The man grabbed Rachel, holding her in front of him. “You smell good,” he said, sniffing loudly and taking a step back from Cam. “Put the sword down, my Laird.”
“You’re him, aren’t you?” Cam asked. “The barefoot man.”
“So they call me. And your clan will not save this girl for a second time. She’s going to help me, aren’t you my dear?”
“Get away from me,” Rachel said, trying to squirm free from his inhumanly strong grip on her arms.
He gave her a shove. “Go on then,” he said with a sneer. “Off you both go.”
They looked at him and then at each other. “Oh,” he added, looking like he was barely suppressing a laugh. “Before you do, perhaps you’d like one last look at this.” He reached into his tunic and brought out a necklace. Rachel recognized it at once. It was identical to her own.
“Where did you get that?” Cam asked.
“Are you that foolish?” the man replied. “Now Rachel, this is between you and me. Take my hand and the two of us go back to your time. What do you say?”
“If you know what the necklace does, why wait until now to use it?” she asked, waiting for the right moment to snatch it from his grip.
He shook his head. “I need you. Don’t you see? You’re the key. Now, come. Take my hand and we can rule the world together.”
“Never,” she replied. “I’d rather stay here and die than let you get your claws in my time.”
“You’re under the impression you have a choice,” the man said with a smile. “I don’t need you alive to do it. I just need your hand.”
He reached into his tunic again, this time bringing out a dagger. He threw it through the air. Cam stepped in front of Rachel, lifting his sword in front of his chest. The dagger hit the hilt and flew off to the side.
The old man swore out loud. “Cam MacGregor. Join my side and I will grant you all the lands from your castle to the Northernmost Isles. A handsomer offer you could get nowhere else.”
“I do not do deals with demons,” Cam replied.
“Last chance or I kill you both.” He grabbed a bottle from the shelf beside him and hurled it to the floor. Green smoke began to rise from it. “One lungful and you’re dead,” he said. “Make your mind up fast.”
There was a creak above his head. In the time it took him to glance upward the ceiling developed an alarming crack. “What the-” he began before there was a crashing sound and the entire ceiling fell in, someone falling through it and landing on him.
Cam grabbed Rachel’s hand, running for the stairs. They were down in seconds, bursting out in the open a moment later, both gasping for air. Cam turned at the sound of footsteps, his sword ready. “I will not let him hurt you,” he said.
“Good to hear,” a voice replied.
Rachel looked at the doorway in time to see a figure emerge. It was the man who’d fallen on their attacker. “Who are you?” she asked.
The man shrugged. “Just a common or garden thief. Who are you two?”
“I am Cam MacGregor, Laird of my clan. This is Rachel Fisher and she is under my protection. You shall not harm her.”
“I have no intention of harming either of you. I just wondered if you wanted to buy a necklace?”
He held out the necklace the barefoot man had been holding. Rachel smiled and Cam let out a laugh. “You stole that from him?”
The man shrugged again. “I was happily seeing what to steal when you lot turned up. Hiding in that ceiling wasn’t comfortable. Neither was falling through it. Before I knew what was happening he’d gone out the window and you two were out the door. He went so fast he left the necklace behind. I thought I deserved something for my trouble and you seemed mightily enamored with this little thing. What’s it worth to you anyway?”
“Give it to me and I dinnae run you through.” He had his sword to the thief’s throat a second later.
“I want a bit more than that.”
“A place in my army with hot food in your belly everyday. I could use someone like you.”
“Sounds good enough to me.” The thief tossed it to Rachel. “Bit aggressive, your mate, isn’t he?”
Rachel frowned. “Aren’t you bothered that you could have died in there?”
