Free TheKnightsDruid by Shannan Albright

lass.”
    Juliet frowned up at him. “Then let’s have it.”
    “I have been searching for someone for a very long time.”
    “Let me guess, a woman.” A statement not a question.
    He nodded slowly, feeling the pain, the loneliness he endured for all of his lives. “Ciara was my wife.”
    “You said was, is she dead?”
    “Yes, she died a long time ago.”
    Juliet took a step back and he let go of her hands, watching as she sat on the edge of the bed with a resigned sigh. “You must have loved her very much. How long ago did she pass?”
    “Seven centuries ago.”
    He watched Juliet blink in surprise, slowly she rose to her feet and was in front of him in a few short steps. Colin was unprepared when her hand made contact with his face, the stinging intensity of the slap momentarily stunning him.
    “Seven centuries ? You really think I would buy into that bullshit? First Avalon, then King Arthur and now this!” Juliet snarled up at him, her index finger stabbing into his chest with every word.
    He grabbed the offending digit firmly in his hand, controlling the rush of anger surging through his bloodstream and bent his head down so close he could feel her breath on his cheek. “I’ll overlook a lot of your behavior right now since you’re in a state of shock. I won’t however, be called a liar. You would do well to remember that, lass.”
    Pulling her hand out of his grip she glared, her lips thinning into a firm, disapproving line. “So I’m to believe you’ve lived for seven hundred years?”
    “No, I haven’t lived for seven hundred years.” He chuckled.
    “Well, then at least you realized who farfetched that is.”
    “I have reincarnated seven times.”
    Again she blinked in surprise, her eyes widening with disbelief. “You what?”
    “I’ve reincarnated and each time I retain all the knowledge of each life.”
    “Wouldn’t that make you go crazy? I mean, how can you remember all those lives and not have them interfere with your recent life?”
    “Sometimes they do and yes, there are times when it can be a bit much to handle,” he agreed with a small smile.
    “I can’t believe I’m standing here talking to you about the possibility of reincarnation. I mean, this is all way off the beaten track of normal.”
    “And you’re normal?” he asked, not an accusation, but a question. Wondering how she could be so closed when what she did was so far out of the realm of what an ordinary human could do.
    Juliet surprised him with a laugh, light and musical, so utterly delightful he swore he would do whatever he could to make her laugh like that for the rest of her life. For in that very instant he knew he would do everything in his power to make her his, the lives he endured utterly alone would not be repeated. If Ciara hadn’t reincarnated by now then the chances were slim to none that she would. He’d wasted too much time in a fruitless pursuit of a dream he needed to let go. He drank his fill of this defiant woman standing before him with her fiery temper, so beautiful and so very much alive. Something deep within him opened a crack. Could he love her? The answer was a resounding yes.
    And that thrilled and terrified him at the same time.
    “Well, when you put it that way.” She smiled ruefully.
    Colin couldn’t help but brush his fingers lightly over her full lips wanting to feel them once again under his. An intense urge gripped him he needed to taste her sweetness and hear her moans of pleasure. His cock pushed insistently against the confines of his jeans, hard as granite and aching with the need to be buried deep inside her. He bit back a groan as her lips parted, sucking his fingers into the soft wet warmth of her mouth.
    “Darlin’, you are killing me here,” he husked out in a raspy tone.
    Her grin was unrepentant, her lids lowering seductively, thick dark lashes shadowing her eyes to a stormy slate grey. She released his fingers with a small popping sound and took a small step