Darkest Flame (7 page)

As dawn came, he entered her room expecting her to wake. Instead, he found her in the throes of a dream, and not a good one by the way she jerked and cried out.

Kellan went to her, ready to wake her, when she went still. He halted, then retraced his steps and took the same seat as the night before, not wanting to disturb her.

As hard as he tried to look away, his gaze was drawn to the long length of her thick brown hair that was streaked with copper as it flowed over her pillow.

When she had taken down her hair the night before and he had seen it fall around her in a curtain, Kellan had the urge to run his fingers through it. It was longer than he had expected, falling midway down her back, glossy and straight.

Rays of sunlight streamed through the windows. Once Denae had eaten, Kellan would begin to pull information from her. Con wanted him to use any means necessary.

Kellan hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Being close to her was a test he didn’t want to put himself through. There hadn’t been time for him to find a willing bed partner in the few hours since he had woken, but he needed to do it soon.

Things were getting drastic if Denae tempted him as she did. Even now, when he saw her leg peek out of the covers, he had the insane need to run his fingers along her skin, to push the blanket away so he could see more of her.

Kellan was jerked out of his musings by a distressed moan. Once more Denae was caught in a dream. She became tangled in the sheets, her words garbled so he didn’t understand them.

“Renee!” she screamed and then her eyes flew open.

He remained still, not wanting to spook her.

After a moment, Denae let out a breath as her face crumpled. She covered her face with her hands, but no sobs could be heard, and there didn’t seem to be any tears. Then she slowly sat up and ran a hand through her long tresses, moving the strands so that they hung to one side.

Her hand lifted and reached for the bottle of medicine. Kellan knew there was some drug called codeine in the pills that would diminish the pain. Yet, Denae’s hand hovered over the bottle for several seconds, shaking, before she dropped her hand to her leg.

Suddenly her head lifted and she looked at him. Kellan didn’t say anything, mostly because he wasn’t sure what he should say. Obviously Denae was struggling with pain, and there had to be a good reason for her not to take the pills.

“Do you often have nightmares?”

She drew in a shaky breath. “They return when I’m stressed.”

Kellan watched her closely as he asked, “Who’s Renee?”

“My sister.” Denae’s eyes slid closed as she swallowed. “She died because of me.”

When her eyes opened, Kellan held her gaze, waiting for her to continue. He hadn’t expected her to open up, but now that she had, he wanted to know why she blamed herself for her sister’s death.

“Renee was just a year older, and we were close. She had been dating an older boy in secret from my parents. Everything was going well until it suddenly wasn’t. She suggested we go to the beach one afternoon where she told me she called things off with the guy but he wouldn’t leave her alone.”

He remained still as Denae lightly placed her hand over her wound and took a deep breath.

“I thought she was joking. I had no idea the guy had turned into a stalker and followed us. She was such a strong swimmer, stronger than I was. But when she wouldn’t take him back, he drowned her. I can still hear her screaming my name while I stood in line for ice cream.”

“How old were you?”

She blinked as if pulling herself out of her memories. “Fourteen.”

“Where were your parents?”

“They were walking along the beach.”

He couldn’t believe he was about to comfort her—a mortal. Kellan looked into her eyes and said, “It’s no more their fault than it is yours.”

“Perhaps,” she replied in a whisper.

“Would you like some food?” he asked to break the silence.

Her shoulders sagged as if a great weight had been lifted. “That would be nice.”

“I’ll see it done.” Kellan stood and walked to the door. He paused as he opened it. “You may no’ like to hear this, but you’re weak. If you need help, doona be foolish and no’ ask for it.”

“You want me to ask you?” she asked with suspicion.

He looked into her whisky-colored eyes and wished to hell she didn’t look so good rumpled from sleep, as if she had spent a night being made love to.

His need was great, and she was looking more tempting and alluring the more he was around her. It had to be just his body’s need for release and nothing more. Kellan fisted his hand as he imagined sliding it through the cool locks of her hair so he could hold her head as he plundered her mouth in a savage kiss.

“Me or someone else,” he said after he cleared his throat. “I can have Cassie come up if you like.”

“I’ll manage on my own.”

She was as stubborn as they came. Despite trying to look away, he couldn’t stop his gaze from sliding up her long, lean legs as she stood, or from watching the way the shorts stopped just short of him seeing the delectable bottom curve of her ass.

His gaze continued up to the shirt that hung loose, hiding her hips and waist from him, but there was no hiding the soft bounce of her breasts or the way her nipples were puckered and pushing against the fabric.

With his body already in need, his cock was hard and aching in an instant. The overwhelming, devastating craving to relieve his need was magnified tenfold just by looking at Denae.

Long slim fingers grabbed ahold of the bathroom door, and her whisky gaze turned to him. “I didn’t lie last night. I can take a lot of pain. You can leave me alone for a little while.”

Damn if his body wasn’t fighting him to go to her. It was infuriating, even if he knew it was just the fact that she was a female in close proximity to a man who desperately needed to ease his body. He didn’t want to be attracted to her, no matter what the reasoning.

Kellan left the room and shut the door behind him before the head between his legs ruled him instead of the head atop his body.

“How is she?” Rhys asked as he ascended the last few stairs to the second-floor landing.

Kellan couldn’t get the image of her breasts swaying beneath her shirt out of his head. How easy it would be to rip that flimsy shirt in half and feast his eyes upon her.

He also couldn’t stop thinking of her story about Renee. There had been true remorse and guilt in her eyes. The pain of her sister’s death haunted her.

“Kellan?”

He inwardly shook himself and looked at Rhys. “She’s hungry. I need to get her a tray of food.”

Rhys narrowed his aqua eyes on him. “Let Kiril bring her the food. I think I should drive you to Inverness.”

“Con wants me to get close to her.” Though Kellan wanted to be anywhere but there. A ride to Inverness sounded great, especially because it would get him farther from Denae, but also because he could find a willing woman to slake his lust on.

“Does Con know you’re barely holding it together?”

Kellan briefly squeezed his eyes shut. “I suspect he does. I also suspect he’s doing it on purpose because I’ve been asleep so long.” Kellan didn’t bother to say the third reason, the main reason he had decided to sleep—the one only Con knew.

“He can be an arse,” Rhys stated flatly. “I wouldna put either past him. None of us begrudged you your sleep. Return now. I’ll see to Denae.”

Without a doubt Rhys would do exactly as he claimed. It was Kellan’s way out of all of it. Con might be the King of Kings, but that didn’t mean he controlled the Dragon Kings.

So if Rhys was giving him the excuse to leave as he wanted, why then wasn’t Kellan taking it?

All of a sudden, the image of Denae’s hand shaking over the medicine bottle flashed in his mind. There was much the female was hiding. It could be something to harm the Kings, in which case Kellan couldn’t return to his sleep.

At least that was what he told himself.

“No’ yet,” he said to Rhys. “I want to get to the bottom of all of this.”

“Has Con filled you in on everything?”

“Last night,” Kellan said. “It’s quite a story how the women came to be mated with Hal, Guy, and Banan. The Silvers really moved?”

Rhys nodded woodenly. “We’ve still no’ uncovered how or why.”

“And the Warriors.” Kellan had soaked up all the information on the Warriors and Druids of MacLeod Castle and their many battles with the evil Druids, or
droughs
. “Con actually told the Warriors what we are. And he fought beside them.”

Rhys smiled widely as he stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “Kellan, it felt wonderful to fight again. Besides, Charon and Phelan are good men. You’d like them, I think.”

“So much has changed.”

“And so much hasna,” Rhys said softly. “We still wait until nightfall to take to the skies. Sometimes if the storm is intense enough we can fly during the day. We’re no’ free.”

Kellan scratched at his chin and felt the whiskers growing. “We’ve no’ been free since the humans arrived, my friend.”

“I’ve missed you. I know it was your hatred of the mortals that kept you sleeping so long, but it’s good to have you back.”

His words eased Kellan somewhat and he forced his lips into some semblance of a smile. “It’s good to see you again, too. Doona tell Con, but I’ve missed walking around this place.”

Rhys laughed loudly. “Anything to put a knot in Con’s knickers.”

Kellan found himself freely grinning. Rhys never failed to irritate Con one way or another. “How many of us are awake now?”

“About a third. Most took one look around and returned to their caves. The others are a bit more curious. We took turns through the centuries keeping up your work, but since we’re no’ official Keepers of the History, it might no’ be all there.”

At the mention of the history of the Dragon Kings, Kellan pushed away from the door and started for the stairs. As Keeper, he didn’t need to be at an event to record it. It showed in his head much like the movies that were so popular. They continued even while he slept away the centuries. All he had to do was record them now.

At one time being Keeper of the History had been something Kellan had been proud of. That wasn’t the case anymore. He turned his mind away from then when he heard something hit the shower wall. “Listen in case Denae falls. She’s stubborn.”

It took ten minutes for Kellan to find Cassie downstairs and then make his way back to Denae. As he neared her room, he found the door cracked with Rhys nowhere in sight.

Then he heard Denae’s laugh and Rhys’s voice. Kellan pushed the door open to find the pair at the window looking out.

“The sheep are climbing over each other,” Denae said in awe as she laughed.

Rhys leaned a forearm against the wall. “They tend to do that sometimes. The sheepdogs run along their backs, especially when the sheep are penned as they are now.”

“The sheep aren’t being slaughtered, are they?”

Rhys’s laugh was long and deep. “Nay, lass. They’re being sheared.”

“But you do slaughter them here,” she said as she turned her head to him.

“A few. Mostly we sell them. They’re loaded onto a truck and shipped off.”

“Will you bring them all in? I see some far off in the distance that look like little white specks.”

Rhys turned his head and spotted Kellan. “Aye,” he answered Denae. “I think my time here is done.”

“Done?” she asked and turned to see where he was looking.

As soon as her gaze locked with his, Kellan felt his blood heat. Her hair was still loose, beckoning him to touch it—to touch her.

Rhys cleared his throat into the silence. “Uh, Kellan, I told her I’d go see about finding her some clothes. She’s no’ comfortable walking around in…” Rhys pointed to the shorts and shirt on her body. “Well … that.”

Kellan didn’t understand why not. She hadn’t said a word yesterday or earlier about wanting something else to change into. As it was, he wanted out of his shirt, jeans, and boots.

He wanted to be in the clouds, floating upon the currents and looking at the world from high above. He wanted his hands in Denae’s hair, her body beneath him.

He wanted inside her.

Kellan looked away from her to Rhys. “That’s a good idea. I’ll go see about it.”

“Already on it,” Rhys said and hurried out of the room.

Kellan looked at the empty doorway long after Rhys walked out. There was no way he could begin to interrogate Denae until he had his body under control. That much was obviously—painfully—clear.

“Now it’s my turn to ask if I make you uncomfortable,” she said.

“Nay.” It was all he could get out. And he prayed she stayed away from him. He wasn’t sure how much restraint he could maintain if she came near him.

“Dreagan is a beautiful place. I’ve tasted the whisky as well. It’s no wonder y’all have done so well.”

He regarded her, comprehending that she was going somewhere with her talk. “But?”

“But … I get the feeling there is much more to this place. Take you, for example.”

“What about me?” He shouldn’t engage her in such a manner, but he was curious how she saw him.

She licked her lips, bringing his attention to their fullness, their plumpness that begged to be kissed. “You’re different. When I look in your eyes, it’s almost as if … as if I’m looking back in time.”

Kellan knew he couldn’t allow her to go on. He had to turn the tables on her, to get her to talk about anything but how she saw him. It was too dangerous for her—and for him.

He decided to repeat the questions already put to her. Perhaps he would learn something different, because there had to be more. He didn’t want her to be a woman in need of assistance. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could ignore her sweet curves.

Admitting that, even to himself, infuriated him. She was a human. He must remember what they had done to him and his bronze dragons.

“What did you and Matt really think you were going to find here? What did Matt believe would come out once he had you wounded and used as bait?”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Denae wasn’t fooled. Kellan changed the subject because something she said hit a chord. She refused to look away from his celadon gaze as he challenged her with his words.