Untamed Highlander

FIFTEEN

Hayden never expected those words out of Isla’s mouth. Even as they revolted him, one look at her angst-ridden face and he knew she regretted it.

“What happened?” he asked when no one else would.

She glanced at him, her ice-blue eyes wide and full of remorse. She seemed surprised he spoke. “Lavena had seen a vision of a great Warrior from the Stewart clan, one who could help Deirdre do amazing things.”

Quinn leaned his forearms on the table. “What kind of things?”

Isla lifted a slim shoulder in a shrug. “Lavena never said. The other part of her vision, however, was one of her most clear. She described Phelan perfectly, as well as where he would be and his age. Deirdre thought it would be an ideal opportunity to raise the boy as she thought he should be.”

“So that when she unbound his god he would pledge himself to her?” Ramsey finished.

Hayden fisted his hands. He hadn’t spent near the time in Deirdre’s mountain as some of the others, but even that small amount of time had left him with scars upon his soul that would never mend. He couldn’t imagine a young boy being brought there.

His gaze swung to Isla. What would make a woman, one who supposedly fought against the evil inside her, bring a young boy into Deirdre’s care?

It didn’t take long for him to find the answer. “Deirdre threatened your niece, didn’t she?”

Isla looked away, but not before he saw the answer in her eyes. She nodded and blinked rapidly. “I had no choice but to find Phelan. Deirdre knew it would be folly to send Dunmore and the wyrran. She needed Phelan to come to her of his own free will.”

“Isla,” Broc said when she paused.

She blinked and looked around, as if she had been deep in her memories. “I had to trick Phelan to get him to leave his family. Deirdre had yet to turn Grania evil, and I thought I had a chance to gain her freedom. Phelan trusted me, and I delivered him into misery.”

“Holy hell,” Quinn murmured and rose to pace in front of the table. “What happened to him? If he was chained up, I gather he didn’t trust Deirdre?”

Isla shook her head. She looked so desolate that Hayden found he wanted to go to her, to pull her against him and shelter her.

“Phelan blamed me,” Isla said. “And rightly so. He fought Deirdre repeatedly. Nothing she did to him would break him. She starved him, beat him, and at one point killed him only to bring him back to life. And every time he refused to join her. She kept him separate from everyone, especially other Warriors. I was the only one besides Deirdre who ever saw him.”

Broc put his elbows on the table and leaned his forehead on his hands. “When did she unbind his god?”

“When he was eighteen summers. I’d brought him to the mountain when he was only a lad of five,” Isla explained.

Hayden’s stomach churned as he thought of his fellow Warrior. “How long after his god was unbound did she keep him chained?”

Isla wouldn’t meet his eyes, and her face grew pale. “One hundred and fifty years.”

“Dammit, Isla!” Broc roared as he rose to his feet. “How could you do that to one of us?”

If Hayden thought she would cower and cry, he was wrong. Rage filled her eyes, turning them cold and haunted. She stood slowly, her lips flattened as she glared at Broc.

“Aye, Broc, I regret bringing him there. I did everything I could to make sure he was spared many terrible things.”

Broc’s hands were fisted at his sides, his rage evident in the way his skin flashed from normal to indigo. “Did you bring him food, maybe? Or blankets? Is that what you consider sparing him?”

Hayden and Ramsey stood at the same time as Broc. Hayden wasn’t sure if he should try and stop Broc or Isla from attacking the other, because at the rate things were going, someone was going to give into their rage.

“I brought him food and blankets,” Isla said. “I took his tortures when I could, even angered Deirdre myself on many occasions so she would take her rage out on me instead of him. I was the one who released him during the MacLeods’ attack.”

Hayden was taken aback by her words. Would she never cease to shock him? She did things that continually contradicted her ways as a drough. Maybe she did have control over the evil.

“Why did you tell us all of this?” Hayden asked. “Where is Phelan now?”

Her face was weary as she briefly closed her eyes. “I don’t know where he is. I freed him and told him to run. I told him if he ever needed anything to find the MacLeods, that they could be trusted.”

“Do you think he believed you?”

“I doubt it. There is one more thing. Phelan’s blood was special. It could heal anyone of anything. Deirdre drank his blood regularly to strengthen herself and her powers.” She turned and left the castle before they could ask more.

Hayden wanted to go after her. He was supposed to be following her, after all. But there had been something so heartbreaking, so raw in her voice at the end that he’d been unable to chase after her just yet.

Once the door closed behind her, Broc threw his goblet across the hall and cursed. “I could have helped him. If I’d gotten to him before Isla, I could have brought him here.”

“Nay,” Hayden said. “He doesna trust anyone, and won’t for some time. Nothing you said could have changed that.”

“I agree,” Ramsey added. “Phelan may be lost to all of us now. He might not have turned to Deirdre’s side, but her evil warped him, I’m sure.”

Quinn leaned his hands on Fallon’s chair and shook his head. “To be kept separated from everyone and everything. I cannot imagine the loneliness. He’s out in a world he knows nothing about. He needs us.”

“You’ll never find him,” Hayden said.

Broc lifted a brow in defiance. “I can find him.”

“And we will,” Quinn said. “First, we make sure Dunmore and the wyrran do not find any Druids.”

Ramsey rubbed his hands together, his gray eyes crinkling in the corners. “Ah, a battle. I’m ready for one.”

Hayden was more than ready, but he knew he’d be left behind. This time. Soon enough the battle would come to MacLeod Castle, and he’d unleash every ounce of his hate and wrath onto Deirdre.

Quinn pushed off the chair. “I need to talk to my brothers. How long do you need before you can leave again, Broc?”

“I can leave now,” he answered.

Ramsey chuckled and slapped him on the back. “Aren’t we all ready to leave immediately?”

“Rest,” Quinn said. “You’ll leave soon enough.”

Hayden glanced at Quinn before he left the castle in search of Isla. She wasn’t difficult to find. There were no other small black-haired Druids around.

He stood back and watched as she helped bring out the wreckage from the cottages. Though she didn’t have the strength of a Warrior, she worked just as hard.

After a few moments, Hayden followed her into a cottage.

“Why did you tell us about Phelan?”

She paused as she lifted some debris in her arms. “I’m the reason he was in the mountain.”

“Nay. Deirdre was the cause.”

Isla blew out a breath. “I’m as much to blame, Hayden. I could have refused. I know the chance I took in telling all of you, but I had to. Phelan needs to be found. He needs to know there are good people in the world.”

Everything he thought he knew about Isla because she was drough was slowly but surely being erased. He might not ever get past the fact she had turned drough, but he could appreciate that she wanted to make up for a past deed.

“I know what you think of me,” she said as she tossed the pieces of broken wood out of the doorway.

Hayden raised a brow. “Didn’t we already go through this? You cannot read my mind.”

“Maybe not,” she said. She bent and began picking up more broken wood. “But I know the anger and revulsion Broc so freely showed me was in you as well.”

“I willna deny it. I feel for any man or woman being brought to Cairn Toul. Knowing it was just a small lad, it sickens me.”

She had her back to him, but he saw the droop her in shoulders just the same. “You cannot think worse of me than I think of myself.”

Hayden wanted to hate her, wanted to feel anything other than the attraction and lust that consumed him. But each time he was with her, every time she spoke, he learned more about her that cracked the mold he had fitted her with.

She, like them, was fighting Deirdre, only Isla was doing it in another way. Whereas Hayden and the other Warriors were freely battling her, Isla was trying to correct the deeds Deirdre forced on her.

Hayden sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, Deirdre did force Isla. If he had been in her place, he was sure he would have made many of the same choices she had.

“What will you do when Broc does find Phelan?” Hayden asked.

Isla wiped the sweat from her forehead before she retrieved more wood and tossed it outside. “I want to see that he finds a place he can call home. I’m hoping that will be MacLeod Castle.”

“You think he will forgive you?”

She snorted and tried to lift a heavy piece of wood. Hayden took it from her and easily threw it in the pile outside the cottage.

Isla dusted her hands and shook her head. “I’m not a fool. Phelan has promised to kill me, and for what I did to him, he has every right.”

Hayden didn’t like the urge that welled up inside him to protect her. He didn’t say anything as she moved onto the next cottage.

He stepped out of the cottage and found her working next to Larena. Hayden would get nothing more out of Isla for the moment. He could work while he digested the information she had given him.

Hayden had previously decided which cottage he wanted for his own. It had sustained the most damage, but it was set apart from the others. Isolated, just as he was. And for good reason.

Trees were already being cut and readied for when they began to rebuild for the second time. It would only be a few days before the first cottage went up.

Hayden worked tirelessly as he moved from cottage to cottage. There was nothing any of them could do until an attack came. Until then, they would ready the village.

Hours later with the sun high above them, Hayden realized Isla was no longer in the village. He lifted the water skin to his lips and let the fresh liquid flow down his throat.

The breeze from the sea helped to cool him, but nothing like a dip in the water would.

“We’re done with the cleaning,” Duncan said as he exited one of the cottages. “Three sustained minimal damage, five cottages needs structural work, and the rest need to be rebuilt.”

Hayden nodded. “Good. Check with Lucan to see if we have what we need to either rebuild or work on the ones with structural damage. I know Fallon wants as many of these readied as we can get.”

“Does he expect more Warriors?” Ian asked, and came to stand beside his twin.

Hayden was always amazed that they could look exactly alike. If their hair was cut alike, he’d never tell them apart. “Fallon likes to be prepared. If Galen and Logan find these Druids and convince them to return, they will sleep in the castle while we take the cottages.”

Camdyn held out his hand and Hayden tossed him the water skin. “I’ll sleep anywhere.”

“We have slept anywhere,” Ian said with a chuckle. “This rocky ground will be softer than the Pit.”

Hayden had never seen the Pit in Deirdre’s mountain, but he’d heard enough about it to know most never came out it alive. “Ian, find Lucan and report what we’ve done here.”

“And where are you going?” Camdyn asked.

“I’ve got something else to tend to.”

Duncan crossed his arms over his chest, a half smile on his lips. “Does that something have cold blue eyes?”

Hayden snorted disdainfully. “I’m going for a swim, Duncan, if you must know. The sea is big enough for both of us, but use another beach if you were thinking of doing the same thing. I doona want to be disturbed.”

He turned and walked away before anyone could comment. Laughter and Ian teasing Duncan followed as Hayden strode away. He walked around the side of the castle to the path beyond Cara’s garden.

Hayden knew he should be looking for Isla, but if he followed her everywhere she went, she would know what he was doing. He would give her a little time to herself, then he would seek her out.

Until then, he was going to enjoy a nice long swim.

*

Isla was glad she was allowed to find her own way around. No one followed her, no one asked where she was going. Did the MacLeods truly trust her?

She had a notion they might. A little. But if they were as intelligent as she thought they were, they would nevertheless be cautious regarding her. It was the practical thing to do, especially when pertaining to evil like Deirdre.

Isla found the path that lead to the beach beside Cara’s garden. It was steep, and a couple of times she nearly lost her footing, but the view was breathtaking.

The smell of the sea was invigorating, the feel of the spray as the waves crashed into the cliffs was stimulating, and the razorbill’s calls that filled the air only added to the splendor.

She could stand where she was looking down at the churning blue sea and the white foam waves and be content for hours. Days even. The constant push and pull of the waves soothed her and eased the ache that made her muscles in her shoulders bunch with apprehension.

Isla made her way to the bottom, careful to watch her footing so she didn’t break something on a loose rock. She’d heal, but it would still smart when it happened.

Once she was on the beach, she kicked off her shoes and tugged down her thick woolen hose. She stood just at the edge of the sea so that the waves rolled over her feet and wet the hem of her gown.

The water felt so delicious, so freeing that she lifted her gown to her knees and moved farther into the sea. It was cooler than she’d imagined, but the feel of the water tugging and pressing against her fed her magic in ways she never expected.

The sea was just as conductive as the earth to a Druid’s magic. For the first time in centuries, Isla opened herself up to the pure magic, testing herself and the evil inside her.

Her chest expanded as joy and magic filled her, surrounding her until she was lost in it. Immersed. Entranced. Delighted.

Nothing had ever felt so right, so satisfying to her magic before. She swayed with the waves, became one with the wind. Her magic swelled within her like a bright light ready to burst from her chest.

In that moment, the evil inside her disappeared, hiding, but not gone forever.

Isla was so absorbed in the magic that it took a moment for her brain to register that something was in the water with her. She opened her eyes in time to see a man rise from amid the foaming waves like an avenging deity. He turned to face her, and Isla’s breath caught in her throat.

She couldn’t tear her eyes from Hayden, his blond hair slick against his head and falling past his shoulders. He was a striking silhouette against the bright sunlight and dark waters. Nothing but hard, lean muscle. And man.

Water ran in rivulets down his face, over his shoulders, and wound its way across his chest and abdomen to disappear back into the sea. He stood with his arms held away from his body, aggressive and commanding, as if he were ready for battle.

With the sun shining upon him, he looked like a god rising from the water, waiting to take his vengeance on anyone who dared to disturb his tranquility.

Isla tried to look away, but his body held her transfixed. She could see every muscle in his stomach, they were so defined. She wanted to run her fingers over them, to feel the power of his arms surround her.

He moved toward her, the sea lowering with each step, teasing her with more of his skin until he was bared, beautifully and stunningly naked. Her gaze traveled lower to his rod, thick and enlarged, as it jutted upward. She’d seen men before, but she’d never seen one like Hayden.

Her response was visceral. She forgot to breathe, forgot to think as her heart pounded erratically in her chest. Her reaction to Hayden was shocking and … wonderful. He finally halted so close to her she could lean forward and kiss his chest.

She remembered what it felt like to touch that hard muscular body, to have him close, his heat surrounding her. And God help her, but she wanted it again. She was desperate to caress him, to feel like the woman she had always wanted to be.

“If you stay, I’m going to take the kiss denied me last eve.”

Isla shivered, not from the cool water or the breeze, but from the absolute and thrilling truth of Hayden’s words. Nothing could make her move now.

She would have her kiss, consequences be damned.