Midnight's Temptation

CHAPTER TWENTY

Northern Scotland

Malcolm stood against the brisk wind atop the mountain with his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and his eyes closed. The wind buffeted him much as life continued to do.

Drops of sleet began to land on his face, but still Malcolm remained. He should be looking for Wallace or his associates, but he was questioning the why of it. Just so another drough can take Jason’s place as he’d taken Declan’s, and Declan had taken Deirdre’s?

The only way to end it all was to wipe out all Druids. He could do it. There was no feeling, no emotion inside him that would give any remorse.

The others at MacLeod Castle wouldn’t feel the same. It was their wives he would be killing. It wasn’t that he necessarily wanted to kill them, only that with their deaths the evil they fought would cease.

A sizzle of magic, odd and unique slammed into him like a punch to the gut. Malcolm withdrew his hands from his pockets and whirled around.

To find Guy staring at him with a knowing grin.

“Are you looking for a tussle, mate?” Guy asked and nodded to Malcolm’s hands.

He looked down to find his claws glistening in the sleet. For just a second, he stared at the maroon claws before he shoved his god back down and they disappeared.

Somehow Malcolm wasn’t surprised to find one of the shifters there. He wasn’t too far from Dreagan, but after the last battle where the Warriors and dragons had joined forces, Malcolm knew the Kings would always be around.

“What do you want, Dragon King?”

Guy shoved back his damp shoulder-length honey-colored hair and narrowed pale brown eyes at him. “Do I need a reason?”

“Aye.” Malcolm stepped to the side and watched Guy’s black-ringed eyes follow him. “Are you tracking me?”

“I saw you last night.”

Malcolm lifted a brow. “I was here last night.”

“I know.”

There was a hint of laughter in his words. Malcolm crossed his arms over his chest. “I didna sense you.”

“Nor would you, Warrior. I had taken to the skies.”

Malcolm needed to remember that in the future. The Dragon Kings may only be able to shift at night to stay hidden, but they could climb high in the skies. And apparently their eyesight was rather good.

“I take it from your mood things are no’ going well,” Guy said.

They stood side by side in the freezing rain looking out over the glen below. Malcolm shook his head. “Phelan felt Wallace’s magic.”

“Damn. No’ good news. I’d hoped we had seen the last of that bugger.”

“We all had.”

“Even you? I thought you rather enjoyed battle.”

Malcolm cut him a look. “I do. All Warriors do.”

“But you more than the others, aye?”

Why deny it? It wasn’t Larena or Fallon asking. It was another immortal who knew what it meant to go into battle. “Aye.”

“It makes you feel alive when you’re all but dead the rest of the time.”

Guy’s remark hit too close to home. Malcolm was a Warrior. He had been created to fight. The longing for death, craving blood covering his hands, it’s what he was.

“If you’re no’ careful, you could lose yourself,” Guy warned.

Malcolm snorted and dropped his arms to his sides. “I’m already lost. The only difference is I realize it while everyone else still hopes for the best.”

“Larena willna give up on you.”

“My cousin is stubborn that way. I doona want to hurt her, but eventually I will.”

“Is that why you stay away?”

Malcolm turned to the Dragon King and clenched his jaw. “Why the questions, King? What do you want from me?”

“Con has taken an interest.”

Malcolm growled at the mention of Constantine. He was the king of the Dragon Kings and seemed to stick his nose in places he shouldn’t. “Tell Con to get uninterested.”

Guy chuckled and said, “Obviously you doona know Con. He saw something in you, Malcolm. Larena does as well. Perhaps if you did you wouldna be lost.”

“Are you trying to anger me for a reaction?”

“Is it working?”

Malcolm released a breath. “You’re irritating. Go back to your wife, dragon. I’m done with you.”

“You shouldna push everyone away, Warrior. One day you’re going to need friends.”

“I doona need anyone or anything.”

“Keep lying to yourself,” Guy said as he turned and walked away.

Malcolm wanted to dismiss Guy’s words, but long after the Dragon King left his statement continued to run through Malcolm’s mind.

“Damn interfering dragons,” Malcolm grumbled.

* * *

Phelan finished his scouting on foot and hurried back to his bike. The forest wasn’t exactly the spot he expected to find Wallace, but Phelan knew firsthand what a great place it was to hide.

He was thankful he didn’t sense Wallace’s magic, but at the same time, a niggle of worry wouldn’t relent. What did it mean that he felt Wallace’s magic so keenly? And now nothing?

It was enough to make him want to haul Aisley to MacLeod Castle. At least he would find out who she was running from. Phelan smiled as he started the bike.

On the drive back to the cabin, he glanced at the sky to see the rain clouds coming in. He might not mind riding in the rain, but he didn’t want to take Aisley out on the motorbike in such weather. Anything could happen. She’d catch a chill or they could wreck and she might die.

It didn’t go unnoticed by him how he worried over Aisley now. Even before he knew of her parents kicking her out, being pregnant and alone, and then her daughter dying, he had an uncontrollable, undeniable need to protect her.

Not once had he thought to fight it. Nor did he want to.

He chuckled as he imagined what Charon would say if he knew. Phelan reached his hand to his back pocket and discovered he’d left his mobile phone at the house. He would check in with Charon when he returned.

The closer he came to the cabin the more he felt Aisley’s magic, except it was stronger than normal—as if she was using it.

Wave after wave washed over him as her magic pulsed across the land. He gripped the handlebars tightly when his body responded in an instant.

When the cabin came into view he simply followed the feel of Aisley’s magic to see her standing at the shore of the loch. As soon as she saw him, her magic dimmed to the regular hum of when she wasn’t actively calling it forth. She waved as he drove to the shed and parked the bike.

It began to drizzle as he walked to her. She started running to the house. The storm grew stronger with each step she took. Phelan met her halfway and wrapped his arm around her as they rushed to the porch.

Her laugh was rich and amazing. And he wanted to hear more of it.

“I thought the storm might miss us,” she said.

Phelan drew her into his arms and kissed away any more words she might have. At the first taste of her, he tightened his arms and deepened the kiss. She moaned into his mouth as their tongues mated.

He couldn’t get enough of her. His splayed hand ran up her back over her damp shirt and into the long, thick length of her midnight hair. He fisted his hand in her tresses and bent her back over his arm. Her nails sunk into his shoulder. The kiss turned fiery, furious as their passion ignited into an inferno.

She ended the kiss and pulled out of his arms. An impish grin showed on her face as she unbuttoned her shirt and tossed it aside.

Phelan’s balls tightened when her jeans followed. Her fawn-colored eyes danced with desire when she undid her white lace bra and let it fall from her breasts. But it was when she hooked her thumbs in her panties and, with agonizing slowness, slid them over her hips and down her legs that he moaned in need.

She threw the black-and-white polka-dot panties in his face. Her laughter filled the air as he watched her run into the rain. She threw her arms out and spun around and around in the storm.

Phelan dropped her panties and shed his clothes in record time. He followed her into the rain and jerked her against his body. “You’re a siren come to seduce and enchant me.”

“Is it working?”

“Aye, beauty. From the first moment I saw you.”

His gaze dropped to her kiss-swollen lips. He covered her mouth with his. With her bare breasts pressed against him, he couldn’t get close enough to her.

When he considered lowering her to the wet ground, he ended the kiss and drew in a shaky breath. “You’ll catch your death.”

“If I get a cold, you can heal me. Besides, I never get sick.” She reached between them and wrapped her hand around his cock. “Stop worrying about me and enjoy this.”

His lids slid shut as she ran her hand up and down his length. She paused at the tip of his arousal and ran her thumb around it.

Longing and need burned through him. Phelan dropped his head back and let her have her way with him. He groaned when she cupped his sac and gently massaged his balls.

“You’re killing me,” he murmured.

“As you did me last night. It’s time for your pleasure.”

He grabbed her wrist to halt her and looked into her eyes. “Seeing your pleasure is enough for me.”

“Why couldn’t I have met you before?”

The sadness in her eyes made him ache inside his chest. He slid his hands to her neck until he held her face in his hands. “We’re together now. For as long as you want.”

“I thought you didn’t do relationships.”

“I don’t. Teach me, Aisley.”

Aisley didn’t know who was more surprised by his statement: he or she. She blinked through the raindrops falling from her lashes. “I’m not the one for you.”

His blue-gray eyes narrowed with anger. “What?”

“I’m not the one for you,” she repeated and tried to step out of his arms, but he wouldn’t release her.

“We can no’ go into town in this weather,” Phelan said. “I’ll no’ endanger you that way.”

She let him change the subject because she knew how ridiculous it was for them to talk of a relationship. There would never be one between them. “Why are you saying that as if you’re trying to convince me?”

“Because I know you were going to leave tonight.”

She swallowed and lowered her eyes to his chest. “Phelan, if you knew the truth—”

“I doona care,” he interrupted her.

“You say that now.”

“Then tell me now, beauty. Tell me this secret you fear. Just promise you’ll stay with me.”

Aisley knew what he asked was impossible. Yet, it was what she wanted. She wasn’t ready to give up this slice of paradise she’d found with Phelan.

In the middle of the forest, it was just the two of them. No pasts, no worries. Just the pleasure in each other’s arms.

That wouldn’t stop Jason, however. He was coming for her. She knew that now. And she knew she had to stop him. Phelan hadn’t given her enough time that day. She needed several hours, and he had given her barely one.

She wanted to tell him about Jason that night, but she didn’t have all she needed. And if she was going to have a chance, she needed everything. Or Phelan might not give her the time to gather it once he learned the truth.

“Or keep your secret,” Phelan said when she hesitated. “I … I’ve never spent this long in the company of a woman I’ve made love to. This is new, and I’m sure I’m saying this all wrong.”

Aisley put her finger to his lips to silence him. “You’re saying everything right. That’s the problem. I’m not good for you.”

“You are,” he said as he moved her finger. “Why else would I want you here?”

No matter how much she knew she needed to leave, her heart had already made the decision. There was no fighting it, no denying it. No one had ever asked her to stay.

No one except Phelan.

“No. I can’t.” It killed her to say the lie, when inside she was shouting Yes! at the top of her lungs. “I asked for one night. You gave that to me. There can’t be any more.”

He stared at her, unmoving. She memorized every detail of his blue-gray eyes, his heart-stopping lips, and the rugged planes of his handsome face.

This is what she would remember of Phelan. Not what she knew was to come.

When she tried to step out of his arms again, he let her go. Whatever part of Aisley that had been healing died that instant.