Midnight's Surrender

Chapter Five

December 20th

Dale woke from a night of strange dreams that flitted through his mind as swiftly as the wind, and just like the wind, he wasn’t able to catch a single memory of any of the dreams.

He turned his head on the pillow to see Rennie curled on her side with her back to him. They had fallen asleep in each other’s arms, and though Dale didn’t consider himself a cuddler, he discovered he wanted to hold her.

The bed squeaked as he turned on his side and molded his body to hers. Rennie let out a sigh and snuggled back against him.

Instantly, a vision slammed into him. This one was different. This time his god was unbound and he stood on Rennie’s land, the snow falling as he watched a female drough with red hair get out of a silver car. The anger and resentment coming from the drough was directed not at him—but Rennie.

As quickly as the vision came, it vanished, leaving Dale swimming in a sea of uncertainty. He rolled onto his back and started at the ceiling as he blew out a breath.

“What is it?” Rennie asked sleepily while she turned over and rested her head on his shoulder.

Since he knew how much the visions were a bone of contention with her, Dale decided not to say anything. “I think the storm let up.”

“Hmm. I’ll need to go check on my cattle. I hate to leave the warmth of the bed though.”

She smiled up at him, and he felt his chest constrict. How could a woman who possessed the same magic he felt in his dreams be real? Was it fate that sent him to her? Destiny maybe?

Or did it really matter?

Perhaps there was something else at work in the universe, because somehow he had been given the very thing he hadn’t known he needed. His arm tightened around Rennie even as the vision replayed in his head.

He wouldn’t let anything or anyone harm her. She needed to be protected, safeguarded from all the evil in the world. Not because he needed her, but because she was precious and all that was good.

It shook him, this necessity to guard her. No longer did it matter why he’d been brought to Coll. All that mattered was her. Rennie had wormed her way into his mind, and he feared she had gone even deeper than that.

He felt something for her, of that he was sure. It was more than infatuation, more than lust, but he refused to think of just what it could be.

“I’ll check on the animals,” he said. “The cold doesna bother me as it does you.”

“Because you’re a Warrior?”

“Aye,” he said and kissed her forehead. “I have to say, I’m surprised. You’ve taken the news of what I am better than I expected.”

“Did you think I’d scream and demand you leave?”

Her guileless green eyes stared up at him. After all the deceit he had been forced to endure, it amazed him that someone like Rennie existed. “Something like that, lass.”

“My aunt always told me that I should judge people individually. Like it wasn’t good to say all Druids were good, just as I shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking all Warriors were evil.”

While she spoke, her fingers idly drew upon his chest, making it difficult for Dale to concentrate. “Did your aunt know there were Warriors about?”

“I don’t think so, but she used it as a learning piece for me. I knew there were evil Druids, so it seemed only natural to think that anything could be good or evil. It was up to the individual.”

“I’d have liked to meet your aunt.”

The corners of Rennie’s lips lifted in a smile. “She would’ve liked you. She was feisty and stubborn. She lived her entire life on Coll, only venturing off the isle a handful of times. She always came back though. She said this was her home. It was where she was born and where she would die.”

“She didna have children of her own?”

Rennie shook her head of dark hair. “No. It wasn’t for lack of her and my uncle trying however.” Rennie chuckled. “They used to joke about it, even though a baby was something both craved. Instead, they looked after any child on Coll that needed them. This house was a haven, of sorts.”

Dale lifted a lock of her hair in his fingers. “Will you follow in your aunt’s footsteps?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t born here.”

“That doesna mean anything. If you’ve found a place that fits you, then maybe you remain.”

“Alone,” she whispered forlornly.

Dale rolled them until he was on top of her, his body already hard for her. “Are you alone now?”

Her wicked grin lit up her eyes as she rocked her hips against his arousal. “Not now, no.”

“You’ve too much passion and life in you to live alone.”

“Have you seen the prospects on Coll? Not what you would call a buffet of choices.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to offer up himself. But Dale couldn’t do that. He might have given into his desires, but he knew he wasn’t the man for Rennie, no matter how much he might wish otherwise.

As if she knew something troubled him, Rennie cupped his cheek and frowned. “What is it? What’s bothering you?”

“Nothing,” he said and forced a smile before he jumped off the bed. “I’ll go see about the animals. Just as soon as I find my clothing.”

Rennie’s laugh had him grinning. “Look in the kitchen.”

Dale found his clothes and hastily dressed, noting the rip in his tee at the shoulder. It brought on another smile as he remembered how frantic they had been to get out of their clothes.

Once outside, he made his way through the snow and saw to the cattle, then found a shovel and began to remove the snow down the path from the house.

He glanced up to find Rennie at the kitchen window watching him. As he waved at her, he thought how domesticated he felt. Months ago he wasn’t sure how he would have reacted, but now, he found he liked it. A lot.

Not even the snow that fell in flurries around him seemed to dampen his thoughts. It wasn’t until he heard the sound of an approaching car that a wave of foreboding assaulted him.

Dale barely had time to react at seeing the silver vehicle come up the long drive before a wave of drough magic slammed into him. He winced, hating the feel of the nauseating magic.

He released his hold on the shovel and took a step toward the now-parked car before he caught sight of his hands and the pale green claws. He had called to his god without even knowing it. That in itself was enough to make him wary, but nothing so much as the scene playing before him—the same scene he had seen in the vision just that morning.

Dale ducked behind the barn when he heard Rennie walk outside and greet the redheaded woman. He used his enhanced hearing to keep note of the conversation while he desperately tried to get control of his rage and tamp down his god.

Rennie might have said she didn’t think he was evil, but he wasn’t sure she had ever seen a Warrior. If he was to show her what he really was, he wanted to do it at a time of his choosing, not by scaring her and her visitor.

“I’m not going to sell, Harriet,” Rennie said, her voice rising.

Dale was instantly on alert. So the drough wanted Rennie’s land. It was enough to put him on edge, as well as make him think the vision he had seen was something that could very well be coming.

The conversation quickly ended and Harriet got into her car and drove off. Dale remained behind the barn as he struggled to make his claws and green skin disappear.

He didn’t know how long he stood there before he heard Rennie approach. He glanced down at his hands to see his claws vanish just as she came around the corner of the barn.

“There you are,” she said as she held out a cup of coffee. “I guess you saw Harriet?”

Dale nodded. “Enhanced hearing and all.”

“Oh, right. I didn’t think about that.”

“She wants your land.”

Rennie didn’t pretend his statement was a question. She huddled in her coat and nodded. “She kept trying to buy it from my aunt for years. The day I arrived she met me at the ferry and gave me an offer.”

The news was enough to make his hackles rise. “What is it about the land that makes her want it so desperately?”

“Good question. It’s a good piece of land, but the only explanation she’s given me is that she wants to acquire more land on Coll.”

“She’s from here?”

“Born and raised. She’s a MacLean.”

Dale sipped the black coffee, not really tasting it, as he tussled with the idea of telling Rennie about his vision. “Your family has also been on Coll for generations, aye?”

“Yes. Oddly enough, both our families were two of the founding six families. Why?”

Dale looked away from her searching green eyes. “It’s nothing.”

“I’m stronger than I look. I’d appreciate the truth instead of trying to hide it from me. What is it you know?”

Dale returned his gaze to Rennie and saw the determined lift of her chin. “What do you know of Harriet?”

“Nothing much. She left Coll after primary school to attend a boarding school, then went to the University of Edinburgh. After she got her degree, she returned to Coll and married. Her husband was into real estate, so she joined his company. She had two children, but one died when she was just a few months old. Her son drowned when he was seven.”

“And her husband?”

Rennie’s brow furrowed. “He’s dead as well. It happened about ten years ago, not long after their son.”

“How did her husband die?”

“You know, I never learned that. You’re freaking me out, Dale. What is all this about?”

“She’s drough, Rennie.”

For several seconds she simply stared at him before she swallowed. “You’re sure?”

“There’s no denying the feel of drough magic, lass. Besides, I was around enough of them to know. I take it you didna know she was a Druid?”

“No. I mean, I knew the history of Coll. The MacLeans were droughs, but supposedly most of their magic was diluted over the years. My aunt didn’t seem to think Harriet was a problem.”

Dale took her by the arm and urged her toward the house since she was shaking, but he wasn’t sure if it was the cold or the information he just gave her. “Does she know you’re a Druid?”

“I … shit, I don’t know. With the families being around so long it would make sense that she does. Or at least assumes I could be.”

“She’s never used magic around you, has she?”

“No.” Her gaze took on a faraway look as they walked into the house.

He closed the door behind them, watching her. “What have you remembered?”

“The people on Coll are a little afraid of her. I never thought anything about it, but now it makes sense.”

“I want you to be careful of her. I doona have a good feeling about her.”

“Yeah, me either now.” Rennie removed her coat and hung it on a peg in the front hall. “I wonder how long she’ll let me live before she does away with me to get my land.”

“Who would the land go to if you died?”

Rennie rubbed her hands together and stomped her feet to remove the snow from her boots before she tugged them off. “I guess my mother, though she wants no part of it. Once she left here, she never looked back.”

Dale followed her into the kitchen where she put some bread in the toaster. “I think the first thing you need to do is try to figure out why Harriet wants your land. That in itself may tell you to what extremes she would go to in order to obtain it.”

“She was angry this morning. Really angry. And frustrated. Before, she’s always been so professional. Why would she be so different today?”

“I can go into the village and find out.”

“No,” she said as she whirled to face him. “Please don’t leave me. I know you’ll have to move on soon, but please. Not yet.”

He pulled her into his arms and held her. “I’ll no’ leave.”

The truth of those words shook him to his core.