by Donna Grant
Delving into Mairi’s mind hadn’t been the problem. It had been letting go. Deirdre’s hold on the elder had been complete. The wickedness which swarmed Mairi had tried to suck him in as well.
Being near such malevolence and willingly using his god to seek answers was not something he had ever done. Or something he ever wanted to repeat. Yet, he would do it all again if it meant Reaghan could be safe.
“I felt Deirdre in Mairi’s mind. It was as if Deirdre had scraped Mairi’s brain, leaving marks much like our claws would. The evil was everywhere. As soon as I sensed Deirdre I followed her, and somehow the next thing I knew, I saw a glimpse of her mind.”
“Holy hell,” Quinn murmured.
“I saw her plan for the MacClures to attack us,” Galen said, suppressing the shudder that racked his body at touching Deirdre’s mind. “They have already gathered their men.”
Fallon linked his hand with Larena’s. “Galen, I doona know how you did it, and I doona want you doing it again, but I’m grateful for your power. We can prepare and be ready.”
“The MacClures won’t get through my shield,” Isla said. “They will do as anyone without magic and continue on.”
Galen wished she were correct. “Wyrran are with them.”
“It fooled the wyrran before,” Ian said.
Isla grimaced. “That was before Deirdre knew I was here. Now that she does, my shield won’t stop the wyrran. It will slow them, though.”
“That’s all we need,” Camdyn ground out.
Galen wiped his hand down his face. His strength was returning, but more slowly than he would have liked. He needed to be ready for battle. As it was, he was useless.
Sonya pointed to the door as she said, “There are Druids out there who are in danger.”
“That was their choice,” Odara said. “They knew what awaited them, and they chose certain death over these walls.”
“We aren’t going after them?” Sonya asked, her eyes round with disbelief.
Fallon sighed and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “I vowed never to keep anyone prisoner, Sonya, and that’s exactly what I would be doing if I brought those Druids back.”
“They don’t know what they’re doing. It’s wrong of us to leave them to Deirdre,” she argued.
“I need everyone to stay inside the castle walls,” Fallon said. He looked around the hall. “No one leaves. No one. We have no idea when the attack will come, but we will be ready.”
Quinn rubbed his hands together. “Arran, Ian, Duncan, Hayden, and I will set up first watch.”
“I can take a quick flight over the area to see how close the MacClures are,” Broc offered.
Fallon nodded. “Good idea, Broc. Stay high enough so they cannot see you.”
“Of course.” Broc removed his tunic and started for the castle door, his skin already turning the dark, indigo blue of his god.
Galen watched as Broc’s wings spouted from his back. “I can take watch.”
“You will rest first,” Lucan said.
Galen wanted to argue, but he knew Lucan was right. He was no good to anyone in his current condition. “Just for a little while.”
“I’ll help him,” Reaghan said.
As soon as her slender hands came in contact with him, all Galen could think about was taking her in his arms and holding her. He wanted to part her sweet thighs and bury himself to the hilt.
He was afraid to touch Reaghan, afraid he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands from her. She had pulled away from him yesterday and created a chasm Galen was afraid he’d never be able to span.
Galen put his arm around her shoulders and allowed her to take some of his weight. He was thankful she was there so he didn’t have to try to make the climb to his chamber by himself.
With the Druids now gone, Galen once more had his chamber, which was on the opposite side of the castle from Reaghan’s. He guided her to the room and pushed open the door.
Galen lifted his arm from her shoulders and stumbled into the chamber to collapse on his bed. He fully expected Reaghan to leave, so when he sensed her beside him, his heart beat double time.
“You shouldn’t have put your life in danger.”
He shrugged. “These people are my family, and that includes you. I would do anything to protect you.”
“You saw more in Mairi’s mind than you told us, didn’t you?”
“I did,” he admitted. “I saw evil more deadly, more intent, than you could imagine. I fear for us, Reaghan. I fear nothing we can do will ever defeat Deirdre.”
THIRTY-SIX
Reaghan’s stomach fell to her feet like a stone. “There has to be a way to end what she has begun. I refuse to believe she will win.”
Galen’s head jerked in a nod as he looked at her. “I agree. I’ve always believed goodness would overcome the evil of this world.”
She knew Galen was trying to calm her. She appreciated him telling her the truth, but it made her realize that she had to determine how to break the spell so that whatever information she held she could give to the Warriors.
She recalled her dream where she had told herself she knew how to break the spell. Why couldn’t she remember? Why, when Galen needed to have the information she had hidden. And what was it, exactly, she had hidden in her mind? What could be so important, so vital, that she had given up her life to protect it?
Galen had said Deirdre would have come looking for her. Did she hide something that could hinder—or God forbid, help—Deirdre?
There was no way she would have helped Deirdre. Not willingly anyway. Regardless of her past and the memories hidden from her, Reaghan would wager her soul she had set herself against Deirdre.
Reaghan sighed and lifted her gaze to talk to Galen. She smiled when she found him asleep. Slowly, carefully, she joined him on the bed until she was snuggled against his healing body. Then, she wound a lock of his hair around her finger and let her gaze wander over him.
The lines that had bracketed his mouth and eyes had eased. It was peculiar seeing Galen look so vulnerable, so drained. She had gotten used to his invincibility, his immortality and immense strength, but what had happened in the great hall proved he wasn’t as indestructible as she thought. He had taken a great risk for her and the others at MacLeod Castle.
A risk to his own life.
He hadn’t hesitated either. His only thought had been to save his family. Family he now considered her to be a part of.
“Oh, Galen,” she whispered.
She smiled when she traced her finger down his cleanly shaven jaw, remembering how he had teased her with his whiskers. Her finger smoothed over his wide lips. Those lips had brought her such wicked pleasures, such incredible kisses.
So much had happened since she had first caught sight of Galen. Her entire world had changed—for the better. She ached for the Druids who had been too afraid to see the Warriors were only protecting them.
Like Sonya, Reaghan had wanted to go after them. But Fallon’s words, as awful as they were to hear, had been correct. To make someone stay was to imprison them, which would do more harm than good.
She prayed her fellow Druids managed to escape, even though Reaghan knew in her heart Deirdre would capture them.
And Mairi. Reaghan’s eyes filled with tears as she thought of the elder. Had Mairi known Deirdre invaded her mind? Had Mairi fought against the evil?
Reaghan would probably never know the answers. Mairi was gone, no longer to be used by Deirdre. But Reaghan worried about Odara. She had thought Mairi was the strongest of the elders, but now Reaghan began to wonder if it hadn’t always been Odara.
Reaghan sighed and snuggled closer to Galen, seeking the warmth of his muscular body. She laid her hand atop his and linked their fingers.
Her thoughts of Mairi, Deirdre, and the coming attack began to fade as sleep lulled her. As she drifted off to sleep, she felt the dull ache that signaled a headache, but for the first time she wasn’t scared.
She would face the pain and
whatever the future held with Galen at her side.
* * *
Odara looked at the MacLeod brothers around the table. It was surreal seeing them in the flesh after hearing the tales spoken about them.
It would be so easy for the Warriors to lash out at everything and everyone after what had happened to the brothers and their clan. Yet they had opened their home, had vowed to stand against Deirdre, and had found love.
That had been the deciding factor for Odara upon arriving at the castle. She knew the others had feared Galen and Logan, but she had come to like and respect the Warriors.
Just knowing she would be surrounded by thirteen Warriors had made Odara more than a little frightened. Until she met the Druids who lived at the castle and saw how they interacted with the Warriors. That had been enough for her.
Odara waited for the questions to begin. She knew the Druids of the castle would want to talk to her, and she wasn’t surprised to find the MacLeods with them.
“Why didn’t you fight against Mairi and her talk of leaving?” Sonya asked.
Odara chuckled and shook her head. “I have known Mairi my entire life. She’s stubborn, and once she decides something, she won’t let it go. Had I not sensed the evil inside her, I would have said something. I tried to talk to a few of the women, but Mairi was very convincing in her lies. Or I should say, Deirdre was. I kept quiet so I could watch Mairi.”
Marcail leaned forward and put her forearms on the table. The gold bands at the ends of her tiny braids clinked together each time she moved her head. “I want to know about Reaghan, if you know more than what Galen was able to learn from Mairi.”
“Mairi and I were told of Reaghan together.” Odara bit her lip and looked down at her hands, hands that now trembled with age, her once beautiful skin marked with dark spots. “We were told that under no circumstances should Reaghan ever leave the village.”
“Why?” Lucan asked.
Odara shrugged in response. “We were never given a reason, just told that she should never leave.”
“Do you know any part of the spell Reaghan used?” Cara asked.
“Nay.”
Larena sighed loudly and glanced toward the stairs. “I was afraid of that.”
“How long was the spell supposed to last?” Fallon asked.
Odara lifted her brows as she looked at the leader of the Warriors. “As far as we were told, forever.”
Lucan drummed his fingers on the table, his forehead puckered in thought. “Do you know what Reaghan is attempting to hide from Deirdre?”
Odara hestitated, unsure if she should speak of what she knew little about. She wanted to give these people truths, not something she had no proof of.
“Please,” Sonya said. “Tell us what you know.”
Odara swallowed and leaned forward. “When my mother lay on her deathbed, she told me Reaghan kept within her knowledge of a place that held vast power.”
“Hm. Vast power is something Deirdre would certainly want to obtain,” Fallon said.
Lucan grunted. “How would it hold the power? And where?”
“I don’t know,” Odara said. “My mother died right after, so I was never able to ask her.”
Isla dropped her chin into her hand. “We may never know. There are too many uncertainties. We cannot help Reaghan unless we know everything. I fear we will ultimately harm her, and I’ve no wish for that.”
“Is Reaghan speaking of strange dreams?” Odara asked.
Sonya sat straighter, her mouth pinched. “Aye. Why?”
“It’s the start of her spell regenerating. Usually by this time the headaches are almost constant and she falls into a deep sleep where a fever overtakes her. She wakes a day or so after, and then she remembers nothing.”
“Sonya’s healing may have slowed it,” Quinn said.
Odara slowly nodded. “Or altered it somehow. I’ve not seen much of Reaghan lately. I know of her headache upon arriving, but nothing after.”
“As far as we know, there have been no more,” Cara answered. “Galen would have sent for Sonya if she had had another headache. When Reaghan isn’t with him, she’s with one of us.”
Odara rose, her old knees creaking. “Then the spell has been altered, and mayhap for the better. I never liked seeing her in pain.”
“Will you stay with us?” Marcail asked.
Odara smiled as she walked to the stairs. “I’ve sworn to guard Reaghan, wherever she may go. I will stay as long as she does.”
* * *
Galen felt better as soon as he opened his eyes. The strength he had become accustomed to after two hundred and fifty years had returned once more. Now he could stand with the other Warriors and protect Reaghan.
A soft, feminine sigh caught his attention. He glanced to his side and found Reaghan curled beside him. She had one hand tucked beneath her cheek, her lips slightly parted as she slept.
Galen shifted onto his side to face her. He never grew tired of looking at Reaghan. To him, she was the most beautiful, stunning woman to ever walk the earth.
The night before had been horrid. Galen wondered how he could have survived it without Reaghan by his side. He had always thought himself a rational, tolerant man, but Reaghan gave him more clarity. She opened his eyes to new possibilities.
She lived each day to its fullest. She looked ahead, never to the past. Some could argue that was because she couldn’t recall her memories, but Galen knew it was just how Reaghan had decided to live her life.
It was a lesson Galen wished he had learned a century earlier.
Reaghan’s eyelids fluttered open. Her sleepy smile stirred his passions and caused the blood to rush to his cock. He fisted his hand so he wouldn’t reach for her, wouldn’t feel the warmth of her satiny skin, wouldn’t taste the sweetness of her lips.
Her gray eyes were warm, soft as they met his gaze. “How do you feel?”
“I’m myself once more.”
She licked her lips and frowned as her gaze dropped. “You scared me. You’re supposed to be immortal.”
“I would give up my life if it meant saving you.” He said the words from his soul, and he’d never spoken words so sincere.
Her gaze snapped to his. “Oh, Galen. I’m not worth it. I’m unimportant, while your quest to end Deirdre’s tyranny is vital.”
Galen couldn’t hold back any longer. He drew Reaghan against him, their faces breaths apart. His body focused entirely on her long, very feminine form pressed against him. Of her lush curves and the promise of pleasure.
Her eyes widened a fraction before darkening with desire, desire he recognized and had come to crave with increasing regularity.
“You’re important to me. Never forget that,” he whispered.
He didn’t give her time to argue. He took her mouth in a kiss, putting every ounce of his yearning, his longing … his need into it.
He wished he could give her pretty words to tell her how much she meant to him, how much he desperately needed her, but it wasn’t his way. Instead, he would show her the only way he could—with his mouth and hands and body.
His heart hammered when she melted against him. She opened her mouth to him and plunged her hands into his hair. He pulled at her gown and heard a seam rip. Suddenly, her hands joined his as they tore at each other’s clothes, tossing garments around the room until they were both blissfully naked, their limbs intertwined.
Need unlike Galen had ever experienced surged through him. Reaghan’s scorching kiss, her hands, urgent and grasping, only spurred him onward.
He pulled his mouth from hers and fastened his lips over her nipple. Her nails dug into his back as she arched into him, seeking more.
Galen alternately tongued her nipple and suckled the tiny bud. Her body shook, her soft cries filling the chamber. With a small nip, he moved to her other breast.
His fingers found her curls, stroked her hot, silken sex. He burned to be inside her, to have her pull him in deep and hold him tight.
Ru
thlessly he teased her clitoris before plunging a finger inside her. Her hands were greedy as she caressed his shoulders, his back, his neck, feeding the uncontrollable, undeniable hunger he had for her.
Unable to hold back any longer, Galen moved to stand beside the bed. He grabbed Reaghan’s hips and turned her so she lay lengthwise, her hips at the edge of the bed.
He smiled down at her, recognizing the flushed skin, the heavy-lidded eyes. Her breasts rose and fell with her rapid breathing. She watched him with her storm-colored eyes, wordlessly waiting, silently impatient. With her thighs spread wide, Galen filled her slowly, penetrating deeply into her snug channel.
Reaghan’s lips parted, a small moan of pleasure spilling from her mouth. Her fingers dug into the blanket as her legs wrapped around his waist, tugging Galen deeper.
He cupped her breasts, teasing her nipples with his fingers. She arched her back, his name a whisper on her lips. Her body quivered and writhed beneath him, but Galen wasn’t finished.
His mouth took over for his fingers as he continued to reduce her to a desperately pleading mass. He lifted his head and saw the silent need upon her face.
Galen straightened and unwrapped her legs from his waist. He placed first one leg, then the other, atop his shoulders before he gripped her hips and began to move. He held her steady as he penetrated her again and again, each time going deeper, harder, faster.
The more he pounded into her, the more her breaths came in panting gasps. He felt her body tighten, felt her muscles locking.
He kept her still, immobile even as she came apart before his eyes. He’d never seen anything so profound, so glorious as Reaghan’s face awash with bliss.
Her sheath clutched around his cock, urging him to follow her into oblivion.
Galen didn’t hesitate.
His nerves were stretched taut and burning with pleasure as he continued to fill her. He released her legs and fell forward, his hands on either side of her head as he tipped into his orgasm.
Galen cried out Reaghan’s name as he drove into her once, twice more, before he let go.
Her arms came around him and pulled him atop her. Galen drew in a broken breath. Everything he had ever wanted, would ever dream of was in his arms.
