He needed a partner who challenged him. Who wasn’t afraid to call him out on his talking bollocks. Who made him want to be a better man.
Mara was all that and more.
So much more.
And he was wild about her.
As crazy as he’d once believedherto be.
Which partially explained why he suddenly tossed his half-eaten bread aside and advanced on her with steely-eyed purpose.
“What–what are ye doing?” she asked, green eyes flashing with alarm. “Callum, while I appreciate yer endurance–and I do, truly–surely there’s no harm in taking a wee rest.”
“I’m not after lifting yer skirts in the kitchen,” he said impatiently. “Not right at this very moment, at least.”
“Then what?”
“Come with me. I dinna want tae do it here.”
“Dowhathere?” she demanded when he grabbed her arm and towed her behind him out of castle.
He went past the keep and around to the stables, where Skye was riding out the foul weather in her stall. She whinnied when she saw them, and he paused to give the mare a pat when she stuck her head over the exterior door. With so much else to consider, he’d not given much thought as to how it was that Mara’s horse had lived this long. He just hoped that when the curse was broken and they made their way to the village that she accompanied them.
“Here,” he said, releasing Mara’s hand and dropping to his knee beneath a silver birch. With the approach of autumn, the leaves had begun to turn yellow and they snapped and stirred as the breeze changed to a bracing wind. Almost as if the cliffs sensed what he was about to do and they were already fighting back.
“Callum, no,” she whispered, pupils widening as realization dawned. “Ye canna do this. We dinna know what will happen. What she’ll do.”
“It doesna matter what she does,” he said firmly. “It matters whatwedo. We, Mara. Ye and I. That’s what matters. That’s all that matters. I dinna come here tae meet the love of me life. I dinna come here tae find the woman I’m destined tae spend the rest of me years on this earth with. But I did.” The wind howled at a feverish pitch, making him shout to be heard. “And maybe it comes with a curse, but there’s also magic in finding yer person!” Lightning flashed, cutting across the sky in a bolt of pure sizzling energy. “Yeare me person, Mara MacLea. Ye are the woman that I love.”
“Callum, ye have tae stop!” she begged as thunder boomed. “The cliffs–”
“Let them rage. Let the wind whip and the lightning crash.” He rose to his feet and cupped her jaw, tilting her teary face up to his. “A thousand storms couldna keep me from ye, Mara. I love ye. I loveye. And nothing will change that. Not even aCaoineag.”
“Are ye so sure, mighty Scot?”
Cold cut through the air, and he flinched from the slicing sting of it even as he braced himself to stand against the thing that crept and slithered. A woman–or what had once been a woman–clothed in black rags, with pits for eyes and a sinister smile that made his skin crawl.
“Get behind me,” he ordered Mara, pushing her aside. To theCaoineag,he raised both his fists and his voice. He didn’t know if a mortal blow could bring an immortal being to its knees, but he was damned sure going to try. “Ye canna have her! Do ye understand me, ye evil witch?”
“Mara MacLea does not belong tae me,” theCaoineagcrooned. “But neither does she belong tae ye. She is the cliffs and they are her. For never shall the twain be separated.” The wraith lifted her hand, revealing a sliver of bone and sinew. She flicked her wrist and it was as if Callum had been pitched from a horse.
He was slammed sideways into the tree, striking it with the same part of his temple that had hit the rock. Dimly, as if through a massive wall, he heard Mara scream. And then was made to watch in mounting horror asshethrew herself in front ofhim, covering his body with her own while she held out her palm. As if that simple gesture would keep theCaoineagfrom advancing.
“Ye canna have him!” she yelled, as fierce as she was completely defenseless. “If ye want me tae take me place here, then fine, I’ll do it. But ye will let him go. Ye will let him live. That is the bargain I’ll strike with ye.”
TheCaoineag’ssmirk faded. “Ye would exchange yer soul for this man? Ye would become what the cliffs want ye tae be?”
“Mara, no.” Desperate, Callum tried to stop her from stepping away from him, but whatever theCaoineaghad done, it had rendered him immobile. He couldn’t move more than few scant inches, which wasn’t nearly enough to protect the woman that he loved. “No. No! NO!”
“I’ll do it,” she said with a jerky nod. “I’ll do what ye want. What ye have been waiting for. I’ll become what ye are, if ye release him without harm.”
Beady black eyes raked across Callum. What remained of theCaoineag’stop lip curled. “Do ye love him? This mortal.”
“I do. I do love him.”
“Enough tae give up yer humanity?”
Mara bravely lifted her chin. “Yes.”
