“No,” she said with a frown. “I don’t want you going after him by yourself. He isn’t alone. He’ll have people with him. I’ll go to the MacLeods, just keep Phelan here with you.”
“Laura—” he began.
She gave a shake of her head, refusing to give in. “That’s the only way I’ll go to the MacLeods.”
He blew out a loud breath as he came up on his elbow. He stared at her before he nodded. “All right. Get dressed. We’ll gather a few things from your flat while I contact Fallon.”
It was good enough for her. She jumped from the bed and hurried into the bathroom where she had discarded her clothes when she took her shower. She glanced over her shoulder to see Charon getting dressed as well.
Laura finished putting on her bra and panties and grabbed another shirt from Charon’s closet when Phelan was suddenly standing in the doorway.
“We need to move. Now!” Phelan shouted as he tossed a bag at her.
Charon didn’t hesitate to find his boots and quickly put them on.
Laura opened the bag to find jeans, hiking boots, and a shirt from her flat. She dressed in record time with her heart thumping wildly in her chest.
“Did you call Fallon?” Charon asked Phelan as he grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the bedroom.
She fought to keep her balance as fear began to course through her. “What’s going on?”
Phelan gave a vicious shake of his head. “The damn mobile phones willna work. I tried the phone in the office and pub, but the lines have been cut. I wanted to get you and Laura on the road before I tried to find another phone.”
Laura collided with Charon as he came to an abrupt halt. Charon’s face was filled with fury. She’d never seen him so angry, and she almost felt sorry for anyone who would dare to challenge such a man.
“We willna be going on the road,” Charon said as he went still as death.
“What?” Laura and Phelan asked in unison.
Charon glanced out the opened sliding glass door and then to Laura. “We’re going into the woods. No one knows this forest like I do. There’s a place we can hide until the others arrive.”
“Charon,” Phelan said, his voice low with uncertainty.
“If we get on the road, I guarantee Wallace will have something waiting for us,” Charon said. “He expects that I’ll take Laura to the MacLeods.”
She watched the two men stare at each other for several long tense minutes.
“Fuck,” Phelan ground out as he turned away. After a moment he faced them again. His face was set in grim lines. “I’ll get the others as quick as I can. Just make sure you doona let Wallace find you.”
“He willna,” Charon promised.
Laura then found Charon staring at her. She tried to smile, but the growing apprehension wouldn’t let her.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
“Implicitly.”
With a nod to Phelan, Charon once more dragged her after him. They ran down to the second floor, and then out of the building and down the stairs.
Just before they reached the woods, Laura glanced back, but Phelan was already gone. An ominous feeling overtook her, one that said very bad things were coming.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Charon kept his pace slow. He knew it would be easier to pick Laura up and use the speed his god gave him to get them to safety, but then that would open up questions he didn’t want to answer.
But was her life worth those questions?
“Shite,” he said as he came to a halt.
Laura was already gasping from running over the rough, ragged terrain, and they hadn’t gone quite a mile yet.
“What is it?” she asked, leaning over with her hands on her knees.
Charon looked back the way they had come. He could already feel the sickening, cloying feel of drough magic. It turned his stomach.
The forest was vast, but was it big enough to escape Jason Wallace? Charon looked at Laura. She was an innocent, targeted because of her association with him.
What a fool he’d been to waste those precious few hours making love to her instead of getting her safely to MacLeod Castle. That lost time could well seal her death.
“He wants me,” Charon said. “If you run while I lead them away, you might have a chance.”
She slowly straightened, her forehead creased in a frown. “You’re leaving me?”
“To save your life.” He hated the accusation in her voice, but perhaps that’s because he didn’t want to leave her. He wanted to stand beside her, to feel her body next to his.
“I’ll be safer with you.”
Charon raked a hand through his hair as his frustration mounted. “I’m powerless against a Druid, Laura. Once he finds me, it’s over. If you’re near, your life could well be forfeit.”