He stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down to the beach below. Huge boulders rose from the water like giants reaching for the sun. Those same boulders had been used by each of them to cast nets into the water for fishing.
During the summer there was hardly a day they hadn’t been down at the beach, sitting in the sun or swimming. Arran peered over the side to look at the hollowed-out sections in the cliffs. Several of them were caves, and one had been used to hide the Druids during an attack by Deirdre.
Arran inhaled, the salt thick in the air. The sea was in constant motion, the waves white-capping as far as the eye could see.
It was effortless for him to allow his thoughts to wander as he looked at the ebb and flow of the tides. They made it easy for Arran to stop thinking of what to do and give in to the memories of centuries prior, and days past.
The crunch of a boot on the grass broke through his thoughts. He turned his head slightly to find Fallon walking toward him.
It was good to see him happy again. Arran wondered if he would ever find happiness again. How could he stay away from Ronnie when he wanted her so that his chest hurt from it.
“I worried you left as Malcolm did that fateful day so long ago,” Fallon said.
Arran bent and picked up a small rock by his foot. The day Fallon referred to was the day Deirdre had captured Malcolm and released his god. Malcolm had left the castle during an attack, and no one had known it until it was too late.
“I’d say good-bye if I was leaving.”
Fallon held out his hand for the stone. “So you are no’ leaving?”
“I doona know what I’m going to do. All I can think about is her. All I want is her.”
“Then go get her.”
Arran wished it were that easy. He handed Fallon the stone and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m happy to see Larena is all right. What happened?”
“Sonya isna sure. Maybe it takes longer for the magic to work against this new
drough
blood being used.”
“That’s no’ a good sign. How are Malcolm and Charon?”
Fallon tossed the stone in the air and easily caught it. “They’re recovering. Slowly. Larena has been with Malcolm since I brought him in. And that was a good try in changing the subject.”
“It was a try,” Arran said with a sigh. He didn’t want to talk about Ronnie, because it only made him miss her even more. If that was possible.
“You didna know me before Larena, but I was no’ a man you would’ve wanted to be around.”
Arran glanced at him. “Quinn told me how you turned to drinking because of what Deirdre had done.”
“It wasna just the killing of our clan. It was the fact I considered myself a monster. It wasna until Larena that I began to imagine we could use what I thought of as a curse to help save people.”
“We are monsters,” Arran said softly. “We hide the castle from the world so they willna find us. Do you know what they would do with us if they ever learned what we are?”
“I doona want to even think about it. My point, Arran, is that Larena made me a better man. She made me want to be the person I had always thought I would be. I had to fight for her, and there were times I wondered if I should. But then I would think of life without her and I knew I’d do whatever it took to have her as my own.”
Arran turned his head to him. “Even if she had said she never wanted to see you again.”
“Even then. I knew from the first moment I touched her that she was the other half of my soul. I would’ve walked to Hell and back if it meant I could have Larena.”
Maybe Fallon was right. Maybe Arran needed to fight for Ronnie. He didn’t have to tell her it was Pete who had stolen from her.
Fallon reared back his hand and let the stone soar over the water and travel far into the horizon before it skipped four times and sank beneath the waves. “I see by your look you’re actually contemplating how to get her back.”
“I doona want to live without her. No’ even for one second.” And once the words were said aloud, Arran comprehended just how far he would go to get her back.
“Do you need me to jump you to her?” Fallon offered.
Arran turned on his heel and started walking. “Nay,” he said over his shoulder.
He’d use the time it took to get to Ronnie to figure out all he wanted to say to her.
* * *
Ronnie pulled off the road and put the SUV in park as she stared at the trees. She was officially on MacLeod land, and had been for a few miles. But she had no idea where to go. She’d asked Arran nothing about the castle or where it was located.
Sure it was hidden by a shield of magic, but MacLeod land was massive, with the one road going through it. Did she look toward the sea, or did she look the other way?
Ronnie put the Range Rover in drive and eased her way along the trees. Arran had driven to her site, which meant there had to be some kind of drive or hidden road. If she could find it.
She looked on both sides of the road, and fortunately for her, there were few people on the road at this time of night.
“Morning,” she corrected herself.
It was very early morning, and exhaustion was beginning to wear on her. She needed rest, but she didn’t want to stop looking. Not until she was forced to.
Ronnie had to halt and pull fully off the road as a car came at her. She looked in the rearview mirror to make sure the car passed safely, and that’s when she saw the unmistakable ruts from a vehicle.
She threw the SUV in reverse and backed up. Her heart was thundering in her chest as she turned off the road.
“Please let this be right. Please let this be the place.”
She kept chanting that over and over as she slowly drove the vehicle through the dense trees following the obvious path that was used as a road. Suddenly the trees stopped to an openness that stretched endlessly before her.
The bright green grass then gave way to the deep waters of the ocean that met the sky on the horizon.
“Wow,” she whispered.
Ronnie kept having the disturbing feeling that she needed to turn around and leave, but it was that feeling that kept her foot on the accelerator. The feeling grew intensely until she drove through what felt like an invisible wall. And then she saw the castle.
“Oh, shit.”
She stopped the Range Rover and put it in park before she hesitantly got out. The castle rose like a stone giant from the cliffs, large, beautiful, and imposing. Six turrets like large beacons stood against the sky while the gray stones seemed to welcome her.
Ronnie looked around to see a smattering of cottages. Those same cottages hid some of the castle from view. She glanced at the drive that led around the cottages, but decided to proceed down the narrow road through what looked like a village.
The cottages were devoid of people from what Ronnie could see, but she spotted furniture through open shutters.
Once she was through the village, she got a good look at the castle. And it took her breath away. It looked like a classic castle, only without a moat or drawbridge.
A massive gatehouse stood sentry and connected the battlements that ran around the castle. She could well imagine the views the towers offered.
This was where Arran and the others lived. Now she understood why it meant so much to him. It wasn’t just because the castle was striking in the setting of the green of the grass and the different blues of sea and sky against the stark gray stones.
The castle projected magic even she could feel.
Ronnie stuck her hands in her back pockets and tried to imagine what life would have been like for Arran before he’d been thrown into the future.
Now that she was here, she wondered if he would even want to see her. Fallon hadn’t believed her at first, and she wasn’t even sure if he did now. He hadn’t come back for her. Maybe that was because they were still looking for Andy.
Ronnie had left a message on Saffron’s phone about Andy, but Saffron had yet to return her call.
She turned her head to the side and froze as she caught sight of Arran. He stood about two hundred yards from her and just stared.
Minutes ticked by as neither moved. Ronnie knew she had to take the first step. After all, she’d been the one to send him away.
She started toward him, but still he didn’t move. The closer she drew to him, the more she wondered if he would acknowledge her.
Ronnie stopped when she was ten paces away. “Jason never had Andy.”
“We know.”
She’d hoped for more than two words as a response. “I swear it was him. I’d never have agreed to help Jason if I’d known he had tricked me.”
“I know.”
Another two words. She was about to scream, she was so frustrated. “You found the stolen artifacts.”
He gave a single nod.
Ronnie rapidly blinked to hold back the tears. She had really screwed things up. The one man she could have been happy with, and she might have ruined it all. “I came … I came to tell you…”
“Aye?” he urged, and took a step toward her.
“I came to say … I love you.”
He moved so fast she didn’t see him until he was right before her, and pulling her into his arms. “What did you say?” he whispered.
Ronnie looked deep into his golden eyes. All the hopes and dreams she had of their life together she let reflect in her eyes. “I love you.”
“Say it again.”
This time she smiled, her heart pounding. “I love you.”
He closed his eyes as his arms tightened their hold. “I could only hope you’d feel it.” His lids lifted and desire darkened his gaze. “I was coming for you. I was going to make you listen to me, no matter how long it took.”
“Why?” she asked excitedly.
His smile was slow, seductive. Hungry. “Because I love you.”
Nothing else existed beyond that. All Ronnie felt was Arran’s wonderfully solid muscle against her, his insistent lips as he kissed her.
The kiss robbed her of all her fears as he slid his tongue past her lips and into her mouth. He groaned and deepened the kiss. Her arms wound around his neck while her fingers plunged in the cool silkiness of his dark locks.
Within Arran’s embrace she felt safe and sheltered. Loved. It was a feeling she’d never had before, and one she would do anything to keep.
She ended the kiss despite his growl of frustration. Ronnie tried to get her breathing under control as he rested his forehead against hers.
“I’m sorry for thinking you stole from me. I should’ve listened to you.”
His body tensed beneath her hands for a moment, and then he began to relax. “How do you know it wasna me?”
“I found Pete’s phone in the crate. Why didn’t you tell me it was him?”
“You thought of him as a father. I didna want to hurt you.”
“So you allowed me to think it was you.” She gave him a soft punch in the side that resulted in his grunt. “Don’t ever do that again.”
He grinned boyishly. “Promise.”
“Where is Pete?”
“Long gone. He willna steal from you again. That I vow.”
Ronnie rested her head against his chest. “What now?”
“Now I take you to my bed.”
She laughed, but quickly grew serious. “I meant about Jason.”
“I knew what you meant. I’d hoped to avoid that for a wee bit. We’ve hurt him, but it’s far from over. If our battles with Deirdre and Declan were any indication, I think Jason will come at us hard.”
Ronnie leaned back to look at him. “He wanted me to find magical objects for him. He’ll be looking for them. Maybe that’s what I should concentrate on. I want to help. I want to be able to use my magic to defend myself, not to just find artifacts in the ground. I want to be a part of this war.”
“You need to learn to use your magic, but I’m no’ sure I want you a part of the war.”
“Too bad. I am a part of it. I’ll be safer with you.”
He slid a hand around her neck into her hair. “You know I’ll always protect you.”
“There’s one thing, though. Jason and I made a pact through magic. He swore he wouldn’t hurt Andy if I did as he asked. Does that pact still apply?”
Arran’s shrugged and turned her toward the castle. “I doubt it, since he used magic to make you think Andy was there. But that’s a worry for another day. This day is ours.”
“Just this day?” she asked with a teasing smile.
When he looked down at her, the love shining in his eyes brought tears to hers. “Nay. I want you beside me forever.”
“I don’t think I can live here, Arran. The thought appeals to me because the magic of Isla’s shield would stop my aging. But I’m an archeologist. I move around.”
He winked at her before sweeping his arm across the land. “This has been untouched for over seven hundred years. There was a mighty clan here once, and a thriving village. I wonder what you could find.”
The thought of looking over virgin land intrigued her. “Do you think the MacLeods would allow it?”
“I’m certain they’d make a concession for my wife.”
She jerked her gaze to him, her heart in her throat. “Your wife?”
“Aye,” he said softly. “Would you marry me, Dr. Reid?”
She threw her arms around his neck. Her heart was about to burst from her chest, she was so happy. “Yes. Oh, yes!”
CHAPTER
FORTY-FIVE
Jason gripped the arms of his chair, the wood cracking beneath his hold. His clothes were soaked with blood. His blood.
The plan he’d formulated so carefully in his mind had gone to shit all too easily. There was no way the Warriors should have been able to break the hold of his Druids. Their black magic was powerful.
Yet, that’s exactly what the Warriors had done.
“Oww,” Jason yelped as Aisley cleaned his wound.
Her eyes were dilated and her face pale. Dale had said she had a concussion, but Jason didn’t care. If she’d been conscious and using her magic, the Warriors wouldn’t have gotten free.
“Be still,” Aisley said. “If you keep moving, it’s going to keep hurting.”
“Let me slice open your jaw and throat with five gashes and tell me if it doesna hurt to breathe,” he said between clenched teeth.
Dale walked into the house. “The area is secure. The Druids we managed to save are setting up spells to keep everyone out.”