Read Online Dragon's Mate [Cairgorm Dragons 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Clair de Lune - Free Book Online Page B

chair, sending it crashing to the floor. He ran to the door seizing his sword from the table. Lachlann followed as Braemuir shouted.
    “She’s gone somewhere. She’s in danger. We have to find her. Oidhche has set a trap. Lachlann, go and find her parents. Muireall, go and ask Seonag where she last saw her.” Both hastened to do his bidding. To the other men who, hearing his raised voice, had streamed into the hall, he said, “Go and search the grounds. My mate is missing.” Lachlann returned, saying her parents couldn’t be found.
    “You are the only one I can trust. Oidhche is in the Caisteal. He’s one of us. Go and see who’s missing. Ness and our brother, where are they?”
    “Do you suspect them?”
    “I suspect everyone but you and Muireall. Go!”
    Braemuir tried to call her, but all he got was silence. Had the man knocked her over the head? Why couldn’t she answer?
    Muireall came back, and together they went to the storeroom. Finding the note, and reading it, Braemuir cursed. He paced up and down, his face a mask of fury and fear, and no one dared go near him. One by one, the parties of searchers returned, reporting no news of her or her parents. Lachlann told him that both men had gone out with search parties. Oh, he was clever. He had arranged it so that no one would know who he was yet, until it was too late.
    Braemuir thought he has going out of his mind. A small hand, stealing into his, was of some comfort. Muireall and he had always been close.
    “Can’t you hear her?” she asked.
    “How do you know?” She met his startled gaze.
    “I know because I can hear my mate in or out of dragon-form.”
    What mate? Braemuir couldn’t go into that now. He put it to the back of his mind. He would find out later.
    “No, I can’t. He must have hit her over the head. If she’s only sleeping, I can hear her so she must not be in her senses.”
    “No, maybe not. Mind you, if I am in the castle basements, under the rock, I can’t hear my mate. She may be under rock.”
    Braemuir wondered just what his sister had to do in the basements. Something else I shall have to discover later.
    “She can’t be in the basement. She was outside, and no one saw her come back in. So where can she be? Where could he hide her under rocks?”
    Braemuir paced and thought. I have to think. I have to get it right. There must be a place, and not too far away. Oidhche wouldn’t be able to change to dragon-form without risking being seen, so he had to be able to get to the cave and back in time to join a rescue party before Eilidh was found to be missing. Suddenly it came to him.
    “That’s it! The caves on the shore.”
    He was a dragon and in the air almost before the words had left his lips. He flew like an arrow to the shore. So many caves. Which one? Oidhche would have had to walk to the cave. Still, there were many to search. Maddain and Feasgar were in the air and following him. They landed on the sand and changed back to human-form. The cave entrances were too small for dragons. They began to search, becoming more frantic, as they realised the tide was turning, and soon, the tidal race would flow into the caves and flood them. Braemuir shouted, but there was no reply. Muireall held up her hand for silence, and then they all heard the rattle of chains. Braemuir hurled himself inside the cave, and there she was. As before, she was loaded with iron chains, but this time he couldn’t tear the stake from the ground. He had to cut their bonds with his sgian-dubh and try not to hurt them in the process. Muireall and Lachlann busied themselves removing gags.
    “Who did this to you? Did you see his face?” Braemuir was determined to find out who Oidche was.
    “He was masked, like the last time. It was the same man, but I don’t know who he is.” Elidih sobbed out her answer. “I’m so cold. Can’t we get out of this horrible cave and get warm?”
    “I’m so sorry, mo run . Of course we can.”
    Braemuir lifted her