Page 135 of Dark Rival

She inhaled and he felt how close to capitulation she was. “I don’t know what would happen if we slept together. I’m afraid it would change everything that’s happened in the fifteenth century—and I might not want to leave you, Ruari.” She clasped her temples, pulling away. “Right now, you don’t love me and you don’t need me—you want a night of fun. I have to go back. We belong together in the fifteenth century. You have no idea what we’ve been through in a few days! And you are in danger, not as you stand here before me, but as your eight-hundred-year-old self!”

He sobered. He had never imagined being cared about and loved this way. What kind of man would he become in the next eight hundred years, to earn such a woman? A terrible internal battle began. Could he wait so long to seduce her to his will and take her to bed? Was she speaking the truth? Did he need her in the future? Because she was right—he wanted her insanely, but he did not need her.

He thought about his vows. The day he’d made them, they had become his life. He was only just studying the Code, and it was long and complex, but one rule was clear. Changing the past or the future was forbidden. And in the future, he was being hunted by Moffat with this woman at his side.

He must not detain her. “Do ye love me even now, when we’re strangers?”

She smiled. “Yes, I do.”

His heart leapt with an excitement he could not recognize. Oddly he wanted this woman’s love and loyalty. “An’ ye’ll go to me now, in the future?” he asked. He had to make certain.

She nodded and touched his cheek. Her hand lingered; she did not speak.

She was so beautiful, her light so bright, a beacon of hope and joy. His manhood raged, hardly heeding his will. But he had no time for joy and she had her duty to his future self. “I’ll let ye go, Ailios, but with terms.”

She started, smiling. “With terms?”

“I want ye in my bed more than ye ken, but I’ll settle for a kiss.”

She went still. “Yes,” she breathed.

And it was the one word he needed. He crushed her in his arms, hard, and opened her mouth with his lips. Instantly his head swam with desire, passion and lust, but the joy tried to rise up, too. She was an angel of light and hope. He plied her mouth and used his tongue there, while rubbing her mound with his shaft, so she would be sure to know what she missed.

She kissed him back and in unison, their pulses soared.

He wasn’t sure who pulled away first.

Panting, he stared. He was senseless. He had never wanted any woman this way. And that was the best reason to send her back to her time.

“Don’t worry. I’m your destiny.”

He remained too stunned—and too inflamed—to speak.

She smiled at him, then turned and walked outside.

He went to the window to watch her. And his eyes widened.

A man was coming down the ridge. It was himself, but hardened by centuries of war.

Ailios cried out and began running to him.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

ALLIE SAW ROYCE striding toward her, on the other side of the fortress’s open gates. She thanked the gods that he was alive and started to run. He was hurrying toward her, his eyes ablaze with his own relief.

Moffat materialized between them.

Allie screamed in warning, but even as she did so, Royce vanished, leaping into time. Moffat vanished as if on his heels.

She halted, stunned. Moffat was hunting Royce with a vengeance.

She realized MacNeil had come to stand beside her just as she saw Aidan beyond the clearing, on the ridge. As she spoke, Aidan vanished into time, apparently following Moffat and Royce. “Go after them! He can’t survive Moffat without his powers!”

“As soon as he leaves this place, he’ll find his powers,” MacNeil said, clearly meaning to soothe her. But his words were barely spoken when he vanished, too.

Allie clasped her cheeks. She needed to be with Royce, but he could have gone anywhere!

A huge white power fell over her.