“Too bad I didn’t meet you sooner, Phelan.”
When he was out of sight, she shut the door and walked into the bathroom. Her body was deliciously sore from their lovemaking. Just thinking of the previous night made her burn for his touch.
Aisley stepped into the shower and sighed as the hot water ran over her. She began to hum, something she hadn’t done since she was pregnant. Phelan had changed her in ways he couldn’t possibly understand.
She smiled and lathered the shampoo in her hair. As she leaned her head back to rinse it the steam around her changed, morphed.
Into Jason’s face.
Aisley screamed and stepped to the side. Her foot slipped on the soap pooling at the drain, and she fell, slamming her shoulder against the floor of the shower.
She looked up with her heart in her throat, but the steam had shifted. No longer could she see Jason’s face.
“Stop it!” she screamed. “Do you hear me? Leave me alone!”
She slapped her hand against the shower floor but couldn’t stop the tears that came. For a few minutes she let herself wallow in pity, then she climbed to her feet and finished her shower.
Aisley was still shaking when she stepped out of the shower and reached for the towel. She expected Jason to jump out at her at any moment.
That’s when she got angry.
“No,” she said aloud. “I refuse to live the last few hours of my life scared witless. You’ve done that to me enough. I’m going to stop you!”
She took a deep breath and refused to give her bastard of a cousin the satisfaction of her fear. Aisley toweled off and walked back to the bedroom for a fresh change of clothes when she spotted Phelan’s mobile phone. Had he left it on purpose?
It suddenly rang, flashing CHARON across the screen. She stared at the phone. Her time was running out in more ways than one.
Tonight. Everything would end that night.
She glanced at the clock to find it was half past one. A few hours was all she had left. There was relief, but also remorse that she’d have to leave Phelan.
More than that, guilt weighed on her for deceiving him. He was a ladies’ man. She knew without a doubt he would find a new woman quickly enough.
A stab of jealousy ran through her. What else did she expect from him? It wasn’t as if they were falling in love.
She was the enemy—his enemy.
And he would bring her death.
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
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
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?”
