Arcane Rising: The Darkland Druids - Book One R Nicole (best fiction books to read .txt) 📖

my breath since we’d run from Calton Hill. Now that we’d stopped, everything rushed back. The moment Owen had me in his grasp, then the German Shepard appearing out of nowhere and clamping its vice-like jaws down on his arm.

“What happened to your dog?” I whispered as we huddled in the shadows.

“That’s not a dog,” Rory replied. “That’s Jaimie Fraser!”

I blinked. “What, from that Outlander TV show?”

“It was a series of books before it was ever a television programme, I’ll have you know,” he declared with a pout. “I call him that because the lassies swoon when you tell them you named your dog after a dashing romantic hero.”

“That’s such a male thing to say.”

“You’re very wry for a lass who just escaped an attempted abduction. How many times is that now?”

“I’ve lost count.” I peered down the close, but couldn’t see anyone—or anything—coming in either direction. “But aren’t you worried about leaving your dog to wander the city alone?”

Rory snorted. “Jaimie Fraser can handle himself,” he told me. “Don’t fash about him.”

He gestured for me to be quiet and I bit my tongue, my heartbeat speeding up. The close was barely wide enough for two people to stand side by side. If I reached out, I could almost touch the opposite wall. A low doorway at the top of the stairs was set into the house, and above the mantle was an echo of Edinburgh’s past etched in Medieval script. Lord be merciful to me. Though the letter ‘u’ in merciful, was carved as a ‘v’.

A chill passed through my body at the omen. Rory pressed against me, lending me his warmth…but I wasn’t cold.

“Why don’t you fight him?” I whispered into Rory’s ear.

“I’m not prepared to take down a Chimera in broad daylight,” he told me. “Besides, this one is strong. I’ve never felt power like his before.”

“A Chimera?”

“The Chimera are a legion of Dark Fae,” he said as if talking about fairies was the most ordinary thing in the world. “They like to hunt Druids for their power. That guy, your precious detective, was grooming you in order to steal your power.”

I gasped. “He what?”

“Once he had it, he would have killed you.”

I tensed and my heartbeat increased to a full gallop. There was so much I didn’t understand about what was happening, but kill was a notion that doesn’t need much brain power to comprehend. Owen wanted to kill me.

I felt sick.

“It doesn’t matter who you are or where you came from,” Rory murmured. “You’re a Druid, Elspeth, and I will protect you. It’s that simple.”

He tensed abruptly, his jaw twitching. I peered underneath his arm and saw Owen prowling down the close, his boots scraping against the flagstones. He sauntered down one flight of stairs, then inched closer to where we were hidden, sniffing the air.

“I know you’re here, Druid,” the detective said. “There’s no use hiding… I can do this all day if we have to.”

I looked up at Rory. His jaw was tense, and his eyes were brimming with anger. He’d have to fight him, and he wasn’t pleased about it. I shook my head slightly, but he’d already seemed to have resigned himself to the fact.

“Elspeth, whatever happens…stay behind me.”

“But you said—”

“It’s going to be okay.” He pulled a large knife from underneath his coat and flipped it over in his hand with a flourish. The air shimmered as he stepped out of the alcove and stood before Owen.

“I won’t go down without a fight, just so you know,” he said to the detective.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less, but you could save yourself a lot of pain by just giving me the girl.”

I huddled in the alcove, watching as rain beat down on the two men in a steady stream. It was quite the feat of nature, considering how narrow the close was, but the closer I looked, the more I could see the droplets skim off Rory’s shoulders like an invisible forcefield hovered around him.

Owen smirked and strode towards the Druid as water ran down his face and soaked his clothes.

Rory flipped the knife in his hand and struck, the blade hissing through the air. The detective moved like lightning, grabbed his wrist and pounded his fist into the Druid’s stomach.

The knife fell from Rory’s grasp. It clattered along the stone walkway, tumbled down the stairs, and landed at my feet.

The fight that came next happened so fast, I could hardly follow it. Rory broke free and landed a punch to Owen’s cheek that sent a strange vibration through the air. My stomach rolled as the detective pushed the Druid against the wall and cracked the younger man’s head against the stone.

Rory kneed Owen between the legs, causing him to double over, then clipped him in the face with another power-laden punch, but the detective recovered from each blow too quickly for him to keep up.

Now I understood why Rory didn’t want to fight him. Owen was too strong.

The detective swept Rory’s feet from underneath him and the Druid fell hard on his back, hitting his head as he went down.

My hand flew to my mouth and the same terror I felt the night before came flooding back.

My gaze met Rory’s as Owen’s hand clamped around his neck. I stared in horror as his skin began to turn blue as the detective—the Chimera—crushed his windpipe and cut off his air supply.

I could see the words he couldn’t say etched in his eyes. Run.

He wanted me to get away but I couldn’t leave him, not after he’d told me what the Chimera did to people. Owen would take his power, then kill him.

Darting out of the alcove and into the rain, I snatched up the knife and brandished it at the detective. “Let him go.”

He stood, his grasp slipping away from Rory’s neck, but the younger man didn’t move.

Owen stood at the top of the stairs, smirking down at me, clearly confident he was going to win despite me being the one