Donna Grant: Midnight's Surrender

Rennie moved as fast as she could. She didn’t know this pasture as well as the others, but Dale navigated them around partially hidden stones in the snow.

“My heart is pounding with excitement. This is like an adventure,” she said with a laugh while she watched Dale jump over the fence.

He grinned and held her hand as she climbed up to the top of the fence before his hands spanned her waist and he set her down beside him before they started walking again. “An adventure? Lass, you need to get out more.”

“I know. Have you seen much of the world?”

“More than I’d like to thanks to the military. I’ll be happy never to see Afghanistan again.”

“Ah.” Rennie bit her lip at her stupidity. Here she was thinking it was some kind of hunt, and Dale had seen actual combat in the military and out of it after he had become a Warrior.

“No need to act as if you’re walking on eggshells. I killed for the government and I killed to stay alive. I have to live with that.”

“You act as if it doesn’t bother you.”

“It bothers me.”

When he halted next to a large rock protruding over four feet from the ground, she thought it was to tell her more of his time in the military. Instead, he smiled and took her hand.

“Are you ready to discover your past?”

“No,” she said and then busted out laughing. Dale’s answering grin made her laugh even more. When she recovered she said, “My most grand adventure besides leaving home for Scotland is whatever I experience through movies.”

He squeezed her hand. “Then you might want to prepare yourself, because I think we’ve found what it is Harriet wants.”

Rennie had no choice but to follow Dale when he kicked aside snow to reveal hidden steps that led into darkness. His hand never released hers, and she wasn’t sure if it was to help keep her steady or make sure she didn’t run away.

Running away was very tempting, she mused when the darkness fully covered her. All she could think about was booby traps, bugs, and something waiting for them that was better left alone.

“I can’t see a damn thing,” she whispered.

Dale’s chuckle bounced off the rocks to echo around them. “I can. Warrior, remember? Stay here.”

“Wait!” she cried, but Dale had already released her hand and disappeared.

Every sound was magnified in the darkness. She could hear something off to her right and realized it was Dale’s boots as he walked around.

The sound of rocks falling shattered the silence suddenly, causing her to duck and cover her head with her hands. A second later she made out a shape coming at her as her eyes adjusted.

“It’s just me,” Dale said.

Rennie let out a relieved breath and straightened. “I don’t like this place.”

“You will once you see it. Now, can you use your magic to create fire?”

“Yes, why?”

He put something long and heavy in her hands. “Light the torch, Rennie.”

She called to her magic, letting the feel of it consume her before she channeled it into fire. The sensations ran down the length of her arms, through her fingers, and then light flared brilliantly from the torch.

Rennie gasped when she saw the small chamber they stood in etched with Celtic carvings and knotwork—all of them holding magic.

Rennie was aghast at the perfection of each emblem carved into the stone. Some of the carvings were as small as her finger, and others as large as a person. They encompassed the walls and even the low-hanging ceiling.

Dale had to duck to stop from hitting his head on the smooth ceiling. He winked at her when she turned to him. “Now this is an adventure.”

“Who did these?”

“Your ancestors.”

She was awestruck, spellbound. “Why?”

“I think for you and any generation of MacBeths.”

Rennie whipped her head to him. “Me? I’m nobody.”

“Aye, but the important ones always think that.”

She made a sound at the back of her throat and started to argue when he held out his hand.

“Shall we see the rest?”

There was no way she was turning back now, no matter how hard her heart thumped. Dale’s fingers entwined with hers and she felt a current of something charged, something exhilarating rush along her skin.

He stepped close and wrapped his other hand around hers that was holding the torch. His body filled the area, enclosing her back against the wall. Rennie lifted her head, welcoming the kiss she knew was coming.

The kiss was savage in its claiming. And she embraced the raw, primal need that swept through her. The hard, rigid length of his arousal pressed into her stomach, reminding her of the sensual and decadent night she had spent in his arms.

Rennie took her free hand and pulled at his shirt, wanting to feel his skin. He tore his mouth away, his breathing harsh in the silence.

“Och, but I want you,” he said and ground against her.

“Not nearly as much as I want you. It scares me, this hunger I have. It’s all for you, and it’s like I can’t ever get enough.”

“Aye. I feel it as well.” He leaned his chin atop her head and simply held her. “I either take you now, Rennie, or we go deeper into the tunnel.”

“Don’t make me choose.”

“If you doona do something quick, I’ll no’ be responsible for the ripping of your clothes,” he said, a note of laughter in his voice.

It took every ounce of will for Rennie to drop her hands from both Dale and the torch, letting him know they needed to continue on. “I have this pressing need to know what it is Harriet wants,” she explained. “The more I know, the more I can be prepared.”

Dale faced the narrow opening and held the torch high. “Then let’s get to the bottom of this.”

Rennie quickly followed and reached for his hand. She felt safer with him, even if she had only known him less than a day. Dale glanced back at her and gave her a reassuring smile.

As they walked deeper into the earth, the ground continued to slope down. “How come my aunt never told me this was here?”

“Maybe she didna know,” Dale said.

Rennie didn’t believe that. “She knew every inch of this land. She knew. I just don’t understand why she didn’t tell me.”

“Maybe she wanted you to find it on your own.” He ducked as they exited the tunnel into a large cavern. “Maybe she was hoping you would find it.”

“It would’ve been easier had she just told me. That way I could have told Harriet to go to Hell and leave me alone.”

Rennie came out of the tunnel and could only stare once more. If the etchings in the anteroom were impressive, the ones gracing the walls of the cavern were breathtaking. Intricate knotwork designs made a continuous circle around the room, the design at least four feet tall.

But it was the writing that caught her attention. It, like the beautiful knotwork, went all the way around the cavern. “I don’t recognize the wording.”

“It’s Gaelic,” Dale said as he walked into the center where large stones had been used to construct a fire pit. He lowered the torch into it and flames shot upward.

Rennie stepped back as the fire lit the entire cavern, showing her the high ceiling above them. Then she realized what Dale had said. “Gaelic. You can read Gaelic?”

“I’m a Warrior, Rennie, I’m able to learn things quickly.”

“What does the writing say?”

“‘We’re waiting.’”

She looked at him, expecting him to continue. “And?”

“And what? That’s what it says over and over again.”

Rennie looked at the words, seeing the same symbols repeated until she came to a section where the lettering was smaller and more difficult to see. “What does this say?”