by showing her their god, they were telling her she was one of them.
Logan shoved Ramsey aside and grinned. “I have the god of betrayal, Athleaus, inside me.” As he spoke, his skin changed to silver. With a wink from his silver eyes, he returned to his seat.
Then Lucan stood. He had already transformed, and he looked at her with obsidian eyes. “I am one of three. Inside me is part of Apodatoo, the god of revenge.”
Larena wanted to ask him to wait before he changed so she could see more, but Fallon stood on her left and her attention shifted to him.
He stared at her for one heartbeat, two, then he transformed before her eyes. His skin, tanned from the sun, turned as black as pitch. Midnight claws stretched from his fingers, and fangs a startling white flashed at her through his lips.
His beautiful dark green eyes were gone, and in their place were eyes as black as the night sky. She rose to her feet and reached out to touch his arm. She had wondered what he would look like when he let loose his god, and she was awed.
“I am one of three.” Fallon’s voice filled the great hall, soft and commanding. “The god of revenge fills me.”
Larena’s fingers touched the golden boar head on Fallon’s torc. She had fought many wyrran in her years, and had seen only a few Warriors before now. Yet, she had to say Fallon was the most beautiful, the most imposing Warrior she had ever seen.
“Thank you,” she whispered and dropped her hand. Then in a louder voice with her eyes still on Fallon, she said, “Thank you. All of you.”
Fallon’s black gaze held hers captive. “You are one of us now. You have a home here.”
A home? She hadn’t had a home since she’d had to leave her father. Did she dare to hope for something she had dreamed of having for years? The answer was aye because the thought of leaving it all behind wasn’t something she could consider.
Her eyes began to burn with unshed tears. She hadn’t cried since she buried her father, so why did Fallon bring out her tears?
She blinked, and Fallon had leashed his god. Once more dark green eyes watched her. Larena couldn’t help but think that a major change had just happened in her life, in the space of a heartbeat.
Fallon and the others were offering her a home with them. They would be her family. But could she allow herself to get close to them? Did she dare?
Chapter Eighteen
Fallon wanted to pull Larena into his arms. He saw the vulnerability in her smoky-blue gaze, and it tugged at his heart in ways he never expected to feel about a woman.
He had been worried about how the others would react to having a female Warrior with them, but the men had shown their acceptance. He wasn’t sure what he would have done had they acted differently. Whatever was necessary most likely.
All that was left was Larena herself. Fallon knew she feared Deirdre. Not because Larena had ever met the
Fallon motioned for Larena to keep her seat. He wanted her to get to know the others so she would feel safe, but more than that, he didn’t trust himself to be near her just yet.
The memories of their lovemaking were still vivid in his mind, and his body yearned to have her once more. However, he knew she needed time. How much, he didn’t know.
He turned and started toward the castle door when Lucan’s voice halted him.
“Where are you going?” his brother asked.
Fallon paused with his hand on the latch. “To have a look around.”
He pulled the door open and stepped into the sunshine before Lucan could ask more questions. Fallon felt the pull of his god, a pull he had heard more and more since he had stopped drinking the wine.
It never crossed his mind to deny his god. He ran and leaped onto the battlements, a smile on his face at finally doing what his brother had done for centuries, and surveyed the land. He’d denied the powers of his god for so long, that he found he quite enjoyed being able to do things that regular men couldn’t do.
No MacClures had returned to claim the castle or their destroyed village since Fallon and the others had transformed and warned them never to return.
In a way, Fallon wanted the MacClures to return. They had dared to take his lands while he had been battling evil. He needed to fight and who better than the clan that had taken his lands and castle?
Most of the cottages in the village had either been burned or ripped apart by the wyrran and Deirdre’s Warriors. Lucan had told him he and the other Warriors had taken whatever they could from the village and filled the castle with it.
There were a few empty chambers in the castle, but Fallon had the unshakable feeling there wasn’t going to be enough room for everyone. They could pack more people into the castle if Warriors were to share chambers.
However, there was the village. It wasn’t as close to the castle as Fallon would have preferred, but it was near enough. They could rebuild the cottages and Warriors could live there if need be.
He was deep in concentration, thinking about the village, when he felt a presence beside him. Fallon turned his head to find Ramsey there. The quiet Warrior gazed at the village as he leaned his hands upon the stones of the saw-toothed merlon while he braced a foot on the crenel.
“You did the right thing in bringing Larena here,” Ramsey said. “We will need her.”
Fallon blew out a breath. “I’d rather she didn’t fight beside us. I know she’s a Warrior and killed many wyrran, but she’s only battled other Warriors once. And it nearly killed her.”
“They cheated.” Ramsey turned his gray eyes on Fallon. “And she willna like being coddled.”
“I know,” Fallon admitted. And he did. He had to acknowledge that she could take care of herself and allow her to do so, or he would lose her forever.
“You care for her.”
It wasn’t a question. Fallon stared into Ramsey’s unwavering gray gaze a moment before he nodded. “I do.”
“What do you want to do with the village?”
Fallon was surprised by the abrupt change of subject. “I’d like to rebuild the cottages and make them ours. We might need the room. No other Warriors have come as yet, and we still have a few chambers in the castle.”
“But you think it would be to our benefit?”
“Aye.”
Ramsey stared at the village for several silent moments. “What if the MacClures return?”
“We’ll deal with that when it happens. We have bigger worries. No one else might come to fight us, but I’d rather be prepared.”
“I agree,” Ramsey and faced him. “Good thinking, Fallon. When do you want to begin?”
Fallon turned and looked at the castle. There was still much to do. “We finish the castle first.”
“The third tower is nearly complete, and Hayden and Logan have begun reconstruction of the fourth.”
Fallon listened to Ramsey, mentally checking off what had been done and what was left to do. “Good.”
His gaze was drawn downward as the men walked out of the castle. Fallon jumped to the bailey, landing as softly as a cat. Ramsey followed close behind him.
“Cara and Sonya are showing Larena around the castle,” Lucan said.
Fallon nodded to his brother then looked at each Warrior in turn. “I need every one of you to think about the stories you’ve heard of the Scroll. I want to begin making the replica immediately.”
“All of us wanted to go after Quinn as soon as we found him gone,” Galen said. “But you did the right
