Free Highland Pull (Highland Destiny 2) by Laura Harner, L.E. Harner

do to her? He’d lost his moral compass, was adrift on waves of desire, willing to resort to getting a lass drunk to have his way with her. He had very nearly forced himself on her. Nay, call it by its true name, he had nearly raped her.
    Go find another woman, now.
    “No!” This was not him, this was some debauched stranger taking him over, freeing the darkness. He would not have it. He roared with the pain, fighting it, denying its bloodlust.
    He stomped upstairs determined to wash away this lust with a cold shower. He saw his gris-gris on the bathroom counter and pulled it over his head, praying it would bring release from the darkness he felt consuming him. As soon as the pouch lay against his chest, his vision blackened, the roaring in his ears reached a crescendo, and his heart pounded. He fell to his knees on the hard tile and leaned his face against the cool porcelain of the toilet, unsure if the bile in the back of his throat would stay there.
    Unable to move for a very long time, he thought of Miranda, of what he’d tried to do tonight, and of what had happened to Brianna. What had possessed him to risk Miranda’s life? Because he knew that was what he had done, he would not have stopped until she was dead. Whether by his own hand or another’s, God help him, he would not have stopped.

Chapter Eight
    Gabhran slipped into a pair of shorts and the gris-gris he'd removed before his shower, still feeling shaky after his internal battle. He wished he knew who’d won, and although the cold shower had helped tame the dark lust, he sensed it lurking just beyond his reach.
    What was he doing here, in this strange city, this strange country? He needed the Highlands. Perhaps a discreet phone call to his attorney would tell him if his name was connected to Brianna’s murder in his own country, or if he would be able to safely return. Of course there was no telling how long he would even remain in this version of reality. Not much longer if the past was any indication. He grabbed a bottle of single malt and a glass and wandered into the courtyard, trying to glimpse the night sky, so vastly different from that of his homeland. Clouds and city lights gave nothing away.
    Hooking a chaise lounge with his foot, Gabhran pulled it over next to the fountain. He lay there, drinking and brooding for a long time.
    ****
    Liam lurked in the darkened courtyard of the hospital where Gabhran spent his days and wondered what had brought him here. He could sense strong magick from somewhere inside. Who is it? Why here? Could it have something to do with the woman Gabhran had met earlier in the day? Liam had not been able to get close enough to use his Druid senses then, not with Gabhran around. Still, the woman was the only patient Gabhran had met with outside.
    Perhaps tonight, once everyone was asleep he would don his spell of reflection and walk unseen through the corridors until he found the magick. If the magick was strong enough, he would commandeer the vessel for his father’s collection. Artifact or person, it mattered not.
    He’d known it was safe to return here tonight, he was not needed at the townhouse. The darkness was working on Gabhran even now. Liam was willing to wager it was stronger than Gabhran e’er felt it before.
    He’d watched as MacLachlan walked the lass to his place. He’d not missed the way Gabhran’s hand stroked her back, the side of her breast, the possessive manner with which he surrounded her body. Good, Liam thought. Even if Gabhran fought off the darkness tonight, he was close to the edge, and soon there would be no turning back. Then he would be trained in the ways of the Order of Etarlam, the Druid ways. He would serve at the pleasure of Liam’s father, and eventually at the pleasure of Liam himself.
    ****
    So that was the way of it, Marie thought. She was standing just outside the courtyard, watching the man in the shadows as he watched the windows of the clinic. She had been drawn here by the