Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
She was still running.
Her lungs were burning, and her feet were past cold now, just pain on every step, and the castle was nowhere in sight. The pines and birches had given way to older trees, and the canopy was thicker. The moonlight came through in thin shifting bars. She could not hear Malcolm anymore.
She did not stop for that. Silence could mean he had gone quiet, not gone. She kept her body low and her arms out for balance, moving through the trees, feeling roots before she stepped on them, ducking under branches, the ground cold and wet and uneven under her bare feet.
She pushed through a dense stand of rowans and came out at the edge of the trees and stopped. The glens opened ahead of her, wide and dark, the heather rolling away under the stars with no light anywhere in it and no sound but the wind moving through the grass.
She stood with her hands on her knees, breathing.
She was further from the castle than she had realized. She looked up, and the moonlight fell full and white through a gap in the canopy and hit her face. Isobel could see properly for the first time since she had left the passage. The ground sloped east. The castle was somewhere south and west.
She straightened. She pushed her hair out of her face.
She turned back toward the trees. The footsteps behind her were not Malcolm’s.
She froze. She pressed herself against the nearest trunk and listened.
“Alasdair?”
She was already moving. She hit his chest before he could speak.
She knew it was him and immediately her arms wrapped around his neck.
Isobel pressed her face into the open shirt.
She threaded her fingers through his black hair and held on for dear life.
Isobel did not care about any of it, the cold or the dark or the fact that she was shaking.
His arms came up around her without hesitation. Both of them, pulling her in close. She could feel his heart hammering under her cheek and his breath still coming fast.
“Are ye hurt?” he said.
“No.” Her voice was muffled against his chest. “I’m not hurt.”
He breathed out. His arms tightened.
“Malcolm,” she said.
“Done,” he said. “It’s over.” She believed him. “Calm down, little rabbit,” he said, low against her hair. “Ye win.”
Despite everything, a smile stretched across her face. She looked up then and met Alasdair’s gaze. Passion sparked between them and she inhaled his strong, masculine scent.
Then he kissed her. She stretched up onto her bare feet and kissed him back.
His mouth moved against hers. His hand found the back of her head and tilted it, and she let him.
She forgot the cold, the ground, the dark, the two hours, the stone, and everything else. Only the warmth of him, his hands, the certainty of his mouth, and the way he held her remained—like she was something he had been searching for and was not going to let go.
When they broke apart, they were both breathing hard. She kept her forehead against his. He pressed his lips to her temple. She felt him breathe slowly against her hair, and she closed her eyes.
“What happened to Hamish?” he mused and Isobel’s eyes fluttered open.
“Hamish? Was he supposed to be here?” She sent a dubious glance around the woodlands.
“I was sure he’d find ye before I did.”
Just then, as if Hamish was reacting to being summoned by his Laird and Lady, the Highlander ran toward them. He panted heavily.
“I…Ye’ve found her?”
“Aye.” Alasdair nodded. “As ye can see.”
“And ye’re not hurt, me Lady?” Hamish’s eyes flicked up and down.
“I am fine, Hamish.” Isobel smiled at him sweetly. “Thank you for coming to my rescue.”
Alasdair snorted dryly. “If Hamish was half as fast as he likes to think he is, he would’ve been the one to rescue ye.”
Hamish ducked his head and grumbled, “I will not fail ye again, me Lady…me Laird.”
“Ye did not fail us,” Alasdair said softly. “Ye have always been me most loyal…most trustworthy companion.”
Isobel was quiet for a moment. She watched the two warriors nod at one another, then she pressed her face into Alasdair’s shoulder and felt his arms tighten. He held her. She let herself be held.
“Let’s go home,” she said, after a while.
“Aye,” he said. “Let’s go home.”
He swept her up off the ground entirely, and she gripped his shoulders. Hamish laughed loudly as he fell into step beside them. As a trio, they returned to Castle Dunalasdair where over the course of just a few days, everything had changed drastically.