Dangerous Highlander

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Lucan lost count of the number of wyrran he had killed. Their dead bodies littered the great hall, and he had to watch himself so he didn’t trip over them. For every one wyrran he killed, another three took its place. They were everywhere, their wails making his ears ring.

He glanced at Cara as often as he could. She stayed near him, just as he’d asked. She had also managed to kill her share of wyrran, though he noticed one had given her a nasty cut down her back.

She moved with the speed and agility that she had shown in their training, but she was tiring. She wouldn’t be able to last much longer. And with the numbers of the wyrran, they could be battling until dawn.

Lucan fought his way closer to her so he could take on more of the wyrran. She gave him a quick smile of thanks before she plunged her dagger into one of the yellow creature’s chests, then lopped off its head with her sword.

Movement near the castle door caught his attention. He looked up to see Quinn enter the castle. A moment later he dove into the fray.

Somehow, through it all, Fallon had remained in his human form, using his swords as effectively as Cara. Lucan had known Fallon wouldn’t transform, wouldn’t give in to the god inside him. Fallon feared the god too much.

Lucan’s claws ripped down a wyrran’s chest before he severed its head from its body. It fell to the floor the same instant Lucan spotted three Warriors rushing into the hall from the stairs.

The traps had slowed the attack, but not by much. Above all the shrieks and growls, Lucan heard Fallon cry out. Lucan turned to see his brother fall, a purple-skinned Warrior standing over Fallon.

The Warrior smiled at Lucan just before he leaned down and sliced open Fallon’s chest.

“Nay!” Lucan bellowed.

He leapt over the diminutive wyrrans to land beside Fallon. His green eyes were crinkled with pain as blood seeped into his tunic. With him in this state, it would be easy for the Warriors or a wyrran to cut off Fallon’s head. Fury slammed into Lucan. His claws cutting, piercing, and slashing the purple skin, he attacked the Warrior. Lucan moved with movements so quick, the Warrior could only jerk with each gash of his body.

* * *

Cara watched in horror as Fallon fell, the purple-skinned Warrior wasting no time injuring him. She was glad when Lucan rushed to Fallon’s side, giving him time to rise and move away. It was just a moment later that Quinn joined Lucan but, instead of fighting, he helped Fallon to his feet.

A sharp pain ran through her leg. Unable to stop the cry from her lips, she turned and sank her dagger into the wyrran’s face. It screamed and clawed at the dagger.

Cara jerked it out and sliced off the wyrran’s head. When she looked up again, Galen and Ramsey were in the great hall fighting.

She jumped back to miss another wyrran’s claws and tripped over a dead wyrran. Cara landed hard on her back, but she rolled over and started to climb to her feet when something grabbed her from behind.

“This was much too easy,” said a rough, unfamiliar voice behind her.

Cara looked over her shoulder and saw the royal blue face of a Warrior. His smile was sinister, his fangs much too close to her skin for comfort. She struggled to get free, but he leapt onto the wall with her in his arms without difficulty.

“Lucan!” she yelled, and swung her dagger back toward the Warrior.

He jumped over the battle below and landed on the stairs, where he grabbed the wrist that held her dagger and squeezed. She clenched her teeth and held on as long as she could. Her bones brushed against one another, the pain unbearable. When her numb fingers could not hold on anymore, the dagger clattered to the stairs.

“Drop the sword or I break your arm,” the Warrior threatened. “Deirdre wants you alive, but a broken bone willna matter.”

Cara knew she had to stay strong to get away from him. If she was wounded it would only make things more difficult. She let the sword drop, feeling bereft without her weapons. She had nothing with which to battle the Warriors, but then again, even her weapons hadn’t been enough.

Once more the Warrior grabbed and jerked her against his chest. She clawed at his back with her nails and kicked with her feet in an effort to connect with his balls.

The Warrior turned, banging her head against the stone wall. The edges of her vision darkened as she fought to stay conscious. The Warrior continued up the stairs to the landing, his evil laugh making her skin crawl. Just before he turned, Cara raised her head and saw Lucan staring at her.

* * *

“Cara!”

Fallon jerked at the anguished cry of his brother. He turned and saw Lucan looking toward the stairs. Fallon caught a glimpse of Cara being carried away by a Warrior.

Deirdre must have planned it, because three other warriors attacked Lucan, preventing him from going after Cara. Fallon looked to Quinn, but just like Lucan, he was overtaken by Warriors.

Fallon forgot the pain of his healing chest and hurried after Cara before he was attacked as well. He followed Cara’s grunts and curses as the Warrior took her to the back tower. By the time Fallon reached it, he saw the Warrior was descending the cliff with Cara on his back.

Fallon paused as he recalled the look of horror and fear in Lucan’s eyes. Even when they had been in Deirdre’s mountain Lucan had never looked so . . . lost.

Lucan needed Cara. Ever since their clan had been destroyed, Lucan had taken care of his brothers. Lucan, who never asked for anything.

Fallon took in a shaky breath and lifted his arms so he could see his hands. He released the rage he’d kept pent up for centuries. The prickle rushed over his skin seconds before he turned black. He straightened his fingers and saw his nails lengthen into razor-sharp black claws.

Fear had kept him from transforming, but for Lucan he would face it—and the future.

Fallon threw back his head and bellowed as a surge of power warmed his skin. He looked over the castle and saw the Warrior and Cara staring up at him. Fallon’s claws scraped the rock as he vaulted over the side and plummeted down the cliff.

He stopped himself by grabbing a rock, the force jerking his arm out of its socket. Fallon ignored the pain and smiled when he saw how close he was to the Warrior.

“Hold on, Cara,” he called.

She lifted eyes wet with tears, clinging to the Warrior’s neck. Fallon couldn’t attack since Cara could lose her hold and fall into the churning sea below. But he also knew he couldn’t let the Warrior reach the bottom.

Fallon was going to have to think fast.

* * *

Lucan had never felt so helpless in his life. He fought, all the while screaming for Cara, against the Warriors trying to hold him. She was gone from him, he knew, but he couldn’t give up.

“Someone looking for a fight?” Logan yelled as he charged into the great hall, his silver skin bright against the chaos.

Lucan noticed Hayden behind him. Lucan killed one Warrior while Quinn tore off another’s head. The others scrambled out of the castle as if they’d been called away. Lucan didn’t care why they had left, only that they had.

No one tried to take him or his brothers. He stopped and looked around the hall. “Where is Fallon?”

Quinn pointed to the stairs. “He followed Cara.”

Lucan said a prayer of thanks and hurried after them. He couldn’t lose Cara, not now. Fallon had left a trail of overturned boards and doused torches to let his brothers know where he had gone.

When Lucan reached the top of the tower, he looked down to find Cara on the back of a Warrior while Fallon tried to stop him.

“My God,” Quinn breathed.

Lucan couldn’t believe Fallon had transformed. “I never thought he would turn again.”

Galen whistled softly from Lucan’s other side. “Fallon surprised us all.”

“We need to help,” Lucan said.

Quinn nodded. “What do you want us to do?”

Just then Cara screamed as the Warrior lost his hold and fell. Lucan’s chest tightened until the Warrior was able to catch hold and stop himself, but the impact made Cara’s hold slip.

A heartbeat before she caught the Warrior’s leg, halting her fall, Lucan screamed her name. He closed his eyes, his heart in his throat. “I’ve got to get to her.”

“We’ll help,” Quinn said.

“We cannot let him reach the bottom with Cara.”

Ramsey walked up beside him, his skin a dark bronze. He leaned over the tower, his claws scraping the stones. “I’ll get down there just in case he does.”

“I’ll go with him,” Hayden said.

Logan stepped forward. “I can stay up here if he decides to come back up.”

“And I’ll go this way,” Galen said, and pointed to the left where the cliffs met the castle. “In case he decides to try running across Scotland.”

Lucan gave a quick nod, then turned to Quinn.

Quinn smiled. “You aren’t going without me.”

Lucan wasted no time in climbing over the tower. He started descending toward Cara, praying with each beat of his heart that she survived. If she didn’t, he would storm Deirdre’s mountain himself and destroy the evil bitch.

He climbed quickly, and despite Fallon’s valiant try, the Warrior was able to still move down the cliff because of Cara. Whenever Fallon reached for Cara, the Warrior would kick his leg, sending Cara careening in the wind.

Lucan crawled to the other side of the Warrior while Quinn stayed above him. “Give me my woman,” Lucan demanded.

The Warrior laughed. “She was never yours, MacLeod. She’s a Druid and therefore belongs to Deirdre.”

“I’ll see Deirdre in Hell first.”

“No doubt.”

Lucan stretched his hand toward Cara. “Grab it.”

She reached for him, but the Warrior gave a vicious jerk of his leg, making Cara cling to him instead of taking Lucan’s hand.

Fury erupted in Lucan. He wanted to rip the Warrior’s heart out and toss it into the sea below. Anything to get him away from Lucan’s woman.

Her fingers slipped, but she caught herself on the Warrior’s boot. Her mahogany eyes held Lucan’s. They both knew she wouldn’t be able to take his hand. The Warrior wouldn’t let Lucan or his brothers close enough to get her.

She tried to grab hold of the rocks herself so she could let go of the Warrior, but he growled and moved down the cliff. Lucan glanced at his brothers. Fallon’s eyes held such gloom that it made Lucan want to rail at the heavens.

“Lucan!” Cara shouted.

He moved down as close to her as he could. His blood pounded in his ears, his chest tight as if someone squeezed the air from his lungs.

“Remember the day we first met?” she asked.

He nodded, confused. And then he realized what she planned. Lucan looked down at the sea that crashed into the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. He gave her a small nod and jumped to the bottom where he saw Ramsey and Hayden. There was no time to tell Fallon and Quinn, but by Quinn’s smile he had heard Cara.

Lucan had just planted his feet on the rocks, the water ebbing and flowing over his boots, when he looked up to see Cara let go of the Warrior’s leg.

The Warrior bellowed, and Fallon and Quinn leapt atop him, eager to kill him. Lucan focused his attention on Cara, waiting for her to fall into his arms just as she had the day they first met.

“By the saints,” Hayden whispered from behind Lucan.

That’s when Lucan heard the flap of wings. “Nay!” he yelled when the flying creature tried to grab Cara as she fell. Cara slapped at its hands, preventing the creature from taking her.

Lucan caught Cara in his arms and hugged her against him. Her hands gripped his tunic, her body trembling as fiercely as his heart.

“Duck,” Ramsey warned.

Lucan went down on his haunches with Cara still in his arms. He glanced up to see the creature was a Warrior. A Warrior with wings.

Instead of flying off as they expected, it turned and went after Fallon and Quinn. Lucan shouted a warning a moment before the flying Warrior latched onto Quinn and tossed him away from the cliff.

As Quinn fell into the water Lucan heard a splash behind him, but his gaze was on the flying Warrior who managed to free the other from Fallon’s grasp.

The two Warriors flew off into the night, leaving silence behind them. Lucan looked down into Cara’s face and gave her a quick, heated kiss.

“I thought I had lost you.” He had never known such fear and never wanted to again.

She nodded. “You nearly did.”

Water splashed on them as Quinn was helped from the sea by Ramsey and Hayden. “What in holy hell was that thing?” Quinn asked.

Lucan sighed and rose to his feet. “A Warrior.”

“With wings,” Hayden added. “I’ve never seen the like.”

Quinn snorted. “Well, I’d never seen one with horns before you.”

Lucan ignored the talk behind him and watched while Fallon climbed down to them.

“Are they gone?” Cara asked.

Lucan shrugged. “I don’t know. We need to get to the castle to find out.”

Fallon jumped the last part of the cliff and landed beside Lucan. “Is she hurt?”

“Nay,” Lucan answered. “Fallon—”

“Don’t. I did what had to be done. I doona regret it.”

Cara reached out and touched Fallon’s arm. “Thank you.”

There was much more Lucan wanted—and needed—to say, but it could wait until he and Fallon were alone. “We need to get back to the castle.”

Cara groaned as she looked at the cliff. Lucan kissed her forehead. “It will be easier going up.”

Since she had been unconscious the last time she had fallen in his arms, she didn’t know just how easy. Lucan navigated the jagged rocks and boulders until they moved to the right side of the castle.

“Hold on,” he whispered just before he jumped.

Cara latched onto his neck and gave a shriek as he jumped to the top of the cliff and onto the grass. He smiled down at her as the others joined him.

“Thank the saints I wasn’t awake the first time you did that,” she whispered.

Lucan lowered her feet to the ground. “Let’s go see the castle.”

“Did the Warriors leave?” she asked.

“I think so.”

“Why did they go?”

He wished he knew.