Chapter 15 #2
Fucking hell. He was well disguised, but this close, Drust would know that distinct dark energy anywhere. And he had looked into those eyes with burning hatred once before, believing they were the last thing he would see in this world.
Mored gave him an insolent smile. “This woman is now my wife, and I will do with her what I please. Right now, Mac Coinnach, it pleases me to fuck my bride and to see ye die. In either order.”
His wife? God, was he too late? Surely Willa hadn’t married this monster willingly… not when he had said he was coming back for her. His eyes shifted to hers for only an instant, and that was enough. What he saw there drove him on.
“I said release her, the lady obviously doesna want ye.” Control. Must keep absolute control. To lose it now could mean Willa’s life.
“Never”, Mored growled, and twisted Willa’s wrists in one hand so the she arched off the bed and stifled a scream of pain. “Guards!” he bellowed.
At the same moment he yelled for the guards, Mored gathered enough energy around himself to deliver Drust a fatal blow.
But Drust was ready, and he sprang into action without another thought.
The fury and hatred that burned in his chest spurred him on as he crossed the room in three long strides and grabbed Mored, flinging him away from Willa as if he weighed nothing at all.
She quickly scooted to the end of the bed.
Drust did not pause but turned to where Mored was already on his feet, his hands raised and dark energy gathering rapidly within them.
But he was not fast enough. With a preternatural strength born of primal rage Drust lunged at him, punching the man repeatedly in the face and in the gut, and when Mored went for his dagger, Drust drew his own first and plunged it deep up and under the other man’s ribs.
He dropped like a stone to the floor. Only mortal, after all.
Drust stared at the body for a long moment, his chest heaving with exertion and adrenaline, as he watched the hot red blood pool on the floor, making certain the body was truly lifeless before he turned to Willa.
He managed a slight curve of his lips, though his chest was heaving and his eyes were wild. “Milady, I believe ye are now a widow.”
She stared up at him mutely, still reeling from fear and her recent life or death struggle.
Drust knew he had to get Willa out of the castle and away from the battle that ensued outside, even though he had no doubt of the outcome.
Bren’s men would not lose. There was a reason the Mac Coinnachs were both the most revered and most feared clan in the highlands. In battle, they had no equal.
But for a moment he could only stand and look at Willa uncertainly.
She was bruised and disheveled, but her head was held high and she looked at him boldly.
She has the strength of a warrior. Almost losing her had made him see how precious she was, and how much his own heart was already involved.
He cared deeply for her, loved her, even.
Aye, loved her. With a depth that he had never even thought possible.
His chest suddenly ached so fiercely that he almost raised his hand to rub away the pain.
He would give up his life here and now for her, or he would bring her away with him, with the promise to keep her always safe and to do his best to make her happy.
But the truth was, he could no longer imagine his life without Willa.
Even the thought of being without her caused the pain to tighten in his chest, so intense and choking that he thought he would surely die from it if he could not make her his.
Because he knew now what he had known all along, but had been too afraid to admit to himself. Bren was right.
She is my soul mate. My fated one. Mine.
But in the space of a heartbeat, his elation drained away.
He had no right to hope that she would have him now.
He had suspected the truth of what she was to him, and yet he had failed her in the worst way.
He had left her alone to be captured by his own worst enemy because he was too afraid of what he was feeling.
Too afraid to put the past aside and live his life.
“Willa, I’m sorry.” Those words would never be enough, but at the moment it was all he could seem to utter. Please have me, take me, even with all my flaws. I’ll die without you.
He stood there waiting, his heart in his throat, anticipating her rejection. Perhaps even her anger. God knew he deserved it. He watched her as she began to tremble and then she opened her arms wide, a shaky smile on her lips.
“Drust. I knew you’d come.”
With a sob of satisfaction and relief, he ran to her and wrapped her in his arms. He held her tight and pressed his face into her silky hair. For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Drust just breathed her in. Never letting you go again…
Then he pulled back a little and looked down at her. “Are ye all right, love? Did he hurt ye?”
“No. He didn’t hurt me.”
Drust looked uncertain, and for a moment the black rage swept across his face again. “Did he… touch ye?”
She shook her head. “No. You arrived… just in time.” Would it have mattered to him?
Would he still have wanted her, had she been raped by the man who was…
had been… her husband? She looked down at the body lying on the floor, blood still slowly seeping out to form a puddle of deep red on the stones.
Drust followed her gaze, then reached out and lifted her chin away from the gruesome sight.
I was just in time. Almost too late.
The realization sent a shock of fear through his body. If that monster had hurt his woman… hell, he’d just have to kill him all over again.
“I’m so sorry, Willa.” He pulled her close again and nestled his chin in her silky hair. “I never, never should have left ye alone. Had I any idea what danger ye were in… god, why didna ye tell me?”
She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “I didn’t want you to stay just because you felt the need to be honorable and protect me Drust. And it was my fault… I would have been safe, at least for a time, if I hadn’t stepped outside of the wards.”
He shook his head. “No. It wasna yer fault. It was mine. I wasna honorable at all”, he said ruefully. “And I wanted much more than to protect ye. That’s why I left, in the end. I was afraid I would dishonor ye.”
“Because you wanted my body, but not to be with me.” She regarded him stoically, as if she had already accepted that he would leave again now that he had saved her and restored his honor. “You didn’t want to end up with a wife, if my brother found out.”
“Aye. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.” He gave her a tentative smile. “But I was only afraid of the truth. I was always destined to come back to ye, Willa. I could never have stayed away for very long. I was… lost without you. So verra lost.”
He cupped her face in his hands and looked down into her eyes, which were misted with tears. “Please say ye’ll give me another chance to be with ye, Willa. I ken I dinna deserve it, but I want ye in my life, for whatever my life is worth.”
Her answer was to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him down for a kiss. The moment their lips touched, Drust was lost. He was sinking, falling, his body instantly crying out for something far more carnal than a simple kiss.
“Yer mine”, he growled against her lips. “If ye give yerself to me, ken that I will own ye, body and soul, because to lose ye again would surely kill me.”
He was kissing her again before she could reply, and then there was a noise at the door. Someone cleared their throat. Drust tore his mouth from Willa’s and whipped around to face the threat, reaching for the sword beside him in the same smooth motion. No one would take her from him again.
Bren crossed his arms and regarded his brother with a look of extreme bemusement.
“I’ve come to let ye ken, little brother, that the battle is over and the castle is won.
Is there aught else I can do for ye, then, before I return home?
” Then his gaze fell to the body still lying on the floor and his brows drew together. “What happened?”
Drust had all but forgotten about that. “When I came into the room, Mored was here with Willa, claiming he had married her. I think I killed him.”
Bren kicked the dead man with the toe of his boot, turning him onto his side. “This isna Mored.”
Drust looked down at the man’s face and groaned.
“Nay, it isna. But it was. I mean this man had taken his form, or else Mored had stolen the body somehow. But it was Mored’s face I saw when I looked at him, Mored’s power I felt.
” He swiped his hand over his face. “And Mored that I thought I killed. Which means no’ only is he still alive, but he is involved in all this. ”
“And now he kens for sure that ye are still alive.” Bren turned and paced a few steps. “But why? What does he have to gain here?” He stopped and looked straight at Willa. Drust instinctively moved closer to her, which Bren duly noted, softening his approach. “Who are ye really, lass?”
Willa looked at him blankly for a long moment. The man looked so much like Drust that they could be nothing less than brothers. This must be the brother he was returning to, the one who had thought him dead. She turned to Drust, who was watching her, waiting to see if she would answer.
“First tell me, who are you?”
Bren laughed. “Smart lass. I am Bren Mac Coinnach, Laird and Chief of the Mac Coinnach Clan. I think ye’ve already met my brother, Drust.”
Her eyes flew open wide in disbelief and she spun towards Drust. He was a Mac Coinnach? One of the legendary clan of warriors and sorcerers? And brother to the chief, no less?
“You!” Raising her fist she hit him as hard as she could in the chest. He didn’t even flinch, though she felt the impact all the way up her arm.
“Ow!” She cradled her now throbbing hand. “You’re a Mac Coinnach and you never told me? How could you not have told me that?”
Drust shrugged. “Ye never told me anything about yer past, either. Except that ye mostly were raised in England. Why did ye no’ speak of any of this?”
Her lips pressed together in a thin line. “Because it was too dangerous.”
“Aye, then we had the same reasons.”
Bren was watching them with a sparkle of amusement in his eyes.
“Willa lass… I realize ye’ve just been through an ordeal, but we need to ken, for the safety of everyone involved… who are ye and why did that man”, he nodded his chin towards the body on the floor, “want so much to wed ye?”
She looked at Colm’s lifeless form, surprised at her complete lack of regard for him. She could not even rouse herself to feel the smallest bit of sorrow at his death. Even if he had been somehow… possessed by the man Drust and Bren had called Mored.
“He wanted this castle… this holding. It belongs to my brother now”, she said proudly.
“James was born to the laird’s first wife, Mairi.
After she died he questioned her loyalty to him, going so far as to cast doubt as to whether James was truly his son.
Anyone who knew Mairi knew that James was the laird’s true son, and no one could say why he slandered her so.
Then he wed my mother, but she died when I was just a baby.
My father sent me to live with my aunt, who had married an English lord.
He didn’t have any need for a girl, you see.
I grew up far away from Dunbroch… I didn’t even know I had a brother… until recently.”
She paused to take a breath, looking up, and Bren nodded encouragingly.
For all that he was an imposing figure, especially splattered with blood from the recent battle, Willa immediately liked the Mac Coinnach chief.
He gave an almost palpable impression of power and authority, and she could easily see how he commanded the loyalty of so many.
Even so, there was an air of good humor and fairness about him that put her at ease.
“James found out that he had a sister, and he sent for me on my eighteenth birthday. When I arrived, I think my father realized that a daughter could be an asset after all, at least to bargain for land and alliances. He was… never kind to me, but I didn’t mind because as far as I was concerned he had long ago given up his chance to be a father to me.
I’ve never felt beholden to him. When Colm offered for me, my father accepted.
I don’t know what their bargain was for, I was told nothing of the arrangement, but I’m certain my father expected to gain something of value.
Colm himself told me that we were to be wed.
I… tried to get to know him better… to like him, but in the end I knew I couldn’t marry him.
I know now that my instincts were warning me, because for all that he seemed to have honorable intentions, he was anything but honorable. ”
She felt Drust’s grip tighten just a little on her arm, his muscles tensing. “What did he do, lass, when ye denied him? Why were ye in hiding?”
Willa leaned back into his hard chest, feeling the security he offered.
“He killed my father and took the castle. James and Maura helped me escape. Colm would have forced me to wed with him, and no one could have saved me then. Marriage to the laird’s eldest child would have secured his claim in the eyes of the other clans.
We headed north, through the mountains. James knew of an abandoned cottage where we could stay hidden while we gathered support from our allies to take back Dunbroch.”
Bren nodded. He had heard of the coup at Dunbroch, but at the time thought it naught but a family squabble, certainly not worth intervening. “And Drust? How is it ye came to have my brother with ye?” He knew Drust’s side of the story already, but he wanted to hear it from her.
“I found him in the mountains, near the entrance to a cave. Maura and I… we didn’t think he’d survive. He had lost so much blood… but we put him in the wagon and brought him with us.”
She turned and gave Drust a soft smile. Drust smiled back and Bren raised his eyebrows.
He would never have thought to see a look like that on his brother’s face.
Damned if he wasn’t in love. Absolutely besotted!
Bren grinned to himself. The Prophecy of Three was coming true.
He had his own mate, and the very thought of her made his chest swell tight with love.
Now Drust had found his mate as well, defying death to do so.
That left only Eian. He winced at the very idea.
Eian had always been the wild one, and with his devil-may-care attitude and his unending charm, he had all the women falling at his feet, and into his lap, and everywhere else.
The notion that his rogue of a little brother could be tamed by any one lass…
that he would even stay still long enough to fall in love…
well, perhaps stranger things had happened…