Untamed Highlander

TWENTY-THREE

Deirdre felt her magic wane. She threw a fist in anger but it just went through the wall of her chamber. If only Dunmore and the wyrran would return with a Druid, she could be whole once more.

Her anger stemmed from more than that, though. She had tried to reach Isla. For a moment, Deirdre thought she might have succeeded, but the link vanished too soon.

With her magic so dimmed Deirdre wasn’t sure if she was connecting with Isla or not. She had even sent a handful of wyrran to see if they could locate Isla.

If she’d somehow been captured Deirdre would make sure she was rescued, but Deirdre didn’t think that was the case. Either Isla was dead, or she had tried to escape. With Grania and Lavena gone, there was nothing Deirdre could use to make Isla do as she wanted.

Deirdre had thought after five centuries Isla would have been swayed to her side, but the Druid was stronger than Deirdre had ever realized.

She had sought out Lavena for her skills in seeing the future, but the sister she should have bent to her will was Isla. Oh, Isla was a slave to her in more ways than one, but Isla still fought her.

Had Deirdre seen the signs of Isla’s power sooner, she could have worked it so that Isla welcomed the evil inside her. Deirdre didn’t think even Isla knew how great her magic was, and if Deirdre had her way, Isla never would.

Isla would be hers once again, and Deirdre would do whatever it took to have her.

*

Isla’s braid fell over her shoulder and whacked her in the arm as she bent to pick up a broken ewer from the cottage floor. She tossed it through the open door and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

She saw a shadow out of the corner of her eye and turned to the window. She had thrown the shutters open to let in the sun and breeze. Leaning an arm across the sill was Malcolm, Larena’s cousin. Isla saw how he held his mangled right arm firmly against his side.

His face was haggard and he sported a mangy beard that hid most of his face, but even then Isla could see his handsomeness. A beard and scars did not hide his vibrant blue eyes or his hollowed cheeks and square jaw. His blond hair was darker than Hayden’s and held more body to it. Malcolm had a lock that constantly fell over his forehead and tangled in his long eyelashes.

“Hello,” she said when he simply stared at her.

“Why are you always alone?”

She raised a brow and chuckled. “You ask me that? You who stay by yourself most of the day.”

His gaze moved around the cottage. There was a hard line to his lips, as if they were permanently twisted in a snarl. “You work as if you care what happens here.”

“You don’t think I do?”

“Why should you? You’ll be gone soon enough.”

Isla watched the sea breeze ruffle the hair about his shoulders. “And how would you know that?”

“Because we’re the same.” His gaze clashed and held hers. “We’re here because for now it’s where we need to be. Soon, however, things will change and we will leave. It’s in your eyes. Anyone who knows what to look for will see it.”

She could only stand in muted astonishment. Was she so obvious? Of course, she had told the MacLeods she would leave, and Malcolm could have overheard the conversation.

“Does Larena know you plan to go away?” Isla asked.

Malcolm shoved the lock of hair back from his forehead. “I tried to tell her, but she willna listen. This is her home now.”

“From what I understand, it’s yours as well.”

“I have no home,” he stated flatly. “It was taken from me.”

Isla knew where the conversation was heading. She decided to take the direct approach. “And you blame me.”

Malcolm snorted and fisted his left hand. “You didna attack me. You didn’t use claws to scar my face and body. You didn’t make my arm useless.”

“You’re lucky to be alive, Malcolm. You should rejoice that Broc found you, and Sonya was able to heal you.”

“I should, but I don’t. They would have been better to let me die.” He blew out a harsh breath. “Doona think I’m not grateful to them. Fallon has allowed me to stay and taken me in as one of his own.”

“But you were to be laird,” she finished for him. “Your life was taken from you.”

“As yours was.”

Isla looked away, unable to look into his haunted eyes another moment. In his gaze she saw the sadness, the anger, the bitterness that she carried within herself. And she ached for him because there was nothing anyone could do for Malcolm.

“What is between you and Hayden?” Malcolm asked.

Isla jerked her head toward him. “What do you mean?”

“I’m left alone, but that doesna mean I donna see things. I saw the kiss you two shared on the beach. It surprised me considering how much Hayden despises droughs.”

She kicked at a broken table leg. “If there was ever anything between us, it is long gone now.”

“I wonder,” Malcolm murmured before he turned and left.

Isla shook her head and continued working. Hours went by before she heard someone say her name. She looked up to find Cara in the doorway of the cottage, a water skin in her outstretched hand.

“Thank you,” Isla said as she took the water and drank deeply. She wiped her chin where water had dripped with the back of her hand and leaned against the door. She had worked nonstop for hours to occupy her mind, and it had worked just as she hoped.

Cara looked around the cottage. “You’ve been working hard.”

“I cannot sit around doing nothing. I must keep busy.” Now that she was idle, however, she found herself thinking about Hayden. Isla looked past Cara into the center of the village where the other Warriors gathered to rest.

She didn’t see Hayden, but she was sure he wasn’t far. No one had left the area since she had shielded it.

“He’s not here,” Cara said.

Isla glanced away hoping Cara wouldn’t say more. She should have known better.

“We should have told you someone would be following you.”

“Aye, you should have.” Isla looked at Cara, wanting to be angry, but one look at Cara’s honest, mahogany eyes, and Isla couldn’t find it in herself.

Cara licked her lips and fiddled with the wine skin. “Lucan and his brothers do trust you, but you admitted when Deirdre takes over, you are not yourself. They wanted to ensure everyone’s safety in case that happened.”

“I think they’re doing the right thing. Had I been told, I would have understood.”

Cara smiled, her face lighting up with joy. “I’m so glad. Why don’t you come with me and Marcail? We’re running low on herbs.”

Isla had spent most of her five hundred years alone. Maybe it was time she made herself join others. “I would like that.”

“Come then,” Cara said and took her hand as she pulled her from the cottage. “It is time to have some fun.”

As Isla followed her, she noticed that several Warriors watched them walk through the village. Isla wondered which of them was to follow her now.

Why had Hayden done it in the first place? And why did she even care?

They found Marcail waiting for them at the back of the village near the old convent. Cara slowed and glanced at the ruins.

“They took me in when no one else would,” Cara said. “The nuns cared for many abandoned children.”

Isla couldn’t look at the convent. To think of the children who had died there made her sick to her stomach. She gave Cara a moment and moved to join Marcail.

“What herbs are we searching for?” Isla asked.

“None.” Marcail laughed when Isla frowned. “I told Cara that to get her out of the castle. She’s worse than Quinn in coddling me.”

Isla chuckled at the devilment in Marcail’s eyes. Behind them Cara blew out a breath and mumbled something about getting even.

Marcail linked her arms with Isla. “Don’t get me wrong, I like Quinn being concerned, but sometimes it can be … well,” she with a shrug, “overwhelming.”

“I can imagine.” But Isla thought it would be nice to have someone worry about her like that.

Cara moved to Isla’s other side. “Don’t listen to her, Isla. Marcail loves that we fuss over her. It’ll be the first child born in MacLeod Castle in three hundred years. We’re all excited.”

“Do you and Larena want children of your own?” Isla asked.

“Very much so,” Cara said. “But not yet. Lucan … well, he doesn’t want to have a god inside him when we have a child. I told him it didn’t matter to me, but I conceded to his wishes. Larena has done the same for Fallon.”

“They drink a concoction Sonya makes for them that’s a mixture of herbs and magic.”

Isla knew exactly what they were talking about. “I know the one. I helped my mother make batches of it for our village. Every family would take turns brewing it each month.”

They reached the edge of Isla’s shield and she held out her hands to stop them. “We cannot go farther.”

“Then we’ll walk around it,” Marcail said with a smile.

Cara turned them to the right and they walked around the village toward the open expanse of land before the cliffs dropped off into the sea. It was a large distance. Enough that five other villages could have been placed there and still had room.

Isla listened to Cara and Marcail as they talked about baby names and their futures. It made Isla realize the huge void in her own life, an emptiness she now wanted to fill.

She immediately thought of Hayden. How could he be so tender, so loving during the night, but once the sun rose, he shunned her as if they hadn’t shared the most delicious pleasure imaginable?

“What’s making you frown?” Marcail asked. “I hope it isn’t Hayden. I’m waiting to see him to give him an earful after what he did this morning. That was uncalled for.”

Cara nodded vigorously. “He’s been acting strange every since … well, ever since he brought Isla here.”

Isla cringed. So she was the cause of his distress. Maybe it was better if she and Hayden kept their distance. It was obvious they weren’t good for each other.

As irritated as she was, Isla didn’t like the other two women being annoyed with him. “Hayden loathes droughs, and that’s what I am. I can understand why he would be angry.”

Both Marcail and Cara stared at her as if she’d grown horns. Which made Isla think of stroking Hayden’s red horns, and how his eyes had burned with desire.

“If I didn’t know better I’d think there was something between the two of you,” Cara said.

Maybe it was the knowing look that passed between Marcail and Cara, but Isla had the distinct impression that they knew exactly what had happened between her and Hayden.

Isla opened her mouth to answer when she felt them. Wyrran. She halted and pushed Marcail behind her.

“Isla, what are you doing?” Cara said.

There was no mistaking the feel of black magic. Just as a mie could feel the magic of another mie, a drough always felt the presence of black magic.

Isla’s blood iced with dread. They couldn’t have found her so soon.

“Holy hell,” Marcail said, using Quinn’s favorite saying. “Am I seeing wyrran?”

Isla spotted the five yellow creatures as they walked toward the edge of the shield. They were hunched over, their gazes searching, their long claws held in front of them.

Isla licked her lips and kept watch. “They cannot see us. They cannot hear us. We’re safe.”

“They came looking for you, didn’t they?” Cara asked.

Isla wanted to lie, but she knew she couldn’t. “They did.”

There was a shout behind him. They turned and found Warriors racing toward them. Isla knew she had to stop them from killing the wyrran. If the wyrran didn’t return to Deirdre, she would know Isla wasn’t dead.

“Nay,” Isla shouted and stepped in front of the approaching Warriors. “Stop. Please. You must stay in the shield.”

But the Warriors continued toward her. They were turning as they ran, their skin and eyes changing colors as their claws and fangs lengthened.

“Stop,” Isla tried once more.

When that didn’t work, Isla knew she had to use her magic. She called it up inside her, let it build so that it would affect all the Warriors. She was about to release it through her palms, but she had taken too much time.

They were upon her before she could use her magic. Duncan was in the lead with his twin moving up quickly behind him. Ian went around Duncan and saw Isla too late.

There wasn’t time for Isla to get out of the way, only time to brace for the collision. Ian’s arms locked around her as they collided.