Dragon's Gift - The Druid Complete series Box Set Page 35

  “It’s not going away.” I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him, even when I knew I shouldn’t be.

  “I know. I had my reasons, but they were shite.”

  “What reasons? And what was the second thing that changed your mind?” The words spilled out of me.

  “When I was in the Room of Truth, I realized that I wanted you more than anything. It was simple, really.”

  Warmth exploded in my chest. He wanted me more than anything. It was the nicest thing a guy had ever said to me. I smiled so big I could feel it. “Same. I didn’t want you to ask me what I was thinking, or I’d be forced into telling the truth.”

  “I’m sorry I was an idiot,” he said. “But I don’t want to be one anymore.”

  This was great. But I wasn’t about to let him off the hook so easy. I hadn’t been the one to delay this unnecessarily.

  I looked him up and down. “Well, maybe you were too big of an idiot and waited too long.”

  The corner of his lips hiked up in a sexy smile. “Not going to let me off the hook easy, are you?”

  “You’re going to have to earn your way into my good graces.” I crossed my arms. “It’s going to take a lot of hard work.”

  “Is it, then?”

  “Aye.” I mimicked his brogue. “What’s your plan?”

  “I was thinking we’d start with a kiss.”

  “Really? Because I was thinking you should wash my car.” I pursed my lips, pretending to consider his suggestion. “But if the kiss was a good one…”

  He gripped my waist and pulled me toward him, making my heart leap. His smile faded into an intense expression as he dipped his head toward mine. His lips captured mine in an expert kiss, and all rational thought fled.

  I melted into him, swept away by the sensation. He groaned, wrapping his strong arms around me. Every inch of his body was hot and hard. I wanted to touch all of him, and I kissed him as if my life depended on it.

  “Ana!”

  Bree’s voice tore me from the kiss. I jerked my head away.

  “Lachlan!” Jude’s voice echoed down the hall.

  Fates.

  I looked at Lachlan, eyes wide.

  “Jude wants to speak with me.”

  “And Bree.” I’d promised her I’d go to the Whisky and Warlock. Crap.

  “We’ll finish this later,” Lachlan said.

  “I’m counting on it.” I moved to dart away.

  He grabbed my arm, pulling me back. With a grin, he said, “And I will wash your car.”

  As usual, we ended up at the Whisky and Warlock for our celebration. I was tired, but not too tired to get some food and a drink with my friends. Lachlan had stayed behind to speak with Jude, and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t wished he’d come with us.

  It wasn’t until I walked in the pub door that I realized he hadn’t told me his reasons for delaying things between us. He’d said he had them, but I’d been so distracted by the I want you more than anything comment that it’d completely slipped my mind.

  I made a mental not to ask when I saw him again. Even without him here, it was still loads of fun. It was a celebration, after all. I’d mastered some of my magic and saved Arach’s heart. She, Florian, and the pugs were all safe. So was the Protectorate. The institution needed Arach’s magic just like she did. They were going to fill in the tunnel and put guards on the heart.

  Muffin led the way into the pub, sauntering right up to the seat where Miss Kitty sat by the fire. The little black cat stared at him, unimpressed.

  Clearly, Muffin was going to have to work for her affection.

  Princess Snowflake III and Bojangles went straight for a back door that led to the kitchen, which didn’t surprise me. The rest of us headed toward Sophie at the bar.

  Today, her shirt read Kiss My Haggis. She grinned at us while wiping down the bar. “Good to see your lovely faces. What’ll it be?”

  Bree, Rowan, and Caro placed their orders, then Sophie shot me a grin as she pulled a bottle of cheap pink champagne out of the fridge. “I don’t need to ask what you want.”

  “Nope!” I grinned and took the glass. “Thanks. It really goes fabulously with fish and chips.”

  “I’ll have to take your word for it, but I’ll put in an order.”

  “Me too!” There was a chorus from my friends.

  Sophie grinned. “No problem. Your usual seats are waiting for you.”

  We found our table by the fire. As I lowered myself to the seat, every muscle in my body ached. As soon as my butt hit the wooden chair, I nearly melted into it. The fire warmed my back, and music played over the speakers.

  This was amazing.

  “Why does champagne always taste better after you kick some demon butt?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, but it does.” Bree laughed and sipped her pink cocktail.

  The pub was pretty full for a weeknight. At least, our section was. We were too far from the entrance to this room to see if the rest of the pub was heaving, but there were a lot of Protectorate members in here.

  I spotted Lavender on the other side of the room, sitting with Angus and a few other classmates. She noticed me looking, and glanced away. Her hair was different. A wig, probably, since my magic had somehow singed hers off.

  I frowned.

  Bree caught my eye. “What’s up?”

  I nodded my head toward the other side of the room and whispered, “Lavender.”

  Bree scowled.

  I chewed my lip, debating. But all I could see was her sprawled out on the floor of the training room, unconscious. Guilt tugged at me.

  “I’m going to go say something to her.” I stood.

  “Don’t start a fight,” Rowan said.

  “I’m not going to.”

  “Then what’s the point of going over?” Bree asked.

  “I want to apologize.”

  “What?” Bree’s jaw dropped. “You heard the things she said about you. And she totally guns for you in class.”

  “I know. But I knocked her unconscious. She hasn’t done that to me. And she’s going to be my colleague one day. I can’t help that she’s kind of a bitch, but I can help what I do. And I’m going to apologize for knocking her out.”

  Bree frowned, clearly not liking what I was saying, then she sighed and smiled. “You’re right. Go and be a bigger person. You were always nicer than me.”

  “I’d be ruthless if she picked on you, too,” I said. “It’s just that it’s easier to shrug it off when it’s me.”

  She nodded, and Rowan joined in. I grinned. It didn’t matter if Lavender threw her beer in my face. I had my sisters.

  I turned and headed toward her.

  By the time I reached Lavender’s table, I was definitely dragging my feet. She looked up as I stopped in front of her. Angus and the other two also looked up, their eyes widening.

  “What do you want?” Lavender demanded.

  “Just wanted to say sorry for knocking you unconscious.”

  “Oh. Okay. Thanks.” She nodded and almost smiled. Then her eyes narrowed in on my glass of pink champagne. She frowned. “That’s not real champagne, you know. Real champagne is made in in France in a particular region. And that’s not it.”

  Aaand that was the Lavender I knew. I laughed. “I will keep that in mind.” I grinned and saluted. “But you have a good night.”

  I turned and walked back to my table.

  “That didn’t take long,” Rowan said.

  “It was as long as I could manage.”

  “Feel better?” Bree asked.

  “Much. The air is better on the high road.”

  They laughed.

  Rowan raised her glass in cheers. “To Ana, who can kick demon ass and apologize with the best of them.”

  “To Ana,” they echoed.

  I sat down and sipped my champagne, grateful to be with my friends. Life was good.

  Exhaustion made me leave the Whisky and Warlock early. The rest of the gang was on their seco
nd drink, but I needed a nap. For twelve hours.

  Muffin escorted me back through the portal and the enchanted forest, his green eyes gleaming in the dark.

  “Did you strike out with Kitty?” I asked.

  Good things are worth waiting for.

  “Well, that’s very…romantic.” My cat was a romantic. Who’d have thought it?

  He ignored me, of course.

  The night air was chilly as we walked, bringing with it the scent of the sea and the sound of crashing waves. In the distance, the castle windows gleamed with golden lights. I grinned.

  I’d saved Arach. I’d mastered some of my magic. And I was earning my place here.

  All in all, not a bad day’s work. Maybe I actually could handle this.

  We crossed the lawn toward the castle, and I caught sight of the circle of stones that sat near the cliffs. The rocks rose tall toward the moon, silent sentinels that guarded the empty circle.

  The fortune teller’s words whispered in my head.

  Answers.

  The stone circle tugged at me.

  I tried to ignore it, quickening my pace toward home. I wanted to see if Lachlan was still there. Maybe his meeting with Jude had run long.

  But no matter how much I tried to ignore the stones, they pulled harder. There were answers there. I just knew it. They were dangerous answers, if my mother was to be believed, but I needed to know.

  Not knowing was killing me.

  I could handle it. I had to handle it.

  I veered off toward the circle.

  Muffin meowed. What are you doing?

  “Looking for answers.”

  Finally.

  He followed me toward the stones. Their pull grew as I neared. My heart began to pound.

  I reached the first stone, a towering block of granite that rose twenty feet in the air. I pressed a hand to it, hesitating at the edge.

  The circle tugged again, so hard that it dragged me across the boundary and into the empty space within.

  Magic swept through me, lighting me up like a live wire. I fell to my knees, gasping. Images flashed in my mind. Figures in white cloaks standing around a small, bent tree. Ancient writing carved in stones. A crashing sea.

  And two words.

  The Druid.

  Muffin yowled. Something tugged at the back of my jacket, dragging me out of the stone circle. I passed the boundary of the stones, and the magic faded from me.

  Gasping, I lay on the ground. My head spun, the stars whizzing by overhead.

  Muffin meowed. Idiot.

  My head reeled as I sat up.

  Muffin stared at me. He’d dragged me out of the circle.

  “Did you do that to protect me?”

  Duh.

  My upper arms burned and my mind buzzed. Frowning, I pulled off my jacket. My sleeves were burned away, and my upper arms were covered in scrolled, golden tattoos.

  “What the hell?” I muttered.

  Then a memory flashed. The words that I’d heard in the circle.

  The Druid.

  I was the Druid.

  And that was dangerous.

  Celtic Magic

  Dragon’s Gift: The Druid Book 3

  1

  I crouched in a darkened alley, trying not to breathe in the rank scent of black magic. Despite the cold night air, it somehow smelled fetid and warm. Gross.

  I seemed to be doing a lot of this lately—crouching in alleys while waiting to launch an attack.

  “Do you see anything?” Lavender whispered. She knelt at my right, trying to avoid a puddle of mystery liquid. Normally, Lavender was my nemesis—a fellow trainee at the Undercover Protectorate’s Institute of Magic and leader of my Not-A-Fan club.

  Today, she was my partner, along with Angus, another student. As part of our training, we were here in The Vaults, the most dangerous neighborhood in Edinburgh, about to storm a shop that had been overtaken by Kobolds. The miserable little monsters had set up residence in Madame Mystical’s Magical Mementos. Evicting them was our first real-life training exercise.

  “It looks empty.” I squinted toward the two windows on either side of the shop’s door.

  The Vaults were underground, and as a result, the street was dark and narrow. Despite the fact that we were far beneath the famous castle in the center of town, a spell made it look like the night stars were shining above.

  The Vaults were where most dark magic was created and sold. Maybe the Kobolds thought they could get away with shenanigans down here. That the Undercover Protectorate wouldn’t come for them.

  They were wrong. We protected everyone, even those who lived on the darker side of town. I loved the mission, and working for the Undercover Protectorate was my dream. But for that dream to come true, we had to succeed and pass this test.

  “Are you guys ready?” My heart thundered in my ears.

  “Let’s do this,” Lavender said.

  “Cleared for action,” Caro said from the back of the alley. She was already a full member of the Protectorate, and she was acting as our supervisor on this test. “Good luck.”

  “Go!” I said.

  As a group, we raced out of the alley and across the street toward the shop. My gaze darted across the shopfront, which loomed three stories tall, carved right into the stone of underground Edinburgh. A light flashed in a second-story window, outlining the figure of a small man. He raised a hand, clearly about to throw some kind of dangerous magic.

  “Incoming!” I shouted.

  The man in the window hurled a blast of green light at us. I dived right, barely avoiding it as the magic crashed to the ground next to me.

  The air shook as the magic detonated, sending shockwaves through my body.

  “What the heck was that?” Lavender yelled.

  “Bad news!” I sprinted the last few feet to the shop door and yanked it open.

  I led the way inside. The shop was three stories tall on the interior, a round open space with bookshelves stretching all the way to the ceiling. Magical objects of all varieties were stuffed onto the shelves, each emitting their own unique magical signature. Dozens of scents and tastes bombarded me.

  The space in the middle was empty except for a few glass display cases and some chairs. A ring of low bookshelves surrounded it, creating a walkway around the perimeter of the room. Colorful pixies fluttered near the domed ceiling.

  For a moment, I couldn’t see any sign of intruders.

  “What the hell?” Angus muttered.

  “Watch out!” an unfamiliar voice cried.

  My gaze darted toward the back of the shop, searching for the woman who had screamed. I spotted her, sitting stock-still between two towering plants. She was tied to a chair. Next to her, the air shimmered.

  A Kobold appeared. He looked like a garden gnome, but a heck of a lot meaner. The air continued to shimmer around him, and he grew, shooting up to six feet tall.

  “Bloody hell,” Angus muttered.

  The Kobold threw out his hand, and his magic filled the air. It stank of old garbage and gasoline. Green light burst forth, more of that strange magic that had been hurled at us out in the street.

  “Shield!” Lavender cried.

  I called on my magic, throwing out my arms to direct my shield toward the oncoming blast. My magic swelled in my chest, strong and fierce. I grinned. My practice with Lachlan had worked.

  The magic shot toward my hands, ready to be expelled. But pain tore through me, right at my upper arms.

  The magic stopped there.

  No shield appeared.

  Panic flared as the Kobold’s combustive magic neared.

  My shield wasn’t coming.

  I threw myself in front of Lavender and Angus, taking the hit right in the chest. Pain exploded within me as I hurtled back toward the door. I slammed into it as Lavender and Angus scattered, diving for cover behind some of the shorter, free-standing bookshelves.

  The Kobold cackled, the sound making the hair on my arms stand on end.

/>   Aching, I scrambled to my feet and dived for cover behind a bookshelf.

  What the hell had happened to my magic?

  Last night, when I’d gone to the ancient stone circle and learned that I was The Druid Dragon God, two golden tattoos had appeared on my arms. Had they caused this? The magic had swelled out from my chest, going down my arms like normal. But it’d stopped—right at those tattoos.

  From across the room, a crash sounded. I peered around the edge of the bookshelf. Another Kobold had appeared, this one just as big as the other.

  “Come and get it!” he cackled, his voice sounding like a rusty engine.

  Lavender leapt up from behind her shelf, her magic shimmered around her. She used her telekinesis to pick up a massive chair and fling it at the monster. The plaid chair hurtled through the air, slamming into the wrinkled Kobold.

  A third appeared, close to Angus, who leapt up from behind a shelf and threw a bolt of electricity at him.

  My colleagues—I definitely couldn’t call them friends—had these two under control, but there was still the one standing guard over Madame Mystical.

  I had to get to her. There was no way to tell for sure if all my magic was blocked, but my two other gifts might not come in handy, anyway. My weird premonition and white light magic didn’t have much application against Kobolds.

  So I crept along the floor, keeping myself behind the bookshelves as I neared Madame Mystical and the Kobold. Crashes and screams sounded from the rest of the shop as Lavender and Angus fought the other two.

  I drew a dagger from the ether, gripping the hilt. It was like my version of a comfort blanket. As I crawled past a bowl full of potion bombs, I caught sight of one labeled Laughing Potion.

  I grabbed it, cradling the red glass ball gently.

  “You’re doing a shite job, you know!” Madame Mystical screamed.

  I peeked around a shelf to judge my distance and shot her a glare. Her red leather catsuit matched her hair, and both gleamed in the light. Her heels were so tall they made my feet hurt just to look at them, but I had to admit that she looked like a particular type of badass.

  The Kobold who stood guard over her stared at the fight in the middle of the shop with a confused expression.