Chapter 9 #2
A roar went through the men.
“Those who are willing to try, meet me outside.” Sin strode casually from the hall, out the door.
Callie ran after him, her heart pounding in fear.
Twelve men against him? It was ludicrous! They would pound him into gravel.
Outside the door, on the stoop, she took his arm and pulled him to a stop. “Are you insane? They will mangle you.”
An amused gleam came into his dark eyes as he reached one hand up to cup her cheek. “Nay, mon ange, they won’t do anything more than hurt themselves by trying.”
Och, she could strangle him. “Must everything with you be a fight?”
A haunted look filled his eyes and he dropped his hand away from her cheek, leaving it cold without his warmth. “It’s all I know, Callie. Now stand aside.”
She saw the men coming outside. Her heart pounded even more furiously. She didn’t want him to do this.
“Aster!” she shouted to her uncle. “Stop them.”
“Nay, he issued the challenge and I will see it met.”
Before she could protest further, six men charged Sin. Callie crossed herself and cringed as they plowed into her husband and knocked him off his feet.
He rolled and came up standing and when the next man charged, Sin grabbed his arm and flipped him up and over, to land on his back.
Gaping, she watched as he single-handedly brought all twelve men to the ground. Over and over. Every time one came at him, the man ended up at Sin’s feet. Her husband never drew a weapon and none of her clansmen ever got a single blow on him.
She’d never seen anything like it in her life.
Still, her clansmen fought and with every move they made, Sin made a countermove that had them flat in the dirt.
“He is a devil!” Aster snarled. “No man can fight like that.”
After several minutes, all twelve men lay on the ground, panting.
“Do you yield?” Sin asked as he surveyed her fallen clansmen. He wasn’t even breathing heavily. The only sign of their struggle was the dust on his clothes. “Or shall we continue this?”
Her clansmen pushed themselves up slowly. They looked at each other in shame. She could tell none wanted to admit defeat, but likewise no one wanted to go at Sin another time either.
The only one of the men to approach him again was Tavish MacTierney. Not too much shorter than Sin, he was twice as thick, with beefy, muscled arms. The man had never been defeated in a fight before. He walked up to Sin slowly, calmly, then held his hand out to him.
“Tavish be my name, lad. It was a fair fight and I’ll be holding no grudges. One day, I’d really like you to show me how you did that.”
Sin stared at the proffered hand. It was a gesture he hadn’t expected.
“I’ll be glad to.” He shook arms with the tall man who reminded him quite a bit of his brother Ewan.
Tavish nodded, dusted his clothes off, then headed away from them, toward the castle gates.
The other men curled their lips while their eyes spoke loudly of the hatred they bore him.
Sin walked straight toward Aster who glared his open hostility at him while the rest of the men dispersed. Their Gaelic insults were mumbled, but Sin heard and understood them all.
Aster didn’t even try to mask his feelings. So be it. He didn’t need the old man’s help to find The Raider.
Sin feigned a warm, taunting smile at Aster. “Looks like I’ll be staying, then.”
The old man looked as if Sin had just offered him a piece of excrement and told him to eat it.
Callie breathed a sigh of relief even though she knew things were far from fine. In time they would see the man her husband was and hopefully then they would learn tolerance.
She took a step forward, wanting to take Sin’s hand.
Faster than she could move, Sin grabbed her roughly, shoved her in front of him and held her at arm’s length. His grip was so tight on her upper arms, that she protested audibly. Still, he refused to let go.
Aster’s glare turned murderous.
Sin took a step forward, his gaze turning dull as his grip tightened even more. The familiar tic returned to his jaw.
Then as quickly as he had grabbed her, he let go.
“What was that about?” she asked as she rubbed her upper arms where his grip had bitten into her flesh.
Without answering, Sin whirled about and it was then she saw the arrow that was embedded into his left shoulder.
Horror assailed her and as she stared at the macabre sight of the arrow, she realized what Sin had done. He had known the arrow was coming and had held her still to make sure the arrow struck him and not her.
Her husband had not only kept her from harm, he had saved her life.
“Find whoever did this,” Aster roared to the others before they could leave. “I want the head of whatever idiot took such a chance with Callie’s life!”
As the men ran about the yard looking for the culprit, Aster moved toward them. “Are you all right?”
“Nay, I am shot,” Sin said, his mouth wry. Other than grimacing, he seemed completely oblivious to the wound. “And in truth, I am quite vexed. When I find the coward who did this, I shall gladly give you his ballocks.”
Callie ached for the pain he must be in. “We need to get you inside...” Her voice trailed off as Sin stepped away from her and headed toward the wall.
She exchanged a puzzled frown with Aster. Whatever was Sin doing?
Aster shrugged as if reading her thoughts.
To her horror, Sin went to the wall and threw his back against it, driving the arrow completely through his body.
Tears welled in her eyes as she fought down a scream and watched Sin snap the head of the arrow off with his good hand. His face pale, he walked stiffly toward them, then gave Aster his back. “Pull it out.”
By his expression, she could tell her uncle had never seen anything like it. “Good God, man, how can you stand to move?”
“If this was the worst wound of my life, I would be very fortunate indeed. Now pull it out so the wound can be stitched.”
Aster shook his head in disbelief as he took the arrow in his hand and Callie bit her lip in sympathetic pain.
Sin’s jaw flexed.
Instinctively, she took Sin’s right hand in hers and braced her left hand against his uninjured shoulder. He leaned forward against her arm, tensing in expectation of Aster’s actions.
Callie held his right hand between her breasts and stroked his fingers, seeking to give him whatever comfort she could.
With a frown, Sin looked at their hands joined, but said nothing. His gaze held hers and she saw the pain and anger that burned deep inside him.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “But I wish you had just told me to duck.”
Her words succeeded in lightening his face.
At least until Aster braced one hand against Sin’s injured shoulder, then tugged the wooden spindle free. Sin cursed loudly as he staggered forward a step.
Callie pulled him into her arms, holding him tight, wishing she could take the pain from his body and make the wound heal instantly.
Sin didn’t know what to say as his shoulder throbbed. The fierce pain was overshadowed by the warm softness of her breasts against his chest, of the sweet feminine lavender scent of her hair. Closing his eyes, he inhaled the soothing smell and just let her comfort wash over him.
She had her arm wrapped about his neck, her small hand buried in his hair as she held him to her. It was the most wondrous thing he’d ever felt and for a moment, he could almost pretend to be her husband in truth.
His lips were so close to her delectable smell that all he had to do was turn his head ever so slightly and he could bury them in the curve of her neck. He hardened at the thought. Not even the pain of his wound could override the desire he held for her.
“I will find and punish whoever did this.” She pulled back to stare up at him. The sincerity of those light green eyes amazed him. He stared in wonderment and ached to show her just how much those words meant to him. “I will not see you harmed.”
He didn’t know how to respond to that. “It’s just a flesh wound,” he said dismissively.
“It could have killed you.”
“Pity it didn’t.” Aster’s barely audible words cut through him, quelling his lust instantly.
Nay, there would never be anything between him and Callie except wishful dreams. The thought stung him much more deeply than it should have.
Ignoring her uncle’s comment, Callie took his hand and led him into the castle.
They were going up the stairs as Simon was headed down them.
Simon nodded a greeting, walked past, then backed up the stairs to stop them. “Are you bleeding?” Simon indicated the tear in Sin’s surcoat.
“It would appear so,” Sin answered sarcastically.
“Good Lord, what happened?”
Sin shrugged. “Apparently, someone doesn’t want me here. No doubt you either, so guard your back, little brother. The last thing I want to do is tell Draven you’re dead.”
“Have no fear. The last thing I want you to do is tell him I’m dead.” Simon paused and looked back toward his room. “Thinking perhaps I should return to my room and don my armor before I go eat.”
“Not a bad thought.”
Callie interrupted them. “Gentlemen, please, I need to see to this wound lest he bleed to death from it.”
Sin dismissed her worry. “It missed the artery. I assure you, I won’t bleed to death from this.”
Callie frowned at her husband and his calm acceptance of everything. It was as if he expected nothing more than to be insulted and wounded. “Then humor me, please.”
Without further voiced complaints he followed her to their room, though the look in his eyes told her that many an unspoken complaint was circling his mind.
Callie helped him pull his surcoat off. She frowned as she studied the hole where the arrow had pierced him. “Strange. You can barely see the blood on the cloth and yet I feel it.” There was a lot of blood on the cloth actually.
Sin looked up from his inspection of his wound. “The black is tinted with red dye to mask any injuries I might have. In battle, it confuses and scares my enemies who know they have injured me and yet can’t see the blood.”
“Hence the invincible devil epitaph they have applied to you?”