Midnight's Temptation

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Aisley might be in dry clothes staring out the living room window of the cottage, but in her mind she was still standing in the rain with Phelan. What might be happening now if she had said yes?

Would they be making love? Laughing? Sharing more secrets?

How she wanted to believe he would be understanding when he learned she was Jason’s cousin, but she knew all too well what would happen.

If only he had given her more time that afternoon. She might have been able to find the magic she needed. Her last resort was contacting Satan, and she refused to do that with Phelan near. He would be able to feel the evil. And all her plans would be for naught.

A glass of red wine was placed in front of her. Aisley lifted her gaze to find Phelan beside her, his expression unreadable.

“You look like you could use a drink,” he said before he walked back to the kitchen.

Aisley did need a drink. She needed the entire bottle, actually, but she would settle for the glass. Her hand wrapped around the stemless glass as she brought it to her lips and took a drink.

“Will the storm last long?” she asked.

His chopping paused as he asked, “Can no’ wait to get out of here, can you?”

She never wanted to leave, but she couldn’t tell him that. “I told you it was a bad idea to bring me here.”

“You’re the one making this complicated, beauty. Why can you no’ trust me?”

Aisley turned in the chair and rested her arms on the back while she looked at him. “Do you trust me?”

His lips parted, but no sound came out. It was just as she expected. Not that she blamed him. He was right when he called them two of a kind. They had both endured betrayals, and their lives had been altered by that fact.

“It takes me awhile,” he finally answered.

She nodded and got to her feet when she saw him put the meat in the skillet to cook. “So you can take all the time you need to trust, but you want me to do it now?”

“Aye. Nay.” He gave a quick shake of his head. “Stop putting words in my mouth.”

“I’m not,” she said and slid onto the stool to watch him cook. “It was a question derived from what you’ve asked of me.”

He turned slightly and looked at her over his shoulder. “I doona trust easily.”

“Neither do I. We both have our reasons. Can’t you just leave it at that?”

He went back to cooking. “Nay, I can no’. You are in need of help.”

“Ah. And you want to be my hero.” The sad part was, she very much wanted him to be her hero and save her from all of it. If only her story could be altered as it was in books and movies.

“Perhaps.”

She had hurt him again. It wasn’t her intention, but if she didn’t keep him at arm’s length she would never be able to accomplish her goals.

Because if she let herself, she could easily fall in love with Phelan. He was that kind of guy, wonderful and kind and intense.

The kind she knew she could always count on.

The kind who would see to whatever need she had.

The kind who would gladly hurt anyone who harmed his family.

He was the kind of guy she had always wanted and feared didn’t exist. If only she had waited for him. If only she’d had the strength to get past her grief and get on with her life she might have been able to tell Jason no.

But she hadn’t.

There was no sense in wishing for things that could never be. This was her life, and she had to accept that.

“Is there anything in your life you would change?” she asked.

He flipped the meat and nodded. “I wouldna have left my family. Deirdre might still have gotten to me, but it would’ve been later. What about you?”

“I would have said no.”

“To the man who got you pregnant and left you?”

She winced. “Well, yeah, I’d have said no then as well. I was thinking of something else, but if I hadn’t moved in with him, I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

“And we wouldna have met.”

She lifted her eyes to find Phelan staring at her. “That might be for the best.”

“I doona regret our meeting.”

He didn’t now. He would later. She would bet her soul on it—if she had a soul to wager. “You really would keep things the way they happened to you just to meet me? I don’t believe that.”

Phelan shrugged and went back to cooking. His statement rattled her so badly that Aisley rose and walked onto the porch. Her emotions were running too high for her to respond to Phelan as she should.

She remained on the porch drinking her wine until he announced dinner was done. Aisley sat at the table and refilled her wineglass before she filled Phelan’s.

It wasn’t until he sat down with her that she realized it was the first time since her parents kicked her out that she had sat down with anyone for a home-cooked meal.

Instead of commenting on that fact, Aisley ate in silence, a wall coming between her and Phelan she couldn’t seem to tear down.

It saddened her tremendously, but even as she wanted to change things, she couldn’t seem to find a way.

Emotion clogged her throat, making it difficult for her to have an appetite. She ate as much of the meal as she could before she pushed her plate aside.

“Was it no’ to your liking?”

His words were hard, brittle. “It was delicious. I’m just not very hungry.”

Aisley gathered her plate and walked to the sink to begin cleaning. They worked side by side, and all too soon the kitchen was clean, leaving her with nothing to do.

And a six-foot-two-inch immortal Highlander to remind her of the pleasure they had shared the night before.

She glanced outside to see it was still raining.

“I willna stop you.”

Aisley jerked her gaze from the window to Phelan. His blue-gray eyes were steady, daring as they watched her.

“Nor will I follow.”

After all the time he had taken tracking her, his words were like a punch in the gut. “You’ve done enough.”

Phelan wanted to hit something. How could such a beautiful woman be so infuriating? “You would walk away so easily?”

“It’s for the best.”

“Ballocks.”

She shrugged and backed up a step. “I wanted one night.”

“Well, I want more.”

“We don’t always get what we want.”

He smiled, though he knew it was cold and calculating. “I do.”

“Not this time,” she stated and squared her shoulders.

Phelan hadn’t taken centuries to learn the art of seduction for nothing. He took a step toward Aisley only to have her retreat. It was easy enough to maneuver her so that she was trapped in the corner of the countertop.

He leaned forward as if he were going to kiss her, and at the last minute shifted so he could lick the lobe of her ear. Then he whispered, “Tell me you didna enjoy last night.”

“You know I did,” she said, though her voice was unsteady.

“And you doona want to be pleasured so again?”

She put her hands on his chest and tried to push him away. “Stop. I know what you’re doing, and it won’t work.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about,” he said as he took her hands and gently lifted them to his mouth so he could wrap his lips around one of her fingers.

“Phelan,” she said breathlessly. “You’ll regret this later.”

“Then I’ll regret it later. I want you now. Tell me you doona want me, beauty. Tell me, and I’ll walk away never to bother you again.”

Her fawn-colored eyes darkened and her body leaned into him. “God help me, but I want you.”

Her lips parted and her pulse at her throat grew erratic. He inwardly smiled at her reaction. This amazing Druid, this beautiful woman was turning him inside out. Yet he couldn’t get enough of her.

Zelfor roared his approval inside Phelan. And Phelan agreed. There was no other woman like Aisley. Phelan had walked the land for four centuries and never met another like her.

He could walk the world until the end of time and never find anyone who could compare to her.

His fingers plunged into her hair and held her head as he kissed her. Phelan poured all of his passion, all of his yearning into that kiss.

She molded her body to his, open and accepting of anything he demanded of her. The more she gave, the more he wanted. That want became a burning need.

His body was ablaze with desire. The flames licked at his soul, urging him to make her his. Now. Forever.

He moved his arm between them and palmed her breast. When he encountered material, he let a claw extend and then he ripped her dress down the middle and jerked it off her.

In seconds he had her bra removed, and with two swipes of his claw, her panties followed her dress. His hand found her breast again. She moaned into his mouth when he tweaked her nipple. Phelan had never felt such lust flare in his blood before. If he didn’t get inside her soon, he was going to explode.

For the second time that day, Phelan jerked off his clothes, this time with the help of Aisley. When he was naked, he jerked her against him and stared into her eyes.

“Tell me again,” he demanded.

She kissed his chest before she looked up at him. “I want you.”

Phelan tightened his hold around her. He dropped to his knees, pulling her down with him. There was a smile on her face when he fell onto his back and looked up at her.

She splayed her hands on his chest and straddled him. Phelan watched in spellbinding awe as she rose up on her knees, her gaze fastened on him. Then she took his aching cock in hand and brought it to her entrance.

It took a herculean effort to remain still instead of raising his hips and plunging inside her, but somehow he managed it. Barely.

Aisley’s head dropped back when she lowered herself onto his rod. He gritted his teeth together and let her remain in control. She impaled herself on him slowly, her wet heat surrounding him.

She rocked forward, wringing a low moan of satisfaction from him. Phelan gripped her hips so he could urge her faster or slower, but his hands itched to touch more of her.

Her breasts jostled as her movements grew quicker. She was wanton and passionate, beautiful and reckless. And all his.

Something primal, primitive grew inside him as he stared at the woman who had fascinated him from the start. He didn’t care about her past. His only thought was of the now.

And the future.

He cupped her breasts. Each time she rocked her hips, he raised his. The movement was taking each of them higher, the pleasure calling them onward.

The turgid peaks of her nipples grazed his palms as he massaged her breasts. He rolled her nipples between his thumb and forefinger adding pressure as he did.

She cried out and lifted her head. With her hands once more braced on his chest, she met his eyes and rode him hard and wild.

There would be no holding back for either of them, no prolonging the exquisite release. The need was too great, too intense to be denied any longer.

Only Aisley, beautiful, mystifying Aisley, could bring him to the edge of a climax so easily.

“Come with me,” he urged.

She gave a small nod in response. Phelan ducked his head and took her nipple in his mouth while his hands palmed her fine ass. He held the peak gently between his teeth and ran his tongue back and forth over the nipple.

Her legs tightened a moment before her body clamped around his cock. Phelan dimly heard her scream as they climaxed together.

The force of it sent him reeling. The world was twisting, turning as indescribable rapture flooded them, besieged them.

Suffused them.

Their souls touched, connected. Merged.

There was no turning back for him, no walking away from the woman in his arms. She was his, and he would do anything and everything to keep her.

Phelan wrapped his arms around Aisley as she collapsed on his chest, their ragged breaths drowned out by the rain.

Phelan couldn’t quite grasp the tranquility, the serenity that had him firmly in its grip. Though he knew it couldn’t possibly last, he was going to enjoy it while he had it.

He rubbed his cheek against the side of Aisley’s face, careful not to scratch her with his whiskers. He was in bad need of a shave, but he was loath to move.

She sighed softly in sleep and huddled farther down in the blankets he wrapped around them. After their lovemaking, they had rinsed off in the shower. He smiled, remembering how he couldn’t keep his hands off her.

He refused to allow her clothes. Instead, he’d grabbed the tartan blanket from the couch and pulled her outside. There he sat on the swing with the blanket around him and his arms held wide.

Even now he could recall the sight of her sad smile as she nestled her firm arse between his legs and leaned back against him. He’d wrapped the blanket around them as they watched the rain fall.

That was hours ago. If he wasn’t certain she was warm, he’d have brought Aisley inside when she fell asleep.

He glanced at the sky to see it turning from black to a steel gray. Dawn was coming, and with it the rain tapered off to a faint drizzle.

What would the new day bring? Would Aisley still want to leave? Could he let her go?

It hadn’t taken long during the hours of the night for Phelan to realize he needed to fill Charon in on Aisley. And not just Charon. Fallon needed to know there was another Druid. Though Phelan was certain Charon had already mentioned it to Fallon.

Phelan wasn’t looking forward to answering all the questions he knew would come about Aisley. He wanted her kept away from Wallace and whoever else hunted her, but he didn’t want to share her.

Nor did he want to break the peace they had found.

It was their own world here in the middle of the forest. Nothing and no one to bother them. It was near perfection.

Which in itself brought ice to Phelan’s veins. Perfection had a way of dissolving quickly, as he learned yesterday.

“You let me sleep,” came Aisley’s muffled voice.

He smiled against her hair. “You needed it.”

“Did you stay awake all night?”

“Aye.”

Aisley yawned and quickly covered her mouth with her hand. “What are you thinking about so hard?”

“I need to go patrolling again.”

“Hmm. I figured as much. There’s something else though.”

Phelan kissed her temple, hoping she didn’t ask him to take her into town. “Those at MacLeod Castle need to know about you. There is always celebrating when another Druid is found.”

He didn’t miss the way her body tensed, though she tried to hide it. “Why do they need to know?” she asked.

“As I said, protecting Druids is what they do.”

“It’s what you’re doing.”

He happened to agree, but Phelan also knew if Wallace attacked him, Aisley wouldn’t have anyone to back her up. Wallace was too powerful of a drough for Aisley to try and fight on her own.

“Aye, but for how long will you let me?” Before she could answer, he asked, “Have you used your magic in a fight before?”

“You mean against someone?”

He nodded.

She hesitated in answering, which made him frown. “Yes.”

“Then you know what you’ll have to do if Wallace attacks here.”

“Let’s not talk about that.”

Phelan took one of her slim hands in his. He marveled at her long fingers. With his thumb, he caressed her palm, trying to calm her. It wasn’t until he turned her hand over that he saw the scar running down her wrist.

Blood pounded in his ears while his gaze was riveted on the scar. He tried to draw in a breath, but his lungs seized. Phelan needed to be rational. He knew she didn’t wear a Demon’s Kiss, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t drough.

But he’d know if she was drough.

He’d know!

She put her other hand atop his to cover the scar he was tracing with his finger.

“Aisley…” He had to pause and clear his throat. He was afraid to ask, afraid she would admit to being drough. But she knew he hunted them. Why would she have willingly come to his cabin if she was a drough? Was this her secret? Had another betrayal come?

“Ask,” she said quietly.

“Did you try to kill yourself?”

She drew in a deep breath. “Many times.”

“Why?” The truth was in her eyes, boldly daring him to ask how.

“I couldn’t face the days after my baby died. I sat in the flat that was supposed to be ours looking at a crib that would never hold her. The tears stopped coming and life became … unbearable. I walked away from Pitlochry and the future I had there. It didn’t take me long to fall into the wrong crowd and use what little money I had on drugs. I prayed the Reaper would come for me.”

He drew her wrist to his lips and kissed the scar. “You survived.”

Aisley squeezed her eyes shut to hold back the tears. What a coward she was. She hadn’t been entirely truthful to Phelan, but she had tried to kill herself when she used the drugs.

But not by slitting her wrists.

Phelan had given her so much and offered her even more. He was a good man who deserved better than she was giving him. It was time she came clean.

“Phelan, about the scars—”

The sound of his mobile ringing interrupted her. Aisley sat up so he could rise from the swing and hurry into the house. She grinned when she caught sight of his bare ass before he disappeared through the doorway.

She stood, wrapping the blanket around her. A chill settled into her soul, a chill that had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with her.

Aisley walked into the house to see Phelan listening intently to whoever was on the other end of the phone. She ran her hand through her hair and wrinkled her nose.

A shower was in order. She could use that time to determine how she would tell Phelan what he suspected when he found the scar on her wrist, as well as her plan.

She shut the door to the bathroom and let the blanket fall when she turned on the shower. The warm water didn’t thaw the casing of ice around her soul. And the more she thought about telling Phelan, the sicker to her stomach she got.

But this is what she deserved for not being honest with him from the start.

She could have told him that night at the club when he kissed her. Of course, she’d thought he knew, but it was obvious now he hadn’t.

Instead of him chasing her to kill her, he’d been following her those two months trying to get closer to her.

Aisley couldn’t believe her luck. To finally find someone who was caring, honest, good-looking, and incredible in bed, and not be with him was a hard pill to swallow.

Who was she kidding?

It wasn’t hard, it was damned impossible.

“Why?” she asked anyone in the cosmos who would listen. “Why did Jason come looking for me? Why wasn’t I strong enough to tell him no? Why couldn’t Phelan have found me earlier? Why do I have to be his enemy?”

Aisley mentally shook herself. There was no use fighting the inevitable. She was ready to die. Wasn’t she?

Sadly, the answer to that was no. She’d found something good with Phelan, and she wasn’t ready for it to end. Eternity wouldn’t be long enough in his arms.

He was a true hero.

And she was the enemy he would vanquish to save the world.

Because whatever she might think of herself, Phelan had the right answer in killing all droughs. The evil within a drough was too powerful.

Whenever they succeeded in killing Jason—and they would eventually—someone else would take his place. It might take months or even years, but it would happen.

Aisley loved being a Druid. She enjoyed the feel of her magic, even that smidgen she’d had, race within her veins. Becoming drough had given her magic a huge boost, but it wasn’t worth the price.

No longer did her magic give her joy. She could feel the evil inside her, feel it infest her magic and turn it from pure to something grotesque and corrupt.

She finished her shower and shut off the water. As she toweled off, she thought the house seemed quiet, but she assumed Phelan was outside.

With the towel wrapped around her, she stood in front of the mirror, but couldn’t make herself look at her reflection. The anger Phelan would feel when she told him—she deserved a thousand times over.

He had been betrayed again. She might have had a good reason for doing it, but it didn’t matter. A treachery was a treachery no matter what kind of spin was put on it.

Aisley swallowed and made her eyes lift to look in the mirror. She hated what stared back at her. While she combed her hair, she looked anywhere but directly into her own eyes.

Her hand shook by the time she set down the comb. She hurried out of the bathroom to find some clothes. Aisley put on the first thing she found, which was a pair of yoga pants and a thin, oversized sweatshirt she had cut the neck out of.

After all, it didn’t really matter what she wore for her death, did it?

“Phelan,” she called when she walked out of the bedroom.

There was no answer.

Aisley looked all over the house, and then searched outside. Only when she happened to glance at the shed and saw his Ducati gone did she realize he’d left.

It must have been an important phone call. She’d gotten a reprieve, but one she wasn’t happy about. Aisley feared that by the time Phelan returned she would lose her nerve.

“I’m a damned coward,” she mumbled.

All because she was falling hard for Phelan Stewart. A Warrior, a hero, an amazing lover, and all-around good guy.

“Oh, hell. I’m so screwed. I want him.”

She wanted him so badly it hurt to breathe. Because she wasn’t falling for Phelan. She’d already fallen.

Completely, utterly.

Totally.

“Oh, dear God. I love him,” she whispered in shock.

When had that happened? How had that happened? Hadn’t she been guarding her heart?

Phelan was charming and seductive, and somehow he’d snuck past all her defenses. Then she had gone and made everything worse by agreeing to stay with him. That couldn’t happen now. She had to leave.

She could run out into the woods, but he’d find her since not only did he know the forest, but he could follow her magic. She’d end up going in circles since she was directionally challenged.

Still, it was better than staying, and she might have enough time to delve into her magic to learn how to stop Jason for good.

Aisley ran into the bedroom and began to toss her few meager belongings into her duffle. She jammed her feet into her tennis shoes, and just as she was reaching for the duffle a shiver of something evil slid over her.

“No,” she said.

“Aisssssleeyyyyyyy!”

She fell to her knees and clutched her head. The voice filled her mind to an earsplitting crescendo as it repeated her name over and over again.

The voice was stronger than before, as if each time it said her name it grew in power.

“Stop it!” Aisley screamed. “Leave me alone!”

“Aisley.”

This time it seemed the voice whispered right beside her ear. She jerked her head around and saw mist swirling. Dread filled her, freezing her in place.

Was it Jason? Or was it the gray-skinned creatures that she’d barely escaped from?

She had seen how the monsters moved by turning into mist and disappearing. If it was them, it was pointless to use magic. That would only make them attack her sooner.

Aisley watched as the mist grew thicker and thicker. She knew without a doubt that whatever appeared out of the mist was there to kill her.

She scooted back on her hands and feet until she hit a wall. The mist began to fill the room, creeping closer and closer to her.

“Aisley.”