Page 33 of Highland Prince of Darkness

“Why did ye have to dae that?” May snapped at Iain, almost as soon as her friend was out of earshot.

“I thought that I made myself clear at the feast that I dinnae want ye to be around other men like that. Ye’re mine, is that nae clear enough for ye?”

May was looking up at him with a glare that made him stop for a moment. Iain hadn’t realized that he could make her so angry, but he was sure that it was nothing compared to what he was feeling.

“And I thought I told ye that this is nae true until our wedding day. So, I’m nae yers yet, is that clear enough?” May fired back.

“How dare ye speak to me like that,” he spoke in a much darker voice.

Iain thought about the threats outside of the castle walls and how much he was worrying about it, it angered him that she was treating him like that when he was trying to just keep her safe.

“Archie is nothin’ more than a friend, I thought I made that very clear. In fact, he was just telling me about a woman in the town that he’s taken a fancy to. So there’s nothin’ for ye to be so angry about.”

Iain still continued to shake his head; he was never going to admit that he was in the wrong, and so he persisted with his anger toward her.

“I want ye to understand that ye belong to me, I want that to be the thought that runs through yer mind whenever another man approaches ye,” Iain leaned in closer as he spoke. He was only saying those things because of the way that she had betrayed him, he wanted her to feel hopeless and at his mercy in some kind of way, but there was still a blatant light of defiance in her eyes.

“And what are ye goin’ to dae if I say nay?” May asked as she leaned in too, “Kiss me?”

Iain let out a growl and stepped back away from her. He was absolutely seething with hot anger that caused his chest to rise and fall heavily, but he wasn’t going to admit defeat.

May was clearly amused by his reaction to her question, but he had only moved away to stop his body from acting on its primal instincts. Of course he wanted to kiss her at that moment, but he was just as stubborn as May, if not more, and he wasn’t going to let her win so easily.

“That was a moment of weakness, my lady,” Iain spoke with a bitter tone to his words, “So do nae think that it will be something that will happen often.”

He could see the way that May’s shoulders sagged slightly at his words, it was enough of an impact that caused the corner of his lip to curl up into a smirk.

“Ye shouldnae be so horrid,” May fired back, as she clenched her fists. However, the action held little impact as there was clearly little strength that May possessed in her body, and it wouldn’t be very impactful against Iain’s toned body.

“And ye shouldn’t have betrayed me,” he fired back.

Iain watched as May shook her head and turned on her heels. She hurried across the grounds and back into the castle, he didn’t stop watching until she was out of sight. He could tell that he had upset her, and it didn’t feel as good as Iain had been expecting. He was more preoccupied with the bigger threat that was now a very real thing for the castle.

He stared out at the slopes of hills that folded and exchanged with one another as far as his eyes could see. The hills were dusted with the dark green of weather-resistant trees that rose up in clumps and provided the kind of cover that would play to the advantage of a trained mercenary.

Iain hated to imagine Athol watching him at that moment, even just the thought of him was beginning to torment him and he didn’t know what to do about it. He scanned the landscape one last time, squinting for any sign of suspicious movement that could give him a better idea of if Athol was close.

He knew that he was being paranoid, perhaps even overly paranoid, but that was a habit that had come hand in hand with his previous line of work. If he hadn’t been paranoid, he would have been dead by now. The first touches of a fresh rainstorm brushed against his cheeks, the rain was accompanied by an uninviting wind, and Iain quickly started back into the castle for some shelter.

Two storms were coming, and Iain knew that he had to be prepared; one was in the form of thunder, the other was in the form of Athol Cumming.