What was he doing out here alone, anyway? Why did he hesitate to cave to Lachlan’s request? He knew when he devastated those vampires that Lachlan would respond like this. Callum kicked himself for not putting Lachlan in his debt sooner. He kicked himself for not taking a dozen different approaches sooner.
Well, nothing remained but to go back. He let out one more shaky breath and called up that forgotten part of himself that ruled the skies. He stretched his neck over the lake and swooped low into the horizon.
The sun sank behind the forest. The far eastern sky changed color, and a faint sliver moon hovered over the land. He took a few racing passes over the lake and headed north.
The setting sun shone on Duart’s walls. Peace and silence reigned all around. He circled the roof, but he saw no sign of Sadie. Where was she? He never expected her to welcome him out here with open arms. She must be hiding downstairs where she would be safe from him.
He landed on the roof and took a few gingerly steps in a circle. He barely fit on the roof, and he certainly wouldn’t fit downstairs without changing his form. He didn’t want to, though. He liked this form. He missed his brothers and Ewan Munro and the Urlu Guard. He missed their races and their wrestling matches on the wing. He wanted to go home.
The roof door flew open, and Lachlan strode out onto the roof. He held out his arms to Callum and broke into a huge grin. “Ye’re back! I kenned ye’d come. Ye’re a sight fer sore eyes, ye are, I can tell ye that.”
Callum stood still and glared at Lachlan through his slit eyes. He didn’t shift, and when Lachlan got close enough, Callum hissed through his fangs at the man. Lachlan stopped dead in his tracks, and the smile evaporated off his face. His arms fell at his sides. He opened his mouth and closed it again. He looked around the roof in perplexed uncertainty.
“Weel,” he remarked. “Ye’re back, and that’s the most important thing. Ye’ll come downstairs and see me. I ken it. There. Ye’ll come downstairs when ye’re ready.”
He spun around on his heel and disappeared the same way he arrived. Callum waited until all trace of sound died out in the castle beneath him. What was he doing here, anyway, if he didn’t intend to make up with Lachlan? He couldn’t just steal Sadie out from under Lachlan’s nose without giving the man some consideration.
He took a deep breath and exhaled it through his nostrils before he sank down to his human shape. He knew all along helping Lachlan would come to this, so he better go downstairs and face the music. That would help him find Sadie all the faster.
Chapter 21
Sadie stood in a wooden tub in her bedroom—the same bedroom where she just planned to stab Lachlan and escape. The maids worked all around her and scrubbed the blood off her skin and out of her hair.
Sadie stared at the wall while they worked. She couldn’t get the sight of Callum changing into a dragon out of her mind. So that’s the big secret he’d been hiding all this time. That’s how he planned to get her away from Lachlan, and that’s why he worried she would want to have nothing to do with him if she found out.
Did she want to have anything to do with him? She couldn’t distinguish one emotion from other. His flight and his overpowering annihilation of the vampires, his massive size and his fiery jets scorching them to cinders—what could a girl think of all that?
Why should she find the fact so difficult to believe, even after she saw it with her own eyes? Heaven only knew how many times she saw Lachlan and the rest of them transform into wolves. Some strange magical rules governed this place in ways she couldn’t comprehend. She already understood that.
She couldn’t comprehend it from the point of view of the world where she was born and lived her whole life. Since coming to the Tower House, she started to think of this world from a different point of view, a point of view she never expected. This world worked on a logical pattern of its own. In this world, men turned into wolves and back again. Vampires sprang out of the sea for no apparent reason to attack people on land. Those things made sense here
What was so strange about men turning into dragons and back again? Jamie must be the same way. He and Callum must possess the same abilities. That’s what Callum meant when he said he had to warn Jamie to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
The maids finished scrubbing her down. She toweled off, and she didn’t even blink when she put on the gown they gave her. She let young Meggy button her up the back. She went to check her appearance in the glass. When she saw the dress, she remembered. Lachlan wanted her to attend a state dinner on his arm that night.
The gown she wore certainly matched the occasion. Shimmering satin sections alternated with sheer white panels trimmed with silver. Lace decorated the tight sleeves and ribbon contoured the corset stays down to her slender waist.
In the short time she lived in this strange world, clothes like this became normal to her. She thought back on the clothes she wore in her old life. How could she ever dress like that? They looked so ugly and humdrum to her now, compared to gowns like this.
The maids cleared away all the bath stuff and dried the floor before they disappeared. They left the bedroom door standing open. Sadie stared at it for a long time. She must not be under lock-down anymore. Did Lachlan still plan to take her as his Lady? Had anything changed since Callum showed his true colors out there on the battlefield?
She started for the door when young Colin McLean appeared. He wore his fanciest tartan decked out in glistening gold decorations. A heavy gold chain hung around his neck, and a gold kilt pin shone above his knee.
“If you dinnae mind, lassie,” he said, “I’ll escort ye downstairs. They’re all down there waitin’ on ye.”
She took the arm he offered, and they headed for stairs. “I hate to think what they’re doing down there.”
“It’s just a muckle lot o’ talk. Ye ken how it is.”
She lapsed into silence. Heaven only knew what they were talking about down there, or what stunt Lachlan planned to pull when she showed up. She better find out now what it was, though. Anything was better than sitting in her room wondering.
“I ha’e been meanin’ tae tell ye,” Colin went on, “but I ne’er got a chance until now. That’s why I asked the Laird tae let me escort ye.”
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“No matter,” he replied. “I just wanted tae thank ye fer what ye did fer me brother. The men told me, and the rest we saw from the ground.”
Sadie turned her face away, and a lump stuck in her throat. “I wish I could have done more. Bryce fought like a lion, and he saved my life before he died. I only wish I could have found a way to save him.”
“I saw the whole thing from the ground, lassie,” Colin replied. “Ye couldnae save him. No one could save him. It happened by freak chance. No one could react fast enough tae save him from that monster pullin’ him o’er the side.”
She patted his hand. “You and your family have all been so kind to me. I wish there was some way to repay you for everything you’ve done.”
“Ye’ve done enough tendin’ our wounded at the Tower Hoose. Ye’re one o’ us now, and ye’re marryin’ the Laird,” he pointed out. “That’s all ye need do.”
She stopped in her tracks and face him. “Is that what I’m doing?”
“The invitations ha’e awready gone out. E’erybody kens it.”
She put her hand through his arm again and started walking. So that was it. Lachlan still planned to marry her. He neutralized Callum as surely as if he killed him outright. Nothing would turn Lachlan aside from his purpose now.
At the foot of the stairs, Colin led her into the formal dining room. People clustered around the long tables set with platters of food. The moment she entered the room, the crowd parted to give her a clear glimpse of Lachlan, his three brothers, and Callum Cameron standing in a knot in front of the fire. They talked to each other in heated excitement and didn’t notice her.
Sadie’s heart sank. So this was it. By saving the castl
e, Callum became Lachlan’s ally. If everybody knew Lachlan planned to marry Sadie, Callum must know, too, and here they both stood, the best of friends.
Colin escorted her toward the men. Sadie willed herself not to hear the onlookers’ comments all around her. When she and Colin got near the group, Lachlan turned around and spotted her. “There ye are, me dear! We’ve all been waitin’ on ye.”
He took her hand from Colin and kissed her on the cheek. He draped her hand over his own arm. “Now we can begin.”
Just for a moment, Sadie caught sight of Callum’s face. A deep scowl creased his brow. He took one look at her and cast his eyes to the fire so he wouldn’t see Lachlan lead her away.
Lachlan ushered her to the head of the table and took the chair next to hers. The company gathered around, and the finely dressed ladies and gentlemen found their own places. The bubbly conversation died away to crinoline rustling and kilts swishing.
Out of the crowd, four servants carried a large armchair where Jamie Cameron sat in state. Wooden splints held his leg straight so it stuck out in front of him. The servants put him in his place, and Callum sat next to him.
Lachlan raised a glass to the company. “I believe ye all ken why we’re ’ere. I mean tae take this woman as me wedded wife, to consolidate our Clan and make her Lady o’ the Isles. Not a mon o’ this company can question her loyalty tae our Clan after the way she has helped us through these times and trials. She’ll gi’e us strength and bring us taegether as ne’er afore, and I ask ye all tae make her welcome tae the best o’ yer ability.”
A resounding, “’Ere, ’ere!” echoed around the table. Lachlan sat down, and the rest of the company copied him.
Sadie sank into her place at Lachlan’s side. Now was not the time or place to throw a bucket of cold water over him. Callum bent his head and scowled into his plate, so she could do the same thing. She could bide her time until the moment arrived to ditch this nightmare for good.
She passed the rest of the meal in a sort of dozing dream. She ate what the servants put in front of her. She didn’t bother to listen to the conversation. She couldn’t bear to hear Lachlan plan his future with her at his side. That was asking too much.
All of a sudden, she became aware of Lachlan speaking to Carson at his side. “After the disaster today, we mun’ double our watch on the north, west, and east sides o’ the castle. Now we ken they’ll come from anywhere, not just the south. That was a stupid mistake, and no a one I’ll likely repeat. It cost us Bryce and could ha’e cost us a lot more if Cameron hadnae stepped in.”
Sadie’s nerves stretched to listen.
“The Camerons’ll no wish tae stay ’ere forever tae guard us,” Carson replied. “E’en if they’re our friends, we mun’ find a way tae rid ourselves o’ these pests afore the heir is born.”
“There is no other way,” Lachlan replied. “Ye heard what Koto said. If there was another way, I’d no ha’e tae go through wi’ it.”
The instant the words crossed his lips, Lachlan shot a glance at Sadie, but it was too late. She heard, and the blood rushed to his cheeks. So that’s why he wanted to marry her. He didn’t really care about her. He had some reason to believe this marriage would rid his Clan of the vampires. Nothing else could induce him to marry someone so far out of his social orbit.
She always suspected he had some other motive. He should have married someone of his own rank—the daughter of another Clan Chief, perhaps. He didn’t try to ease the realization for her. He didn’t fall over himself explaining that he really did care about her. He must not care anymore if she knew the truth.
He knew how she felt, so she might as well know how he felt. This was a marriage of convenience in a different sense. He wanted to reverse whatever caused this disaster in the first place, and she was the only way to do it.
Carson shook his head. “There mun’ be another way. We mun’ consult some other magicians. One o’ ’em might work the spell that…”
Lachlan slammed his hand down on the table. “No! We’ll do it this way. It’s the surest way.”
Carson fell silent. Sadie glanced down the table and spotted Callum listening to the conversation. He must understand exactly what was going on. He wouldn’t go along with this if he didn’t have some reason of his own to do so. Could he still want to get her out? Could she dare hope for that?
The dinner broke up, and the guests went back to milling around. Lachlan busied himself moving from one cluster of admirers to another. He greeted everyone and inquired after their affairs. He cemented new alliances and strengthened old ones. He proved himself the consummate politician again and again. He would make a perfect Clan Chief, just as soon as he got himself married.
Sadie drifted away in the crowd. In between shaking hands and hugging her well-wishers, she migrated closer to the door. She judged the right moment and made a dash for the stairs. She hurried to her room, but when she got up to the landing, she met Callum coming the other way from Jamie’s room.
First he, then she tried to look away. Would he walk on by without speaking to her? Is this what all their feelings came to? She braced herself to walk away and give up on him when he stopped in front of her. He nodded. “Lassie?”
“Callum. How’s your brother?”
“His leg’s healin’ fine, if that’s what ye mean,” he replied.
“That is what I mean. I should go see him.”
“Dinnae do that unless ye mean tae leave ’ere fer our country,” Callum told her.
Sadie started. “Don’t you know that’s what I want? That’s all I want. I can see now you’re not going to take me, though. You’re knee deep in Lachlan. He won’t let you go with the vampires still a threat.”
“The vampires will always be a threat,” he replied. “Ye marryin’ him’ll make no difference. I told him that, but he’ll no believe me. He’s bent on this course, and there’s none that’ll turn him aside now.”
“What makes you say that?” she asked. “How do you know marrying him won’t make a difference?”
“The vampires come from the curse,” he replied. “Ye mun’ lift the curse—I mean, he mun’ lift the curse tae get rid o’ ’em. If he marries ye, he’ll only keep ’em closer tae him until he deals wi’ ’em on their own terms.”
Sadie hung her head and closed her eyes. “Tell me the truth right now. Don’t leave me in suspense. Do you still plan to take me away from here, or have you changed your mind to help Lachlan?”
He stood silent so long she opened her eyes to look up at him. He stood in the same place and scowled at her under his heavy brows. His face smoldered, and he compressed his lips under his beard.
“Callum?” she asked. “Did you hear what I said?”
He sighed and cast his eyes down to the floor. “I heard ye.”
He still didn’t say anything. She threw up her hands and barged around him. “I should have known you would throw me over for Lachlan. I should have known you would never follow through as soon as it suited you to turn your back on me. You never gave a damn about me.”
He grabbed her by the arm and yanked her back so hard she stumbled straight into his arms. He hustled her around a corner and pushed her against a wall. In an instant, his mouth covered hers to stifle her startled cries. He pressed his solid body against her and mauled her lips in ravenous kisses.
“Do ye ken how ye torture me day and night wi’ yer e’ery glance?” he grumbled into her mouth. “Do ye ha’e any notion how it kills me tae see ye walkin’ around on his arm and tae listen tae him plan tae marry ye? What do ye expect a mon tae do? How can I take ye away when it’d bring the whole world down around our ears?”
She took a moment to comprehend what he was doing and what he was saying. She swam through the fog of surprise and conflicted emotions to realize he was kissing her. He wanted her. He wanted to take her away and couldn’t. That’s what he was trying to tell her.
He chewed her lips apart and his tongue slithered into her mouth. Before she
knew what was happening to her, all the suppressed heat and desire she kept buried in her deepest insides burst out to grab him. She kissed him back in equal passion. She threw her arms around his neck and let him lift her off her feet.
“I don’t want to marry him,” she gasped. “I would do anything to get out of it. I only want you.”
“Ye’re mine,” he snarled. “Do ye hear? Ye’re mine, and I’ll no let ye go tae any other.”
She almost burst out laughing, she wanted him so bad. His rasping growl excited her secret hunger for him. Everything about him sparked her aching need. She never let herself feel this way about any man in her life. She never wanted any man like this.
His prick hardened between her legs, and she let her thighs yawn open to welcome him. If only he would take her right now, she would attack him in all her furious passion. She would consume him and never let him go.
That’s when she remembered. He was a dragon. He was that deep copper monster soaring around the castle roof. He was the massive lizard glaring down at her with those burning slit eyes. He was the reptile blocking out half the sky with his shining scales and his whip neck and tail. He breathed fire on the vampires and scorched them to ash.
Her eyes popped open and she stared up at him. Their gazes locked, even as their lips gnawed and danced hotter than ever. He was a dragon. She saw it when he kissed her, and he saw that she saw. They both knew. He hid no other secrets from her.
He didn’t stop kissing her, but his gaze challenged her like never before. Could she handle this? Could she accept the buried reality of his dragon nature? She couldn’t go on kissing him if she didn’t accept it.
Still, she kept kissing him. His mouth tasted so sweet and hot and delicious. His body vibrated its mountainous energy into her. His rock hard passion spurred her to greater heights of volcanic desire.
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