Page 67 of Craved By a Highland Beast

“Nay!” Evan shouted; his rage so strong that it threatened to choke him. “Dinnae dare touch her.”

Ruthven ignored him without sparing him a single glance. He grabbed Bonnie and shook her roughly, forcing her to wake with a gasp, her body jerking in panic in his grip as she looked at her unfamiliar surroundings.

“There,” Ruthven said, taking a few steps back from them both.

“I’m here,” Evan told Bonnie, leaning as close as he could towards her. “I’m here, Bonnie. It’s alright. Everythin’ will be alright.”

Slowly, hearing his voice, Bonnie calmed down and glared up at Ruthven, a muscle in her jaw twitching as she ground her teeth. Evan could only wish there was something he could do, anything to comfort her, to reassure her that everything would work out in the end, but even he couldn’t promise that.

How could he, when they were in enemy territory, with no one there to help them? This time, Ruthven was bound to do anything in his power to keep them both there.

“How is it that ye thought I wouldnae find out the truth?” Ruthven asked as he began to pace back and forth in front of them. “How did ye think I would ever believe ye were cousins?”

Evan glanced at Bonnie from the corner of his eye, only to see her giving him the same guilty look. He supposed neither ofthem had been particularly subtle with the way they had been acting around each other.

“So, ye ken,” Evan said. “An’ we ken what ye have done. We ken ye’ve been workin’ with Baliol. An’ we’ve spread the word tae all our allies.”

Ruthven didn’t seem surprised by this reveal, nor did he seem concerned. “Aye, I am workin’ with Baliol. In fact, I’ve been workin’ with him fer a while now, gatherin’ information on the clans fer him . . . with our King’s support, o’ course.”

“He isnae me King,” Evan said, spitting on the floor in front of Ruthven’s feet. “An’ Baliol willnae be in power fer long.”

“That is what ye think,” said Ruthven, giving Evan a cold smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “But once I wed Bonnie, I’ll have all the gold an’ men I need tae solidify our power.”

Evan’s blood ran cold, his heart seizing. He could not believe that after everything, Ruthven was still planning to marry Bonnie, but perhaps he shouldn’t have been so surprised. He was still after the security Clan MacLaren could offer him. He just didn’t understand that he would never get their help.

“Laird MacLaren will never help ye,” he said. Why would Macauley do anything that would aid Ruthven’s cause? He, too, wanted Baliol gone as much as Evan did and knowing him and Cathleen, they would rage a war against Ruthven to get Bonnie back to safety.

“Then I will kill him an’ the clan will be mine,” Ruthven said. From the corner of his eye, Evan saw Bonnie stiffen, panicking at the threat, but once again, there was nothing he could do to reassure her.

“Bonnie will refuse,” Evan said, hands straining against his bonds in an attempt to loosen them. “What will ye dae with an unwillin’ bride? Sooner or later, everyone will ken she despises ye.”

The first punch was one Evan hadn’t predicted. Ruthven marched up to him, fist swinging, and Evan’s head snapped to the side with the force of the blow, his nose taking the worst of it with a sickening crunch. Instantly, blood pooled in his mouth, the coppery taste of it making him wince, and he spat as much as he could out, glaring up at Ruthven.

The second blow was one he anticipated, and yet the pain was still excruciating as it spread over Evan’s face, rattling his skull. Ruthven was no weak man and Evan had little choice other than to sit there, bound on the chair, receiving punch after punch as Ruthven took all his frustrations out on him, his fist colliding with Evan’s face so many times that he quickly lost count.

“Stop!” he heard Bonnie scream next to him, her voice pleading and broken, the word morphing into a sob. “Stop it! Ye’ll kill him!”

It was a cowardly way to kill someone, Evan thought distantly. First trying to drown him and then beating him while hewas bound, unable to defend himself. But then again, Ruthven seemed like a coward.

“Stop! I’ll dae anythin’ ye want!” screamed Bonnie as another punch landed on Evan’s face. He couldn’t tell where the previous pain stopped and the new one began. It was all a fog, his ears buzzing, his vision going dark at the edges. “I’ll marry ye!”

It was only then that Ruthven stopped but Evan was anything but glad about it. “Nay,” he tried to say, but all that came out was a quiet exhale, the word never making it past his lips.

“I’ll marry ye willingly if ye let him live,” Bonnie said and Evan could hear the tremble in her voice, the panic that threatened to overcome her. “I’ll give ye what ye want. But only if ye let him live.”

Evan’s head fell back the moment Ruthven let go of him, taking a few steps back and flexing his injured fingers. With a groan, Evan turned to look at Bonnie in a silent plea for her to stop.

“Nay,” he mouthed again and again, hoping she would listen to him.

But Bonnie wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at laird Ruthven, gaze pleading and eyes brimming with tears.

“Guards!” Ruthven called. In an instant, two guards entered the room, ready to receive his orders. “Take Miss MacLaren tae her chambers. She must prepare fer our weddin’.”

It was then that Evan found his voice once more, even quiet and hoarse as it was when he said, “Nay! Bonnie, dinnae dae it, I beg ye. I beg ye, leave this place.”

Turning that desperate gaze on him, Bonnie shook her head. “I love ye,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

Then she was gone, the guards dragging her along down the corridor as Ruthven followed them. The last thing Evan saw before he was left alone was Ruthven’s victorious, mocking smile.

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