To Tempt Highland Fate (The Mac Coinnach Brothers) (57 page)

Chapter
14

              Drust neared the little valley that he had left only days ago. 

             
It felt like a lifetime. 

             
He had had the whole long ride back to think about what Bren had told him.  What if it really was no
accident
of fate that Willa had found him and nursed him back to health?  He had not really let himself think about how impossible the odds were that
anyone
had found him up there, let alone
her
.  The one woman in all his life that he could not stay away from, that he had secretly wanted to
possess,
had found him in the hidden entrance to a mountain cave, just in time to
miraculously
save his life.  Certainly quite the coincidence… or not. 

             
And if she really was his soul mate… no wonder it had felt like he was being cleaved in two when he had left her behind.  It had taken every last bit of his self-control to ride away from her that day.  He almost turned back a dozen times.  He had thought himself weak and foolish, and he had been… foolish, anyway.  He had never wanted a wife, but he sure as hell wanted Willa.  The very thought of taking her, claiming her as his forever, made his blood race.   The thought of any other man touching her drew from him a violent rage.  The searing power of a mere kiss had left him forever changed, forever wanting.  The woman had made him feel the cold and empty places inside his soul and damned if she didn’t hold the promise to fill them all. 

             
Would she accept him?  He would not give her a choice. He would keep her.  He would
wed
her, and bring her back to Creagmor as his wife.  Only first, he would have to find out who she was and who she was hiding from.  So he could kill them.

             
As he reached the top of the last rise before the valley where the cottage lay, everything suddenly began to swim and shimmer, and he heard a scream in his mind.  A woman’s scream. 
Terror.  Rage.
 
A struggle, then hoof beats receding into darkness.  Only emptiness left behind.
  His gut clenched. 
A vision.
  He knew he was picking up on the residual imprint of something that had already happened.  Very recently.  Willa, God no! 
I’m already too late…

             
A surge of adrenaline filled him as he rode frantically down into the valley towards the secret little glade where he had left her.  He knew right away that something was very wrong.  The sense of emptiness reached him almost before he set eyes on the little cottage where he had awoken not long ago to the destiny he couldn’t see right before him.  Spurring his horse forward, he reached the door that was hanging ominously open on its hinges.

             
“Willa!”  He rushed into the house like a man possessed.  “Willa, are you here?”

             
She wasn’t.  He had known she wouldn’t be.  With his heart in his throat, he turned to the small bedroom, which was in disarray.  The bed was askew, pulled away from the wall where it had been, and the blankets hung off of the end, as if someone was dragged off of it… 
Oh God, Willa!
  He never should have left her here alone. 
How
could he have left her here alone?  He had been so afraid of the emotions she brought out in him… so afraid he would have to feel… and aye, to love… that he had all but run away, and he had failed yet again to protect someone he cared about from harm.  As he stood alone in that room, looking at the bed where Willa had nursed him back to health from the edge of death, the bed where he had so nearly made love to her, and he wished now that he had… his rage boiled to the surface in a great wave, and something inside of him snapped.  He would have her back, damn it!  He would find her, alive, and then he would kill whoever dared take her.  He would have not just revenge, but
vengeance
.  He clenched his fists at his sides and roared. 

             
His mind snapped into battle mode.  He would find her.  He would kill anyone who had harmed her.  And then, when he had her safe, he would make love to her for days on end because honor was suddenly no longer the most important thing.  It was
her
.  He had only been too blind to see it.

             
Drust quickly searched the cottage for any clues, and finding nothing, began looking for tracks nearby.  It was only a few minutes before he saw the faint hoof marks leading to the east.  It had rained since, but luckily they were still clear enough to follow.

             
He had ridden for only a few hours when Drust saw two familiar figures approaching on horseback. 
James and Maura
.  His heart beat faster.  Were they only just now returning?  Did they know anything about Willa?  He knew as soon as they recognized him that they did not.  Maura gave him a quizzical smile in greeting, but whatever she saw on his face quickly turned her expression to one of alarm.

             
“Drust?  Why are ye no’ with Willa?” she demanded.

             
Drust met her gaze, but there was something both desperate and vengeful lurking there.  “Do ye ken where she is?  Have ye seen her?”

             
James pulled his horse closer, threateningly.  His face held a dark look of growing suspicion and fear.

             
“Where is my sister?  Is she no’ safe at the cottage?”

             
“She’s no’ there.  I dinna ken
where
she is!  I… I dinna think she left on her own.  I think someone took her… we have to find her!”

             
Maura was silent through the exchange, but her face had gone pale.  “James, ye ken who took her”, she said quietly.

             
James looked at his wife and his lips were pressed together into a thin white line.  “Aye.”

             
Drust looked back and forth between them, caught between relief that they seemed to know where Willa was, and fear at the dawning horror on their faces.  “Where?  Where is she?  Damn it man, tell me!”

             
Maura looked at the ground and drew in a shaky breath, a tear escaping her eye and rolling slowly down her cheek. 

             
“We barely got her away the first time.  How did the wards fail, James?  How did they ken where to find her?”

             
James looked at Drust, his eyes filled with accusation.  “What the bloody hell did ye do to her?  Did she leave the valley?  Did she go beyond the river?”

             
Drust was trying desperately to hold on to a thread of civility, when all he really wanted to do was to find Willa. 
Now.

             
He shook his head.  “Maybe.  I didna ken… I left.  I was gone for maybe six days.  When I came back she was gone, and it looked like she had been dragged from her bed.  I rode out after her straight away…”  He was quickly losing composure.  “Are ye going to tell me where the hell she is?”

             
“What is it to ye where my sister is?”  James was ready to fight, ready to hit something, or someone, hard.  His sister was in danger, and he held the man before him responsible.  He had known it was a bad idea to leave her alone with him!  He didn’t follow his instincts, he failed to protect Willa, and now someone was going to pay.

             
Drust glared back at him, challenge in his eyes.  He was in no mood for arguing the finer points.  “She’s
mine
.  And I want her back.”

             
James prepared to argue with
that
, with his fists if necessary, but then he saw the…
relieved?
smile on his wife’s face.  She wheeled her horse around.  “Come on then, we have nay time to lose!”

             
The two men watched her ride away in disbelief before exchanging one last hostile look and following.

              By nightfall, they had reached the outskirts of a village not far from Dunbroch, and commandeered an abandoned croft.  To go any closer to the castle would likely be suicide, especially in the dark.  The castle was no doubt heavily guarded and the surrounding land patrolled. 

             
They had spoken little during the hard ride, and after James had seen to his wife, he once again confronted Drust, his hand aggressively on the handle of his sword.  “Tell me everything ye ken… no…first tell me who ye really are.  And keep in mind before ye speak that there is
nothing
I wouldna do to keep my family safe.”

             
Drust ignored the threat, pulling himself up taller and unconsciously flexing his muscles in a matching show of male aggression.  “We are on the same side”, he growled.  “I want to find Willa too. 
I
want to protect her.”  He took a step closer.  “What makes ye think she is at Dunbroch?  Do ye ken who took her?”

             
James bristled.  “What is it to ye, where she is?  What do ye want with my sister?”

             
Drust roared in frustration and turned to drive his fist into the wall of the croft, making the whole structure shake and sway slightly.  “Just tell me, damn it!”

             
At that moment, Maura stepped between the two men, her expression furious.  “Stop, both of ye!  This isna helping.”  She threw each of them a reprimanding look.  “It’s obvious that we all want to find Willa, whatever the reason.  If we’re going to reach her before it’s too late, we’re going to need a plan, and a damn good one, because it’s going to be next to impossible to get into that castle and back out again without being seen.”  She paused.  “If she’s even being held at the castle.  He may have taken her somewhere else.”

             
Drust’s eyes were wild, feral.  His face a mask of barely controlled fury.  “She’s there.”  He could
feel
it, deep in his bones.  She was close.  “
Who
has her?” he ground out.

             
“That’s none of yer…” James began, but Maura interrupted.

             
“Colm McTierney”, she said flatly, watching Drust carefully to gauge his reaction to the name.

              Drust knew of the Mac Tierney clan, of course, but not much about them.  They were generally peaceful, as far as the highland clans went, and had never caused any trouble for the Mac Coinnachs.  He did not know of a Colm Mac Tierney, but as far as far as he was concerned, this Colm was already a dead man.  There was no question in his mind.  His entire body was primed for battle, bloodlust thrumming in his veins.  His mind had a razor-sharp single minded focus: get to Willa.  See her safe.  If he had had any doubts that she was his, they were swept away by the sheer intensity of his desperation to get to her.  Aye, Willa was his, and his alone.  He would do anything to have her back… including calling on the might of his family to help him.  He turned to James.