Free Midnight's Surrender: A Dark Warriors Holiday Novella by Donna Grant Page B

“I doona know what I’m looking for. If I’m too hasty I might overlook it.”
    Harriet sighed dramatically. “Just hurry.”
    “Why do you want this object anyway?”
    “Why does any Druid want more magic? I want to use it.”
    He clenched his jaw at her condescending tone. How he was coming to hate the woman. But no matter how he looked at things, the odds of him and Rennie leaving alive were slim. Rennie had the magic, but she wasn’t adept at using it in battle.
    That’s where Harriet was able to overpower her. As quick and agile as he was, the drough had an upper hand with him as well. It was a Warrior’s one weakness—well, that and the way drough blood could kill them.
    Dale stopped and knelt beside Rennie. Her shoulder was bleeding slightly, and the material from her sweater had been burned away by Harriet’s magic. Seeing Rennie injured was all it took for Shomi to demand retribution and blood from Harriet.
    He welcomed his god’s anger as he let it mix with his own. It was time he took a stand. Dale straightened and faced the drough who watched him with a dispassionate gaze.
    “Well?” she asked. “What have you found?”
    “Nothing. There’s nothing here.”
    “Then you leave me no choice but to kill Rennie.”
    Dale chuckled as he shook his head. “You might have more magic as a drough , but you lack intelligence.”
    Her eyes narrowed on him dangerously. “You think to insult me? How is that helping your cause?”
    “Think, drough . If you kill Rennie, you’ll never find what you’re looking for.”
    “Her mother will know, and even if she doesn’t, I’ll get the land and search until I find it.”
    Dale shrugged nonchalantly. “I foresee you spending years on that search and being left empty-handed.”
    “Once I get inside, I will find it,” she snapped.
    “Do you think if you own the land that you’ll somehow be able to enter this chamber?” He shook his head. “Think again, Druid.”
    Harriet took a deep breath and crossed her arms over her chest. “Help me, then.”
    Dale had known this offer would come, but it still didn’t make it any easier to hear. “Help you?”
    “Yes. Come with me, and I’ll allow Rennie to live. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
    “How is my going with you helping Rennie?”
    Harriet smiled, adding in as much seduction as she could. It fell flat. Everyone would fall flat after Rennie, but Dale didn’t tell the drough that. He kept the displeasure from his face as he stared at the Druid.
    “Dale, really,” she said with a teasing laugh. “You’ll convince Rennie to give me what I’m looking for, and then I’ll leave her alone. And you’ll be mine.”
    The only one he wanted to be with was Rennie. He’d known it when he found her, and once he had tasted her kisses and claimed her body, that knowledge had only strengthened. His feelings went deeper than he had thought himself capable of, but somehow with Rennie, it made complete sense.
    “Well?” Harriet demanded, her tone edging into annoyance.
    Dale readied himself for what was coming, because he knew he wasn’t going to get out of it alive. Which was a pity. He’d have liked to tell Rennie he loved her.
    Love. He really did love her. The shock of it turned into joy. Rennie had helped him find the man he had once been, the man he had thought forever lost.
    “I’m losing patience.”
    He peeled back his lips in a smile to show his fangs. “You can take your offer and go bugger yourself. No one could compare to Rennie, especially no’ you.”
    Her anger was swift—and fierce. Dale felt her magic well up just before it pummeled him, bringing him to his knees. But she wasn’t done.
    She methodically cut her finger and let two drops of her blood hang in midair before she flung them at him, sending them directly into his still-open wounds.
    Dale clenched his jaw to keep from shouting from the anguish of it. He collapsed sideways while his body began to systematically shut