and turned her so she faced him. “You are the other half of me, Danielle Buchanan. My heart, my blood. My soul. I want you by my side always. I doona know what will happen with this battle with Deirdre, but I do know I want to call you wife. Will you marry me?”

  Danielle blinked back her tears and swallowed. “Ian Kerr, I would like nothing better than to be your wife.”

  “Even if I remain immortal?”

  “Even if you remain immortal.”

  His smile crinkled the corners of his sherry eyes as he pulled her into his arms for a kiss.

  * * *

  Tara Kincaid grabbed what few clothes she could stuff in her bags from her tiny flat and tossed them in her car. She was used to being on the run, used to moving from place to place. But after four years in Edinburgh, she had thought she’d finally found a place she could put down some roots.

  Then the Warriors had come talking about magic. Her grandmother had taught her all about magic, or as much as she could before Tara’s drunk of a mother killed her grandmother. And then tried to kill Tara.

  She shook her head to clear it of those bad memories and threw the car into first as she pulled onto the snowy road. She had no idea where she was going. All these years she had moved around Scotland, even venturing into England a time or two. Maybe it was time she left Britain altogether.

  Because if there were Warriors, more would come for her.

  Read on for an excerpt from

  MIDNIGHT’S SEDUCTION

  —the next thrilling installment in

  Donna Grant’s Dark Warrior series—

  available in November from St. Martin’s Paperbacks:

  Camdyn knew the moment Saffron left the castle. He was fishing on the beach with both Hayden and Quinn when the feel of her magic simply vanished.

  He went on as if nothing had occurred, because if there had been an accident, someone would have come and gotten them. Still, Camdyn found himself glancing up at the imposing figure of the castle as it rose from the cliffs.

  “What’s wrong?” Hayden asked him.

  Camdyn shrugged. “Nothing.”

  “You lie poorly,” Quinn said with a chuckle before he tossed the net out into the water.

  Hayden had already been swimming in the cold depths of the sea and returned with several fish, but Quinn liked to do it the way he and his father had done.

  Camdyn adjusted the net in his hands and turned to the side before tossing it out into the water and slowly pulling it back in. “I doona like waiting around is all.”

  Hayden and Quinn looked at each other and laughed.

  Camdyn rolled his eyes. “What now?”

  “Have you always been such an awful liar?” Hayden asked.

  He knew he would have to give them the truth, or at least part of it. “I felt some magic leave.”

  “Aye,” Hayden said with a nod. “Isla’s is gone.”

  “So is Marcail’s,” Quinn said.

  Camdyn looked at them with confusion. “And neither of you are worried?”

  Hayden had opened his mouth to answer when Fallon’s voice reached them from behind. “They needn’t be worried. Marcail and Isla went with Larena, Gwynn, Dani, and Saffron to London. To shop.”

  Quinn shook his head. “I figured it was something like that.”

  “Shouldn’t she have told you?” Camdyn asked.

  Quinn glanced at him with a half-smile. “I know Marcail would never put herself in danger. She normally tells me when she leaves, and though I’d like to know when my wife is gone, I know through the feel of her magic.”

  “Saffron didna give them time to tell you or Hayden,” Fallon said. “She was bound and determined to leave.”

  “Why?” Hayden asked. “Surely she knows we need her magic.”

  “She’s returning,” Fallon said.

  Camdyn didn’t want to evaluate how much that pleased him. Saffron was a distraction he didn’t need or want. Regardless of how the sight of her caused his balls to tighten or his blood to heat.

  “She threatened me with her own jet,” Fallon said with a chuckle. “Despite all she’s been through, she’s kept her backbone.”

  “Stubbornness, more like it,” Camdyn grumbled.

  Hayden raised a brow. “I think stubborn can be labeled to every Druid in the castle.”

  “She should have taken a Warrior with her.”

  “She did. Larena.”

  Camdyn shook the net from the water and kept his gaze averted from the others. He shouldn’t be so upset that Saffron was gone. Except that he knew how much Declan wanted her ability as a Seer. He could very well get to her again.

  “With Larena and the other Druids with Saffron she will be kept safe, Camdyn,” Fallon said.

  “I know.” But it still irked Camdyn that she found it so important to leave the safety of the castle to shop. He might have grasped the difference in the language of this time, but he would never understand women.

  “She’s been through Hell. Literally,” Quinn said after a long moment of silence filled only by the crash of the waves. “Nothing here is hers.”

  “That’s what Larena said,” Fallon replied.

  Hayden nodded. “Saffron isna so self-absorbed that she would do this if we were awakening Laria tonight.”

  “She did promise to be back in time to help with that,” Fallon said and squatted down to pick up a rock. “You should have seen the excitement in her eyes when I agreed to jump her. It lit up her entire face.”

  Camdyn growled, hating the way his emotions were rioting inside him. He had seen many of the false smiles Saffron bestowed. They were kind, but they didn’t fully reach her eyes. It was a rare thing when anyone saw true happiness on her face.

  But then again, who could blame her after all she had been through?

  “She’ll be back in a few hours,” Fallon said.

  Camdyn looked at him. “Why are you telling me?”

  Fallon shrugged nonchalantly before he jumped back to the castle. Quinn turned his head, but no
t before Camdyn saw his smile. The only one who would meet his gaze was Hayden.

  “She’s pretty,” he said. “And wounded. A woman like that could find herself leaning on a man who was willing.”

  “Saffron doesna lean on anyone. She’s a strong woman.”

  “Aye. So is Isla, but she does lean. And it’s a fabulous thing, Camdyn.”

  Quinn nodded. “Oh, aye. A fabulous thing.”

  “I seem to remember you warning me about love,” Hayden told Quinn.

  Quinn threw back his head and laughed. “And look where that warning took you!”

  “To the love of my life.”

  Camdyn fiddled with the net, pretending there was a knot in it, when in fact there was a knot in his chest. The love of his life died hundreds of years ago. Not once in all that time had a woman ever snagged his attention.

  Until Saffron.

  He’d hoped it was simply because he’d been the one to free her from the shackles Declan had used to keep her chained. Camdyn had been the only one who had been able to reach her through the magic of the prison.

  He’d been the only one to carry her from that evil place and to MacLeod Castle.

  Could it have been the way she clung to him, her body thin and fragile as he held her? Could it have been the way she ducked her head against his shoulder to hide her tears? Could it have been the nights he had been helpless to pass by her chamber as she cried out from the nightmares?

  Whatever it was, he’d been powerless to keep his distance.

  He’d loved once before and had his heart torn out. Camdyn never wanted to experience that kind of pain again. Ever.

  “You’re awful quiet,” Hayden said as he grinned at Camdyn. “Each Warrior is finding their mate. Do you fear you’ll be next?”

  Camdyn looked up from the net as he went down on his haunches. “Nay,” he answered.

  “Nay?” Quinn asked. “What makes you so sure? Love is not something you can run from, my friend.”

  “Love isn’t for everyone. And I’ve already loved once.”

  Hayden’s brow furrowed. “I didna know.”

  “It is in the past,” Camdyn said with a shrug. “Long ago.”