PROLOGUE
“Laird McLennan killed yer brother!”
Killian remembered those five words even in his deepest sleep. He could not forgive this atrocity, and neither could he forget.
The one thing that could take his mind off his murderous need for revenge was his current plot.
It is only befitting to take something just as dear to my enemy, is it nae?
A wicked grin spread across his lips as he watched the women with the children in the garden.
Sneaking into McLennan Castle had been quite easy. The laird’s guard was at its lowest now. Five years of peace, and Laird McLennan had probably forgotten how dangerous the Highlands could become once you made the wrong enemy.
Killian fixed his keen gaze on the women and the children playing in the garden again. It was a cool evening, they had two guards watching them, and Killian thought it was beautifulto see the children play with flowers and have the women with them explain what each flower meant and could be used for.
He nearly smiled when one of them toppled over, and one of the ladies rushed towards the child. He knew of the laird’s blind wife, and judging from how the second lady sat still while the other one rushed to the child’s rescue, he could tell she was the blind one.
“M’laird, when do we make our move?” one of Killian’s guards asked using the sign language he had taught them for this mission.
After years of his travels to the Americas and also further down to the Eastern parts of Asia, Killian had learned enough skill sets that were beneficial to him as laird of his clan, even though he had not wanted the duties at first.
Killian was more than ready to avenge his brother’s death, and he only wished he’d had the chance to do it much sooner. The rest could follow.
The bitter bile rising in his throat was the sheer evidence of his anger, but somehow, the vibrant sound of the children’s laughter cut through and softened him a little as he looked at them. But it was just a fleeting moment.
Hardening his jaw one more time, Killian responded to his guard’s question using the same signs only they would understand. “Now. We leave the blind woman and the children unharmed. We only want the other one.”
His guards nodded and sprang into action after that, and so did he.
Killian leaped out of his hide-out with speed as one of his men attacked the guards and the other sprang to the blind woman to muffle her screams before she let them out fully.
The other lass sprang into action and attacked the man that got to her first. She took him down with ease and moved onto another, but Killian made it to her before she could kill him too. He knocked her out with one swift blow to the head, and she fell into his arms, making it even easier to take her with him.
As Killian made his way out of McLennan Castle, he was well aware of the implications of his actions. He may have just started a war between Clan McLennan and Clan McColl, but it didn’t matter to him. He would wage war on Laird McLennan if it meant vengeance for his brother.
1
Lily stirred awake with a dull ache in her head, and she groaned a little. She felt movement beneath her while struggling to keep her eyes open. It took a moment for her to realize she was sitting astride a horse, and a man was sitting behind her, his hard frame pressing against her back to keep her from falling.
She stiffened when the horse’s gallops made his body move against her back. She was on high alert now, but she tried not to move or alert her captor that she had awakened.
Her keen gaze skittered around her, and she noticed they were riding through a meadow she could recognize.
We are not far off from McLennan Castle yet.
Her mind began racing with her escape plot. Her wrists were tied together, but her legs were free, so she could throw herself off the horse, destabilize the man riding with her, and run.
Lily was skilled in fighting, she did not fear this man. All she needed was the right chance to make her move. When the horse neighed loud the next moment they neared a turn, she took the chance and threw herself off the horse with force. She heard her captor’s rapid curse in thick Gaelic as she rolled on the ground to her freedom.
She loved the rush of energy that surged through her at the thought of her freedom. After years of training to defend herself, she could not let some strange man, no matter how handsome, kidnap her without a fight.
She found a sharp stick on the ground when she sat up, grabbed it, and began trying to cut through the ropes binding her wrists. She didn’t succeed in freeing herself before the three men came at her at once, so she knew she had to fight with the binds on.
Without hesitation, Lily dodged the first man’s lunge at her and hit him with her head, ignoring the pain that erupted in her temples from the impact. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, ignoring the heavy wind blowing against her short black hair as she fled into the wild, not caring what she would encounter, as long as she escaped.
Her heart pounded with every step, her breath snagged in her throat, but she forced her lungs to expand. Lily knew she would not make it far if he kept chasing her with this speed.
I need to hide.
