Midnight's Seduction

by Donna Grant

  “Aye,” Larena and Reaghan said in unison.

  “Then let’s go,” Fallon said.

  Camdyn managed to maneuver himself into the second group with Saffron. He didn’t wonder why or question the urgent and overpowering need that filled him to protect her. He just did it.

  He inhaled, and before he could release the breath they were at the Ring of Brodgar. True to his word Fallon had jumped them to a stone near the ring.

  Camdyn and the other Warriors circled the Druids as they awaited Fallon to return with the last group. When he did, they turned as one to stare at the sky where the sun was sinking.

  “Orion will rise there,” Saffron said, and pointed to the sky.

  Reaghan smiled and nodded. “Exactly. How did you know?”

  Saffron shrugged. “I used to study the stars.”

  More and more about Saffron intrigued Camdyn, which was a very dangerous thing. He and the others kept a wary eye on the surrounding landscape with their enhanced sight and hearing while the Druids waited for the stars and moon to light the way.

  The longer they stood out in the open, the antsier the Warriors grew. Camdyn knew they needed to get underground soon. He could practically feel that danger was on its way.

  “We need to hurry,” Broc muttered. His obvious wariness showed by the way his gaze darted around. “Deirdre must have left Cairn Toul after I checked on her last time because she’s nearly here.”

  Camdyn growled and released his god just when the others did. He saw the surprise in Saffron’s eyes as she caught a glimpse of him.

  He knew what he looked like. He’d seen himself in the mirror. The fangs could be a lot to take in, but the claws were more than off-putting. Then there was the color each god favored.

  For Sculel, the god inside Camdyn, it was a deep, rich brown. The same brown as well-tilled earth. As Saffron’s gaze caught his, her eyes widened a fraction. He wanted to ask her if he frightened her the way the brown filled his entire eye, from corner to corner, even coloring the whites. It was the same for all Warriors and the color their god chose.

  The tension inside him loosened a tad when Saffron offered a shaky smile. If she was frightened, she hid it well, but she would have to get used to their appearance since it was better for all if their gods were unbound.

  “I see movement to the west,” Logan whispered.

  After a moment, Quinn’s voice was full of contempt as he answered, “It’s wyrran.”

  Camdyn smiled. It had been too long since he’d killed wyrran. His claws were eager to rip their heads off their skinny bodies, ready to remove that bit of evil from the world.

  “Here it comes,” Reaghan said.

  Camdyn turned to see the sky darken enough so that the three stars in a line, Orion’s Belt, could be seen by all. It appeared directly over the second standing stone on the peninsula.

  “We wait for the moon now,” Saffron said.

  Clouds obscured the light of the moon, and with each second, the wyrran were gaining on them. Their shrieks filled the air, causing the Druids to flinch and the Warriors to flex their claws in anticipation.

  “We’re no’ going to make it in time,” Camdyn said as he crouched down in front of Saffron, ready to take out the wyrran heading his way.

  Beside him Hayden grunted. “Doona let the little buggers touch any of our Druids.”

  Saffron’s head whipped around as she heard a dangerous growl near her and realized it was Camdyn. She’d wondered what he looked like with his god unbound, and all her imaginings hadn’t prepared her for the amazing and fearsome and impressive sight of him.

  She wasn’t afraid for herself. She knew none of the Warriors there would harm her, yet even getting a glimpse of Broc before hadn’t prepared her for what the sight of Camdyn in Warrior form would do to her.

  Her heart raced, her blood pumped loudly in her ears. There was power within him, power and domination. Authority no one would dare take from him.

  Supremacy no one could deny.

  And it thrilled her that she was a part of it all, a part of something to do with Camdyn.

  She gasped when he leaped away from her and landed atop a diminutive yellow creature that let out a shriek, which had her covering her ears. Soon all the Warriors were fighting the wyrran in a battle full of roars, growls, and pure dominance by the Warriors.

  Saffron didn’t think the clouds would ever move from over the moon, and when they did, it gave them the briefest of moments to see where their path lay.

  She and Reaghan gripped hands as they watched the moon’s bright light touch first the Comet Stone before it shed a path from the Comet Stone to the Ring of Brodgar.

  Upon the Comet Stone, lit only by the light of the moon, was a double spiral which looked like an S lying on its side. Saffron watched the double spiral grow brighter and brighter.

  “That’s where we need to be,” Reaghan said. “The Comet Stone. The doorway is there.”

  Saffron started to follow the others as they ran to the Comet Stone, but she looked back to see Camdyn fighting five wyrran. His shirt was cut in five long rows across his chest, and she was sure there was blood as well.

  “Aren’t you going to help him?” she asked Ian.

  Ian laughed, his hand holding on to Dani tightly. “Camdyn doesna need my help.”

  Sure enough, by the time she looked back at him, Camdyn had killed all five.

  “What are you waiting for, woman?” Camdyn demanded as he ran toward her and took her arm to pull her after him.

  They flew over the ground so quickly her feet barely touched earth. Exhilaration filled Saffron as they raced toward the Comet Stone. Until she skidded to a halt and saw where Reaghan had placed her hand over the double spiral and the earth suddenly gave way, opening a large section in front of the stone.

  The others soon disappeared into the earth. Into the dark.

  The very thing she feared more than anything.

  CHAPTER

  SIXTEEN

  Camdyn cleaved the head off the last wyrran he’d been fighting while his friends filed into the opening, and smiled as the body hit the ground. He glanced up when he heard shrieks. More were coming.

  He turned to find Lucan, Hayden, and Arran trying desperately to get Saffron to go into the tunnel that had opened before the Comet Stone.

  “We doona have time for this,” Hayden said as a ball of fire erupted in his hand and he threw it at a wyrran racing toward them.

  The wyrran erupted in flames, its screams echoing around the peninsula.

  “I can’t,” Saffron said, and jerked out of Arran’s hold.

  Camdyn let out a roar when he saw the way Arran roughly gripped Saffron’s arm. He pushed his friend away from Saffron and glared at Arran.

  Arran threw up his hands. The white skin of his god glowed in the moonlight. “Then you handle her,” he ground out.

  Before Camdyn could turn back to Saffron, Arran cursed and shot a ball of ice at an approaching wyrran, knocking its head clean off.

  Camdyn faced Saffron and took note of her wild eyes and rapid breathing. “You willna be alone down there.”

  “I wasn’t alone before,” she muttered.

  Not for the first time Camdyn wondered what Declan had done to her, but it would have to wait. For now, he needed to get her below before the wyrran got her.

  Camdyn gripped her shoulders and gave her a slight shake. “Saffron, we need to get in there to awaken Laria.”

  “It’s beneath the earth.” Her tawny eyes met his, and she didn’t try to hide her fear.

  “Bloody hell,” Lucan called as he drew upon his power to control shadows and darkness. The shadows covered him, concealing him from the wyrran. “The door is closing!”

  Camdyn glanced to see that indeed the doorway into the labyrinth was closing. “Everyone needs you, Saffron. Please. I give you my oath as a Highlander and a Warrior, that I willna let anything harm you down there.”

  She brushed away a lone tear that seepe
d from the corner of her eye and gave a single nod. Camdyn didn’t wait for more. He lifted her in his arms and used his incredible speed to get inside the tunnel.

  A second later, Lucan, Hayden, and Arran were right behind him. The sound of the stone door closing was a loud boom belowground. The Druids winced at the screeches of anger from the wyrran above them.

  “Deirdre is here,” Broc suddenly said. “She saw where we entered, but it willna take her long to realize she can no’ get to us.”

  Fallon asked, “And Declan? Do you know where he is?”

  “Nay,” Broc answered. “He’s using his magic to obscure himself. That’s the only explanation.”

  “Ah, not to be a girl or anything, but I’d really like to be able to see,” Gwynn said into the silence.

  To his relief, Camdyn heard Saffron chuckle along with the others at Gwynn’s comment.

  “Never let it be said I doona bow to the wishes of my woman,” Logan said as he nudged Hayden. “Give us some light.”

  Camdyn knew the Warriors could have guided the Druids effortlessly through the labyrinth with their ability to see in the dark, but it was probably better for all if everyone could see.

  Hayden lifted his hand above his head and a flame suddenly appeared. The yellow-orange glow danced upon the red skin of Hayden’s Warrior and the small, red horns that appeared at the top of his head through his blond hair.

  Broc had tamped down his god because the ceiling of the labyrinth was too low and his wings kept scraping against them, and one by one the others did the same.

  “What now?” Ian asked.

  Fallon walked through their group until he stood in front of Ramsey. “You said there would be a male Druid from the Torrichilty Forest.”

  “So I did,” Ramsey replied with a small lift of his chin. “I didna lie, Fallon.”

  “I doona see anyone else.”

  “You’re looking at your male Druid.”

  Camdyn could only blink, he was so taken aback. It had never dawned on him that a Warrior could also be part Druid. Why hadn’t Ramsey said anything before?

  “As I thought,” Larena said with a smile.

  Fallon grinned and held out his arm to Ramsey. They clasped each other’s forearms. “I wish you would have trusted us enough to tell us sooner.”

  “I didna want Deirdre to know,” Ramsey said by way of explanation.

  “Holy hell,” Quinn muttered. “How did you keep that from Deirdre all these centuries, Ramsey?”

  Ramsey, always a man of few words, shrugged. “It wasna easy.”

  “We can discuss this later,” Reaghan said. “Right now we need to determine which way to go.”

  Camdyn peered through the others to see that they were indeed at a crossroads. There was a huge wall that rose up above them into the earth. On either side was a corridor for them to choose.

  “I doona suppose you could have a vision to steer us in the right direction, could you?” Camdyn whispered to Saffron.

  She stiffly shook her head. “Not once have I ever had a vision that involved my fate. I doubt that would cease now.”

  “Aye,” he muttered dejectedly.

  Nothing was ever easy, and Camdyn had a sneaking suspicion that it was going to cost all of them a lot more than they expected just to get to Laria.

  * * *

  Charon sat in a corner of his pub, his hand around an untouched pint of ale. He’d returned to his village to discover the wyrran hadn’t come back.

  And neither had Deirdre.

  He had almost driven back to the MacLeods. Almost. But in the end, he knew his place was here, with his people. They were powerless to protect themselves from wyrran or even Druid magic. Charon had sworn to defend them four hundred years ago. He wouldn’t abandon them now.

  A sputter of something magical, something urgent, raced along his skin. His god, Ranmond, answered with a roar that nearly tore from Charon’s throat.

  He lifted his head and rose from the table to walk outside. Without knowing how or why, Charon found himself facing north. And he knew without a doubt he needed to go there. Immediately.

  * * *

  Phelan was leaving the theater from seeing his third movie that day. He paused as he glanced up at the sky and the full moon. He’d been in Aberdeen for nearly two weeks and found he quite liked the city.

  He turned and started back toward the small, abandoned house he was using when the force of the magic stopped him in his tracks.

  The urge to go northwest was overwhelming. Crushing. Overpowering.

  Phelan had been on his own so long, had felt so little magic over the past four centuries, that the feel of such strong magic made his skin itch.

  It didn’t hurt. It felt like it did when he was a lad and a wound was beginning to heal and it would itch.

  The more Phelan tried to ignore the pull of the magic, the more it engulfed him. Before he knew it, his feet were taking him to where the magic dictated.

  * * *

  Malcolm stood beside Deirdre overlooking the peninsula where the two stone circles stood. The entire peninsula hummed with magic. Mie magic.

  It raced over his skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps he didn’t try to hide. The appeal of the magic was persuasive. Compelling.

  He wanted to go with the men he had called friends. He yearned to stand by Larena’s side as they awoke Laria. He craved to watch as Deirdre was killed.

  But he could do none of those things.

  Malcolm had promised himself to Deirdre in return for Larena’s safety. He wouldn’t jeopardize that to save his own soul.

  Besides, his soul had been lost long ago.

  “Find where they went,” Deirdre commanded him.

  He turned and raised a blond brow at her, the maroon skin of his god appearing darker in the moonlight. “The wyrran couldna find it and they were right upon the MacLeods, and you want me to find it?”

  “I do not repeat my commands, Malcolm. Do as you’re told.”

  Malcolm clenched his teeth and started walking along the long, thin peninsula. He could barely breathe because of the force of the beautiful, pure, magnificent magic that filled the air.

  He’d been around such magic at MacLeod Castle, but then he’d been mortal and hadn’t felt the magic. The heavy, cloying feel of drough magic made him want to shred his skin from his bones with his own claws.

  But the feel of mie magic … It wouldn’t last long, only until he returned to Deirdre. But he would savor this small piece of heaven, this tiny relief from the hell that was his life.

  The wyrran saw him approach and gathered around him. Malcolm didn’t spare them a glance as he walked past the first ring of standing stones.

  Littered throughout the peninsula were remnants of more stones that had either fallen over or had been knocked down through the centuries. It was a shame. Malcolm would have liked to have seen it when all the stones stood tall and brilliant against the sky.

  By the time he reached the large center stone where the MacLeods and his cousin Larena had disappeared, Malcolm could feel the pulse of magic grow.

  He knelt at the base of the stone and ran his hand over the grass. Nowhere did he see evidence that the ground had been disturbed. Then again, Camdyn’s power was the ability to move the earth. Yet Malcolm had the suspicion this was done by Druid magic, not Warrior power.

  Malcolm lifted his head and looked at the imposing stone before him. The moon had shifted but some of its light still fell upon the stone. And that’s when he saw part of what looked like a spiral.

  “A Celtic symbol,” he muttered as he stood and ran his fingers along the spiral.

  It wasn’t etched in the stone. It was like it appeared only by the light of the moon.

  Malcolm smiled. “Druid magic, of course.”

  He glanced down at his feet again. Somehow the moon upon the stone had allowed the earth to open and the others to enter. But it couldn’t be that simple or anyone could have stumbled upon this earlier.

&n
bsp; Then he remembered how Reaghan had told them she was the key to finding Laria. So it was Reaghan who had opened the doorway.

  “Good luck, my friends,” he whispered to those below him. He couldn’t call out to the MacLeods or any of the other Warriors by name. The wyrran would hear him and report back to Deirdre.

  So he kept his hopes to himself and turned on his heel to run back to Deirdre. As usual he kept all expression from his face.

  It wasn’t that hard to do. He had no feelings inside him. Deirdre had killed all of them when she’d unbound his god.

  CHAPTER

  SEVENTEEN

  Saffron dearly wished she was able to tell the others which way to go, but no matter how hard she tried, no vision came to her.

  It was so frustrating, especially when she knew how desperately they could use the information.

  “Go right,” Reaghan suggested.

  It was Hayden and Isla who were the closest and began to go down the right-hand hallway. The light from Hayden’s fireball showed what looked like holes in the rectangular stones that made up the walls, ceiling, and floor.

  Saffron rose up on her tiptoes and looked over shoulders so she could see what was going on. Fallon and Larena were the next to follow them. Hayden was in front of Isla and walking with slow, measured steps when his foot landed on a stone that cracked beneath his weight.

  The sound was like a shot in the silence.

  “Son of a bitch,” he yelled and grabbed Isla in his arms as he raced back to the crossroads.

  “Hayden,” Isla cried out as she reached over his shoulder and pulled out a small arrow.

  Saffron’s mouth fell open as Hayden turned and she could see a dozen or more poking from his back. Isla began to yank them out, and thankfully Hayden healed almost instantly.

  “No drough blood,” Fallon said as he inspected one of the arrows. “The tip is made of stone, no’ metal.”

  “Which means they booby-trapped this place when they built it,” Gwynn said.