will be a great asset to us.”
“Then where is he?” Lucan asked.
“He’ll be here. Camdyn never breaks his word,” Galen said.
Fallon pointed across from Galen. “That is Ramsey MacDonald. He’s the quiet one.”
“My lady,” Ramsey said with a bow of his head.
Larena instantly liked the raven-haired Warrior. He didn’t sport a kilt, but there was a fire in his gray eyes that only Highlanders had. “Ramsey.”
“You’ve already met Logan,” Fallon said, as Logan gave her a wink. “The hulking one across from him is Hayden Campbell.”
Larena looked into eyes so dark they were nearly black. It was a startling contrast with his blond hair, but Hayden’s eyes seemed to convey the idea of menace just as his demeanor did. “Hayden.”
“Larena,” Hayden replied in a cool, deep voice.
Fallon pulled his chair out and motioned for her to take it. “Sit, please. Would you like something to eat?”
“Nay.” Larena took his chair, hating to be the center of attention. Fallon slid next to her in Quinn’s empty spot. She tried to read the emotion in his eyes, but he had closed himself off to her.
She should be relieved. She had wanted to distance herself anyway, right? Then why did it hurt so badly?
Aye. Now she knew.
“Can you tell us of the attack on you?” Lucan asked.
Larena took a deep breath to help fortify herself. She didn’t want to relive the attack, but there were things Fallon and the others needed to know.
“There were two of them. One of the Warriors had pale green skin and a nasty attitude. The other had dark blue skin and wings.”
“Wings?” Lucan repeated, his brow furrowed. “Are you sure?”
Larena nodded. “I saw him fold them against his back. They were wings.”
“Could it be the same one?” Cara asked.
Fallon lifted one shoulder. “I imagine it is. Did they both attack you?” he asked Larena.
“Nay, only the pale green one. They told me Deirdre wanted to meet me. When I asked how she found out about me, they told me it was the wyrran. One had gotten into the castle. I killed it, but apparently there was another watching and it saw me transform,” she told Fallon.
“A wyrran? In Edinburgh?” Galen asked.
Fallon nodded. “Aye. It showed itself to a large crowd in the great hall. I went after it, but I lost it in the maze of corridors.”
“That’s when I found it,” Larena said. “I chased it out of the castle and killed it.”
Logan chuckled. “Impressive. Do you see many wyrran at the castle?”
“That was the first I’d seen at the castle,” Larena said, unable to keep the smile from her lips. Logan’s easy charm helped to ease her tension.
Sonya leaned forward. “Did you know you had been poisoned with
“I did. It was the winged Warrior who told me about the poison. He said Deirdre wanted me alive, so he suggested I find Fallon and have him bring me here.”
“Why?” Hayden asked. “That doesn’t sound like any of Deirdre’s Warriors I have encountered.”
Larena shifted in her chair and shrugged. “I couldn’t say.”
“I suppose they knew you were there from the wyrran as well?” Lucan asked Fallon.
Fallon ran a hand down his face before laying his palm on the table. “Apparently. They were counting on me to find Larena and bring her here to be healed.”
“If you’re correct, then they’ll be coming for Larena,” Ramsey said. “That means another attack, and this time Deirdre will send more Warriors.”
Hayden rose from the table and cursed. “We won last time, but they’ll know how many Warriors we have now. Deirdre won’t make the same mistake again. And we’re down one Warrior.”
“Nay, you’re not,” Larena said as she rose to her feet. “I can fight.”
Hayden’s lip curled in a sneer. “Fallon said he saw you change.”
“Do you think he lied to you?”
Silence greeted her question. Hayden moved toward her, and Logan and Galen rose to their feet.
“I believe Fallon, as we all do,” Hayden answered. “But I want to see for myself.”
Larena lifted a brow and glared at him. “I will want to see you transform as well. After all, being told you’re a Warrior doesn’t make it so, now does it?”
Logan chuckled and shook his head. He raked a hand through his light brown hair and returned to his seat. “She’s got you there, Hayden.”
She found Hayden looking at her with something akin to respect in his black eyes.
“Fair is fair,” he said, a heartbeat before his skin turned a dark red. Small red horns poked through his thick blond hair to stand straight up. His claws were red and gleaming, and his lips peeled back in a grin, showing her his impressive fangs.
Larena looked Hayden over before gazing into his red eyes. “Horns?”
“I have the god of massacre within me. What can Isay?”
“Thank you,” she said. She glanced at Fallon to find him watching her. His gaze steadied her, reminding her of his presence.
Larena usually transformed without her clothes since she used her power and turned herself invisible, but that wasn’t an option at the moment.
Once Hayden returned to his human form, Larena released her goddess and let the change overtake her. Chills raced over her skin as the goddess stretched inside her. Larena wiggled her fingers as her claws distended from them. The fangs filled her mouth, and she was careful not to cut her tongue or her lips.
“Shite,” Galen murmured.
Logan cleared his throat twice before he could speak. “You can say that again.”
Ramsey let out an appreciative whistle while Hayden bowed his head to her.
Larena glanced at her arm to see her skin shimmering as it always did.
Cara’s dark eyes were huge with awe. “Even her hair. Just as Fallon told us. She’s stunning.”
With every eye trained on her, Larena fought the urge to fidget. Then Fallon was on his feet beside her. His hand brushed hers, and she had the absurd notion to intertwine her fingers with his.
“Will you show them the rest?” he asked.
In answer, she made herself invisible and heard the audible gasps from Sonya and Cara. The effect wasn’t the same as when she’d done it for Fallon since she had been nude at the time. As it was, it looked as if there were nothing holding up her gown.
“Without your clothes, no one can see you, can they?” Ramsey asked.
“Nay,” she replied. “I can go anywhere undetected.”
One side of Galen’s lips turned up in a smile. “Larena will be a great advantage against Deirdre.”
Larena pushed her goddess back down and let herself return to normal. She resumed her seat, hoping the talk would turn away from her now.
But then Galen walked to her and transformed. She was so stunned that for a moment, she could only stare into his blinding green eyes. She’d always wondered why the entire eyes, even the whites, turned the color of the Warrior.
“I have the trickster god, Ycewold, inside me,” Galen said.
She gazed at his dark green skin, but before she could speak, Ramsey took his place. Ramsey’s skin was the color of deepest bronze, a beautiful contrast to his black hair.
Ramsey gave her a small bow. “I have Ethexia, the god of thieves, within me.”
Larena clenched her hands in her lap. She had expected to have to earn her way into these men’s worlds, but
