Midnight's Promise (6 page)

His gaze slid down her, but no desire flared in his eyes. She should be thankful. Yet all she could do was marvel at the man before her. He stood tall and commanding, large and impressive. His arms hung by his sides, belying the alertness she sensed within him.

He wore the charcoal-gray tee as if it were a second skin. It molded to every hard muscle and valley of his body, making her yearn to tear the shirt off and see him in all his glory.

The dark jeans were still damp from the rain and hung low on his hips. She had the insane urge to ask him to turn around so she could see his bum.

Evie let her gaze rake back up his trim hips to the deep V of his chest, to his impossibly wide shoulders. That’s when she saw more scars half hidden on his neck by his hair and shirt.

He was danger and torment hulking in the doorway with a mouthwatering body and enthralling azure eyes. He was sex in its most primal and untamed form.

And she couldn’t believe he was within reach.

His deep, sultry voice was a weapon on its own, but combined with his eyes and rock-hard body, Evie had to force her mind to remember what they were talking about.

“You asked a question, and I answered. Seems only fair you answer mine,” she said in a voice calmer than she felt as she met his eyes.

The man set her on edge, her body seeming to come alive with him near. It was as if it recognized the very masculine, very dominant man would ease the deep ache within her.

She didn’t know who he was though. For all she knew he could be the one who hacked her site.

And she didn’t care.

He was frightening in the way he stared at her as if she could be the enemy, but he was also exciting and … stirring.

“Nay.”

She swallowed and ignored how tempting his full lips were. “Look. I’m not being unfai—”

“Nay, I doona live here,” he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Evie fiddled with the edge of the blanket. “Oh.”

“Now. How did you know of this place?”

She had never told another soul she was a Druid, and now that the time was upon her, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to talk about it.

“Shall I tell you?” the stranger asked. “You’re a Druid, and you heard the stones.”

It took a moment for Evie to realize her mouth was hanging open she was so shocked. Belatedly, she closed her mouth and dragged in a deep breath. “Are you … are you a Druid?”

“No’ even close.”

“But you know of Druids?”

He gave a single nod.

Evie stopped herself short of rolling her eyes. “Can you tell me what you know of them?”

“You know you’re a Druid and you doona know of them?”

“It’s complicated,” she said with a shrug. “Will you tell me who you are?”

“I’m the worst thing that could’ve crossed your path, Druid.”

CHAPTER
SIX

Ferness, Scotland

“I doona like this,” Phelan said as he paced the length of floor-to-ceiling windows in Charon’s living room above the tavern. “Malcolm is keeping to himself more and more. This doesna bode well.”

Charon set down his glass on the coffee table and put his hand on Laura’s knee. “We could always have Broc find him.”

Phelan came to a halt when Aisley stepped in front of him. Her fawn-colored eyes held a wealth of concern. He tugged on a long lock of her black hair. “No’ yet.”

Broc was a viable choice since his power as a Warrior was to find anyone, anywhere. But Phelan wasn’t ready for those at the castle to know how concerned he was over Malcolm.

“Any word on Larena?” Aisley asked.

It was Charon who said, “No’ since Fallon told us Britt was close to finalizing the antidote that could help.”

Phelan turned to look out the windows. The darkness couldn’t hide the thick clouds that filled the sky. With the intermittent rain and cool temps, it had been a dreary day, which didn’t appear to be letting up anytime soon.

“Text him again,” Laura suggested.

Phelan closed his eyes when Aisley came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. She laid her cheek on his back as he covered her hands with his. “It wouldna do any good. Malcolm will respond when he wants to.”

“He’s been distancing himself from all of us,” Charon said. “I didna expect him to do the same to Larena.”

“That’s what tells me things are bad.”

Aisley squeezed him. “You said yourself you didn’t imagine he’d agree to meet us.”

“Nay.” Phelan turned and drew her against him. “I didna, but I also have a feeling something is going on with him. Before … well, before he talked. Now he willna even do that.”

Charon got to his feet and poured a glass of wine that he handed to Laura. “How close to the edge do you think he is?”

“Verra,” Phelan answered with a grimace. He wished it wasn’t true, but he’d glimpsed it in Malcolm’s eyes the last time they were in battle.

“You didna see the things I did in Cairn Toul,” Charon said. “There are some men who couldna be saved, Phelan, no matter how much someone might want to. It’s up to the Warrior to make that decision.”

Phelan had been spared witnessing what Charon and the others had suffered at Deirdre’s hand, but he experienced something else entirely, something no one could begin to comprehend.

Perhaps that’s what led him to want to help Malcolm. Phelan had been where he was before. Somehow Phelan had found his way back. He wanted to give Malcolm that chance as well.

“All you say is true, but Malcolm is different. You know this,” Phelan argued. “He didna suffer in the bowels of that hellish mountain. Deirdre tried to kill him first.”

Laura uncrossed her long, jean-clad legs as she rose from the couch, wine in hand. “Neither of you were at the castle during the time Malcolm was recovering from those wounds. It might help if we could get someone else’s opinion of how he was.”

Phelan was shaking his head before she finished. “It’s a good idea, but I’m no’ ready to include the others. Fallon will worry, and so will Larena. Both need to concentrate on Larena getting better.”

“Not to mention Jason’s next attack,” Aisley said.

Phelan tightened his hold on Aisley. Wallace had nearly taken her from him just a few weeks earlier. It was Aisley’s Druid ancestor who had informed her she was a Phoenix, able to be reborn again and again. If it hadn’t been for that, Aisley would be dead and Phelan would be right where Malcolm was.

“Jason needs to be killed for good,” Laura said with a shiver.

Phelan watched Charon pull his wife into his arms and whisper something that made Laura smile. If anyone had asked Phelan a year before if he and Charon would ever find their mates, he’d have laughed.

Now it seemed that Aisley and Laura had always been a part of them, just waiting until they could join their lives together. All Phelan knew was that he couldn’t survive without Aisley.

“I know my cousin well enough to know that he’ll keep striking when we least expect it,” Aisley said into the silence.

Phelan met Charon’s gaze as smiles pulled at their lips. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Charon chuckled. “Oh, aye.”

“Care to fill us in?” Laura asked as she pushed her long, dark hair behind her ear.

“We attack him just as we did Declan,” Phelan answered.

Aisley pulled out of his arms and looked at him with fear and anxiety. “You can’t.”

“We can, and we will.”

“No. You don’t understand, Phelan. Jason is more powerful now. If he can come back from death, regenerate a new body, and triple his powers, how do you think attacking him will destroy him for good? If you do this, Jason will kill you.”

“He’s tried. And failed.”

Laura set down her wineglass. “Aisley’s right. I went up against Jason before his powers grew. I was also part of the battle after he seemed to more than double his powers. He’s different.”

“We know,” Charon said. “It’s Warriors who feel a Druid’s magic. Neither of you are telling us anything we doona already know.”

“Then why be so damned foolish?” Aisley asked Phelan. “Don’t you understand? I can’t live without you.”

Phelan dragged her into his arms. He rested his chin atop her head and simply held her. She was shaking, not because she didn’t think he could kill Wallace, but because she knew all too well what Jason could do.

“Wallace wants revenge against you still,” Phelan told her. “I’m sure he knows you’ve regenerated. He’ll be coming for you.”

Charon sighed loudly. “We can no’ wait for him to attack again, and Aisley says we shouldna strike first. What do we do then?”

“Set a trap?” Laura offered.

Aisley said, “That didn’t work so well last time. He knew what was being planned.”

“Then what?” Phelan asked. “I’m out of ideas, sweetheart.”

A knock on the window behind him had Phelan jerking around to find Ramsey and Logan on the deck looking in. Charon motioned them in as Logan opened the sliding glass door and stepped inside.

“What brings the two of you here?” Phelan asked.

Ramsey turned his silver eyes to him. “The girls were worried about Aisley and Laura. And Fallon wanted us to check on the two of you.”

“We’re fine, as you can see,” Charon said.

Logan accepted the tumbler filled with whisky from Charon. “I’d believe you except for the fear I sense coming from your women.”

Phelan scratched his jaw after Aisley moved to his side. “What do you expect with Wallace still out there?”

“Which is Fallon’s point,” Ramsey said. “We’d all be safer at MacLeod Castle.”

“Nowhere is safe,” Aisley said and turned to walk toward the sofa.

Phelan lived his life battling the
droughs
who had dared to think they could take over the world. Aisley knew firsthand the lengths Wallace would go to ensure no one thought to betray him.

Aisley’s parents had been killed by Jason. Aisley herself had been wounded, and still bore the scar, when Wallace thought she might leave. In this last battle Wallace had brought forth an image of what Aisley’s daughter, who died just hours after her birth, might look like. That alone had nearly killed Aisley.

What would Wallace try next? Phelan wasn’t sure he wanted to find out, but neither could he hide his head in the sand and pretend nothing was going on.

He was a Warrior, and whether the
droughs
who first dragged up the gods from Hell had known it or not, it would be Warriors who ended the
droughs
.

“Have either of you spoken with Malcolm?” Charon asked.

Phelan growled his frustration and looked away. But not before he saw Ramsey frown.

“Why?” Logan asked.

Charon rolled his eyes. “Can you no’ just answer the damned question?”

“That would be too easy,” Logan said with a grin. “Besides, I like to rile you.”

Ramsey crossed his arms over his chest. “Nay, we have no’. Have either of you?”

“In a way,” Charon answered.

Logan grunted in irritation. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means he answered my text,” Phelan stated. He faced the two Warriors to find their gazes locked on him. “I called Malcolm over a week ago when I was with Aisley and trying to figure things out. We were both looking for Wallace, and I checked in with Malcolm on occasion. He did the same.”

“And now?” Ramsey asked.

“Now I get a text saying he’s fine.”

Logan drained the whisky and moved to pour himself another. “That’s more than Larena or Fallon have gotten. Consider yourself lucky.”

Phelan hoped the topic would be dropped, at least until he knew more of what was going on with Malcolm. But as usual, Ramsey heard more than just the words.

“You’re worried for him.”

Phelan glanced at Aisley who gave him a small nod. “Aye,” he admitted with a sigh. “I want both of you to swear what we say here about Malcolm goes no further.”

“Agreed,” Ramsey stated.

Logan stared at Phelan for a long moment before he said, “I give my word.”

Phelan lowered himself into the nearest chair and braced his elbows on his knees while he plunged his fingers into his hair. “I think Malcolm is distancing himself.”

“Larena has suspected that for some time,” Logan said. “It’s why she and Fallon kept trying to find ways to bring him to the castle.”

“It’s no’ enough now. I saw it in Malcolm’s eyes during battle. If he passes that point, there’ll be no returning for him.”

Ramsey dropped his arms. “Then we find him.”

“Easier said than done,” Charon said.

“Broc isna the only one who can find someone. His way is easier and quicker, but no’ the only way,” Ramsey stated.

For the first time in days, Phelan realized there just might be a way to help Malcolm after all. “After we find him, then what?”

“That’s the tricky part.” Ramsey looked around the room, his gaze meeting each of them. “There was a time Hayden stood on the same knife’s edge. He didna know it at the time, but it was Isla who pulled him back.”

Logan choked on his whisky. “Are you telling me we need to somehow find Malcolm a woman?”

“There has to be another way,” Laura said, a frown marring her forehead.

Phelan lifted his head and grinned. “There is. We make him know he’s needed. No’ once has he failed to join us in battling the
droughs
. Forget about finding him a woman. Give him something to kill, give him a reason to keep focused on helping us.”

“I like it,” Logan said. “I doona suppose you have a plan in mind?”

Ramsey took the glass in Logan’s hand and tossed back the contents in one swallow before pinning Phelan with his silver eyes. “You want to go after Wallace.”

Phelan nodded. “It’s the only way.”

“Didn’t we just talk about this?” Laura asked Charon before looking at Phelan, her English accent getting thicker as her anger rose. “I’m pretty sure we decided that attacking him was wrong, and that trying to set a trap for Jason wouldn’t work either. Or was I just dreaming that conversation?”

“Nay, love,” Charon said as he took her hand and kissed her fingers. “Though it looks like we may be having that same conversation again. This isna just for Malcolm. Killing Wallace is on top of all our to-do lists.”

Phelan’s gaze moved to Aisley as it always did. She was his beacon, his safe harbor in the treacherous world they lived in. He needed her support in order for this to work, but he wouldn’t push her. She’d already been through too much.