Midnight's Kiss (2 page)

“I was just coming to propose the exact same thing,” Ian said as he descended the stairs into the great hall. His light brown hair was left long and loose, brushing against his shoulders.

Arran wasn’t startled to hear that someone else had his idea. It was just a matter of time before one of them had thought of something. The fact that it was Ian was a surprise. Especially since it was Logan’s wife, Gwynn, who could do wonders on a computer.

Arran smiled, thinking of the computer and how he, Ian, Logan, Camdyn, and Ramsey had struggled to come to terms with the modern world after they had been jumped forward in time from 1603.

“Did Gwynn find something?” Arran asked.

There was a gleam in Ian’s eyes as he said, “Actually, I did. I’ve learned a thing or two from her.”

He and Ian shared a smile. Only someone who had time-traveled could understand the complexities and differences of the world they had known and the modern one they had been in for over a year.

“Impressive,” Arran said.

He and Ian weren’t just united by their leap forward in time. They had been held in Deirdre’s mountain, Cairn Toul, for years as she tried to break them to her will so they would serve only her.

It’s what happened to most Warriors. The gods were too insistent, too powerful when they were first unbound. It took a certain kind of man to be able to come back from that and learn to control the god himself.

Arran considered himself one of the lucky few. But then again, he’d have found a way to take his own head before he ever did the bidding of evil.

Ian and Arran had escaped alongside Quinn. It had never entered Arran’s mind not to join the MacLeods in their fight against Deirdre.

“What did you find, Ian?” Fallon asked, jerking Arran out of his thoughts.

Ian stuffed his hands in the front pocket of his low-slung jeans, causing his dark red tee to stretch tight over his muscular shoulders. “We doona know the exact route that was taken from Edinburgh to London, but we were able to discover the course of the other land-bound shipment.”

“And?” Arran prompted when Ian hesitated.

Ian’s lips flattened. “The other shipment went the fastest, quickest way.”

“Bloody hell,” Fallon muttered.

Arran folded his arms over his chest. “Which means the one we’re looking for went the long way round.”

“Precisely,” Ian said with a nod. “I’ve been poring over maps all morning long, and I’ve narrowed it down to four possible routes.”

“Hold on,” said a female voice from the floor above.

A moment later, and Dani’s head of long silvery blond hair popped into view as she hurried down the stairs with a bunch of papers in her hand. She cast a smile at them and said, “I discovered something interesting in the news that was very near one of the routes.”

“What was so noteworthy?” Fallon asked.

Dani waited until she was beside Ian before she answered. “A dig. An archeology dig, to be exact. They happen all over the UK, and they always make headlines. I’ve put a tag on them, so when something’s posted, I get an alert in my e-mail. When I got this one, I did some more poking.”

She paused and licked her lips. “I tried making some calls, but I was blocked every time. Even with Gwynn’s talents on the computer, we found nothing. So … I did what anyone who knows a megamillionaire would do.”

“You talked to Saffron,” Arran said with a grin. Not only was Saffron a Seer, but she was also connected to people all over the world through her business and charity work. If anyone could get information, it was her. Or her money.

Dani nodded. “Thanks to Saffron and her connections, I think I know where we can begin to look.”

“Where?” Fallon asked, his attention focused for the first time since the conversation began.

“Southwest of Glasgow. They’ve been at the dig site for almost two months now.”

Before Fallon could even put out a request for someone to go check it out, Arran said, “I’ll go.”

Ian didn’t seem fazed that he had spoken up, but Fallon raised a dark brow.

Arran rocked back on his heels. He had to get out of the castle and do something before he went crazy. Besides, none of the others would want to leave their women. “Everyone is … occupied besides me.”

“We could ask Phelan or Charon to check it out,” Dani said.

Arran bit back a growl. He might have forgiven Charon for spying on them while locked in Cairn Toul, but that didn’t mean Arran wanted him to take over his mission. “Why bother Charon? And Phelan, who the hell knows where he is? He disappears the same as Malcolm.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Arran regretted them. Though all the men were Warriors, Malcolm was different. Four hundred years ago, he’d been a mortal helping his cousin, Larena, hide from Deirdre.

He was attacked on Deirdre’s command and left for dead. Malcolm had been brought to the castle, and Sonya, with her healing magic, did all she could. It saved his life, but it didn’t heal his scars or fix his right arm so that he could use it.

It wasn’t much later before Deirdre found Malcolm and unlocked his god. She used Larena against Malcolm in order to keep Malcolm doing her bidding. But it had been Malcolm who betrayed Deirdre at the end, helping them to end her once and for all.

But Malcolm’s scars went much deeper than his skin. They went to his very soul, and nothing could heal them now. Only time would aid in tempering the past.

Arran cleared his throat. “Regardless, I’ll go. I can only best Aiden in chess so many times. With no wyrran to battle, and no evil to kill, I need something to do.”

“No evil to kill,” Dani said with a look at Ian. “That sounds wonderful.”

Ian wrapped his arm around her and brought her against him for a kiss. “It’s music to my ears. I never thought I’d see the day that Deirdre was no longer alive. And then to have also ended Declan. It’s almost too good to be true.”

Arran looked away. It
was
too good to be true. If there was one thing he’d learned, it was that the evil Deirdre and Declan had been wasn’t going to give up so easily.

They’d had a reprieve. But how much longer could that last?

“Find me the spell,” Fallon told Arran. “Please.”

Arran glanced at Ian and Dani. They had been together for only a short time, as had Logan and Gwynn, and Ramsey and Tara, but Arran knew they all wanted normal lives.

To have children.

To grow old and die with their wives.

Camdyn had almost succeeded in pushing Saffron away because he’d been married before. It was watching his first wife die that had confirmed to Camdyn he was better off alone.

But, as Quinn was often heard saying, love finds a way.

Arran had been given a home—and hope—with the MacLeods. He owed every man and woman there a debt, one that a single mission couldn’t come close to repaying.

“I’ll find it,” he vowed to Fallon. “I’ll follow every lead. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Even steal?” Ian asked.

Arran didn’t hesitate in his nod. “
Whatever
it takes.”

Dani held out a large manila packet. “I thought one of you might be going, so I had Saffron pull some strings. You’ll be working at the dig as a volunteer.”

“I willna have to sneak around?” he asked, a little peeved that he couldn’t use his Warrior skills.

“No,” Dani said, her voice flat. “There’s no need. You’ll be able to look at everything they find as well as help in the dig. If you find something, being a Warrior, you should be able to take it easily enough.”

Arran was eagerly looking forward to the task.

“But,” Dani said hurriedly, “remember, you’re working under Saffron’s company. She’s helping to supply the funding for this dig, which is how we were able to get so much information.”

Ian rolled his eyes. “Is there anything Saffron is no’ involved in?”

“Not really,” Dani said. Then she turned back to Arran. “In other words, if something happens, they’ll look to Saffron and her company, so we need to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“If it does, I’ll ensure another company is at fault,” Arran said.

“Good. You can leave in the morning. They’re expecting you tomorrow afternoon,” Dani said.

Arran just smiled. “I’ll be leaving now. It takes only a few hours to reach Glasgow. I can be there by eight or nine this evening. That way I can have a look around before everyone starts working tomorrow.”

“A fine idea.” Fallon walked to the kitchen, where the keys to the vehicles were kept. He tossed a set to Arran and said, “Take the Range Rover. It’ll do better where you’re going than the Porsche.”

Arran pocketed the keys and hurried to pack a bag. His blood pumped with the need for something more exciting than sitting around playing chess.

There was only so much training a Warrior could do before his god demanded battle. And death.

Arran might not have evil to kill, but he had a spell to find. It was just what he needed.

CHAPTER

TWO

27 miles south of Muirkirk, Scotland

Arran parked the Range Rover and looked through the windshield at the chaos before him. A sizzle of magic rushed over him. He was definitely in the right place.

The magic was ancient and … potent. It made him smile, but that smile froze when a different feel of magic swarmed him. It left him breathing hard, need filling him until he could see nothing, feel nothing but the exquisite magic.

A Druid.

There was a Druid at the site. And he was going to find the Druid as soon as he could. The only thing that kept him from searching immediately was that the magic wasn’t evil.

Saffron had told him the excavation site was run by Dr. Ronnie Reid, who was a premier archeologist and one of the best ever to come out of the field.

Arran had also been warned that Dr. Reid ran a tight operation, so he’d have to be careful while he searched for any clues to the missing spell and the Druid he’d just felt.

Not that Arran was concerned about this Dr. Reid. He would put himself in the good graces of the man, and make sure Reid saw Arran was a good worker. Once that was established, then Reid would leave him alone. Thereby giving Arran the time he needed to look around.

He sighed. He’d thought this mission would be a quick one, but as he watched the dozens of people moving back and forth from the different dig sites, hauling away dirt while others were prone on the ground, dusting possible finds with what looked like paintbrushes, Arran realized this was going to be anything but simple.

In all likelihood, he’d be here several weeks. Mayhap months.

Not that he was upset about it. With no more evil to fight, Arran was bored. It wasn’t that he wanted evil around, it was just that the god inside him craved battle, yearned for bloodshed.

Demanded death.

What better way to appease his god than by battling evil?

Arran clenched his jaw. There would be no clashes at the dig site, which meant he would have to find another way to work off some of the pent-up energy he felt thrumming through his body.

Exerting his muscles with physical labor was just the thing.

Arran opened the door and got out of the Range Rover. The wind howled across the land, slamming into him just as the magic had done, and a glance at the evening sky showed that rain was on the way.

He closed his door and quickly opened the back passenger door to grab his duffel and backpack. Saffron had assured him that lodgings would be made available. In a way, Arran was hoping there wasn’t anything. It had been a very long time since he’d slept under the stars as he’d used to do four hundred years ago.

After adjusting the bags on his shoulders, he closed the door and looked at the site once more. The magic was beckoning to him, the sensual feel of it like kindling on a fire.

Desire pumped, scorching and burning, through him as his gaze scanned the area. With every breath, a yearning he’d never felt before filled him and grew until it consumed him, engulfed him.

Devoured him.

Where was the Druid? There was hunger such as he’d never borne. Every bone in his body urged him to find the Druid posthaste. It had to be the Druid who was causing such … desire.

The need was pulling him under, dragging him down a chasm of craving so dark and deep, there would be no coming back from it. If he didn’t do something soon, he would be lost.

He searched his mind for anything to hold on to, and that’s when he thought of MacLeod Castle. That was all it took for him to gain the upper hand on the desire raging within him.

Arran ground his teeth together. The Druid would have to wait. Right now, he had to meet Dr. Reid and learn as much about the man as he could.

The summer sky was still light despite it being past eight in the evening. It wouldn’t get truly dark until well after midnight, yet lights standing tall around the dig had already been turned on.

“Here we go,” Arran said, and started toward the site, the feel of magic growing with each step he took.

He’d barely gotten ten steps in before he was dodging people who assumed he’d get out of the way. Since there was a possibility they were carrying ancient magical items, they were right.

But still, a low growl sounded deep within his throat.

He was a Warrior, a man used to being feared. It didn’t sit well that he was dismissed so easily.

Arran walked over to a man with thin, windblown white-blond hair and glasses he kept shoving up his hawklike nose. The man was bony, his shoulders already hunching forward despite him being as young as his mid-thirties, if Arran guessed right.

“Excuse me,” Arran said as he reached him.

For several moments, Arran was ignored. The man glanced up from the clipboard in his hand as he scribbled something on the papers with his pencil. Arran raised a brow when the man seemed to look right through him.

Then, a double take later, the man took a step back, his blue eyes wide as he shoved his glasses up on his nose. “Dude. How long have you been standing there?” he demanded, his American accent thick, and his voice deeper than Arran had imagined would come out of someone so willowy.

“Longer than I’d like,” Arran replied, giving just enough inflection in his voice to tell the man his irritation was rising.