Midnight's Warrior (13 page)

“I’ll come,” Ramsey said. “When I’m finished with Declan.”

Tara pushed off the door and strode across the floor until she stood before him. “You don’t go, I don’t go.”

“You are no’ safe here.”

“I can hold my own against Declan.”

Ramsey saw Charon and Arran exchange a look out of the corner of his eye. He swallowed and said, “You are no’ safe here with me.”

His admission cost him more than he had realized. It felt as if he’d plunged a dagger into his own stomach and turned the handle. But the truth of what he was, what he was capable of, had been proven earlier with Arran.

Ramsey wouldn’t endanger innocents again. Ever.

And Tara was most certainly an innocent. He hadn’t even felt her magic when she’d walked to the cottage. She was a Druid. He should have known the instant she left the castle, but then again her magic had always come and gone.

He knew she was a Druid, but what kind exactly was what confounded him. He wanted to know. For himself and for her.

“I’m not safe with you?” she repeated.

Ramsey shook his head, hoping this would end the disagreement.

Instead, she walked to Arran and placed her hand atop his on the back of the chair. When she lifted her hand, she looked from it to Ramsey. Then she moved to Charon where she placed her hand on his neck and repeated the same process.

Ramsey dragged in a ragged breath when she stood in front of him once more and placed her hand on his face. He didn’t need a mirror to know the white tendrils of magic were moving from her to him.

He felt them, heard her magic’s call to his own. But it wasn’t just his magic that answered her. It was his god and his passion. He wanted to drag her against him, to lock his arms around her so that her curves were pressed against him and he could kiss her.

“What are you trying to prove?” he asked.

She raised a brow and cocked her head. “What am I trying to…? I feel it, Ramsey. I feel the magic inside you. How is that possible?”

“I doona know.”

She lowered her arm, and for a few moments the tendrils of magic could be seen around her hand before they faded. But Ramsey’s wouldn’t fade for a while.

Ramsey searched for something to tell her, something that would ease her mind and allow her to go with Arran back to MacLeod Castle.

“I may not trust you. I may not agree with how you went about telling me who and what you all are, but something happened over these past few days. I…” She paused and swallowed. “I am who I am, and I’m not hiding anymore. I will face my family, Declan, and whatever else comes for me.”

Ramsey was shaking his head before she was finished. “Be smart about this, Tara. Declan has searched for you for nearly ten years. You’ve stayed ahead of him somehow, but he’s found you.”

“I know.”

“Nay, you doona,” Arran said. “I doona think you know what kind of man Declan is.”

Her blue-green eyes never left Ramsey’s when she answered Arran. “I may not. Declan never hurt me. He never treated me unkindly.”

“Then why did you run from him?” Ramsey asked.

“Because he wanted what my family wanted. He wanted to force me to become
drough
. The night I left him, I overheard him tell Robbie about his elaborate plan to seduce me and trick me into the
drough
ceremony. He said it would be done before I knew what had happened. And as scary as that was, it was nothing to what he had planned next.”

Charon asked, “Which was what?”

“He said the magic within me would be his to control. That I would help him in his quest to—”

“Take over the world,” Ramsey finished for her.

He ran a hand down his face and sighed. He’d thought Declan might want her for something like that, and Tara’s words confirmed it.

“Every time he had me use my magic I could feel myself grow stronger. It wasn’t until that night I heard his plans that I realized I wasn’t growing strong. The magic he was having me perform was black magic. He was dragging me farther and farther into evil. I left before it took me completely, but I’m too afraid of my magic now.”

“Shite.” This was far worse than what Ramsey could have imagined.

“If your magic is so great, how come we didna feel you walk up?” Arran asked.

She shrugged. “My magic has always been so volatile. No matter what I’ve done I’ve never been able to control it properly.”

“That’s all the more reason you should go with Arran to MacLeod Castle,” Ramsey said.

Tara smiled softly. “I know about Deirdre and all that she did. The stories my grandmother told me mentioned Warriors who stood against her, but I never believed that part until today. You stood against her, even when the possibility meant death or falling under her control once more. You didn’t run.”

“There was more than just one of us,” Ramsey hastened to tell her. “There was a group of us, and we did it in part to kill Deirdre, but also to protect Druids. You only had yourself, and you did the one thing that ensured your survival.”

“I was a coward.”

“You were smart.”

The doubt in her eyes made him want to comfort her. He wouldn’t allow himself to hold her, but he could offer a little comfort.

Ramsey softly tucked a strand of her golden-brown hair behind her ear. Her head leaned against his hand slightly, but it was enough.

As he lowered his arm, more wisps of magic wound around his hand while his gaze was caught by Tara’s. Trapped. Ensnared.

And well and truly held.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“I’m really beginning to grow angry,” Declan said from the front passenger seat of his Jaguar.

Robbie leaned forward and looked at the sky through the windshield. “I doona understand, cousin. Your magic should have halted the snow.”

“Should have, but didna. I suspect this is more than just Warriors’ work.”

“Druids?”

Declan nodded.

“But surely no’ Tara. Her magic was much too volatile.”

“Was. It’s been a decade since I last worked with her. She was progressing nicely too. In a matter of months she would have been
drough
.”

“You’ll have her back under your roof soon enough. I’d like to know why she ran from you though.”

“I as well. I still doona think it’s Tara’s magic involved in this. This would take verra potent magic. My kind of magic.”

Robbie’s brows shot up in his forehead. “Another
drough
then?”

“That’s the only explanation.”

“A
drough
working with the Warriors?”

Declan shrugged. “Anything is possible. Call for my helicopter. I’m tired of playing around.”

As he listened to Robbie put in the call for the chopper, Declan’s gaze was on the horizon to the north where he knew Tara was.

It wouldn’t be long now. She would have nowhere to run, and with his added magic, Tara wouldn’t be able to refuse him when he demanded she turn
drough
.

“Verra soon now, sweet Tara,” Declan said with a smile.

*   *   *

Tara sat on the couch in the cottage and tried not to show how anxious she was. It hadn’t mattered why she had come to the Warriors to begin with, especially once she learned Ramsey’s plan.

She hadn’t lied when she said she didn’t want anyone dying for her. Especially not someone like Ramsey. She wasn’t worth that.

From what she’d gathered by the looks they’d exchanged and their unspoken comments, Ramsey was unique among his brethren by being part Druid. What that meant exactly, Tara didn’t know.

Ramsey walked into the cottage from outside and gave a small smile. “The castle is empty. No one stayed behind, just as we asked.”

“You’re still sticking with your plan?” Charon asked.

Ramsey’s gaze shifted to Tara for a moment. “I am.”

“It’s not going to work then,” Tara said. “Because I’m not leaving. Or weren’t you listening to me?”

“I heard you,” Ramsey replied. “I just hoped you’d changed your mind.”

“I’m stubborn like that.”

“So I’ve noticed.”

Arran cleared his throat. “I have an alternative plan.”

The way Ramsey didn’t immediately dismiss Arran proved how close the men were. “Does it involve me staying?” she asked.

“It does, but only because I doona want to force you to leave,” Arran said.

Charon leaned against the wall, a bored expression on his handsome face. “Unless things get too dangerous, lass. There are too few Druids for us to allow even one to be harmed or killed if we can do something about it.”

“Well said,” Ramsey replied softly.

Tara rubbed her hands on her thighs. “It’s not in me to just hand you my life and allow you to do with it what you will.”

“Taking you to the MacLeods isna handing us your life,” Ramsey said as he walked toward her. He stopped when he reached the overstuffed chair and placed his hands on its back. “The Warriors and Druids would protect you there. You can come and go as you wish. Think of it as a sanctuary.”

He made it sound like the heaven she had been dreaming of since first running from her family. But places like that didn’t really exist. She should know since she’d been looking for one for a decade.

“I stay,” she declared.

Ramsey’s gaze lowered as he shook his head. He looked to his comrades. “I doona like this.”

“Our only other choice is to force her,” Arran said.

Tara rolled her eyes and got to her feet, indignation boiling within her. “Ugh. I’m right here. I can hear you.”

Charon merely smiled at her. “We know.”

“What’s your plan?” Ramsey asked Arran.

Arran grinned wickedly and clapped his hands together as he rubbed them eagerly. “Though I like a battle as well as the next Warrior, since Tara will be with us, I say we handle this differently. Charon will alert us when Declan arrives. I’ll be in the castle waiting for the bastard.”

“Because that’s the first place he’ll look,” Charon said with a nod.

“Exactly. I’ll take out as many of his mercs as I can while Charon does the same.”

Charon’s smile was wide, his eyes gleaming. “I’m liking this plan.”

Tara looked at Ramsey to find him with his arms crossed over his muscular chest and his gaze intense as he listened. She noticed that about him. He listened, observed, and took everything in.

“I’ll be here with Tara,” Ramsey said.

Arran nodded. “Correct. He’ll never expect what you’ll deliver to him.”

Tara’s heart jumped in her throat when Ramsey’s silver gaze shifted to her. He stared at her for one heartbeat, two before he looked back at the men.

“On one condition will this work. While you and Charon take out the mercenaries, I’ll attack Declan and touch as many of the rifles as I can. When it comes time for me to face Declan—”

Charon nodded. “We take Tara.”

“No,” she interrupted. “I want to see Declan’s death.”

Ramsey blew out a breath and lowered his arms to his sides. “If you stay, there’s a chance that what I unleash on Declan will kill you. I can no’ have that happen.”

A thread of fear wound around her heart. Ramsey wasn’t joking, and the way neither Arran nor Charon would meet her gaze told her how serious the situation was.

“We cannot just leave you to face Declan on your own,” she said.

Ramsey shrugged. “I’m the only one capable of defeating him.”

“If you can.”

“I will.”

He sounded so sure of himself that Tara began to believe him as well. But she knew what Declan was capable of. For now, because she didn’t have any other choice, she nodded her assent to the plan.

“Good,” Ramsey said. “Since we have the entire place to ourselves, let’s get set up.”

Charon pulled out his mobile from his pocket as he walked to the door. “I’ll phone Fallon and fill him in.”

Arran bowed his head to her before he spun on his heels and walked out of the cottage. Leaving Tara and Ramsey alone. The cottage had gone suddenly quiet with only the howling of the storm outside to break the silence.

“Are you hungry?” Ramsey asked.

Tara shook her head. “Not really.”

“There’s plenty of food, so help yourself.”

She slowly sank onto the couch as he took up a spot in the shadows beside the window so he could keep a lookout. Tara studied him silently for several moments.

He continued to keep his long hair loose, which she loved. It was damp from the snow, as was his short-sleeved tee. Ramsey was unlike any man she’d ever come across. He didn’t boast of his accomplishments or his money. He said very little, but when he did speak it was because he had something to say.

While anyone could see Arran and Charon were not men you wanted to tangle with, Ramsey was different. You didn’t see what you had coming at you until it was too late. His violence was hidden, the danger was not tangible until he wanted it to be.

“Is this what you do?” she asked.

Ramsey glanced at her. “What do you mean?”

“Do you save people?”

“Sometimes,” he said with a small shrug. “Mostly we’ve spent our lives battling Deirdre. With her gone, our attention is on Declan.”

“So you came because of him.”

This time Ramsey turned his head to her. “I came for you.”

Tara shouldn’t have felt the small thrill his comment gave her. She didn’t want to feel anything toward Ramsey, but she had learned long ago she couldn’t control her emotions. “There are other Druids out there to be saved.”

“But none that Declan wants more than anything.”

“Have you saved many Druids?”

He shook his black head slowly. “No’ as many as we should have. Deirdre wiped out so many, and then when Declan pulled her forward in time, during those four centuries the Druids that did survive lost their way.”

“Not all of them. My family is steeped in its magic. It’s just the wrong kind of magic.”

“Magic is magic. Although I wish more
mie
magic had survived than
drough,
at least there is magic. Each Druid has a choice whether to become
drough
or no’. You made that decision.”

She leaned back and let her head rest on the cushions so she looked at the ceiling. “In my family there isn’t a choice, Ramsey. We were born into a
drough
family, and we will be
drough
. If we refuse, they force us.”