by Donna Grant
He looked at the Warrior, and then leaned close to him. “I told you you’d never get her.”
The Warrior sneered, and it was all it took for Arran to sever his head from his body.
Arran climbed to his feet and ripped off his tattered shirt, which hung on his body by threads. He blinked the blood out of his eyes and looked around to find that Charon and Phelan had subdued the other Warriors and were watching Arran cautiously.
They weren’t the only ones. Fallon, Quinn, Hayden, Ian, and Camdyn looked at him as if they didn’t know him. The only one who seemed to understand was Malcolm, who simply gave a nod.
Arran turned to walk away, and then stopped dead in his tracks when his gaze locked on Ronnie. Her hazel eyes were wide, her lips parted in dismay.
He took a step toward her only to have her take a step back. He’d let loose something terrible inside him to save her, but he’d lost her forever in the process.
Whatever chance he might have had to win her back vanished as she’d watched him kill the Warrior. All he could do was watch her walk away.
“Larena is with her,” Fallon said as he came to stand beside Arran.
Arran inhaled and walked to where Charon held Dale. “Why did you come for Ronnie?”
“I doona know. I simply follow orders.”
“My arse,” Arran barked. “You thought four of you could come and take her?”
That’s when Dale grinned and then began to laugh. As Dale’s laughter echoed around the site, Arran looked at Charon to see him frown.
And then all hell broke loose.
Black magic ripped through the site, slicing the caravans in half and crumbling tents. Arran drew his arm back to take Dale’s head when a blast of drough magic tossed him several feet away.
The magic pounded against him, causing his god to scream in pain and fury. Arran grabbed his head with both hands. It took him three tries before he was able to get to his feet.
He looked up to find his friends all in the same kind of pain. Dale and the other Warrior were gone.
Arran winced as his god grew louder, but he pushed the screaming aside as he searched for Ronnie. It was a feat in itself that he was on his feet from the drough magic directed at them. If they were hurting, it was most likely affecting Larena as well. Which meant Ronnie was in danger.
He tried to walk, but only fell to the ground again. Arran gritted his teeth and pushed himself to his hands and knees. He thought of Ronnie’s smile, of her hazel eyes that looked at the world unlike anyone he’d ever known.
He thought of her soft touch, her kisses, her welcoming embrace. He thought of her laughter, her … love.
And he got to his feet with a growl.
Arran took a small step, and then another. He kept going in the direction he’d seen Ronnie leave. He had no idea how many droughs were there, and it didn’t matter. He had to find them and kill them, or Ronnie would be in the hands of evil.
Lightning streaked across the sky, and for just a moment, the drough magic ceased. Arran looked over to find Malcolm with his arm raised to the sky and lightning forking from his fingers.
In those few seconds, Arran was able to see most everyone had gotten away from the site. He could see them running away. But he was also able to see five droughs as they stood around the site in a large circle.
Malcolm sent another round of lightning, this time directed at the droughs. They used their magic to counter his attack, but in doing so, it freed Arran and the others from their magic.
Hayden threw a ball of fire at one drough, while Lucan called the darkness around him and faded into shadows. A moment later, and he had killed one of the droughs.
Malcolm had given them the opportunity to turn the tide. The droughs now had to protect themselves in order to stay alive.
Arran left the droughs to his brethren and concentrated on Ronnie’s magic. He found her almost instantly, but the fear mixed into her magic sent him into a rage.
He used his speed and raced after her. Dale was nowhere to be seen, but the Warrior who held Ronnie never saw Arran coming.
Arran wrapped an arm around the Warrior’s neck and yanked him away from Ronnie and to the ground. Just as Arran was about to take his head, a hand locked around his wrist, halting him.
He looked up to find Phelan beside him.
“We need him,” Phelan said.
Arran couldn’t get the sight of the Warrior holding Ronnie out of his head, couldn’t forget the fear in her magic.
“We’ll gain more by sparing him. For now,” Phelan added.
Arran peeled back his lips and growled at the Warrior on the ground. “I’m going to kill you for touching her.”
The Warrior simply laughed in response. Then his head jerked to the side as if he’d been punched, and he fell unconscious.
“I was sick of hearing him,” Larena’s disembodied voice said from Arran’s other side. “Take him to Fallon. I’ll keep watch over Ronnie.”
Phelan released Arran and lifted the Warrior so that he draped over his shoulder. With a nod, Phelan made his way to Fallon.
Arran looked to Ronnie, but her gaze was focused on her arm, where she held a hand over a cut that bled viciously.
“Go, Arran,” Larena said. “I’ll take care of her.”
Arran didn’t want to leave, but he didn’t know what to say to Ronnie. What could he say? He swallowed and turned to follow Phelan. Each step he took from Ronnie was like a little piece of him dying.
Whatever had begun to grow in him with meeting Ronnie was dying a swift death. And he wanted to follow it. The world would be a gray, lonely place without Ronnie by his side.
He was about halfway back to the site when he felt a wave of drough magic. Arran spun to find the Druid, but before he could get to her, a gust of wind whirled around the Druid and tossed her into the air.
Gwynn let out a laugh as she stood in the tall grass about twenty paces from him. “Damn. That felt good. Don’t tell Logan, though. He’s protective enough that he’ll get mad knowing I endangered myself.”
Arran nodded in understanding. “You shouldna have gotten so far from Logan. Anything could happen to you out here.”
“Arran, please. Y’all keep forgetting that I can hear the wind. It alerts me when danger is near. I’m safer than any of y’all.”
“Come on,” he said as he took her arm. He might have lost his woman, but Logan wouldn’t lose his. “I’m taking you to your husband.”
* * *
Aisley lay as still as stone on her stomach in the grass as Arran walked right past her. Dale lay on top of her, urging her to keep quiet and still.
He was the one who found her after the first lightning strike and pulled her to the ground, effectively cutting off her spell to halt the other Warriors.
She’d tried to ask what he was doing, but he simply held a finger to her lips. Aisley stayed quiet and listened as Arran had not only found Ronnie and the Warrior, but was stopped from killing him by someone else.
Someone with a voice that made her skin prickle with awareness. The voice was smooth, and deliciously deep. She wanted to see the face that went with such an amazing voice, but Dale wouldn’t let her move.
She then heard a female voice that wasn’t Ronnie’s. It was someone watching over Ronnie, but Aisley hadn’t seen a woman near their target.
And then there was the Druid who had taken out one of their droughs. With wind.
Wind!
Aisley couldn’t believe the mie had the ability to communicate with the wind, and if she could, why didn’t the mie know of her and Dale’s presence?
Several moments passed after Arran walked away before Dale rolled off her. Aisley rose up on her elbows. “What now?”
“They have Jordan,” Dale said.
“Will he talk?”
Dale shrugged and stayed on his back with his gaze to the sky. “I knew there would be other Warriors from MacLeod Castle here, but I didna expect so many.”
“You an
d Jason keep underestimating them. It’ll get you both killed.”
Dale turned his head to look at her. “You as well when they discover who you are. And you know it’s just a matter of time before they do.”
“So why save me?”
“Because I like you,” he said with a shrug.
Aisley rose up to hesitantly look over the grass. “They have Jordan surrounded. It looks like they’re questioning him.”
“Where is Ronnie and the other female?”
“I don’t see either.”
“She’s no’ far,” Dale said after a moment. “We have one more shot to get her.”
“I saw what Arran did to one of you tonight. Do you want him to do the same to you? Because he will. He’ll do that to anyone who threatens Ronnie.”
“What’s so special about her?” Dale asked, confusion marring his face.
Aisley picked a piece of grass from Dale’s goatee. “He’s in love with her.”
“You can hide her from him.”
Aisley looked at her hands and felt the magic within her. It had always been powerful, but that was nothing compared to what flowed within her now.
Black magic. Dark magic.
Either way, it was evil.
And so was she.
“Jason will kill you if we fail. We have no choice but to get her,” she said.
Dale gave a nod and got to his feet. “We’re far enough away from the magic of the dig that I should be able to locate Ronnie.”
Aisley closed her eyes as Dale moved away. Every day her soul grew blacker and blacker. She wasn’t sure why she continued to fight it. She was bound for Hell anyway after performing the drough ceremony.
But she hated who she was, despised who she had become. All because she’d been too weak to say no.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-THREE
Ronnie was in shock. She knew it, but couldn’t pull herself out of it.
She’d woken out of a troubled sleep to the sound of a roar. A Warrior’s roar. It had been joined by others, and she had instinctively known it hadn’t been Arran or his friends.
For long moments she’d sat on her cot and listened to the sounds of battle. It wasn’t until she heard Arran’s bellow of pain that she’d rushed out of her tent.
She’d stared in fascination, and a fair amount of fear, as the man who had made such sweet love to her literally tore apart the other Warrior.
When Arran coldly cut off the Warrior’s head, she found herself glad he did. She inwardly rejoiced, and that made her sick at herself. What kind of person was she that she’d cheered another’s death?
It’s not the person she was, or was it? Was that what happened to someone who had their life threatened? Did a person forget who they really were when evil tracked them?
Or was this new person she’d become always there and she hadn’t known it?
Ronnie hadn’t been able to look Arran in the eye. Not because of what he’d done, but because of what she’d done. He had been protecting her, just as he’d vowed to do.
The joy inside her at the death of a man, even an evil man, made her realize she didn’t know who she was. And if she didn’t know who she was, how could Arran?
So she’d walked away from him.
Ronnie had seen Andy quickly getting everyone away from the site, and so she followed him. She hadn’t gotten far before a Warrior found her.
His hold had been so tight and powerful that no amount of wiggling or punching affected him. Arran had that kind of power, but never once had he used it on her. He’d been kind and gentle, even when she opened the chamber and released something deadly into the world.
Or when she told him to leave.
He had stolen from her, but she wasn’t angry about the thefts. She was hurt that he would do that to her.
It didn’t take her long to realize that the Warrior who had her wasn’t going to let her go. And since she’d walked away from Arran, no one knew what had become of her.
And then, suddenly, Arran was there.
He spun the Warrior away from her and tossed him to the ground as if he were nothing more than a bag of leaves. Pain ripped up her arm, and Ronnie looked down to see a gash that ran the length of her forearm.
She hastily put pressure on it, dimly aware that another Warrior had joined Arran. Soft hands touched Ronnie’s shoulder, but she was so close to passing out from the alarm and pain that she couldn’t focus her eyes.
There was so much she wanted to say to Arran. And she wanted to feel his arms around her again. She wanted his comfort, his steady hands to soothe her and tell her everything was going to be all right. No matter how she tried to get the words past her lips, nothing worked.
“I’m Larena,” said a woman near her.
Ronnie swayed, but arms she couldn’t see caught her.
“Oh, my. Maybe I shouldn’t have sent the men away. Ronnie, you need to listen carefully.”
Ronnie swallowed and struggled to keep her breathing even. She could no longer feel her fingers, and even though she kept pressure on the wound, blood still flowed thick down her arm to drip from her fingers.
“I’m Larena,” the woman repeated. “I’m a female Warrior.”
The invisible one. Ronnie tried to say the words, but it was too difficult.
“I’m invisible right now because of my power,” Larena whispered, and turned Ronnie toward the vehicles. “Can you get to the cars? Any car?”
Ronnie took a hesitant step, and then another. She managed two more before her legs gave out.
“I’ve got you,” Larena said, catching her before she hit the ground.
Suddenly, Ronnie was picked up and carried. She closed her eyes since it was too difficult to keep them open. No longer could she hear the sounds of battle.
“Arran,” she whispered.
Was it over? Was she safe again?
No sooner had that thought gone through her mind than Larena cried out. And then Ronnie was falling.
She landed hard on the ground with a rock jabbing into her side. Ronnie forced her eyes to open and saw the pale green Warrior punching what looked like air. But his hands were landing against something solid.
Larena.
He extended his claws and was swinging them downward when a shot fired. Something fell in the grass beside Ronnie. A moment later, and she saw Larena’s nude body lying on her side with a bullet in her back.
“Why did you do that?” Dale demanded of someone.
“The X90 will kill her just as surely as you beheading her,” said a woman.
Ronnie grabbed a handful of grass and tried to pull herself away. They had killed Larena. All because Larena had been helping her.
A pair of boots stepped in front of Ronnie’s face.
“We’ve finally got you,” said the woman.
Ronnie looked up to see a woman with cold eyes and black hair pulled back in a ponytail before she passed out.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FOUR
Arran’s patience deserted him when the Warriors had thought to come for Ronnie again. The fact that the Warrior they captured refused to tell them anything only made Arran’s frustration grow.
“Easy,” Fallon said. “We need information from him.”
Logan stood off to the side with Gwynn behind him. Logan made sure to keep between Gwynn and the unwelcome Warrior. Not that Arran blamed him. Logan was protecting his woman.
The only other one there who had someone to worry about was Fallon, but everyone knew Larena could take care of herself. With her power of invisibility, she was the one least likely to be injured.
“Just tell us what we want to know,” Quinn told the Warrior.
Arran still hadn’t tamped down his god. Malcolm and Phelan also kept their gods unbound, but no one seemed surprised. Arran wanted to be the one to hold the Warrior along with Ian, but Fallon had Hayden do the honors instead.
The talking wasn’t enough for Arran. He needed answers, answers the Warrior wasn’t
providing them.
Lucan narrowed his gaze on Arran. Arran knew his anger was there for all to see. It was a living, breathing thing inside him, but there was nothing he could do to shut it off.
He feared it would never shut off again until Ronnie was in his arms once more.
“I’m no’ telling you anything,” the Warrior said to Quinn. “I couldna even if I wanted to.”
“What do you mean?” Galen asked.
The Warrior cackled. “It was made clear that if I told anyone who unbound my god, something awful would happen.”
Broc snorted. “You’re a Warrior. You have power, strength, and speed. Why are you answering to anyone but yourself?”
“You answer to the MacLeod.”
Broc crossed his arms over his chest and glanced at Fallon. “He might be leader of us, but in the end, I answer to myself. I stay with the MacLeods because they are family.”
“Say what you want.” The Warrior smirked and turned his gaze to Arran. “There’s nothing you can do that will keep us from getting the Druid. Nothing.”
Arran had heard enough. He lunged for the Warrior, only to be brought up short by Lucan and Charon, who held him back.
“This willna solve anything,” Lucan said.
Arran growled, his anger festering the longer his enemy continued to smile. “I willna allow them near her.”
“There’s another way,” Charon whispered.
Arran paused and looked at the man he had hated for so long. There was a calculating gleam in Charon’s dark gaze, one that Arran recognized all too well.
He relaxed, and they released him. Arran turned his attention to the prisoner.
“Whoever made you must have great power,” Charon said to the Warrior.
The Warrior shrugged as best he could, considering Hayden and Ian held him by his arms. “Oh, aye. He does.”
“He,” Logan said with a sly grin.
The Warrior’s grin faded. “What of it?”
Charon walked in front of the Warrior and then turned and did it again. “Does this Druid have many Warriors?”