Midnight's Temptation

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

MacLeod Castle

Britt puffed out her cheeks before blowing out a breath. She was well past exhausted. Her back ached from bending over the microscope, and her head hurt from trying to work around the problems of the drough blood.

“Just think. Months ago I was bored outta my mind and looking for something challenging,” she said to Aiden.

He was never far from her. She was thankful, because many times she’d wanted to chuck it all in and give up. Then she’d look at him and remember why she gave up her life to live in a magical castle.

“You need a break. You’ve been at it for days, sweetheart.”

She relaxed when he came up behind her and massaged her shoulders. Tension eased out of her as she sighed in pleasure.

“There are other ways I can make you sigh,” he whispered in her ear before he kissed her neck.

Britt spun around on the stool so that she faced him. “When this is over—and it will be over—we’re going to take a trip. I don’t care where we go because we’ll be in bed the entire time.”

“The entire time?” he asked, his green eyes gleaming with wicked promise.

“The entire time.”

“Then get that pretty arse in gear.”

She loved how he could make her laugh. Despite the threat that constantly surrounded them, Aiden always knew the right thing to say and do.

Britt was leaning in to kiss him when the analyzer beeped. She slid off the stool and hurried to it as the findings were printed on paper.

“Good news?” Aiden asked as he came up behind her and looked over her shoulder.

For a minute Britt couldn’t move. Her heart was beating so fast she thought she might pass out. Finally she turned to Aiden and looked from the paper to him then back to the paper in her hands.

“I found it.”

“What? What did you find?”

Britt blinked to keep the room from spinning. It had been a chance she took by doing the testing. So far she’d been unsuccessful at finding the marker that made the drough blood more evil. She’d held out no hope for this last test either.

“The marker. I found the marker we’ve been looking for.”

Several seconds ticked by as she and Aiden stared at each other. Then he yanked her into his arms and hugged her tight. She was shaking with relief and only staying on her feet thanks to Aiden’s strong arms.

“You did it,” he said. “I never had any doubt.”

“I did. Buckets and buckets of doubt. Oh God, Aiden, I can’t believe I found it.” She buried her face in his neck while he rubbed his hands up and down her back.

“Are you ready to tell the others?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. Finding the marker is the first step, and I don’t want to give anyone false hope. Especially Fallon.”

“You’re probably right. I’d just like to give them some good news.”

Britt swallowed and stepped out of his arms, the paper clutched in one fist. “You’re right. They need hope. We all do. Tell them. I’m going to keep working. Between this and finishing the serum, I’ve got lots to do.”

“Come down to dinner. You need to eat.”

“I’ll eat in a bit. Go have dinner with your family.”

He grabbed her hips and pulled her flush against him. “You are my family now, too. I’ll bring you up some food, stubborn wench.”

“Ah, but you like me being stubborn.”

“Aye,” he said and rubbed his nose against hers. “You know I like it verra much.”

It would be so easy for her to fall into his arms. But work called. “Share the good news while I try to finish this.”

Britt waited until Aiden had left the tower before she turned back to her equipment with a sigh. She was a step closer, but they needed a miracle. In a big way.

“Think, Britt,” she told herself. “Everyone is counting on you. Nothing like pressure to get things done.”

She resumed her spot on her stool and smoothed out the crumpled paper in her hand to read over the results again. While more tests were being done on the synthetic blood she’d created that would combat any drough blood entering a Warrior, she was determined to find a way to eliminate the marker from Larena’s blood.

This work out in the world could earn her science and medical prizes, but that no longer mattered. Helping those in the castle fight evil was her priority now.

“So, let’s see what my first test with the new marker will be.”

Ferness

Charon signed the last of the checks and gathered them to take to Laura. She sat at her desk outside his office answering e-mails and keeping the books for the many properties and businesses he owned around the small village.

“Here is the last batch,” he said.

She smiled as she took the checks. “I thought work might help ease your mind about things. Especially Phelan.”

“A good try, and it did for a bit. The bugger is purposefully no’ answering my calls. After several texts, he finally responded with a curt ‘Talk to you soon’ response.”

“He could be busy.”

“I hope that’s the case. We’ve just heard nothing more about Wallace.”

Laura rose from her chair and took his hand to lead him to the couch. With a little shove to his chest, she pushed him down. “As much as you might not like hearing this, I’m glad there’s been no sign of Jason. Because as soon as there is that means another battle.”

“Hopefully one final battle where we kill the bastard.”

“And then?” she asked. “When does the next drough rise up to take his place? You know as well as I that Jason has several droughs following him.”

“Had,” Charon corrected.

Laura crossed her arms over her chest and sighed loudly. “You don’t know if it’s past tense. They could be waiting for him. I know there was one who was his cousin. Aisley was her name.”

“We found bodies of Druids after the last battle, love.”

“I know who you found. I was there. There were two bodies we didn’t find, Charon. Jason and Aisley.”

“You think wherever Jason is Aisley is as well?”

Laura’s lips flattened into a line. “I don’t know. She was with him, but there were times I thought she wanted to help me. She did help me.”

“So you’re saying she’s no’ with Wallace?”

“I don’t know,” she said and threw her arms out. “If she wasn’t with Jason she could’ve run away with me. She didn’t. She stayed.”

Charon grabbed Laura’s hand and pulled her down next to him. He hated to see her so upset. “Perhaps Aisley wasn’t at Dreagan and the last battle because she left Wallace. Family or no’, maybe she came to her senses.”

“You could be right. It’s just … you didn’t see how he looked at her. It was as if he thought he owned her, Charon. And he doubted her loyalty.”

Charon ran his thumb over the back of her hand. They had gone over her time with Wallace countless times, but she’d never said as much as she was now. What was it about this Aisley that concerned his wife so? “Anything else you remember?”

Laura turned her moss-green eyes to him. “The Warrior, Dale. He put himself between Jason and Aisley, as if he were protecting Aisley. He cared for her. Deeply.”

“But Aisley’s drough?”

“I can’t feel magic as you can. Based on what Jason said, yes. She’s drough.”

“There’s no turning back from becoming drough, love. Her soul belongs to Satan.”

Laura’s brow furrowed. “I know. Why are you telling me that?”

“Because I know you. You want to help her.”

Laura turned and scooted until she was reclining back against his chest. “She seemed so … lost. I was that way once.”

“Aye, but you didna become drough.”

“We don’t know the circumstances.”

“A drough is a drough. You need to remember that, love. Aisley is lost. There is nothing that can turn the evil from her.”

“Isla is drough.”

Charon ran his hand over Laura’s shiny dark hair. “She was forced. Because she didna freely give her soul to Satan, he never had a true claim. Had she given in to the evil of the black magic, she would’ve been Satan’s.”

“Instead she’s been able to channel the strength of her black magic.”

“Precisely. Isla is a mix of drough and mie, a first any of us ever encountered. I doona believe it could happen again.”

Laura rested her hand upon his thigh. “If it happened once, it could happen again. We don’t know if Aisley was forced or not.”

“You’re right, of course. I just want you to understand the possibility of what you’re saying is verra slim. You’ve got a soft heart, my love, and I doona want you hurt.”

“I know. I don’t know what I want or how I feel about Aisley. One minute my heart aches for her because she seemed trapped with Jason. Then the next I despise her because she didn’t help me escape.”

Charon glanced at his mobile phone sitting on the table. “I can call Broc. He’d find Aisley for you.”

“No. I don’t think that’s necessary. I’m feeling sorry for a drough. How silly is that?”

He chuckled and kissed her temple. “You’ve a soft heart, remember?”

“It’s a pain in the ass, is what it is. I shouldn’t feel remotely sad for a drough. Like you said, she made her choice. She has to live with being what she is.”

As much as he agreed with Laura, Charon found himself wondering if his wife had been right to question Aisley’s motives.

“Did Aisley help Jason capture you?” he asked.

Laura shook her head. “It was just Jason and Dale. Why?”

“Just thinking. Where were the other Druids?”

“Around me. Wait. There was another Druid with Jason. Her name was Mindy. She and Aisley hated each other. Mindy was Jason’s lover.”

Charon recalled that Laura had mentioned Mindy’s name before. “Do you know why Mindy and Aisley didna like each other?”

“It was pure loathing they felt toward each other. I don’t know the reasoning, though. It seemed as though Mindy felt threatened by Aisley. Whereas Mindy was always near Jason, Aisley hung at the back of the group usually by herself.”

“Interesting. Did Aisley retaliate against Mindy with magic?”

“No. Then again, neither did Mindy. Jason repeatedly tried to intimidate Aisley. He whispered something to her about reminding her what he did the last time she thought to do something to him. I couldn’t hear exactly what he said.”

The more Charon heard about Aisley the more he wondered if he should have Broc find her. She was drough, but maybe she could give them information about Wallace.

There was just one catch. Would they believe anything she said?