Isla called to her magic, felt it move and swirl within her. She splayed her fingers and held her hands above her stomach. The magic gathered at the center of her abdomen, growing and growing until she could barely contain it.
She held it as long as she could before she lifted her hands toward Hayden and Ian. The blast of magic that shot from her was so strong she had to take a step back to keep balanced.
Her magic held Hayden and Ian apart no matter how hard they fought. She glanced from one to the other, afraid at the savagery she saw in their eyes.
“Hayden,” she called. When he didn’t respond she tried again. “Hayden, look at me!”
Finally his red Warrior gaze shifted to her. “I need to finish this.”
“It is finished.”
“He attacked you!”
Isla never knew which Hayden she was going to be talking to. The one who wanted her in his arms, whose touch made her yearn for more. Or the man who couldn’t stand the sight of her.
“What do you care?” she said, but didn’t give him a chance to respond. “There are wyrran. Ian and the others were coming to battle them. I tried to prevent them.”
Hayden’s eyes narrowed on her, his jaw clenched. “Let me down. Now.”
Isla knew Hayden would only go back to fighting Ian, and she couldn’t have that. With a wave of her hand she pushed him through her shield. At the same time she released Ian who gave her a small nod.
“What have you done?” Lucan demanded.
Isla, however, was too busy watching Hayden to want to answer. If Deirdre had known how close to losing control Hayden was she would’ve set out to capture him in an instant. Hayden could lose himself in his god with the slightest of nudges.
Fallon stepped in front of her, blocking her gaze. “Answer, Lucan,” he demanded.
“I’m trying to save him. None of you, especially Hayden, realize how close he is to losing it all. He’s much closer than Quinn ever was.”
She turned on her heel and started toward the castle. Hayden needed something to kill, and she’d given it to him. The wyrran.
Hayden stumbled backward at the force of Isla’s magic. He felt her shield pass through him, knew she had tossed him out. The veil of anger and blood lust slowly fell away with the touch of her magic to leave him feeling lost and empty.
He looked around. The castle was there, he knew it was, but he couldn’t see it. It looked as though the land was barren, no people, no buildings, and most certainly no castle.
There was a sound to his right and he turned his head and saw the wyrran. “God’s blood,” he murmured.
Everything Isla had told him was the truth. Why did she want the wyrran left alone? There had to be a reason. And even though every instinct inside him cried out to kill the evil creatures, he moved back through the shield instead.
“Hayden,” Ramsey said as he took a step toward him.
Hayden looked at the men around him, the Warriors he called his brothers. His gaze landed on Ian and humiliation washed over him. He of all people knew better than to attack those that fought with him.
“Ian,” he began.
Ian held up a hand to stop him. “There’s no need.”
But Hayden knew there was. “I’m sorry. I doona know what came over me.”
Actually, he knew exactly what came over him — the need to defend Isla. It had been instinctual, primal, and so profound he had thought of nothing else.
Was he fighting his attraction to Isla based purely on his family’s memory? Did his instincts know something he didn’t? He’d never denied them before, had trusted them with his life, but now he questioned everything.
Isla did that to him. She twisted everything, turned everything about until he didn’t know which way was up.
“Hayden?”
Ramsey’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked into his friend’s gray eyes and saw a wealth of wisdom there. Ramsey might be able to help him.
“I’ve only ever felt rage like that once before,” Hayden lowered his voice so the others couldn’t hear. He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at the wyrran over his shoulder. “I never thought to feel it again.”
Isla’s shield was holding, preventing the wyrran from going forward or seeing anything inside. A few moments later, they turned and walked away.
Ramsey crossed his arms over his chest. “When your family was killed?”
Hayden nodded and closed his eyes. The memories of seeing his family slaughtered still haunted him.
“We’re all balanced on the edge of a blade. Sometimes it’s effortless to control what’s inside us. Other times, it’s impossible.”
Hayden looked at Ramsey. “If only it were that simple.”
“What else is going on? Is it Isla?”
It was most certainly Isla, but that was private. Whatever his feelings for Isla, he had to figure them out on his own. “Nay,” he lied.
Ramsey lifted a black brow in question. “We all heard you this morn in the hall, yet you would kill one of your own to protect her? I think there’s more than what you’re telling me. I understand your need for privacy, but that is long gone now.”
Hayden thought of Isla’s alluring mouth, her sweet kisses, and her unmatched passion. He thought of how it felt to hold her warm body against him, how she could turn him ablaze with just one touch.
“It’s … I cannot,” Hayden finally said.
Ramsey dropped his arms and nodded. “I think I understand. Your hatred for
It wasn’t quite so simple as that, yet Ramsey had a point. “Do you see the world as good or evil?”
“Nay. There is good in everyone just as there is evil in everyone. Look at us. We fight for the side of good, yet we have some of the greatest evil ever to walk the earth inside us. Are we good? Or are we evil? The same can, and should be applied, to Isla.”
“Maybe,” Hayden replied.
Ramsey sighed heavily. “You are fighting the very thing that is pulling you to her. You are fighting yourself, Hayden. If you aren’t careful you will destroy her along with you. I admit the world would be much easier if we could categorize everything into black or white, but nothing is that simple or that uncomplicated.”
Hayden’s head began to pound. His world had changed with the death of his family and his god being unbound. He didn’t want to go through that kind of upheaval again, yet that’s exactly where he found himself.
He had nearly lost it all the first time. He wasn’t sure he could survive a second.
TWENTY-FIVE
Isla spent the rest day in her tower too embarrassed by Hayden’s dismissal of her earlier and too astonished by his battle with Ian. Over her.
She didn’t want to speak to anyone, not after all that had happened. Marcail, Cara, Larena, and even Sonya had taken turns trying to coax her out of the tower. But Isla was content were she was.
She made herself eat the food left for her while she contemplated her options. It would be best if she left. She had known that from the very beginning.
It had been too tempting to be a part of the MacLeods, to be welcomed and offered friendship. She had made a terrible mistake, though.
