Page 47 of Tempting the Highland Devil
Arran will be out here looking for me. I need to make them waste as much time as possible.
He frowned before he untied her hands, and another handed her a quaich of water. Yvaine drank from it deeply while she scanned their surroundings. There was a total of seven men, all dressed in black. They looked like Highlanders with their wild manes of hair and fair skin.
I just need to figure out what clan they belong to.
It was a bright afternoon, and birds chirped in the skies around them. Yvaine noticed the bloom of flowers around them and the vibrant, lush grasses. It was close to harvest time, and usually in her clan MacLennan or MacGregor, which was only a few days away, they would have many plants blooming this season.
The flowers on this ground did not look so vibrant. It made her suspect they were traveling towards the northern Highland clans.The northern lands are usually harder to cultivate.
Yvaine had learnt a lot about the Highland soils and plants from her mother, so she could guess they were headed for a northern clan.
But which one? Dune? Macmicking? Or O’Neil?
She licked her lips quickly then asked. “How much longer before we arrive at yer clan? I am exhausted and would like to rest.”
The men exchanged confused looks as she began walking around, delaying on purpose as she tried to figure out what to do.
“Surely ye could allow me the pleasure of ridin’ on me own? I shall go with ye willingly; ye have nay need to fear I will run. Where would I run to? This is the wild, and I am merely a lady alone. If ye dinnae catch me, then one of the wild animals will anyway.”
“We must hurry,” one of her captors said to the other. “If we leave now, we can arrive in nay time. We cannae risk being caught.”
“By me husband?” Yvaine asked.
“Shut yer mouth, woman!” the one who tried to hit her growled and marched towards her again. “Nay one more word from ye, or I will rip yer tongue out.”
Yvaine knew she could use his obvious anger towards her to her advantage and turn them against each other, so she hiked her chin high and defied him with her eyes on his. “I dare ye!”
He lifted his hand to hit her, and she flinched before one of his men shot an arrow right in his chest with speed. Yvaine gasped as she watched him drop limp to the ground with a grunt. His blood seeped into the ground while she stared in horror and tried to hide her terror and shivers.
“What did ye do?” one of them questioned and rushed towards the killer. A second later they were yelling at each other, all trying to defend and comment at the same time.
Yvaine seized the chance and slowly backed away from them. She held the skirts of her dress high, her heart pounding as she stepped lightly, turned, and fled.
She ran with all her might, winding through the thick shrubs and not caring if she hurt her feet or cut her skin.
Her only thought was finding a clearing or way to escape these men. Yvaine knew they chased her when she heard their guttural shouts coming from a closer distance.
She missed a step and fell, rolling down the slope in front of her with painful thuds against the ground. When she finally landed against a tree, she groaned and cried out from the impact.
Yvaine was immobilized by the pain erupting through her. Tears slide down her cheeks as she clutched her sides and whimpered from it.
“Did ye think ye could make it far?” one of her captors jeered when they found her lying in the pile of dried fallen leaves and dirt. He picked her from the ground like she weighed nothing, dragging her arm as he stared into her eyes.
His tight grip on her arm hurt, her head felt like it would split in two, and the heavy pounding of her heart was enough to make her breath snag in her throat.
“Please,” Yvaine whispered as she sobbed. She sniffed and found a steady voice again as she met the man’s eyes. “Me husband will find me…He will kill ye when he does. I ken he will.”
He slapped her, and her head lolled to one side. She reeled from the shocking pain in her jaw as he began dragging her with him again. Yvaine had no fight left in her, and she tried not to struggle, so she could save her strength for the next chance she got to escape.
Silently, she hoped Arran would come soon. She hoped he would…. Yvaine barely finished her thought when an arrow flew towards them and hit the man dragging her in the neck. He bled out fast and dropped to the ground while the others drew out their swords and began fighting the men that leapt towards them.
Her heart soared with relief as she backed away and took shelter behind a tree. Yvaine searched the dozens of men that fought to save her, hoping to spot James or Arran amongst them.
A frown seared onto her features when she realized they were not MacGregor men fighting for her right now. The cords of relief that snapped through her a moment ago turned to the coils of another devastating fear.
Without hesitating, she turned to flee into the wild again but did not make it far as one of the men blocked her path and seized her.
“Let me go!” Yvaine struggled and tried to kick him. She missed his groin when he grabbed her knee and forced it down. Her fight proved futile as he pinned her hands tight behind her and led her back to the clearing where her captors and saviors fought.
