Ireland, 1146Bowen the Golden Bear is a Viking Berserker, blessed of the great war god Odin, one of the most ferocious warriors ever to serve the great Norse Lord Horvath of Dublin. Horvath asks Bowen a personal favor: rescue his niece Aislinn from her treacherous Irish clan, who are plotting to remove her as its leader. Bowen uses his skills as a warrior and druid to deal with the nest of traitors, but terrifies the O'Neill clan in the process. His decision to marry Aislinn, the beautiful woman he has worshipped from afar for almost a decade, causes the spirited woman to openly defy him at every turn. Aislinn has gone from daughter to dynastic bride to war trophy in only three short years. Her first marriage was dreadful; how much worse will it be to be wed to a pagan savage? But Bowen's love for her sons and quiet power as both man and druid soon begin to melt her frozen heart and draw her inexorably towards the passion she feels for her handsome new husband. She learns of his original Welsh family, and his shadowy past. The more Aislinn discovers, the more she begins to wonder if Bowen is truly her destiny and the answer to all her prayers. Does she DARE give in to the sensual spell that swirls around them? Bowen is beset on all sides, battling with Aislinn and his enemies within his castle gates, and coping with treachery outside as well. More ambitious Vikings and the neighboring Irish clans begin to circle like wolves in the hope of plunder, and power if they seize Aislinn for themselves--or kill her.Bowen must protect his beloved and new family no matter what the cost, even if it means sacrificing all he holds most precious to save her. When Aislinn discovers his true druid nature, will she ever be able to accept the supernatural side of Bowen, or will she too betray him?AN EXCERPT:Aislinn stood on the battlements and stared in horror at the sea below her. This couldn't be happening. Never in all her twenty-three years...But it WAS. The dragon ships were even now beaching below her ramparts. Though only possessing six oars each side, the first one looked the most lethal she had ever seen.It was filled with the harbingers of doom. Not the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, she thought hysterically, but eleven naked screaming men wielding swords and axes, and two bears.No, one bear. A bear so golden and beautiful that she was sure she had to be imagining things, such was the contrast between it and its huge black companion.The second was as ebony as a raven's wing apart from some bald patches on its chest and legs and--God above, it wasn't a bear, it was a MAN. How could she have missed the huge--She blenched in shock and fear as he suddenly stopped his run along the sandy strand to look up at her. Straight at her.And she to her shame gazed down at him. Stared her fill. And then stared even more. The hot blush scalded her cheeks as she gaped at the man, who was completely naked save for his dark bearskin cloak and soft black leather boots. But she just couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from him.Nor did it seem could his be parted from her.But if he was going to lead his men he certainly couldn't do it from twenty yards back, Bowen scolded himself, and ran on. He had just been so astonished to see Aislinn again after all this time. Even after all the weeks of dreaming of this moment, ever since he had started to prepare for this expedition, and then had to row half way around Ireland to get here, she had still managed to take his breath away.He had worried the whole way about her safety. If she would even still be alive when he finally got here... And now, he needed to win her as his wife. Sadly, he had to make her a widow first if he was ever to keep her safe, and pray that she never found out her husband had tried to hire him to murder her....Word Count=128,000Rating: Sensual, multiple love scenesThe Druids of Destiny Series:1-The Tide of Destiny3-The Isle of Destiny