by Donna Grant
“Let me come with you.”
“Nay. I willna be long. I just want a quick look. Everyone is tired, and I want them back in their chambers as soon as we can get them there.”
Lucan sighed. “Just be careful.”
Fallon waited until his brother walked away before he glanced at Larena. “Are you all right?”
“It’s beautiful up here,” she murmured. “All I can hear is the sea and the wind. I had no idea we were so far up the cliff.”
“I used to see this opening when I swam in the sea. I always wondered what was in the cave. When we came back here from Deirdre’s, it’s the first place I went. I spent a lot of time here trying to calm my mind and prepare myself to be the man my brothers needed me to be. It didn’t work.”
She turned her head to him then. The moon’s reflection off the water showed in her smoky-blue eyes. “I can see why you came here. Just imagine how you would have been without this cave.”
“True enough, I suppose.”
“Hurry back,” she whispered.
Fallon wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her. He wanted to drown himself in her touch. Having her so close was the sweetest torture a man could endure.
He wasn’t sure where they stood. After their argument, there had been the attack and no time for them to talk. He knew she still desired him, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t push him away. And it was that thought that stopped him from reaching out to her.
He unleashed his god and jumped to the castle before he could change his mind and kiss her.
Fallon cursed under his breath as he saw a handful of Warriors and several wyrran milling around the castle and the village. A large fire burned in the village, and he suspected it was a cottage.
Though he should get back to the cave, there was something in his chamber he wanted. He jumped to his chamber to find it not only empty, but undisturbed. Either the wyrran hadn’t made it to his chamber yet, or they hadn’t felt the need to destroy it.
“Unlikely,” he said.
Fallon strode to the largest of his chests and threw open the lid. He pushed aside his tunics until he found the smaller ornate chest within. He lifted the small box and held it in his hands, staring at it for long moments.
The last time he had looked inside had been over three hundred years ago. He had never thought to open it again, but as soon as he had met Larena, he had wanted to get back to the castle and find the coffer.
Fallon slowly opened the lid and looked at the piece of jewelry within. His stomach clenched at the thought of Larena wearing it. He knew in that instant how deep his feelings for her went.
He lifted the gold from its resting place and tucked it in the waist of his breeches. It took only a moment to put everything back as it was, and then Fallon jumped to the cave.
Larena wished she and Fallon were alone. She needed to tell him he had been right, that she had been scared. But not anymore. Not as long as she had him.
She wasn’t sure when she had stopped being frightened, only that the emotion that had been with her for years was suddenly gone.
Before Fallon had left, she’d thought he was going to kiss her. She’d seen the longing in his eyes, but he hadn’t. Her disappointment had been almost too much to bear. She hoped she hadn’t ruined things between them forever. She was ready to get on her knees and plead with him if that’s what it came to. She’d do anything as long as she could have him for her own.
Her hand lifted to touch the mark he had given her. His mark.
“Cara told me of your conversation,” Lucan said as he came to stand beside her.
Larena had expected to hear from Lucan eventually. She didn’t look at him, just kept her gaze on the sea below. “Have I lost Fallon?”
There was a long silence during which Larena thought he wouldn’t respond. Then Lucan sighed. “When we were growing up I used to watch my brother with women. They flocked to him because of who he was and the power that he would someday have as laird of our clan. He was always good to the women, but not once did I ever see him look at one as he does you. There is hunger and need and something even deeper in his gaze. Only for you.”
Larena’s heart raced, her hope growing. She turned to look at Lucan only to find him watching her.
“You cannot lose Fallon because he cares too much for you. If you want what he has to offer, tell him. He needs you.”
“And I need him,” she confessed. “I need him more than I thought possible.”
Lucan’s hand landed on her shoulder to give her a brotherly squeeze. “Both of you are strong individuals. Together, you can do great things.”
“Like you can with Cara?”
“Even more because of the man Fallon is. He’s a leader, Larena. He needs a strong woman by his side whom he can lean on.”
Larena placed her hand over his and smiled. “I’ll be that woman if he’ll have me.”
No sooner had Lucan walked back to Cara than Fallon reappeared in the cave. Larena listened as he told of the few Warriors and wyrran left wandering the castle and village. She glanced back at the sea and the waves rolling onto shore.
She didn’t want to wait to talk to Fallon but leaving the cave was chancy. However, it was a chance she was willing to take.
Her skin heated as it always did when she felt Fallon’s gaze on her. She gave him a smile over her shoulder before she dove out of the cave.
Fallon ran to the mouth of the cave and watched as Larena dove headfirst to the rocks below only to roll in a ball and land as softly as a cat crouched on her feet.
“God’s teeth,” Hayden murmured.
Someone whistled, and that’s when Fallon realized everyone had crowded around him. His blood heated and surged when Larena straightened and walked to the edge of the water, throwing off his tunic in the process.
“That’s one hell of a woman,” Logan said.
Galen, who stood next to Fallon, punched Fallon in the shoulder. “You’re one lucky bastard, MacLeod.”
Fallon chuckled. Then he met his brother’s gaze. “Aye, I am.”
He jumped from the cave, landing not far from Larena’s spot. She was already in the water when Fallon jerked off his boots and breeches. He laid the gold gently on top before he walked into the sea.
Larena stood looking at him, the waves rolling around her, lifting her up before releasing her once again. Fallon didn’t take his eyes off her as he moved through the water. He fought against the tide that tried to push him back to the beach.
It wasn’t until he stood before Larena that he allowed himself to breathe. There was so much to tell her, so much to say, he didn’t know where to begin.
“You were right.”
Her words surprised him. “About what?”
“I was scared. Everyone I have ever cared about left me. It would have been worse with you because you’re immortal.”
Fallon took her hands in his and pulled her against him. He rested his cheek on her forehead and just held her. “Don’t you understand? You have my heart and my soul, Larena. They are yours to do with as you want. I could never leave you.”
Her arms wound around him, holding him as if there were no tomorrow. She trembled, whether from the cool water or his words, he didn’t know.
He pulled away from her and looked into her beautiful eyes and knew the feeling within him was love. “I cannot promise that we won’t fight, that there won’t be days you won’t want to smash my head in. But I can promise that I will love you always and do my best to make you laugh at least once a day. I can promise that my life will be devoted to you and giving you everything you could want to make you happy.”
“There is only one thing I want.”
“Tell me. It’s yours.”
A tear fell from her eye to roll slowly down her cheek. “You, Fallon MacLeod. I want you.”
Emotion clogged his throat, making it difficult to speak. “I love you,” he whispered, just before he placed his lips on hers.
He drank in
her heady taste, drowning in everything that was uniquely hers. Her hands delved into his hair, and he moaned in response.
The waves pushed her into him, rubbing her body against his in ways that only stoked the fire in his blood. He grasped her hips and held her above his hard, aching cock.
“Take me, Fallon. I’m yours. I’ll always be yours,” she murmured.
He lowered her until he was seated to the hilt. She leaned back into the water, her hair floating around her like a sea of gold.
Fallon groaned her name as she rotated her hips. Pleasure flooded him, turning his veins to molten lava. The sight of her luscious breasts with water floating around them and her nipples already hard was too much to take.
He leaned down and sucked a delicious bud in his mouth. Her nails raked his shoulders when he gently bit down on the hard peak and ran his tongue back and forth over the nub.
“Fallon,” she screamed, her back arching.
He wanted her too desperately to hold back the flow of his desire. As much as he longed to lick every inch of her, his body wouldn’t let him now.
Fallon withdrew from her only to thrust long and deep. Again and again he pulled out and plunged within her, harder, faster. She matched his tempo, their gazes locked.
Her mouth opened on a silent scream as her slick walls convulsed around him. Fallon continued to pump inside her, trying to draw out her orgasm as long as he could before he threw back his head and filled her with his seed.
Fallon’s body jerked with the force of his climax, but Larena was there, her arms wrapped around his neck as she smoothed the hair from his face.
“You keep surprising me,” she whispered in his ear before she bit down on the lobe.
Fallon trembled and ground his hips against her. He was still buried inside her, still hard. “It’s you. You do this to me.”
“I love you.”
He pulled back until he could see her eyes. He knew she cared for him, that much was obvious by her earlier words, but he hadn’t expected to hear her declaration of love.
“Larena…”
She placed her finger on his lips. “I tried to deny it, but the feeling continued to grow. I love you more than life itself, Fallon MacLeod. I’ll take the fights and the laughter and however many years we have together, as long as I have your love.”
“Ah, God, Larena. You’ll always have my love.”
He carried her to the shore were he sat with her on a boulder.
“I know I shouldn’t have left the cave, but I needed to talk to you.”
Fallon shrugged and intertwined his fingers with hers. “If any wyrran saw us, we’ll take care of them.”
“I endangered the others.”
“Most of them are Warriors still eager for battle. It will be all right.”
She turned her head to him and smiled. “I think I will want to take midnight swims often.”
“I agree.” Fallon stared at the stars above him in a sky that had turned from black to light gray. Everything was almost as it should be. “Only Quinn is missing.”
“We’ll get him back,” Larena said, and kissed his shoulder. “Quinn will be back with you and Lucan where he belongs.”
Fallon blew out a breath. “I hope you’re right.”
To his surprise, Larena sat up and tugged on his arm. “I’ve missed every sunrise with you. I’m not going to miss another.”
Fallon jumped from the boulder. “Stay right there.” He hurried to put on his breeches and boots. He hid the gold beneath the tunic she had discarded before her swim.
He walked back to her and handed her the tunic. Her forehead furrowed when she felt the gold through the fabric.
Fallon waited with bated breath for her to find it. When she pulled the golden torc from the folds of his tunic and stared at it, he thought he would die of anxiety.
Her eyes shifted to him. “A torc with a boar’s head.”
“It matches mine. I had it made before Deirdre destroyed my clan, in the hopes of one day giving it to the woman I would spend the rest of my life with.”
Larena caressed the torc lovingly. “You want me to have this?”
“I want you to marry me.”
“Fallon, are you sure?”
He laughed. “You’re the one thing I am sure of. Say you’ll be my wife, Larena.”
“Oh, aye, Fallon,” she said with a wide smile. “If you want me, you can have me.”
He pulled her off the boulder and into his arms. “I want to get married immediately. I want everyone to see the torc.”
“Your mark wasn’t enough?” she asked with a chuckle.
“I need to bind you to me any way I can.”
She leaned back and kissed him. “You already did with the most powerful thing you could. Your love.”
Epilogue
Larena blew out a nervous breath and touched the torc that now rested around her neck. The weight of it felt right against her skin, as if it should have been there long before. The bailey was filled with the Warriors and Druids she now called her family.
“Are you sure?” Fallon asked her.
Larena raised a brow at him. “If you ask me that again, I swear I will have to beat you.”
He smiled, but she saw the worry in his dark green eyes.
“I won’t do anything reckless, Fallon. We just got married. Now, let me do what I need to do to find Quinn.”
Fallon ran a hand through his hair and briefly closed his eyes. “I pray I’m doing the right thing. I’ll never forgive myself if someone gets taken or hurt.”
“We will heal,” Lucan said. “Now, let’s get moving before Cara comes up with a good reason to go with us.”
Larena glanced at her new sister-in-law, who stood on the steps of the castle together with Sonya. Cara’s eyes were clouded with apprehension, her hands fisted at her sides. Larena couldn’t imagine being left behind, so she understood Cara’s feelings.
Next to Cara was Malcolm. She still couldn’t believe what Ramsey had told her and Fallon just the night before. Not even seeing the Monroe name on the Scroll helped things.
She had foolishly thought she was the Monroe Warrior, but it seemed her goddess came through her mother’s family. It took seeing her mother’s maiden name and the Monroe name for it to finally sink in.
It was Fallon’s suggestion that they keep the news from everyone, especially Malcolm. Ramsey hastily agreed, but Larena couldn’t help but worry about Malcolm; she feared he would be taken by Deirdre to be turned into a Warrior.
“Come, Fallon,” she urged her new husband. “Let us bring Quinn home.”
“Aye,” the other Warriors shouted.
Fallon’s eyes narrowed and glanced into the distance where Deirdre’s mountain lay. “Hang on, Quinn. We’re coming for you.”
Malcolm stood on the steps of the castle and watched the small group leave. His arm ached constantly, and no matter what magic Sonya and Cara used, nothing helped. He had realized after waking in the cave that his arm was useless.
He had promised Larena that he would wait for her at the castle before heading to the Monroe lands, but it was a lie. He would never return to his clan because they wouldn’t accept him. Not now, now that he was half a man.
Malcolm nodded to Camdyn, who had stayed behind to protect the Druids. At least he knew Camdyn. Malcolm liked the other Warriors, but he didn’t belong here. He wasn’t a Warrior or a Druid. He was nothing but a mortal that was of no help in the coming war.
Yet, Fallon had offered him a home at MacLeod Castle. Malcolm hadn’t expected that, but it reinforced his opinion that Fallon was the right man for his cousin.
He gripped his shoulder with his good hand and tried to push past the pain. It wasn’t as if he were entirely useless. He had learned to wield a sword using either arm, and he was just as good with his left as he had been with his right.
Sonya’s intelligent amber gaze watched him. He guessed she knew he lied about the pain. The Druid had said nothing, probably to s
pare his pride, but she didn’t like that he had gotten out of bed that morning.
He snorted as he turned to enter the castle. The scars that now showed on his face, neck, arms, and chest would have been enough to wound any man’s pride. Add the loss of an arm, and it could destroy a man.
“There are things I can give you to help with the ache,” Sonya said. “More magic could help your shoulder as well.”
Malcolm glanced at the Druid but continued walking. As usual, her red hair was pulled back into a single braid that fell down her back. “I need to cope with it.”
“You are still healing, Malcolm. It has only been a few days since you were brought to us.”
He halted and turned to her, his anger bubbling to the surface. “You know as well as I that I’ve lost the use of my arm. Admit it. Not even your magic could heal it.”
“I won’t admit any such thing. We won’t know the extent of your injuries until the bone has fully mended. With my magic that could be only days. The best thing you can do is keep the arm still. Larena has been through enough. Do not hurt yourself while feeling sorry for yourself, because it will only wound her.”
Malcolm blew out a breath and nodded. Her words were the truth, although he wanted to inflict pain on himself for not being strong enough to fight off the Warriors who attacked him. “I don’t need your herbs, Druid. I will handle the pain.”
Sonya watched him walk slowly up the stairs to his new chamber. She ached for the Highlander, but there was nothing more she could do for him. Her magic was strong, but she couldn’t heal everything. What was done to his arm was more extensive than she had let the others know. It was more than just a break.
Deirdre’s Warriors had crushed the bones in his hands and arm. It was why he was in constant pain, as his bones continued to mend. As much as she hated to admit it, the odds of him having the full use of his arm again were slim, even with as much magic as she had used.
She knew there was a future for him at MacLeod Castle, but to what depth she couldn’t see. It was one of the few times she wished her sister, Anice, was near so she could see into the future.
But maybe it was better this way.
