Aisley waited for Phelan to question her. Instead, he ran the backs of his fingers along her cheek tenderly. His blue-gray eyes studied her solemnly.
“How do you feel?”
She took stock of her body and was amazed to find there wasn’t a twinge of pain anywhere. “Like nothing happened. Did I dream it?”
“Nay, beauty,” he said dejectedly.
That’s when she understood what he had done. “You used your blood to heal me.”
He gave a single nod. “It was Wallace. I doona know why he attacked you and no’ me, but I’ve put you in grave danger.”
“You don’t understand,” she said as she sat up, even as he tried to keep her lying down. Aisley pushed his hand away. There could be no more secrets. Phelan had to know everything. She couldn’t live with herself if he blamed himself for what was her fault.
“I do,” he said over her. “We need to head back to the hotel. I’ll call Fallon. He can teleport some Warriors and Druids here to protect you while the rest of us search out the Druids here for answers on the selmyr.”
Aisley rolled her eyes. Damn but Phelan was stubborn. “First, I’m not turning back. We’re here. And the Druids can help you defend against Wallace.”
Phelan got to his feet in one smooth movement. “Do you even know what happened to you? I saw it all, Aisley.”
“And I felt it.” As horrible as it was. She suppressed a shudder just thinking of the agony she’d endured for just a few minutes.
If that’s what Jason had in store for her, she was determined not to let him get close again.
Aisley climbed to her feet and stood in front of Phelan. “The part of my past I didn’t want to tell you. It’s time you knew. Everything.”
“What was that?” Phelan asked, his forehead furrowed as he narrowed his gaze over her shoulder.
In a blur of movement, he was gone, chasing after whatever he saw. Aisley retrieved her pack and his and started after him as fast as she could.
She lost sight of him when he went up and over one of the mountains. Carrying two packs made climbing difficult. She’d had no idea Phelan put so much stuff in his pack. It weighed twice as much as hers.
Aisley grunted as her thigh muscles screamed in protest from the strain as she trudged up the incline. The rips in her sleeve allowed the breeze to cool her heated skin, but it also reminded her that Jason was back.
And Phelan deserved the truth.
Even if she wasn’t ready to attack Jason herself.
Out here in the middle of the Cuillins was the perfect place to die. It was the home of her ancestors. It would be her final resting place. It was fitting, in a morbid sort of way.
She brushed hair out of her face that had come down from her ponytail. The ascent up the mountain was the most challenging climbing she’d ever done. As much as she hated to do it, she had to stop and rest.
Aisley gave herself five minutes. She used that time to relieve the weight of the packs from her shoulders and to drink as much water as she could.
Then she was back to climbing. She didn’t see another soul for the next forty-five minutes. Though she tried not to notice the time, she couldn’t help but wonder where Phelan was. What would make him leave her like that?
“Bugger it,” she ground out when her foot slipped for the third time on a bit of rock she was trying to get a foothold on.
The rock wasn’t big enough to take even the tip of her foot. She tried for a fourth time only to have her foot slide off again.
She was about to find another place to climb when a hand appeared in front of her face. Aisley looked up to find Phelan. She took his hand, and he effortlessly pulled her up beside him.
“I saw a Druid,” he said as way of explanation.
Aisley set down the packs and grabbed the water as she tried to get her breathing under control. She drank half a bottle before she lowered it and glared at him. “You could’ve told me that before you raced off.”
“Aye. I need to work on that. I’m used to being alone.”
“It’s courtesy,” she said, winded.
Phelan pointed to the valley below. “We need to go there.”
“Did you find the Druids?”
He smiled sheepishly. “No’ exactly.”
“Lead the way then.”
Phelan took his pack and tried to grab hers as well. Aisley jerked it out of his grip and reached for a bag of nuts she’d seen. She slid the pack onto her shoulders and tore open the package of cashews to munch on as they walked.
The entire way down the mountain all Aisley could think about was spilling her secrets. She could be a coward and tell him as they walked. But she wanted to look him in the eye so she could gauge his reaction. It was how to start that was the problem. She couldn’t just blurt out that she was Jason’s cousin.
If she told him she was looking for a way to fight Jason, then Phelan would want to know how she knew him. It was all so damned convoluted.
More clouds rolled in to block the sun. It helped to lessen the heat, but fortunately, there was no more rain. The weather had changed so many times that Aisley wouldn’t be surprised if it began to snow.
They finally reached the valley. Bright green grass stretched in an endless sea before her, only broken by the occasional boulder that protruded from the ground.
Aisley turned in a slow circle looking at the valley, the mountain peaks against the white clouds, and the shadows those same clouds cast on the mountains.
Phelan’s hand brushed hers. His pull on her was so great she was incapable of ignoring him. Her eyes slid closed when his fingers brushed her jaw and gently turned her face to him.
His lips grazed hers in a whisper of a kiss. He murmured something in Gaelic she didn’t understand, and then he claimed her mouth.
Roughly, fiercely. Savagely.
Aisley’s body came alive under his touch. She moaned, answering the demand in his kiss. Her arms wrapped around his neck as he molded her body against his.
His arousal was pressed against her stomach. Her hips rocked against him, wringing a groan from deep within him. He whispered her name as he kissed down her throat.
“I need you,” she said.
She dropped her head back while his mouth moved to her neck. His hand cupped her breast and squeezed. She knew it was wrong to make love to him right before she told him she was
There was no denying her body—or Phelan.
“They’re watching,” he said.
“I don’t care. I need to feel you inside me.”
He dropped his head against hers. “As much as I want to lay you down and strip you while making love to you in this place, I’d rather no’ be watched while I do it.”
Aisley couldn’t help but grin. She plunged her fingers in his dark locks and held him. If only she had the magic to stop this moment in time.
The Druids who dared to control time paid a hefty price. Not only did Aisley fear the consequences of trying, but she didn’t have the magic for it—even with her black magic.
“Do you hear that?” Phelan asked and lifted his head.
Aisley listened carefully, but heard nothing. “No.”
He took her hand and pulled her after him as he walked deeper into the valley. They walked another ten minutes when she heard it.
“Water,” she said.
Phelan smiled. “A waterfall, if I’m correct.”
