“You don’t, do you?”
Galen bent his other arm and put it beneath his head. “I know Deirdre was on her way here when we attacked her. Her black magic prevented her death, but as soon as her full magic has returned, she will come here looking for the artifact we seek.”
“Have you told the elders?”
“I’ve spoken to Odara. She plans to speak to the others.”
Reaghan let out a soft sigh. “We’ve always been safe here.”
“And the wyrran attacks?”
“The wyrran have been unable to penetrate our magic. They’ve taken those of us who haven’t been inside the shield.”
Galen looked down at her and marveled yet again at how good it felt to touch her, hold her without his power intruding. “I’ve asked to take the entire village to MacLeod Castle.”
“This is our home. They will not leave.”
“Yet, you want to.”
She shrugged and burrowed more tightly against him. “I love it here. I am a part of this village. For too long the Druids have hidden from Deirdre. We need to take a stand. Now is a good time.”
“I need to find the artifact. It is important to our cause, and to the safety of every Druid in Scotland.”
“Then I will help,” she promised. “I questioned Nessa tonight. She said only a few knew of it. When I asked why I didn’t know of it, she said only a handful needed to know and I wasn’t one of them.”
He kissed the top of her head. “We’ll find it.”
“I hope so. If the elders do not begin to trust you and Logan, then it will be only a matter of time before Deirdre comes to claim the artifact.”
“Aye,” he murmured. The thought of Deirdre invading the beauty of Loch Awe left him with seething anger.
Galen thought over all Reaghan had said. She wanted answers, answers she might find with the Druids at MacLeod Castle.
Just thinking about the castle made him recall how he had wandered Scotland for many decades searching for someplace he felt connected to, a place he could be a part of something.
That hadn’t happened until he found the MacLeods. He’d found a home and a family at MacLeod Castle. Maybe Reaghan would as well.
TEN
The next morning Reaghan expected everyone to know she and Galen had been lovers the night before, but no one looked at her differently as she walked through the small village.
That is, no one except Logan.
He smiled at her, his hazel eyes knowing. “Galen tells me you want to return with us.”
Reaghan hastily looked around her to make sure no one else heard him. “Aye.”
“Good. I think you will enjoy it at the castle.”
“I’m pleased you are welcoming me.”
He cocked a brow. “You worried I wouldn’t?”
“You and Galen are friends. He trusts your judgment.”
Logan chuckled, a long stick in his hand that he repeatedly stabbed into the earth. “Galen has been around longer than I. He doesna need my permission for anything.”
“Regardless, I think it important both of you agree.”
“Galen wants to bring the entire village with us. Did you know he spoke with Odara about it?”
Reaghan nodded and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “He told me last night.”
“Be careful in your questioning about the artifact,” Logan cautioned in a low voice, his gaze wandering around them. “Whatever it is, everyone here reveres it and willna part with it easily.”
“I cannot understand their need to keep it when it could help against Deirdre.”
Logan’s hazel eyes came to rest on her. “It comes down to trust and what they have believed for many generations. It will take a significant event for them to hand it over.”
“Or we just take it.”
He grinned. “You surprise me. These are your people.”
“Aye, they are. However, Deirdre’s threat is of great importance. We have been sheltered from the world here, but for how much longer? Galen said it will only be a matter of time before Deirdre comes looking for the artifact herself. I say we strike before she does.”
“I like the way you think,” Logan said, grinning again. “I wish you could convince the elders.”
She sighed and found herself searching for Galen. “I as well.”
“You think you will find the answers to your past at Foinaven Mountain?”
“I don’t know, but I must try. I want to know where I come from and why I’m no longer with my family.”
“Sometimes the past is better left alone.”
“You can say that because you know who your family is.”
“Was. I know who my family was, and I’d like nothing more than to forget,” he ground out before he turned on his heel and walked away.
Reaghan was stunned by the fury in his tone. Was it better to have the memories and long to forget them? Or to never know and yearn to remember?
She walked to the loch to bathe and think about who she could speak with next about the artifact. What was it about this object that made the village keep it so secret?
If only she knew where it was. She could take it, and help Galen and Logan in their fight against Deirdre. Then she, Galen, and Logan could set out for MacLeod Castle.
A smile tugged at her lips as she thought of the adventure that awaited her. Stealing from the very people she called her own wouldn’t be easy, but she would be doing it to help save them all. Surely they would understand that in the end.
She removed her clothes and grabbed the soap she had brought before she stepped into the cool waters of the loch. The water rippled around her as she walked out into the blue depths until it reached her shoulders. She tilted her head back to wet her hair and began to lather the thick strands with the soap. After a long scrub, she dunked her head under the water to help rinse away the suds.
It was while she washed her body that she felt someone’s gaze. Heat sizzled through her veins, causing her heart to beat unsteadily. She knew without looking it was Galen. When she turned toward shore, she saw him standing in the trees, his cobalt gaze filled with desire as he watched her.
She wanted him to join her, and nearly motioned for him to do so when she caught sight of Braden walking toward Galen. Reaghan smiled and shrugged. Maybe later they could go for a swim. She wondered what it would be like to feel the cool liquid lap at her skin while they made love.
*
Galen couldn’t take his eyes off Reaghan with her skin wet and glistening in the morning sun, her auburn locks darkened by the water and slick against her head.
He recalled the taste of her skin, knew how it felt to hold her soft body against him. He grew hard just thinking about taking her again, of filling her and thrusting deep inside her.
When she looked at him, her smile welcoming, her gaze inviting, Galen had been about to throw caution to the wind and join her. He knew it was best if they kept their affair from the rest of the village, but when it came to Reaghan, he lost all sense of reason.
He reached to unpin his brooch when his enhanced hearing caught the sound of quick, light footsteps coming toward him. Galen frowned, knowing he would have to wait to join Reaghan.
