Midnight's Captive (Dark Warriors) (23 page)

She’d seen how quick and agile he moved when fighting Dale. Before her stood a warrior in the truest sense of the word, a master at battle with the power of a god.

“I’m a Warrior. Ranmond, the god of war, is inside me. He gives me immortality, speed, enhanced senses. And the power to disintegrate anything.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Aiden yelled at Galen and sent a blast of magic against a
drough
going after the Warrior. Aiden stood in front of Britt, protecting her while she huddled against the building. His magic was nothing compared to that of the
droughs
attacking, but he wasn’t going to give up. Only death would bring him to his knees.

“Aiden!” he heard his father shout behind him.

Galen dived to the ground to miss a blast of magic from a
drough
. He came up on Aiden’s right and said, “Get Britt out of here.”

“Nay.” The Warriors were impossibly fast, but they weren’t immune to magic. His father and Galen needed him. “We leave together.”

Galen growled and beheaded a
drough
before the Druid could use her magic.

Aiden couldn’t believe his eyes when Galen jerked and fell to his knees as black magic held him painfully in its grip. Aiden quickly spotted the
drough
responsible and sent several blasts of magic at her.

Her red lips twisted in a sneer right before she turned her magic on him. Aiden deflected her first shot as he saw Galen climb to his feet out of the corner of his eyes. Before Aiden could blink, he was hit a second time by the female the instant two other sets of magic slammed into him.

Aiden bit back his bellow of pain. It took every ounce of strength and his growing fury to keep himself upright as his body spasmed, but at least Galen was back on his feet. Aiden could feel his magic slipping away, being drained by the
droughs
and their too-powerful black magic.

Then he thought of Britt, of his father and Galen, and Aiden pushed aside the agony to focus on his magic pulsing within. He would give them all the time they needed to get free.

Aiden pivoted at the last minute as another blast came at him, and his gaze snagged on a tall woman who stood off to the side, watching. He couldn’t see her face in the shadows, but he knew she was
drough
. Aiden had no idea why she wasn’t fighting alongside the others. If she joined them, he didn’t stand a chance.

But she didn’t.

It was a reprieve, and he wasn’t going to complain.

Aiden kept himself upright by gripping the side of the building while Galen used his speed to rush the
drough
with the bright red lips. Galen was almost upon her when Dale intercepted him. But not before Galen sliced the
drough
down her arm.

The
drough
cried out, and Dale lifted her in his arms and sped away before Galen could finish her off. The other
droughs
were quick to follow, leaving the alley quiet and still once more.

“We need to get you and Britt out of here,” Quinn said as he walked up.

Aiden’s chest heaved from the exertion of battle, and his body was a ball of aches. Yet, he’d never felt more alive than at that moment. His father’s shirt was gone but his wounds were healing, and he had a satisfied grin upon his face.

“You wanted
drough
blood?” Galen asked as he held up his hand, blood dripping from his claws.

Aiden laughed, and then gripped his side, where the magic had pummeled him, as the throbbing reminded him how close he’d come to death.

That smile faded when he remembered Brit and all she had witnessed. Aiden turned to find her eyes wide, staring at all three of them in a combination of shock and alarm.

God only knew what she thought of him now, but Aiden would deal with that later. First, he had to get her out of the alley before the
droughs
returned.

“Britt, this is my father,” Aiden said, and pointed to Quinn. He then jerked his chin to Galen. “And this is Galen. I can explain everything.”

Britt stood and visibly swallowed. “If I’m to sample the blood on Galen’s … claws … I need to do it immediately.”

Aiden would give her credit. She didn’t melt into a puddle of screams as Galen and Quinn stood in their Warrior forms next to him. It was just another reason Aiden found her irresistible.

“Wallace knows what we’ve been doing,” Quinn said, his voice hard with anger. “We can no’ chance returning to the lab now.”

Aiden shook his head. “We can no’ give up on this. We have to finish.”

“I’ve got equipment at my flat,” Britt said.

Galen’s nostrils flared as he exhaled. “No’ safe enough. Wallace will have that watched as well.”

“The hospital,” Britt offered, her hands shaking as she clasped them in front of her. “I can get in there to do some testing.”

Aiden stared at Britt in amazement. She might be traumatized by all she’d witnessed, but she pulled herself together to help him. “We need to get moving, then.”

“We doona have time to walk. We need to use speed. Warrior speed,” Quinn said with a wink to Britt. He then held out his hand. “Shall we, lass?”

Aiden let out a sigh when Britt took his father’s hand and Quinn lifted her in his arms, then ran toward the hospital. Aiden pulled his hand away from his side and looked at the blood coating it

“Oh, shite,” Galen grumbled. “You should’ve told your father.”

Aiden grinned through the pain. Battle was exhilarating, but not when loved ones’ lives were on the line, or when black magic rendered him almost useless. “Britt can give us answers. I can no’.”

“Nay, you imbecile, you’re just his son. Quinn would give his own life for yours.”

“I know.” Aiden leaned his shoulder against the brick of the building and let his eyes close for a second. It was becoming more and more difficult to keep on his feet. “But I’m no’ the one who defeats the evil. It’s you, my father, and the other Warriors.”

Galen let loose a low growl of frustration. “Come. They’ll be waiting on us. You’ll have that seen to when we get there.”

With Galen’s speed, he got them there just as Britt was using a keypad to open the door into the hospital. Aiden leaned against the wall for support, the blood seeping between his fingers now.

Britt winked at him when the door gave a loud beep and opened. He tried to smile, but the world was going black at the edges of his vision.

“Aiden!” Britt yelled.

He wanted to tell her it would be all right, but the darkness already claimed him.

*   *   *

Britt’s hands shook while she took samples of the blood on Galen’s dark green claws as she worried about Aiden. She kept glancing at him, hating how still he lay on the table as his father—father!—cleaned his wound.

“Why didn’t he tell us he was hurt?” she asked.

Quinn tossed aside another towel soaked with blood. “Because he’s as stubborn as his mother.”

“Nay,” Galen said. “He’s like his father.”

Quinn turned green eyes to Galen that were filled with worry. “He’s my only son. I can no’ lose him.”

“Then call Fallon. He can have Sonya here before your next breath.”

Britt listened to them, questions rushing through her mind. Druids, magic. What else was there? It terrified her, but she had come to know Aiden, and her findings on the blood were career changing.

Or they had been. Now she understood why Aiden hadn’t wanted to tell her anything. She wouldn’t have believed him, for one. But seeing for herself tended to alter everything.

Once she had several samples of blood from Galen, he wiped off his claws. The next time she looked, they—along with his fangs, green skin, and freaky eyes—were gone.

“You doona have to be afraid of me,” Galen said gently. “I willna hurt you.”

She nodded jerkily. “Aiden trusts you. So I trust you.”

“He likes you,” Quinn told her. “Aiden, I mean.”

Britt glanced at Aiden. “I like him.”

“I willna let him die,” Quinn stated into the quiet.

Quinn’s promise gave Britt the courage to turn to the microscope. After all she’d witnessed that night, she believed him.

She ran several quick tests on the
drough
blood while Quinn was on the phone with someone named Fallon.

“About time,” Quinn said suddenly.

Britt looked up to see another man in the room. He had deep brown hair, and eyes a shade darker than Aiden’s. What really snagged her attention was the gold torc around his neck so similar to the one Quinn wore.

“This is my brother, Fallon,” Quinn told her. “And this is Sonya.”

Britt was so confused by Fallon’s having gotten into the room without her hearing him that she hadn’t even seen the redhead. She gave a nod to both people, more questions than ever filling her mind.

“Sonya is a Druid with healing magic,” Galen told her.

Britt forgot about the tests she was running and watched as Sonya walked to the table were Aiden lay. The Druid winced and lifted her gaze to Quinn when she saw the wound.

“It’s bad, Quinn. The magic he took was meant to kill. I’m not sure how he survived.”

“He’s a MacLeod,” Quinn said, his eyes never leaving Aiden.

“I’ll do what I can,” Sonya said.

Next, Sonya lifted her hands, palms down, over Aiden’s body. She closed her eyes and whispered words Britt didn’t understand.

Britt couldn’t look away, and a few moments later when the blood from Aiden’s wound began to slow to a trickle, she was glad she hadn’t. During those few minutes, magic had been used. She couldn’t feel it, couldn’t see it, but there was no other explanation.

The waiting became unbearable as she silently urged Aiden to open his eyes and look at her, to give her that charming smile that always made her stomach flutter. The longer he went without moving, the more anxious she became.

She needed something to do to occupy her mind. So, Britt turned back to the microscope.

In between running her tests, Britt would glance over at Aiden. Quinn stood by his son, his gaze never leaving Aiden’s face. Galen and Fallon were like sentries on either side of the door while Sonya continued to use her healing magic.

Magic. Britt had never considered it could really exist before she met Aiden. He’d shown her himself, but the real proof came from the battle she’d witnessed. Was it magic that kept Quinn looking as young as Aiden?

Britt forgot about magic when she put a drop of the
drough
blood into sample C and the sample began to die instantly.

“It’s a good thing he didn’t take that hit directly,” Sonya said, breaking in to Britt’s thoughts.

Britt lifted her head from the microscope and glimpsed Quinn running a hand down his face in a gesture so similar to Aiden’s.

“He shouldna have been here,” Quinn said.

Fallon blew out a harsh breath. “Where would you want him? Hiding with the other Druids? He’s a Highlander, Quinn. You can expect no less of him than what you yourself would do.”

“You didna tell Marcail, did you?” Quinn asked as he looked from Fallon to Sonya.

Sonya shook her head of short red curls. “No, but I will when I return. You’ll face her wrath later.”

“I know.”

Fallon’s dark green gaze turned to her then. “Thank you for helping us, Britt. We’ll keep you safe from Wallace, that I vow.”

Then he laid a hand upon Sonya and they disappeared.

“What the hell was that?” Britt asked, too shocked to move.

Quinn licked his lips before he sank onto a stool beside Aiden. “You saw us tonight, Britt. You saw my skin change, the claws and fangs.”

“And the eyes,” she added.

Galen nodded. “And the eyes. We’re called Warriors. We have primeval gods inside us that grant us immortality.”

“Aiden is my son.” Quinn took a deep breath and slowly released it. “My wife, Marcail, is a Druid, which makes Aiden a Druid as well.”

Britt frowned. “But not a Warrior?”

“No’ as long as Quinn is alive,” Galen answered.

“How is this possible?”

For the next fifteen minutes, she listened to the story of Rome and the Warriors’ creation. She learned of
mies
and
droughs,
and MacLeod Castle. She found out it was a shield of magic surrounding the castle that allowed Aiden to grow up, and then stop aging while he was within the shield.

“So he’ll age if he’s not in the shield,” Britt said.

Quinn nodded. “His mother and I have been verra protective of him. It was his idea to find out why the
drough
blood reacted the way it does to Warriors, and why another Warrior’s blood can combat the
drough
blood.”

Britt pulled out the slide of blood she had been testing. “This is Warrior blood, then? One touch of the
drough
blood, and it destroyed the red and white blood cells.”

“Aye, that’s my blood,” Quinn answered.

Britt set aside the slide and motioned for Galen. He went to her without question, and didn’t so much as flinch when she pricked his finger. Several drops of his blood landed to mix with Quinn’s.

She then hurried to put the slide under the microscope. “Oh, shit,” she mumbled.

Britt looked up from the microscope at Galen and Quinn. “Now that I know what’s really going on, I know what I need to do.”

“We can no’ stay here,” Galen said. “It’ll be only a matter of time before Wallace finds us.”

A ghost of a grin showed on Quinn’s face as he grabbed his phone. “I’ve got an idea.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Charon watched Laura carefully as he paused in his telling of the story. He had waited for her to turn from him, or tell him to stop. But she just returned his look.

“How long were you in Deirdre’s dungeons?”

“Too damn long,” he said, and turned his head to the side. “Time no longer seemed to matter as I had to fight every second of every day from letting Ranmond take over. Hearing him demand blood and death in my head constantly. It would’ve been so easy to give in.”

He expected her to be repulsed by his words. When she met his gaze, he continued. “Deirdre liked to use the threat of harming a Warrior’s family to get him to align with her. When I refused, she tortured me until I forgot the man I was. I let Ranmond take over for just a moment, but it was during that small space in time that she put my father in the dungeon with me.”