Midnight's Promise (23 page)

“It’s madness,” he whispered. “Madness for you. I tried to deny it, and even tried to run from it. But I can no’. What have you done to me?”

Her lips parted at his words. The honesty reflected in his gaze surprised her. Malcolm had been many things in the short time she’d known him, but the man standing before her now with the raw emotions made her fall a little in love with him.

“Your name, Druid. What is it?”

She blinked back the tears and swallowed. “Evie. Evie Walker.”

“Evie.”

He said the name like a caress. Her knees went weak, and she had to grab his arms to stay upright. The fact both were naked didn’t go unnoticed.

She used the time to run her hands up his chest to revel in his hard muscles. There was the smallest jerk from him when she touched his scarred shoulder.

The skin was smooth there, but also raised and puckered. She then stroked a finger down one of the scars running the length of his side.

He moved so quickly she wasn’t prepared for it. When she next looked up, he had her on the table, one of his arms hooked beneath her knee. She urged him toward her and reached down to grab his engorged staff.

Malcolm almost spilled right then. Her soft hands knew just how to touch him. He hadn’t meant to take her again, but he’d made the mistake of touching her.

He bent and took one of her turgid nipples in his mouth and suckled until she cried out. The harder he sucked, the faster her hands stroked him.

Malcolm found her clit and began to move his thumb back and forth slowly, lightly. Her soft cries grew louder as he felt her body begin to stiffen. But he wasn’t yet ready for her to climax.

He moved to her other nipple and softly bit down as he pushed a finger inside her. Evie moaned and lifted her hips for more.

When he removed his hand, she guided his cock to her curls. Malcolm slid inside with a groan. She was as hot and tight as before. Her slick walls drew him in deep.

Malcolm lifted his head to look down at her heavy-lidded eyes and parted lips. She was stunning all laid out on the table.

He began to move slowly within her, pulling out until the head of him remained before filling her once more. Her soft cries of ecstasy were his undoing. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d given a woman pleasure. It was like there was no one before her, before Evie.

Malcolm straightened and flattened his hand on her stomach as he rotated his hips. Her eyes pinned him, looking deep as if she peered straight into his black soul.

Her other leg came up and wrapped around his waist, urging him faster. He complied, eager to hear his name upon her lips again as she peaked.

The faster he pumped within her, the louder her cries came. Sweat glistened over her skin while his thumb circled her clit. The walls of her sex clamped down, sending his desire spiraling.

Malcolm leaned over and took her lips in a fierce kiss, their tongues moving in time with their bodies. Her nails dug into his back as her legs tightened. He thrust harder, deeper to send them down a chasm of hedonism.

They climaxed together, the pleasure blending and melding until it erupted into a fiery storm of decadence so blinding, so consuming that neither would ever be the same.

Malcolm ended the kiss and looked down at the amazing woman who had touched him like no other. He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of her, but he knew he wasn’t ready to be parted from her just yet.

There was no need for words as he pulled out of her and carried her back to bed. As he lay her down, she took his hand and tugged him beside her. She turned on her side away from him, and Malcolm found himself molding to her back, his arm thrown over her waist.

For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, he smiled.

And then he found sleep pulling at him. He hadn’t done more than rest for a few minutes at a time since becoming a Warrior, yet being with Evie changed everything.

Malcolm didn’t fight the sleep. He let his eyes fall closed as he held Evie in his arms.

*   *   *

Evie struggled to remain awake for the next two hours. Malcolm had rolled onto his back and was lightly snoring. It was the only way she knew for sure that he was asleep.

It was the only reason she got out of bed once more and hurried back into the dining room to dress. Since the rain was still falling, she looked in the coat closet and found a rain jacket and boots.

She paused at the back door and looked down the hallway to where Malcolm slept. Hopefully she would be back before he woke and she wouldn’t have to tell him anything.

Evie quietly closed the door behind her and pulled up the hood on her jacket before she started toward the stones. They hadn’t stopped calling to her since she’d arrived.

She slipped on the wet ground as she started down the hill and lost her footing. Evie landed hard on her bum and slid all the way to the bottom.

“Well, that’s one way of getting down,” she said as she stood and shifted in her wet and muddy jeans. “Ugh.”

Evie forgot about her jeans as she ran to the standing stones. Once she reached them, she placed her hand on one and sighed.

“I’m here.”

She’d forgotten to look at the spell again, and her phone was back at the house. Evie dropped her forehead and wanted to scream in frustration.

“We know it,”
the standing stones said.

Evie’s head jerked up. “Tell me then, please.”

“Come insssside the ring.”

She didn’t hesitate to do as they asked. The stones had never lied or led her astray before. There was no reason for her not to trust them.

Malcolm hadn’t seemed to like them, however. Then again, he hadn’t liked Cairn Toul either. With that, she didn’t give it another thought.

The rain came down in torrents and lightning was her only source of light. She sighed when, in a bright array, lightning forked across the sky and showed her the circle was made up of two rings of stones.

Evie walked through the first ring. The second ring of stones stood closer together. She paused beside one and placed her hand upon it. It vibrated slightly. She tried another stone to find it did the same.

She looked up, blinking through the rain and wished she could see the stones in the daylight. Then she laughed at herself.

“I’m a Druid. I have magic.”

Evie walked through the second ring of stones and used her magic to create small fires in between each of the stones in the outer ring.

She gasped when she saw the sheer size of the megaliths. They were enormous, towering over her as if she were no taller than an ant.

All over the stones were Celtic symbols carved into them. The second ring of stones stood a little over five feet apart. When she looked in the middle of the ring she found a large flat stone set atop a wide boulder on one side.

On the other was a long, skinny megalith that looked as if it had been purposefully laid flat.

Evie walked into the middle and closed her eyes. She could imagine the Druids who had once stood where she was. How many hundreds of years had Druids touched these very stones?

Now, she was one of them.

“I was never alone, was I?”

“Nay. We are alwayssss with you, Druid.”

If only she’d known this before she put up that damned site. But the entire site was coming down as soon as she could get to a computer. It had caused her enough grief.

“What do I do?”

“Kneel before the small altar.”

Evie walked to the stone that was laid flat and knelt before it. Upon closer inspection she noticed that the megalith wasn’t smooth like the others, but was conclave with more symbols etched into it.

Except these symbols weren’t any that Evie recognized. She ran her hand along the stone and felt a jolt of magic go through her. She jerked her hand back, fear replacing her enthusiasm.

“Thisssss is ancient black magic, Druid. Proceed with caution.”

“Good to know,” she said sarcastically.

Why they couldn’t have told her that before, she wasn’t sure. Then again, she should’ve been smart enough to know to be careful with any kind of black magic.

“Now what?”

“Repeat after usssssssss…”

Evie began the spell, and with each word the air grew heavy, the pressure around her forcing her down. She felt as if it pressed upon her body, making it impossible for her to rise from her knees.

She struggled to breathe, and the words grew more and more difficult to say. Evie had to place her hands on the ground just to remain upright.

“I can’t finish,” she said when she realized the wind and rain were howling around her as fiercely as a tornado.

“Finish it!”
the stones demanded.

Evie wasn’t sure if she should. Then an image of Brian flashed in her mind, and she knew she’d do whatever it took to get him back.

She took a deep breath and repeated the words the stones told her. There were six more lines she said before she felt something in her hand and looked down to find a dagger.

The handle was made of onyx, and the blade was long and curved. Fear began to build because she knew she hadn’t held a weapon before she walked into the circles.

“Slice both wrists and hold them over the altar. Five drops from each must touch the stone.”

Evie rose up on her knees and held her left arm over the altar with the blade against her skin. “I willingly give my soul for black magic.”

She sliced her wrist and counted the five drops before she switched the weapon to her other hand.

*   *   *

Malcolm shot out of the bed as he felt the
drough
magic begin to rise up. He knew without looking that Evie wasn’t in the bed with him.

He raced from the house toward the feel of the black magic. With every step he prayed that Wallace hadn’t gotten to Evie.

Because both Evie’s magic and the
drough
magic were coming from the standing stones.

He released his god as he approached the circle. With a roar, he jumped over the two circles of stones to land in the middle. When he stood, he found Evie kneeling before an altar as she cut her wrist.

For a second, he stood rooted to the spot. She was becoming
drough
. Why would she willingly give up her soul? What would push her to do something so violent after she swore to him she wasn’t Deirdre, wasn’t evil?

Malcolm didn’t know whether to stop her or allow her to continue. He didn’t have all the facts. If he stopped her, he didn’t know what could happen. If he didn’t stop her, he knew exactly what he could be forced to do.

A
drough
with the same magic as Deirdre, living in Cairn Toul? The coincidences were too great to ignore.

Evie had freely given her body to him, eagerly plunged into the bliss of their lovemaking. All the while knowing she was coming to do the spell.

“Nay!” he bellowed and raced toward her.

Malcolm tried to grab the last drop of blood before it hit the altar, but the wind and rain made it impossible. He clenched his teeth and raged as the black smoke rose from the stone and started for Evie.

He wrapped an arm around her stomach and tossed her away from the smoke as an evil laugh reverberated through the megaliths.

Malcolm rose to his feet and stalked toward Evie who backed away on her hands and bottom until she hit a stone. She used the stone to gain her feet.

“Why?” Malcolm yelled. “Why did you do it?”

“Because I must!” she shouted over the rain. She pushed back the hood of her jacket and wiped at her face.

“You didna need to become
drough
. All you had to do was ask me!”

She blinked, her face going pale. “You weren’t there. I had to make decisions on my own!”

“You’re a
drough
now! I was here, Evie. All you had to do was talk to me.”

Her face crumpled. “No one else will suffer for what I did to put us in this situation.”

“You can no’ possibly comprehend what you’ve done. What do you think that black smoke was? It was Satan, and you’ve given him your blood—and your soul. He owns you now.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN

Malcolm watched Evie slide down the stone to slump on the ground. He tamped down his god and fell to his knees beside her.

“Why?” he asked her again.

Her throat moved as she swallowed. “They kidnapped Brian. This was my only choice so that no one else was harmed.”

“Nay. Only you’ve lost your soul.”

He wanted to get the information out of her right then. Malcolm sighed. He knew all about doing awful things in order to save family.

The label of murderer and betrayer was his to shoulder for eternity because he had protected Larena. How could he fault Evie for doing something for her brother?

Malcolm’s skin sizzled as magic began to gather. It wasn’t Evie, so that left the stone circle. They weren’t happy he’d interfered, though they had gotten what they wanted. Another
drough
.

“Evie, we need to leave this place.”

Her eyes were dilated and unfocused. “I can feel it inside me,” she whispered. “It’s a dark menace, coiling and slithering through me.”

Malcolm should be repulsed by her now being
drough
. Instead, all he wanted to do was help her. There would be no getting through to her now, however. Malcolm gathered her in his arms and stalked from the circle, daring the stones to do anything.

Once inside the house, he set Evie on her feet by the back door and stripped off her clothes. Just before he wrapped the blanket around her, he noticed the necklace that had been hidden beneath her clothes. It looked old, ancient even. He pushed it from his mind and wrapped her in the covers before carrying her into the bathroom. After sitting her on the toilet, he turned on the water.

While the tub filled, Malcolm squatted before Evie and took one of her hands in his. Her skin was like ice. He rubbed his hands along her arm vigorously, trying not to notice the cuts on her wrists that had already stopped bleeding.

As soon as the water was high enough, Malcolm shoved aside the blanket and lowered Evie into the water. He sat there feeling helpless and useless as she tried to wrap her head around what she had become.