Page 35 of Druid Cursed

The wind huffed violently. Trees shuddered and shook as if the woods breathed, and mud squelched beneath her boots as she forged ahead.

Only the solitary light of her oil lantern broke the darkness.

This was a perfect night to reconstruct the wild hunt.

She could easily imagine the cry of lost souls on the wind, that it wasn’t thunder but the pounding hooves of spectral mounts and hounds tracking their prey.

Maggie forced herself to keep going. This was such a bad idea, but what else was she supposed to do?

Leave Wendy lost and alone in the dark, empty castle?

This might be her only chance to communicate without Sorcha’s influence.

Maybe she was privy to Sorcha’s thoughts and knew the witch’s plans, how to defeat her, how to free Kellen.

Lightning flashed, momentarily burning the woods with white fire, and in that second, she swore she saw a shape through the trees. Human ish , with a headdress of forked antlers, the moist glint of eyes. Looking straight at her.

Shit .

Thunder sent a deep shudder through the earth. She steadied herself against the nearest tree trunk, her heart pumping hard. She had two options, and both included running for her life. The castle was ahead and closer, her best bet.

Maggie launched from the tree, slipping in the mud.

The wind and rain made bark and limbs shimmer as if she weren’t really the one moving at all, rather that the woods slid by, guiding her to wherever it wished.

She didn’t look back to see if what she saw in the bracken followed her.

She didn’t need to. Its presence was an ancient, primal force at her back, driving her on like prey before the hunter.

Lightning flashed again, revealing the shadowed castle hidden in the brambles and trees, and she almost sobbed. She flew between the oversize stone ravens guarding the stairs and up to the front door. Her slick fingers fumbled for the secret latch in the raven’s mouth.

Behind her, branches snapped. Another peal of thunder threatened to unbalance her, and she dropped her lantern to cling to the doorframe. If she fell, she wouldn’t have time to get back up before whatever followed was on her.

The latch finally clicked, and Maggie propelled herself inside. She slammed the doors and sucked in a ragged breath. The lock snapped, resetting.

Safe… She was safe.

“Why are you at my castle?”

At Kellen’s tense voice, she spun and wondered if she’d slipped into a stress-induced hallucination. A bonfire filled the huge stone hearth of the great room, and Kellen stood before it, silhouetted by flame, enclosed by shadows.

For a long moment, time seemed to stop, and she forgot what had chased her here, forgot about Wendy and the contest she couldn’t lose, forgot about anything beyond the man across the room. Her entire world shrank to Kellen.

He looked like a pagan creature torn from time, dark and feral.

A wreath of leaves and red berries rested on his head, and the hair he always kept tamed at his nape fell in dark waves to his broad shoulders.

He wore a black button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows to reveal muscle-corded forearms, as if he’d been working on a difficult spell.

Loose cotton trousers of ebony shaped his long legs and flowed to his bare feet.

Something about his feet, vulnerable and naked, made her blood thrum in a primal way.

Lightning glared across the sky, painting the stained-glass windows in dazzling color, and with the resounding thunder, time resumed ticking.

“You ditched me tonight to hang out alone in your castle?” It was the first thing that came to mind, and she hated the accusation in her tone, the hurt.

“Aye.” His voice was a husky rasp that danced along her nerves. She was suddenly hypersensitive of the short distance between them, the way he stood with predatory stillness. “Why are you here, Maggie?”

The race to the castle flared to memory, the antlered thing in the woods. She pointed at the door. “There’s something out there.”

His hands fisted at his sides, and the growl he made prickled her damp skin. “Did I not warn you to stay inside?”

“You did. I was, but Wendy called me.” She swallowed, her throat dry. “She said she was here.”

“She is not.” He took a step toward her, stopped, and his jaw clenched. “I am the only one present.” His chin lowered, casting his face in harsh shadows. “And…you.”

His last words were a seductive purr, and Maggie sucked in a breath. She moved closer, pulled into his gravity. “It was Wendy’s words, her voice, not Sorcha’s. She was fighting back. But since she’s not here, Sorcha must have regained control.”

Kellen straightened. “Sorcha.” He spat her name.

“She undoubtedly allowed Wendy to communicate with you for nefarious purposes. Perhaps to lead you out from the safety of the inner ward.” His jaw bunched, and he spun away, giving her his back.

His long, lean, beautiful back. “It is not safe for you to leave alone, and I cannot accompany you back to the main hall. Remaining here with you will have…consequences.” His shoulders trembled, as if he fought for control of something she couldn’t see.

“Dry yourself before the hearth and wait until dawn. I will sequester myself in the tower and pray the distance will be enough.”

She managed to grab his wrist before he escaped. His skin felt like fire beneath her fingers. “Don’t go. Talk to me, Kellen. Why are you avoiding me?”

After they’d made a connection on a more personal level today…this behavior just didn’t make sense. There was something he wasn’t telling her.

He paused and stared at her hand on his wrist, licked his lips. Slowly, as if he had to concentrate with every move, he curled his fingers around hers. Before she could gasp, he had her backed against the wall, her wrists trapped on either side of her head. His eyes burned, black and endless.

“Tonight is more than a mere celebration of the wild hunt. ’Tis our annual tithe to the land and its magic, a carnal act of creation and life to renew the bonds between druid and earth. This ritual is why Caedmon chooses a willing queen, to consummate the bargain.”

Her face heated, and she couldn’t help looking at his mouth so close to hers.

Her lips tingled at the memory of the soft kiss he had given her that morning, his hunger in the library darkness the night before.

Neither had been nearly enough. She wanted his mouth on hers, his strong body molding to hers. Him. She wanted him .

“Caedmon takes great joy in fulfilling the ceremony, which allows me to withdraw after the ritual begins, and it is enough to satisfy the bargain our family made,” Kellen continued.

“But I cannot escape the effects of it.” His nose grazed the side of her neck.

He brought his mouth close to her ear, and Maggie shivered.

“I purposefully secluded myself here, leannán , because I knew if you were near, I would go to you. And if you were near, I would not have the necessary control to resist doing everything I have been trying so hard not to do to you.”

She closed her eyes as his words echoed through her. Every inch of her body went taut.

He suddenly released her hand s and flattened his palms on the wall, his breath hot and ragged on her neck.

“Go now. Go to the tower before my self-restraint utterly fails. All the supplies to make a fire are near the hearth. Bar yourself inside. Do not allow anyone in until morning. Most especially me.”

As much as she’d hoped to find Wendy, there wasn’t anything more she could do for her friend tonight.

Trying to hunt her down at night in a storm when she could be anywhere was pointless.

And Kellen was right here. Maggie licked her lips, her pulse a throbbing ache in her breasts, between her thighs. “No.”

He groaned, and his body leaned into her, as if it had a will of its own to cage her, possess her. “I am not completely myself tonight, Maggie.” His voice was strained. “You do not understand—”

“Actually, I think I do. I saw what happened to you when Sorcha showed up, the power that leached from you into her. You dropped to your knees. You were shaking. She weakened you, didn’t she?”

He hesitated, then nodded once, curt.

And he’d need every ounce of power possible to defeat Sorcha. To free Wendy. To break his curse. “If I choose to stay, what will happen?”

“Nay, Maggie—”

“Answer me.”

A breath hissed between his teeth, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

“I will seduce you, and the magic already luring you will make it difficult to resist.” He opened his eyes, and the desire burning there shot a bolt of heat straight through her.

“We will be connected tonight in a manner that you may later find unsettling. We will make the tithe together, a bargain consummated through our joined bodies.”

A carnal act. Her resistance had already been crumbling since day one.

It had been so long since she’d wanted to be wanted.

After Darren, she just hadn’t cared, but maybe it was because she’d needed someone to inspire her.

Someone to awaken her senses in a way they’d never been before.

Someone who made her feel valued, cherished, alive. Enough .

No, not someone—Kellen. It was as if her life had been building up to this very point and all along it had been Kellen who she’d needed.

Darren had merely been a shadow incapable of filling the empty space that had always belonged to Kellen, and if this was the only time she could have him, she’d take it and deal with the repercussions later.

She brought her mouth next to his ear and whispered, “I’m not going anywhere.”