Angus (22 page)

Another blast of cold air threw both Angus and Maggie back. Maggie hit the back wall, falling to the floor. Her head smacked against a table. Pain radiated from that spot and stars formed before her eyes.

“Maggie.”

She heard Angus’ voice but her ears were ringing. “I’m okay.”

They struggled to their feet.

“I told you not to fuck with me before, Lennon.”

She looked at Angus, seeing that he was okay, then looked at her son. His solemn expression broke her heart. No boy should have to deal with this. She turned her focus to Dylan.

“I will not have you do these things in front of my son.”

She flicked her hand and sent Dylan back a few feet. She knew it wasn’t enough to do with what he had done to the two of them, but it gave her enough time to reach her son. The moment Dylan stumbled back he released Jack. Smart boy that he was, he came running forward. She rushed toward him and grabbed him. She turned and found Angus right behind her.

“Give him the emerald, do it,” he said.

There was some reason they needed it, something that was so important to the Clan that they would do anything to steal it, but he was willing to give it up for her. And for Jack.

His attention switched to behind her and in that moment, she felt the summoning of energy. Angus didn’t allow her to turn and face Dylan. He shoved her and Jack behind him and moved toward Dylan.

“So, you have to use your Magick?” Angus said, as another blast hit him.  He stumbled, but didn’t fall back this time. She wanted to be in there, wanted to stand and fight but she had Jack. She moved back and crouched, hiding Jack with her body.

“Of course you do. From the moment I met you the other day, I realized what a coward you were.”

Some of the energy seemed to dissolve in the room.

“Why don’t you just take the emerald? Just go and leave us alone.”

He pulled the jewel from his pocket.

Dylan’s black eyes focused on the brilliant gem.

“I’m sure you’ve been paid a price to get it back to Sweeney.”

Dylan’s gaze rose to Angus and then his lips curved. Soon, evil laughter filled the tiny flat. “Oh, you think this has to do with Sweeney. Brilliant. You have no idea what is going on.”

Anger surged through anger. He hated that they were there, that Jack and Maggie were being exposed to this. There was no doubt in his mind that Maggie had saved her life and Jack’s by killing her husband. It was a shame that she didn’t kill Dylan in the process.

“I don’t care. I just want to get out of here.”

“You can as soon as you give me the emerald. My employer wants it.” Then he heard a scream, felt the surge of energy, and watched in horror as Maggie was pulled toward the bastard. “This bitch is mine, though.”

Maggie raised her gaze to his, tears filling them, along with a healthy dose of anger. He had learned once not to misjudge her, especially when someone put her son in danger. She shook her head and he knew she was telling him not to do it. To just leave her to him and get her son away, but he could not do that. He could not leave the one woman he knew was meant for him there to die at the hands of that bastard.

“Sure,” Angus said, throwing the jewel in the air. Dylan screeched and ran forward, again, releasing his hostage, showing he wasn’t that smart. Angus took advantage of Dylan’s distraction, grabbing the bastard by the waist and catching him off guard. They fell back on the floor and he heard the sound of the jewel hitting the ground. Dylan shoved him away and went after the emerald. The moment he scooped it up, he turned and punched Angus.

Angus fell back and then felt a burning. It was as if someone had taken a poker to his chest. It radiated from the spot, threading through his blood and he felt as if every bit of his life was being pulled from him. In the next instant, though, it was gone. That horrible screech of Dylan’s filled the room and he fell back. Maggie went after him then. Angus was still blinking, trying to get his head screwed on straight as he watched her. It was like watching a master at work. With each wave of her hand, Dylan screamed, Over and over again, she sent waves of energy hitting the man. He stumbled back, but he still had that damned emerald in his hand. As he fell against the window, she said, “Give it back, Dylan, you’re no use to your Dark Master now.”

Angus finally stumbled to his feet and tried to stop her.

“No. I will never give it to you.”

Then, he waved his hands. Angus fell, and there was a yell. Cold air swirled in the room as sparks of dark fire seemed to light everywhere in the room. Suddenly, the cold was replaced. Angus blinked as he watched Jack step up beside his mother. Warmth filled the room, a golden glow of goodness seemed to blot out the evil that permeated from Dylan. Again, the horrible scream sounded.

“No,” she yelled, rushing forward. Dylan was falling back to the window, his eyes rolled back in his head, the jewel still captured in his fist.

Angus tried to concentrate on what was happening, but his head started to spin and he fell back again, hitting one of the tables in the room and falling to the ground. The sound of two sets of feet came rushing toward him.

“Angus,” Maggie said, tears dripping from her voice. She sat beside him and leaned down to kiss his forehead. “Don’t you dare die on me. You aren’t supposed to die.” She leaned closer and he thought he heard, “I love you Angus McLennan. Don’t leave me now.”

His world faded to black.

*  *  *  *

Belvidore helped get Angus into the car, ignoring her instructions to be careful. “One thing you need to learn, my lady, is that it takes more than a fight and a little Magick to hurt a Lennon.”

She said nothing but gave him a look before climbing into the car after Jack had settled on the seat in the front of the car. She normally didn’t allow it, but they had no choice at the moment. She settled Angus’ head in her lap. His eyes opened slightly.

“Hey, there Maggie May,” he said sounding slightly drunk.

“Hey there, yourself.”

“I think you are very pretty.”

“He sounds weird,” Jack said.

She ignored him. “How do you feel?”

“Like I tangled with a Black Witch and won. How about you?”

“The same. I’m sorry. I lost your emerald. We couldn’t find it after Dylan fell out the window.”

He shook his head, or tried to, then winced in pain. “Doona fash yourself, Maggie. The emerald will appear.”

He passed out and she sat back. She was just happy the man she loved and her son were okay. Once they sorted through this mess, somehow she would find that emerald for him.

Chapter Thirty-Two

“And so we don’t need to go hide, even with a dead body?” she asked.

“Taken care of, at least for now,” Callum said, smiling before taking a shot of whisky. “Dylan O’Conner, known to Interpol for his thievery over the last ten years, met a tragic end at the hands of his employer. That’s the way it will read.”

She shook her head. “But we lost the emerald.”

Callum shook his head as he walked over to the table behind his desk. He picked up the sword she had noticed before.

“It appeared,” he said. “Just like the diamond did before. You completed the quest and we were rewarded.”

She stepped closer and touched the sword. It was warm and Callum was correct.

“And you really don’t have enough worry about Sweeney,” Anice said. “How do you think Sweeney amassed that fortune? He’s been stealing that art for years.”

She glanced over to find Jack sleeping on the couch, his head in Phoebe’s lap.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s been passed out for the last ten minutes.”

“I would rather him not know exactly what his father was,” she said.

“But he does know,” Angus said. “You said yourself that he did.”

“Then I would like to pretend he doesn’t.”

“And, your friends are upstairs,” Logan said.

She blinked. “Friends?”

“Meg and Rena. They showed up a little bit after you left and we gave them rooms upstairs.”

Lord, the idea of a siren and half-fae running around the Lennon mansion was a little too much to think about. With a sigh, Maggie stepped forward and allowed her fingers to dance over the handle of the sword. Three more openings, three more stones. The quest would continue after she was gone.

“So, now, will you tell me the truth of the matter?” she asked.

“Not before you tell us about your connection,” Phoebe said.

Maggie glanced at her. The calm expression told her that she had an idea of who she was.

“The witch…she was an ancestor. How did you know?”

Phoebe looked at Callum, who gave her an almost imperceptible nod. She picked up the diary and walked toward Maggie.

“Every time you are near, it glows. Really, from the moment you came here, I noticed there was something different about it. The day you…well, Angus, revealed what happened with your husband, it all became clear to me. And, with you here, it is easier to decipher. Callum and I were talking about it, and we would like you to stay on.”

“Stay on?” she asked.

She nodded. “I can decipher all of it, but you might pick up on the meanings. I’ve spent weeks working on it page by page because I have no idea if it has to do with the curse or not.”

“You will have to tell me what the curse is.”

“You already know.”

She cocked her head to one side. “I have an idea, but I don’t know everything.”

“I think we can leave that to Angus.”

She looked at him as everyone else started to leave. Callum picked Jack up and walked toward the door. “We’ll get him to bed.”

Logan leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Welcome to the family.”

She gave him a look and he winked at her before moving on. Soon, she was alone in a room with the one man she should avoid.

Angus hadn’t said anything. He was still standing by the window, sipping his whisky. He hadn’t said a word since he’d passed out in the car.

“So, tell me.”

He finished the last of his drink before setting it down on the table with a loud click.

“Tell you.”

“Yes.”

“But you know.”

“I know you are not what you present the world.”

He glanced over his shoulder at her, the black eye he had gotten in the fight with Dylan barely there. “That’s a nice way of saying we are lying about who and what we are.”

“There have been rumors in my family for years.”

He turned around and leaned against the table while he watched her. “Rumors?”

“Yes, of a Clan that had all but disappeared off the face of the earth after Culloden.”

“Is that a fact?”

She nodded, thinking about the tales from her mother and grandmother. “Their laird had upset the laird’s wife from a neighboring Clan.  She had then gone to a witch—”

“One of your ancestors.”

She nodded.  “They were cursed with something most people wouldn’t see as a curse…until you had to live with it.”

He said nothing, his steady gaze unblinking. She saw it there, the pain of their past, the need for her to understand.

“The idea of never dying, of being able to do anything, of seeing hundreds of years of history would be a thrilling prospect.”

“Indeed?”

“But, for a person to survive all those years, you lose a lot. You watch friends, family…lovers die. That loss would be crushing in my opinion.”

He still said nothing and she walked toward him.

“Was it?” she asked.

“Did you mean what you said?”

“Just now? About it not being the thing that wouldn’t be cool?”

“No. When you thought Dylan was going to kill me…when you thought I was dead.”

“Oh, when I said something about not dying?”

His eyes narrowed on her face as she stepped so close she could feel the heat of him.

“After that.”

“Hmm,” she said, closing her eyes and drawing in a deep breath. He smelled erotic…of outdoors and of clean sheets…and sex. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. Oh, Goddess be, she couldn’t even come up with words in her head. The man had melted her and he had no idea. He looked irritated and frustrated and sexy.

Damn.

“Are you going to play games, even after tonight? After everything?”

She smiled. She couldn’t help it. She had known she was falling for him, falling knee deep in love with the man, but she had no idea until this moment how freeing it was. “Oh, you mean when I told you I loved you? That you shouldn’t die?”

His frown turned darker.

“Well, the truth of the matter is,” she said, leaning forward to kiss his chin, “that I do love you. Even if you are a stubborn Scot.”

“Is that a fact?”

“And, I am not above using a spell to capture you.” She leaned against him and smiled at the way his heart was beating against his chest. “But, I have a feeling I might not have to use that.”

She rose to her tiptoes and pulled his bottom lip between her teeth, then sucked on it. He shuddered.

“And, truthfully, I had worked it out in my head that you had to know that we couldn’t die. So, why were you so worried?”

She blinked. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I wasn’t thinking.”

She stepped away as she remembered the fear that had moved through her, the way her blood chilled.

“What does that mean?”

“Lord, you are stubborn.”

“But, you love me.”

She said nothing. Other than for Jack and her mother, she had never used the word
love
. Not until tonight.

“Yes. I love you.”

“And I love you.”

“But I killed my husband.”

He cupped her face. “Truth is, I would have done the same bloody thing.”

“I come as a packaged deal,” she said, wondering if he understood what she meant.

He smiled. “I wouldna have you any other way.”

He bent his head and kissed her. Soon the kiss was out of control and she pushed her hand on his chest. “Come on, Angus, you need to rest.”

He stepped away from her and walked toward the door. He shut it, slamming the lock home. He turned around with a smile. “About that, we McLennans are very resourceful.”