Page 86 of Intrigued By A Highlander

The warrior shut his eyes against the pain or the news, Knox wasn’t certain, though when he opened them the anger swirling in them betrayed the truth.

“When you find her—” A pain stole his words from him, and it took a moment for him to continue. “Don’t trust her.” He took a needed breath. “She is no different than her mother, a coward.”

Knox turned a quick look at his wife and wasn’t surprised to see anger smoldering in her eyes or that her hands were fisted tightly. She wanted to pummel the warrior, but she wisely fought the urge. He was trying to do the same.

“You condemn her without knowing her,” Knox said, attempting to do as his wife so successfully did.

“Knowing her mother is enough,” the warrior said and turned his head to the side to spit out the blood pooling in his mouth. “Leave me in peace. I will not have my last breath wasted on her.”

“So, you want her dead as badly as the person who hired you or do you fight willingly for your noble?” Knox asked.

“I die for him,” the warrior said proudly.

“A failure,” Dru said softly, not intending for her remark to be heard.

“You lie,” the warrior shouted with surprising strength. “She’s here. I h?—”

“You wish she was,” Knox hurried to say, realizing the warrior had heard a soft spoken Dru who must have sounded like her mum to him. And that was something he couldn’t allow anyone to find out. It also meant he knew Dru’s mum well.

“She deserves to die, and she will.”

A roar pierced the air. “AND SO WILL YOU!”

Phelan rushed past them and rammed a sword into the warrior’s chest before anyone could stop him, not that anyone tried.

“They killed half of my men,” Phelan snarled, his darting eyes daring anyone to challenge his action.

Knox sent Dru a look she easily understood and nodded to the MacTavish brothers as she walked away, and they followed her.

“You need to join me, Knox, in revenging their deaths,” Phelan demanded. “You knew them. They were your friends, fellow warriors.”

“Friendship? You never encouraged friendship, Phelan. It was obedience you demanded and most of the men had no choice but to give it to you since they had no place to go. They were the unwanted, the discarded, and instead of creating a family, loyalty, you created servitude they could never escape.”

Fury raged in Phelan’s eyes. “I treat my men good.”

“Do you? Tell me what you will do with the wounded. Will you get them to a healer? See they are tended to as they recover? And the ones left unable to fight ever again, what becomes of them.”

“I’m not a charity,” Phelan snapped angrily.

“Never could anyone ever accuse you of being charitable,” Knox said.

“You’re a coward for not seeking revenge,” Phelan accused.

Knox’s hand was around Phelan’s throat so fast that he had no time to react. And Phelan’s hand went quickly to claw at Knox’s hand that choked him when he lifted him high enough for his feet to dangle just above the ground.

“I should kill you here and now, but there have been enough lives lost today,” Knox said, having his fill of death and tossed him to land on top of the pile of dead warriors that would soon be burned. “Soon, though, soon I will see you dead.”

Knox turned and seeing his wife leaning against a tree, just beyond the edge of the clearing, looking exhausted, and Star grazing nearby, content despite the stench of death, he hurried to them both.

Knox reached out, brushing a streak of dried blood from Dru’s chin. “You took too much of a chance, wife.”

“Is that the thanks I get for saving your life? You’d be dead if I hadn’t,” she said, her voice trembled slightly. “I followed my heart. It led me to you.”

His hand lingered on her cheek. “I nearly didn’t leave you earlier. I thought if I kissed you, held you, I’d never let go.”

“You should have kissed me,” she admonished.

“Aye, I should have, but I still would have had to leave.”

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