Lachlan sighed. “Weel, ’ere ye are and welcome. Ye asked who we’re fightin’, so I’ll tell ye, and ye’ll go alaing yer own way in the mornin’ the way ye planned. Ye’d be weel tae take yer leave as soon as possible, and ye take me blessing wi’ ye. This ’ere’s no place fer any livin’ soul, and I ainly wish I could join ye goin’ somewheres else.”
“What’s as bad as all that?” Callum asked.
Lachlan sighed. His chin fell on his chest, and he closed his eyes. That was the first sign of weakness he ever betrayed since Callum first set eyes on the man. The next instant, Lachlan’s eyes snapped open, as bright and clear as ever. He set his bowl aside and sat up straight in his chair.
“’Ere it is, mon,” he replied. “We’re under attack from the vampires from out in the Isles. That’s the long and the short o’ it. Ye gang intae that room o’er there, and ye’ll see their handiwork. That lass o’er there has seen it all, I can tell ye. She’s seen the men wi’ their arms and legs ripped off and their throats torn out. She’s seen ’em cut tae ribbons by the vampires’ fangs, and she’s seen ‘em dyin’ by the score from the infection. I cinnae tell ye more than that, but I mun’ ask ye, fer the sake o’ me Clan, tae stay ’ere and fight wi’ us. Fer the love o’ God, stay.”
“What do ye want us tae stay fer?” Callum asked. “We’d ainly burden ye wi’ another mouth tae feed.”
Lachlan leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. He peered into Callum’s face with his piercing blue eyes. “Ye’re dragons, an’t ye?”
Callum stole a glance at Jamie. Jamie stared at Lachlan in stunned shock. “How did ye ken aboot that?”
Lachlan shrugged. “It’s all o’er the country. E’erybody kens it. Ye mun’ stay ’ere. We need ye tae fight wi’ us, or we’re o’errun at the next attack. I tell ye, if ye leave in the mornin’ as ye say ye mean tae, we’ll all be dead in a matter o’ hours. We ha’e suffered too many losses, and we no lainger ha’e the men tae defend the castle. They all ken it. All the women, all the wounded, all the men upstairs—they all ken it. Now ye ken it, too.”
He threw himself back in his seat. Callum stared at him, but he couldn’t think of one sensible thing to say. Jamie snapped him out of his trance by murmuring under his breath. “It’s the curse come back. It mun’ be.”
Callum rounded on him. “How can it be? She lifted it. She said so. She repaired the fabric. It cinnae be ’ere at the same time.”
Jamie shook his head, but Lachlan interrupted. “If ye ken ought aboot this, ye mun’ tell us. We need everything ye can gi’e us, and if ye’ll stay and use yer fire against the vampires tae save all our lives, we’ll be in yer debt.”
Callum studied the young Laird, but Lachlan refused to look at him. Now that he told the truth, Callum noticed the lines of care on his fresh face. Lachlan carried himself with easy grace, but the burden of so many hopeless lives weighed his shoulders down. No wonder he took his ease where and when he could.
Callum looked back at Jamie. Now Jamie sat back in his chair and looped his arms over the sides. He didn’t even bother to pretend he would eat that food. His old smug grin spread over his face.
Callum read his brother’s intentions plain as day. Jamie planned to stay here and use his dragon fire against these vampires—whatever they were. He wanted to fight. He wanted to show these McLeans how great and strong the Urlus were, that they could swoop to their neighbors’ rescue at a moment’s notice.
Callum, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with the war—not that he wanted to abandon the McLeans to certain death. Of course he didn’t want that. He just didn’t want to fight their battles for them, especially not when that battle involved dragons. He had enough of fighting these last few months.
“Why ha’e these things attacked ye?” Callum asked. “What do they want from ye and yer Clan?”
“How should I ken?” Lachlan replied. “They attacked. That’s all I ken, and we ha’e fought them e’ery step o’ the way e’er since.”
“It’s the curse, mon,” Jamie murmured in Callum’s ear. “They need no more reason than that. Ye ken it, too, Callum.”
“Wheesht, lad!” Callum snapped. “Will ye stuff that in yer bawbag? Dinnae let me hear another word out o’ ye aboot the curse.”
“What curse?” Lachlan asked.
“There is no curse,” Callum shot back, “not any lainger. There was, but it’s lifted now.”
“What if she made a mistake?” Jamie asked. “What if she almost lifted it, but not quite? We mun’ send tae her. She’ll deal tae these monsters, e’en if they dinnae come from the curse.”
“What curse?” Lachlan insisted.
“There is no curse,” Callum repeated, “none that has ought tae do wi’ ye and yer Clan. It happened a laing way from ’ere, and it is no lainger. Whate’er caused this, it was no curse—none we can help ye wi’, at least.”
“Ye can help us wi’ it,” Lachlan replied. “Ye can fight the vampires as none o’ us can. What d’ye say? Will ye help us?”
Jamie jumped to his feet. “Aye. We’re wi’ ye.”
“No!” Callum cried. “We’re on our way tae our own folk. We cinnae stay ’ere tae be finished off by…. summat else. We ha’e done wi’ that. We cinnae help ye.”
The three men looked back and forth from one to the other. Callum saw his words bounce right off his brother. Lachlan scrutinized first one brother and then the other, but Callum refused to change his mind.
What did he want with some insignificant little war on the outskirts of nowhere? Hadn’t he almost lost his life a hundred times putting his brother on the Phoenix Throne? What more did he have to do before he got to rest in peace somewhere?
Lachlan rose from his chair and picked up his bowl. “Weel, I ha’e spoken me piece. Now ye ken where we all stand, and ye can make yer choice as ye see fit. As I say, I’ll no resent ye fer leavin’. I hope ye’ll choose tae stay, but if ye dinnae, I’ll no turn against ye. I’ll gi’e ye safe passage through me lands, and I’ll fit ye out a boat tae take ye o’er the loch.”
He walked out of the room and left the two brothers staring at his empty chair. Callum’s mind seethed in torment. Jamie sank into his chair with a heavy sigh. “We cinnae leave these people like this, mon. We mun’ use our strength tae help ’em. It’s the ainly way.”
“It’s no the ainly way,” Callum shot back. “There’s another way. We can go alaing tae our own land and our own folk. We can get out o’ this while we can instead o’ stayin’ ’ere tae die. Do ye really want yer neck ripped out and yer legs torn off? Do ye want tae be slashed tae pieces by vampires? No, lad. We’ll go on and cross the loch.”
“Angus would do differently if he was ’ere,” Jamie muttered.
“We told Angus we’d go home,” Callum returned. “We promised him we would go home and then return tae Urlu. Do ye truly wish tae break that promise? I don’t.”
Jamie shook his head. “We cinnae leave another Clan tae die—no like this. Think on’t, mon. Think how t’would ha’e been if summat came alaing when we fought tae defend our home castle. Think how t’would ha’e been if we had asked that person fer help, and they ran alaing home tae their own folk and left us spinnin’. I couldnae stand that, and I cinnae stand tae walk away o’ this people in the same trouble.”
“It’s no the same thing,” Callum grumbled, “no by a laing mile.”
“No, it isnae,” Jamie murmured. “They’re much worse off than we were. Ye ken it, too, mon. Did ye see those poor souls in the next room? Did ye hear their screams? I ken ye did, as ye were standin’ right next tae me. We had trouble, but ne’er the likes of this. I’ll no leave ’em tae’t, mon, not on me life.”
Callum turned away in a huff. Why did Jamie have to be right about this of all things? Why couldn’t he just say ‘Yes, Sir’ to Callum the way he always said it to Angus?
Jamie turned away and started out of the room. Callum stumbled to his feet. “Where’re ye goin’ now?”
Chapter 6
Sadie folded the soiled blankets and carried them out of the hall on her way to the laundry. She got as far as the door when she stopped dead in her tracks. That strange Highlander she saw earlier emerged from the room across the hall at the same moment. The two came face to face and regarded each other.
He wasn’t as tall as Lachlan or nearly as good looking. He reminded her of Arch McLean in his thick-set shoulders and rough way of moving through space. Something about him attracted her notice, though. Men surrounded her on all sides, all kinds of men with every imaginable shade of personality, but none of them struck her the way this man did.
He wore a kilt and sporran, along with a saber sheath at his belt, just like all the others. His brown hair hung to his shoulders. In that, he was exactly like the McLeans and even the Montgomerys. He wasn’t the same as them, though. His blue eyes sparkled with some inner knowing these men didn’t have. Some secret power lurked beneath the surface, a power beyond anything she ever encountered before.
Who was he? Where did he come from, and what was he doing here? His tartan told her he must belong to a different Clan, but the McLeans made sure no other Clan entered their land, especially not on the Isle of Mull. They guarded it with their lives, so how did these strangers get here without anyone detecting them?
A band of men crossed her line of sight, and Sadie snapped out of her trance. Behind their backs, she bent her head and hurried on her way to the laundry. She dropped off the used blankets and collected another armload to take upstairs when Lachlan appeared—again.
She took one look at him and faced the shelf where the blankets sat. He sidled up next to her. “Ye’re workin’ late again. Ye mun’ break off after supper. The men need their sleep, and so do ye.”
She went back to stacking the blankets. “They won’t sleep on dirty blankets. I’ll finish what I’m doing before I quit for the day.”
“Ha’e ye eaten?” Lachlan asked. “Did ye stop at all fer yer supper? I think no. Ye ne’er do. Ye’ll reduce yerself tae skin and bones, and then where’ll I be? Tell me that, lassie. Word’ll spread among the Isles that I drove ye tae yer demise through hard labor and poor feedin’. Me reputation’ll suffer.”
She did her best to cover up a smile. She cast a quick glance at his face and turned away. “I’m sure you’ll maintain your hold on the Isles. No one would ever question their Laird.”
He leaned closer to her and breathed in her ear. “I dinnae want tae be Laird tae anyone but ye, lassie. Cinnae I e’er be ought tae ye? Say I can.”
She turned another inch away. Quick as a flash, he dove into her neck and buried his mouth against her ear. He came up behind her at the same moment she turned away so his chest pressed against her back. He pushed her forward into the shelf where she stacked her blankets.
“Say ye’ll be mine, lassie,” he growled. “Say ye’ll stay wi’ me and be me Lady. I dinnae care what happens tomorrow so laing as ye’re mine. I dinnae want any other woman but ye. Ye’re the best o’ ’em by far.”
He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her in tight against his solid body. His hot breath scorched down her neck and excited the fever in her guts. She never encountered any man as enticing and magnetic as Lachlan McLean. He had money and riches and lands. He commanded his entire Clan, and they flocked to his banner.
Any woman would be delighted to accept him. The other women in this castle sighed and panted over Lachlan. The whole Clan waited on pins and needles for him to select a woman to be his wife. No one knew he already selected Sadie, a stranger and an outsider who fell out of the sky in the middle of a furious battle.
She didn’t exactly shrink from him, and she didn’t resist his attentions. She lay back into his embrace, closed her eyes, and sighed. How easy it would be to let herself love him, to take shelter from all this chaos in his arms.
Just then, a different image rose in her mind. She saw again that strange man across the hall. In her mind’s eyes, he watched her in Lachlan’s arms. He didn’t frown or bare his teeth in anger, but sadness tinged his expression. She recognized one more time his hidden power seething below the surface. He captivated her as no man ever had, not even Lachlan.
How could she think of him when she lay in Lachlan’s arms? How could she expect him to notice her or even think about her when they hadn’t even spoken? Still, she couldn’t get him out of her mind.
Lachlan inhaled against her hair, and when he exhaled, the delicious warmth infused down her spine to her guts. She couldn’t linger here a moment longer. She broke out of his embrace and moved a step down the shelf. “I’m sorry, Lachlan. I can’t.”
He only smiled and followed her down the room. He stroked her cheek and ran his fingers into her hair. “I understand, lassie. Ye’re exhausted. Ye cinnae gi’e yer heart tae a mon when ye ha’e the lives o’ all those wounded on yer shoulders.”
“It’s not just that,” she replied. “I find you very attractive. I really do, and you’ve been so kind to me. I would hate to rebuff your hospitality, but I don’t think I could give myself to you even if we weren’t mixed up in this war. In the first place, I don’t really belong here. I don’t think I’ll ever stop trying to get back so my own place. You need a woman who will stay here and become your right hand, and that’s not going to be me. The same force that brought me here could send me back at any moment. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“Is that what ye’re worryin’ aboot?” He chuckled. “Ne’er ye mind aboot that. We can care fer each other while it lasts. We can gi’e each other the care we want, and when ye go back—if ye go back—it ends there. No harm done.”
She shook her head, and this time, she didn’t hesitate. She looked straight up into his burning eyes. “There’s another reason, and you won’t find it so easy to brush that aside. You’re a wolf, Lachlan, and I’m human. I could never be your counterpart. We belong to different species.”
She braced herself for the worst. He froze rigid towering above her. His eyes blazed down at her. The next instant, he rushed her so fast she didn’t see him coming. He crushed her body against the shelf and dove his face into her neck. He pressed his iron body against her and growled low into her ear. “Does it frighten ye, lassie?”
She gasped in shock, but his dominating presence overpowered her first reaction. She closed her eyes and leaned into him. She saw him rabid and marauding as a wolf on the battlefield, his muzzle dark with blood and his fangs dripping gore from the monsters he killed. She couldn’t get her voice to work above a whisper. “Yes.”
His breath burned against her ear. “Does it excite ye, lassie? Does it excite ye tae see me like that?”
She couldn’t deny the truth. He excited her beyond belief. Even his wolf form aroused some deep-seated craving for him. She hated herself for wanting that, but she couldn’t ignore it. She whispered again, “Yes,” and this time, her hand snuck up behind his neck to press him into her.
Even then, the image of that strange man haunted her sight. He watched her encourage Lachlan. He saw her excitement. He recognized her desire to give in. That was the worst part. He knew.
She broke free one more time, and this time, she didn’t wait around to explain why she couldn’t. She snatched the blankets and ran. She didn’t slow down until she gained the refuge of the hall where the wounded waited for her. Here and only here was she safe from Lachlan. He wouldn’t dare try to touch her here.
She set the blankets down on the floor and started passing them out to the wounded. She took two blankets and went to Christie first. She knelt down by his bed, but her heart still pounded from her encounter with Lachlan.
She passed her cool hand across her burning forehead before she let out a shaky breath. “All right, Christie. Are you ready to change your blankets?”
He looked up at her. “Aye, la
ss. I’m ready when ye are.” He cocked his head to one side. “Are ye awright, lass?”
She looked away. She definitely couldn’t tell Christie what his brother was up to. “I’m fine. How are you, Christie? How is it feeling today?”
“Much better, thank ye, lass. It’s no burnin’ the way it did afore. I think it’s gettin’ better.”
She smiled at him. “I’m sure it is. It looks ten times better. I think we killed the infection before it spread. You were lucky. I’m so glad you’re going to make it.”
“Ye did it yerself, lass,” he replied. “If ye hadnae stuck wi’ me, I’d be dead now. I ken it as weel as ye’re sittin’ there.”
She couldn’t stop blushing. “Let’s get your bedding changed, and then we can both get some sleep.”
He rolled onto his side facing away from her. She bunched up the old blankets into a tube under his back and positioned the new ones in their place. She went around the other side of him, and he rolled back the other way. She removed the old blankets and arranged the new ones in their proper places.
Blair glanced over. “Do ye need any help there, lassie?”
“I’ve got it. Thank you, Blair. If you want to, you can do your own.”
She handed him his blankets. He pushed himself into a sitting position. He used his arms and his good leg to move himself off his bed and change the blankets alone with no help. Sadie watched him out of the corner of her eye while she got Christie settled down and tucked under another blanket over the top of him. Blair got stronger and more confident with every passing day. Pretty soon, being a one-legged man wouldn’t slow him down at all.
She finished Christie’s bed and smoothed his hair back from his forehead. She smiled at him before she moved on to the next patient. Blair collapsed back on his own clean bed with a sigh.
Sadie picked up the next two blankets when a shout echoed down the passage outside the door. She jumped. Blair shot upright fast. Footsteps ran down the stone passage. Men’s voices chattered out of sight, and weapons clattered metal against metal.
Wolf Castle Page 4