asked.”
“He will once Larena has seen everything,” Sonya said.
“I wouldn’t have had an opinion to give him,” Larena hurried to tell Cara. “He knows that.”
“Probably,” the smaller Druid answered, and began washing while Sonya scraped the plates.
With the three of them helping, it didn’t take long to clean up from the meal. Larena slipped away and hurried to the battlements. She wanted a few moments alone to think over everything that had happened since she had met Fallon. She had never been so confused by a man before, but then again, she had never met a man like Fallon MacLeod.
He filled her mind constantly, and her body burned for his touch. She had gone decades without him, but now, she couldn’t go a few hours without needing him. What was wrong with her?
She looked over the moon-drenched land and the giant rocks that protruded from the ground to the cliffs and the sea below. Beyond the village, Cara had told her there was a forest where she had met Galen.
It was no wonder Fallon had longed to return. The place was majestic, just the sort of wild countryside in which a Highlander like Fallon would find refuge.
She took a deep breath and a whiff of orangewood filled her.
She turned her head and watched as he stepped from the shadows. Her heart raced, her blood heated … and her body hungered. She longed for him to reach out and touch her, to pull her into his arms and offer safety, as he had done in Edinburgh.
Instead, he stopped a few paces from her and gazed at her. “How are you faring?”
“Very well,” she replied. “Everyone has been so kind, especially Cara and Sonya.”
He nodded. “I’m glad to hear it.”
Silence stretched between them. Larena grew agitated, not knowing what to say or what he wanted with her. She knew what she wanted, but she had told herself she couldn’t have him anymore.
If he tried to kiss her, would she pull away? She didn’t think she had the strength to tell him no, and she knew she didn’t want to.
“You fit here,” she said, to break the quiet. “You’re a born leader.”
“My father would be happy to hear you say that. I’m not so sure sometimes.”
She heard the note of sorrow in his voice as he spoke of his father. She leaned her hip against the stones. “Your father would be very proud of you. Never doubt that, Fallon.”
He narrowed his gaze as he studied her. “Why do you say that?”
“Because I see the way Lucan looks at you. There ispride in his gaze, and love. Whatever may have happened before, you’ve become the man you were supposed to be.”
“If that were so, you wouldn’t have nearly died.”
He had spoken so softly she almost didn’t hear his words. The impact of them slammed into her chest. “That wasn’t your fault.”
“I told you I would protect you.” He shifted so that he stood in profile to her, the moon bathing one side of his face.
Larena studied him a moment as she fought the urge to touch him. “I chased after the wyrran, Fallon. There was always the threat that Deirdre would discover who I was. And never forget, I’m a Warrior.”
He turned his head to look at her. “I know what you are, Larena. I have no doubt you can fight, but could you have held your own against two Warriors?”
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “It was my first time fighting a Warrior. Before it was always wyrran that crossed my path.”
“Wyrran are different from Warriors.”
“I’ve learned that the hard way,” she murmured, and looked to the sliver of moon that hung in the sky.
He sighed and faced her. “Lucan trained Cara to fight against the wyrran. Maybe we should help you train against Warriors.”
“If I had been able to use my powers’”
“Doona count on your powers,” he interrupted. He took a step toward her and lowered his voice. “What happened should have taught you that lesson. Aye, your power to become invisible is a great boon, but there will be times you cannot use it. Wouldn’t you rather be prepared?”
She knew what he said was true, but it was too difficult to agree with him, to acknowledge that he was right. Yet, what else could she do? “Aye.”
The heat of his gaze made her quiver. She fisted her hands to keep from reaching out to him.
Because she feared the influence Fallon could have over her if her feelings for him continued to grow. And she knew they would. If she could only control her emotions as she did her goddess, she wouldn’t worry about falling in love with him.
She prayed she wasn’t. There wasn’t room in her life for love. Or a future.
Larena turned and walked away from Fallon and his prying eyes. He saw too much, and she didn’t want him seeing into her soul. If he did, he might see that she withheld important information from him.
And how she hated not telling him about the Scroll. She wanted to share it with him, to help him and the others create an imitation that would fool Deirdre. Her vow, however, prevented even that.
When she had repeated the words Robena told her, Larena had never dreamed she would be in a position like this. She had found it laughable that the vow had called for her to keep the information from everyone — including a husband if she chose to marry.
She had never thought to marry, much less find a man that made her think of the future. Fate, it seemed, had dealt her a hand she had to live with, whether she liked it or not.
Larena blinked back the tears that filled her eyes. She hated the weakness those tears brought. She was a Warrior. She needed to remember that.
She stopped and leaned against the battlement wall, her fingers digging into the cool stone. She didn’t know whether Fallon had followed her or not, and she hoped he hadn’t. His presence jumbled her mind and put her emotions in chaos.
Fallon wasn’t about to let her go that easily. Larena was his, and it was time she knew it. He lengthened his stride and caught up with her.
His hands itched to jerk her against him so he could feel all her luscious curves and taste the nectar of her mouth. Instead, he placed his hands on either side of hers and pressed against her back.
He breathed in her special scent as his heart thundered in his chest. Her decadent golden locks teased his skin as the wind lifted them from her back. She had left her hair unbound, and he wanted to plunge his fingers in its thick, silky length.
Fallon gave in and placed a kiss on the exposed skin of her neck. It was a quick kiss, but he heard her indrawn breath just the same. A smile pulled at his lips. She might play at being unaffected by his touch, but her body said otherwise.
He was a fool to tempt himself so, but when it came to Larena, he didn’t think straight.
“Do you know how you make me burn?” he whispered near her ear.
A shudder racked her. Then, she turned to face him. Fallon didn’t move his hands from the stones. He knew if he did, he would reach for her, and he wasn’t going to give in. At least not tonight.
His gaze roamed over her face, from her gently arched eyebrows to her chin that lifted when she was being stubborn.
“Maybe it’s your mouth,” he continued, keeping his voice low. “The taste of your kisses is headier than any wine. Or maybe it’s your hands. The feel of them on my body makes my blood boil. Maybe it’s your legs and the way you wrap them around my waist as I thrust inside you. Maybe it’s your body and the way my cock fills you.”
He paused and leaned close to her. He let his mouth hover over the skin of her neck. Her pulse beat wildly and her chest rose and fell hurriedly.
“I thought you felt it, too, this thing that’s between us.” He blew against her skin before he lifted his head. “Was it bringing you here that changed things? If I had known you would become a different person, I would have
