Read Online Conquer the Highland Beast: The Vampire Dylan Macgregor (Hearts of Darkness) by Eliza March - Free Book Online Page B

capable, he’d take his revenge. Determined, he’d survive for the day he brought his uncle to his knees and fulfilled the silent promise he’d made to his family.
    But to keep his light he would become the champion of the weak for his sister, keep his mother’s fae gift guarded, and have a son to carry on the family name for his father and brothers.
    Once the soldiers carried off their own wounded and the spoils of war, he risked rising to his knees. The dead were everywhere.
    Ten steps past the hidie hole, he remembered to retrieve the bags his father stashed there for him. Haruld had been too preoccupied to think to look there for his father’s ring and his grandfather’s sword. Little did his uncle know a Macgregor of the rightful line still lived. He picked up his grandfather’s heavy broadsword and tried to stand. The heavy object sent a surge of heat up his arm. The significance of that moment bolstered his determination to live. The bastard held no claims to the chiefdom—not while Dylan lived. He was now the Macgregor.
    No matter how painful the memories, he promised never to forget this horror, each affront to his family and his person. The beast stirred within his scrawny chest. In honor of his family, he would store the memories away and keep them for the rest of his life.
    The youngest surviving Macgregor had no idea how long that might be...
    He would heed his mother’s warning and keep his family’s curse a secret. The familiar comfort of his family’s thoughts had been silenced. The voices in his head were those of strangers except for one…
    Evie lived.
    “Come to me, Dylan. There is safety here. However, be cautious of the dark ones in the forest. They will be looking f or your ma and sister’s light.”
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 8   Witness
    Evie sees the Battle
    “Uhhh...” The internal groan from Dylan meant he was coming around. Fear for him and relief warred with her emotions.
    “Stay still as death,” she had warned.
    Beyond the forest, at the sea’s wild edge, where the cliffs were too treacherous for most to venture on foot, let alone horseback, Evie saw the youngest Macgregor’s excruciating visions, and then felt each violent strike, every sadistic action. If she could, she would have blocked his thoughts, but she didn’t know how. Their empathic connection was so strong; she thought she would crumble in sorrow and pain before the scene in her head went silent and black.
    As she lived the scene through his mind, she saw the entire keep and the clan had been destroyed. The bastard, Haruld had tricked his brother into believing he came to pledge his oath to the Macgregor. The clan chieftain believed in a show of trust since his brother had come on a peace mission.
    However, Haruld had entered the keep with plans to betray everyone while the bulk of his numbers awaited in the forest beyond the wall. At Haruld’s signal, they seized the moment to strike. Hundreds of Haruld’s warriors forced the gates open while he was on bended knee spewing his deceitful oath before the Macgregor.
    She witnessed the horror Dylan experienced through his eyes, shared his sorrow at the loss of his family, and sobbed when her own father fell to three swordsman while trying to free the chieftain. All was for naught. Everyone in the castle keep lay dead or dying.
    Trembling, with the events filling her young mind, Evie McClure sniffled back her tears. “Dylan, come to me. I’m frightened.”
    As she waited, she remained safely hidden away in the cliff side cave where her da stashed her until Dylan awoke to the aftermath. Despite his absence from her mind, she sensed the boy still lived. But for a certainty, the Macgregor was dead and Dylan was alone. Later, she’d worry about reaching out to him.
    The tartan she wrapped around her smelled of her father—leather and hay, and a slight scent of heather. With him in her thoughts, she smiled at the memory of her da’ lying in a field of the