Read Online Darkest Highlander by Donna Grant - Free Book Online Page B

way she shook. Her fingers, which had lain so gently on his chest, now dug into his skin as she tensed.
    “Did it see us?”
    “Most certainly,” he replied grimly.
    “Where are they?”
    “It. I sense there is only one at the moment, and I doona know where it went. I also doona wish to leave you to find out.”
    “But you need to,” she said, and tilted her face to him.
    Broc shook his head as he gazed into her amber eyes. “I’m no’ leaving you. There’s no use arguing. It would be exactly what it would want so you would be left alone.”
    “Take me back to the inn. I’ll be safe there.”
    “How will you protect yourself?” he demanded. He hated how gruff and entirely too harsh his voice was, but the thought of Sonya in the hands of Deirdre made his blood turn to ice. “You say you cannot use your magic, so what will you use?”
    She lowered her eyes and shrugged. “I have nothing. No magic, no skill with a weapon. You’ve made your point.”
    “My point is to no’ make you feel inferior. My point is that I cannot—and willna—leave you alone while there are wyrran about.”
    “Then how are you to kill it?”
    Broc took a deep breath and took a step away from Sonya. “I doona know. Yet. But I will.”
    “In order to kill it, you’re either going to have to take me with you or leave me alone in the inn. Those are your only choices.”
    He hated that she was right. Hated it more that the wyrran—and Deirdre—had put him in this position. But he’d always known it would come to this.
    His life mattered not, but Sonya was another matter entirely. He didn’t fear death, only that he wouldn’t live long enough to ensure Sonya was protected at MacLeod Castle.
    “There’s another choice,” he said as he thought of the Warriors and Druids. “We leave for MacLeod Castle. Immediately.”
    “And leave the wyrran to do whatever it wants with this village or another village it comes across? You know yourself what Deirdre has sent them to do.”
    Broc ran a hand down his face and turned to the forest. He knew all too well what the wyrran were capable of. He’d seen their destructive power on his family, had seen the death that lay in their wake after they swept through a village.
    Could he leave this one behind? Did he dare to let it go on the chance it might not hurt anyone?
    He knew he couldn’t.
    He put his hands on his hips and nodded. “All right. I’ll kill it. Then we return to the castle. I doona know what is happening there and they could need me.”
    She hesitated for a brief moment before she said, “Agreed.”
    Broc curled his hands into fists as he felt his claws begin to grow. He wanted to hunt the wyrran straightaway. The sooner he killed it, the sooner he could get Sonya back to the castle.
    And the sooner he could put some much-needed distance between them.
    If the past few days had showed him anything, it was that being near her, alone with her, was testing the limits of his control. Which were fast unraveling.
    “We need to return to the inn,” Broc said as he took hold of her arm. “Act as if nothing is wrong, but be on guard.”
    “How did it find us so quickly?”
    Broc kept his eyes moving around the village, looking for any signs a wyrran was still near. “I doona know. With Deirdre, almost anything is possible. After seeing her nearly take back control of Isla, it’s obvious her magic has been restored.”
    “So she’s looking for us.”
    “She’s looking for the Warriors who were once allied with her and who are no’ dead. I doona imagine there are many left. We killed most in the battle.”
    “The battle where everyone thought Deirdre had died,” Sonya mumbled.
    Broc opened the door to the inn and ushered Sonya inside. He gave a nod to Jean who still stood behind the counter, and walked Sonya up the stairs and into their chamber.
    Once the door was shut and bolted behind him, Broc strode to the window. “Deirdre wanted the MacLeods before. She’s no’