Midnight's Surrender

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