Chapter Twenty-Five
Savannah
My heart beata fast tattoo against my ribs as Macgrath steered Rhiannon’s Land Rover down a gravel road. We’d been driving for a while, heading toward the middle of nowhere it seemed.
After Rhiannon called Ava, she disappeared into another part of the house and came back wearing a pair of jeans, boots, and a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up. That should have been my first clue of what was to come.
Then she insisted we sit down and eat dinner together, as though she were hosting a dinner party. She set the table with white square plates and water goblets. There were even candles and a small centerpiece of burgundy calla lilies.
Macgrath dished out servings of mushroom risotto and roasted asparagus while Rhiannon poured out glasses of chardonnay. We sat around that table and ate the food in silence. Though I hadn’t been lying when I told Macgrath I was hungry, I couldn’t eat. I pushed the risotto around on the plate, thinking about Rhys. I knew that I would be freaking out right about now if I were in his shoes. I was sure he was doing the same.
When the meal was over, Macgrath washed the dishes and Rhiannon disappeared again.
At a quarter to nine, she came back into the living room. “It’s time to go.”
We’d been on the road for nearly forty-five minutes when Macgrath turned off the gravel road and drove down a narrow dirt trail. It definitely wasn’t a road. More like a track that had been worn through the woods.
Finally, he stopped the Land Rover and put it in park. He looked over his shoulder at me. “We’re here.”
I climbed out of the vehicle and felt a shiver run over my skin. Though we were in the middle of nowhere, there was no sound. Not a single insect or bird made a noise. There wasn’t even a breeze to stir the leaves.
Something was very wrong here.
Macgrath took my arm at the elbow and set off through the trees until we reached a clearing. The moon didn’t pierce the canopy created by the trees and he didn’t use a flashlight, yet he walked through the woods as though he could see perfectly.
However, I couldn’t. I tripped over rocks and branches, nearly twisting my ankle when I stepped in a low spot. With a heavy sigh, Macgrath stopped and swung me up in his arms. I squirmed and shoved at his shoulders.
“Put me down,” I insisted.
His arms squeezed me tightly enough to push the air out of my lungs. “Quiet. If you break an ankle, I’ll have to carry you anyway and you’ll be in a lot more pain.”
I smacked his shoulder. “Can’t. Breathe,” I gasped.
His arms loosened but he didn’t put me down. I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest. Over his shoulder, I caught a glimpse of Rhiannon’s face. She wasn’t happy with the situation. At all.
“Can we get on with it?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Once again Macgrath’s hands tightened on me, but only just a little. Though his emotions were tightly leashed, I could feel a flare of anger toward Rhiannon. He resumed walking, carrying me as though I weighed nothing.
Since I didn’t have to worry about watching where I was walking, I stared ahead into the darkness and thought about Rhys and what was happening. I couldn’t let him give himself up to Rhiannon for me. I would never be able to live with myself.
I didn’t have Macgrath’s strength or the power that Ava and Rhys had. There was only one thing I could do to stop this and everything within me repelled the idea. Despite what everyone believed, I wasn’t completely helpless.
Ava had been right when she said that emotions were part of the soul. And the soul was necessary for survival. If I drew on Rhiannon’s emotions, draining them from her, I would also be taking her soul. I probably wouldn’t be able to kill her, but I could weaken her enough so that Rhys or Ava could. I had to give them a chance to help me because there was no way in hell I was letting the man I loved give himself up for me. I also couldn’t believe that I was thinking so calmly about the possibility of snuffing out someone’s life. I had always tried to use my abilities to help people rather than hurt them.
Then I thought of Rhys and all the pain he’d been through, all the pain that Rhiannon likely had planned, and my resolve hardened. I would do whatever necessary to protect Rhys, even kill.
Macgrath emerged from the trees into a large field and he put me on my feet without a word. His jaw was clenched and I feared that I’d been thinking too loudly and he’d heard it all.
“Don’t move,” he commanded.
I stood still and watched as Rhiannon walked around, murmuring beneath her breath while light spilled from her palms. A large glowing circle formed on the ground, about twenty feet in diameter, leaving the three of us in the center.
I felt the weight of the magic surrounding me, and my heart sank. Ava was strong but I didn’t think she was powerful enough to break this spell.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked Rhiannon. “Why do you want Rhys?”
At first I thought she was going to ignore me because she continued what she was doing without answering. Then she murmured, “He has something I want.”
