well before we could bring him back.”
She lifted her head to look into the deep green eyes of her husband. “The difference is he was brought back by healing magic. I wasn’t.”
“Then what brought you back to me?”
“I don’t know. I was dead. We both know that, though we’ve never spoken of it. You never asked what it was like.”
“Because I refuse to believe I truly lost you. You came back to me, so you couldna have been as dead as you think you were.”
She grinned and stepped out of his arms. “We had Jason to battle, so I allowed you to ignore the fact that I had truly died. Not come close as I have before, but died, Fallon. You know it. There was nothing the Druids could do to heal more, and no amount of Warrior blood reversed what the X90 did.”
“Stop,” he said and turned away.
Larena understood then that she had done wrong by letting Fallon ignore the truth. Everyone had. She’d been so happy to be back that she hadn’t wanted to question it.
However, that’s all she’d been able to do for the past several months. If she had been dead, just who had brought her back? And why?
“No,” she stated. “I’ll not stop now. We need to address this. All of us, not just you and me. If this happened to me, it could happen to one of the others. Charon might not have spoken to you about it, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”
Fallon raked a hand down his face and turned to lean against a chair. He propped his hands on the chair back and shook his head. “You know I’ll do anything for you.”
“I know.”
“What is it you need?”
“This damned depression is like mud. I’m knee-deep in it and can’t get out. I haven’t the will to fight it.”
“Then let me.”
Her heart fluttered as it always did when he looked at her with longing, love, and desire. A tear fell down her cheek. “I’m a Warrior. I should be able to do this on my own.”
“Warrior or no’, you’re my wife, Larena MacLeod. We stand together, fighting, loving, and living. I’ve faltered in my promise to you. I’ll no’ falter again.”
She let the thin straps of her silk gown fall down her shoulders. With just a little wiggle of her hips, the gown pooled at her feet.
“Then start by making love to me.”
Fallon straightened and yanked her against him. “I doona need to be told twice.”
They shared a smile before he kissed her, backing her to the bed as he did.
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
