Midnight's Seduction (3 page)

Cara disengaged herself from Lucan’s arms and waited at the bottom of the stairs for Saffron and Dani. Saffron whispered something to Cara who gave a nod and a soft smile.

Saffron walked with slow, measured steps that were graceful and elegant. Her posture was impeccable, but the smile on her face was forced.

Camdyn wondered if anyone else noticed. She passed him with nary a look, and then suddenly halted. Their eyes met, clashed. Held.

For several heartbeats they said nothing, but he saw her shoulders relax a fraction before she walked around the table to sit next to Fiona and Braden.

Camdyn wanted her to know who he was, but how could she? She only knew his voice, not his face. Why he’d wanted her to recognize him, Camdyn couldn’t begin to fathom. But it made him uncomfortable.

He surreptitiously glanced at Saffron to find Fiona and Braden both talking to her.

It was because of Isla’s magic of shielding the castle from view, as well as keeping the mortals from aging, that the Druids, including Fiona and Braden, who had been at the castle over four hundred years, hadn’t grown older.

Camdyn didn’t blame Fiona and Braden from staying at the castle. The world had changed drastically since they took refuge in the castle in the seventeenth century, and with Deirdre still out there hunting Druids, it was better to stay hidden.

But he couldn’t help but wonder what they would do when Deirdre was gone. There was still Declan to consider, but Declan didn’t hunt Druids for their magic as Deirdre did.

Once Deirdre was gone, Declan was next on their list.

The thought of Declan reminded Camdyn of Saffron. He’d never forget how he’d first found her, chained and half starved, how she had quivered in his arms when he’d broken the chains and lifted her.

She’d been frightened by him, but despite the horror Declan had put her through, she had gathered her courage and wrapped her arms around Camdyn’s neck.

He’d been the only one who could gain access to Saffron’s prison because of his power to move the earth, and that was how he’d become her rescuer. Or so he told himself.

The truth was, once he saw her, he’d wanted to be the one to free her, the one to bring her out of the darkness. Camdyn wasn’t sure why, nor did he understand this yearning he had to be near her in case she needed him.

Saffron had proved to be adept and courageous. Yet, regardless—or maybe in spite of that—Camdyn kept a close eye on her at all times.

Out of the corner of his eye he watched as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. It was a nervous gesture she probably didn’t even know about. But her anxiety caught his attention.

“How do you feel, Saffron?” Quinn asked.

Saffron’s tawny eyes shifted to the youngest MacLeod. “Better now that Declan’s magic is gone, Quinn.”

Quinn chuckled. “How did you know who I was?”

“Your voice,” she answered.

One by one Camdyn watched her call out each person’s name after they spoke to her. Her shoulders relaxed each time, and her smile grew more genuine.

Inwardly he nodded as realization dawned. She had been afraid.

That was something Camdyn hadn’t expected. As long as Saffron had been at the castle she’d had an iron will, an unbreakable attitude.

However, it wasn’t the first time Camdyn had seen a chink in her armor. No one but he knew of the nightmares she suffered, and he only knew because he heard her in the lonely hours of the night when he walked the corridors of the castle.

He’d been unable to stay away from her strangled cry that first night. Every night since then he had gone to her. He did nothing but lay a hand on her forehead, but that seemed to calm her.

Until the next night.

At first it had been just to quiet her, and then he’d needed to touch her, to see her. He dared only to touch her forehead, but he’d come to love the feel of her thick hair and the way it fell against the pillow. He’d come to need the sound of her soft breath as she fell into a dreamless sleep.

Camdyn had tried not to see her bare legs that had kicked at the covers, or see the dusky nipple that poked through her white tank.

He’d tried and failed.

A flood of heat seared through his body as the memory of her lithe body flashed in his mind.

He cocked his head to the side as he studied her. Would she have more nightmares now that Declan’s black magic was gone? More importantly, could he keep away from her?

Suddenly, her tawny eyes moved to him and held him captive. She stared at him for numerous silent moments. Camdyn took that time to drink in the stunning sight of her, from her oval face and slim neck to her wide lips and high cheekbones.

Thick locks of her rich brown hair fell over her shoulder to lie artfully above her breast. He wanted to reach out and touch her hair because he knew just how soft it was.

There was a poise about her that spoke of refinement and class, yet in her gaze he saw a wildness, a recklessness that nearly matched his own. It was so unexpected and startling that it made his balls tighten in a desire so fierce, so intense, he had to grip the bench he sat on to keep from going to her.

“Camdyn.”

Her voice, soft and gentle, fanned the flames of desire that was already out of control. He gave a slight bow of his head, and smiled inwardly. It hadn’t been a question but a statement. Another testament to her confidence. “Aye.”

For several minutes her beautiful tawny gaze held his before she looked away. But Camdyn couldn’t stop looking at her. Couldn’t stop the way her magic enveloped him, covered him.

Seduced him.

CHAPTER

THREE

Saffron inhaled deeply and found herself relaxing as the breath left her lungs. Everyone treated her no different than they had before, and that was saying something.

Most people handled the blind with kid gloves, but not the residents of MacLeod Castle.

At least now she knew not only everyone’s voice, but also their faces. Lucan, the middle MacLeod brother, with the small braids at his temples and griffin-head torc.

Fallon, the eldest MacLeod and leader, with his boar-head torc and dark green eyes. Quinn MacLeod, with his wolf-head torc and alert attitude. Hayden, the tallest of the men, stood like a blond giant. Galen had kind indigo eyes that seemed to see right into her soul.

Broc, who stood guard over all of them; Logan, who had a mischievous grin; Ian, who had eyes only for Danielle; Ramsey, who was the quiet one with silver eyes; Arran, who was the one eager for a fight; and Camdyn …

Saffron refused to look at the Warrior again because in the depths of his dark eyes she saw the same loneliness and anger that was within herself. The same sadness, the same hunger for something more.

She’d known it was him as she passed him in the hall. He’d not spoken, not moved, but she’d known who he was simply by the feel of the man himself.

It had sent a shiver of delight through her, a shiver that had made her stomach flutter and her heart skip a beat.

After just one look at him, his face was branded in her mind. From his long, straight black hair that he let fall freely around his sculpted face, to the dark shadow of a beard on his hollowed cheeks that only made him sexier.

It could also be his dark eyes and the thick brows that slanted over them. She swallowed as she recalled the hard line of his jaw and his full lips, lips she knew could probably make any woman swoon. All of which she had felt with her hand, but she hadn’t been prepared to see just how devilishly handsome he was.

But it wasn’t just his face. She had felt the thickness of his muscles, but feeling and seeing were two different things, especially when it came to Camdyn.

His meaty shoulders were made visible by the black tee stretched taut over his arms and chest as he braced his forearms on the table and listened to something Ramsey said.

She’d caught a glimpse of his bum and the way the dark denim hugged him. With one glance, she’d taken in all that was Camdyn. And she wanted more.

“What happened on the isle?” Broc asked Fallon, bringing Saffron out of her thoughts and back to the war that raged.

She shifted her gaze to Fallon, who sat at the head of the table, his hands folded over his tight stomach as he leaned back in his chair.

“Deirdre hadna arrived,” Fallon answered.

Arran snorted. “Yet. We need to get there before she does.”

“Did you sense her nearby?” Hayden asked.

Lucan shook his head. “Nay. The Ring of Brodgar is huge, and I walked it several times searching for the smell of her foul magic.”

“The area is devoid of trees,” Camdyn said. “There was nowhere for her to hide. The peninsula where the stones are located is long and skinny with lochs on each side.”

Reaghan, one of the Druids with powerful magic and wife to Galen, leaned her elbows on the table and nodded. “It’s just as I remember it described to me.”

Saffron still had a hard time believing that Reaghan, beautiful, soft-spoken Reaghan, had put a spell on herself that wiped her memories every ten years to hide the location of Laria from Deirdre.

It was difficult to tell who was the oldest of the Druids, Reaghan or Isla. Both of them had gone through several more centuries of being immortal than any of the Warriors had.

“What are we waiting for then?” Sonya, the healer, asked as she looked around the table.

It was Ian who raised a dark brow and said, “It seems too easy.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Logan said.

“Easy or no’, we need to get to Laria,” Quinn stated.

Broc shrugged. “I can always locate Deirdre with the use of my power.”

Galen drummed his fingers on the table and said, “We’ll need you to do just that, my friend.”

There was a crackle of tension as Fallon focused his gaze on Ramsey. Saffron glanced at Ramsey who sat to her left a little ways from her. He returned Fallon’s stare with nonchalance, as if he were testing Fallon in some way.

“I think it’s time you told us who the male Druid from Torrachilty Forest is,” Fallon said.

Ramsey slowly sat up from his reclining position. “You said you trusted me.”

“And we do. I’d feel much better if I knew who the Druid was.”

“He’ll be there,” Ramsey vowed.

Saffron had been witness to enough tension between her parents while her father had still been alive to become uncomfortable in the silence that followed.

It was Camdyn who broke the quiet. “We all know Deirdre put Charlie here as a spy. We’ve no idea how much information she obtained before Arran killed him, but the simple fact of the matter is, we’ve waited centuries to kill this bitch.”

“I agree,” Logan said with a gleam in his eye.

Ian nodded. “I’m eager to end her once and for all.”

Larena, her hand atop Fallon’s, said, “It won’t be over then. We’ll have Declan.”

“One villain is better than two,” Quinn stated with a shrug.

Marcail worried her bottom lip with her teeth a moment before she said, “We need to find the spell to bind the gods inside you Warriors. If I had remembered it all before Deirdre tried to kill me then—”

“Shh,” Quinn said as he took her in his arms and kissed the top of his wife’s head. “We’ll find a way.”

“And if not, my magic will keep all those mortal immortal inside this shield,” Isla said as Hayden took her hand.

Aiden slammed his hand on the table. “And what if we doona want to stay in the castle? What if we want to see the world?”

Saffron looked from Aiden to his parents, Quinn and Marcail. Saffron could see the apprehension in Marcail’s turquoise eyes and the resignation in Quinn’s green ones.

“I’ve only asked that you wait until Deirdre, and now Declan, are ended before you leave,” Quinn said.

Aiden’s jaw clenched, the muscle ticking. “I’ll wait. But as soon as they’re dead I’m leaving. I doona care what evil suddenly springs up. I’m tired of being caged.”

Saffron looked down at her hands to find they were clasped together tightly. A similar conversation between her and her parents had occurred years ago when she had wanted to see the world while her parents wanted her to begin college in Colorado immediately.

“Saffron?” called a male voice she recognized as Galen’s.

Her head snapped up to find every eye on her. “Yes?”

“Are you all right?” Galen asked.

She swallowed and forced a smile, a smile she had learned early on in her life to call up when necessary. “I’m fine.”

One of Lucan’s dark brows rose in response. “We’ve been calling your name for quite some time, lass.”

Saffron licked her lips as embarrassment washed over her. “Apologies. I was … somewhere else for a moment. What is it that you need?”

“Have you had any visions?” Fallon asked.

She cleared her throat softly and found an interesting spot on the table to stare at as she said, “No.”

Using her thumbnail, Saffron outlined the knot in the wood over and over as she listened to everyone speak of the stone circle. She had been unconscious when they’d learned they needed to go to the Orkney Islands to find Laria. So she sat and listened, blending into the background.

Her stomach grumbled, reminding her it had been hours since she had last eaten. Saffron rose and quietly walked to the kitchen and got some eggs, sausage, and biscuits out of the refrigerator. She had turned on the stove and was cracking the eggs when Fiona walked into the kitchen.

“Would you like some help?” the Druid asked.

Saffron smiled. “That would be nice.”

They worked in silence for several moments before Saffron asked, “Do you regret spending all these centuries in the castle as you watched the world change around you?”

“Nay,” Fiona said without looking up from cooking the sausage. “My priority was keeping Braden alive at all costs. With Deirdre out there, our only chance was here in the castle where everyone welcomed us. Thanks to Isla’s magic, Braden was able to mature while I didn’t age. It was more than I could have hoped for, especially since I have very little magic.”

“And now Braden isn’t aging.”

Fiona glanced at Saffron and grinned. “Aye. There are times I see him staring from the battlements. He’s been out in the world several times with Aiden, and I know both of them want to see what else is out there. They want to visit the places they see on the Telly. And they want their own women and families.”