for her to return, ready to apologize, beg her forgiveness, and agree to anything she asked. All he knew was the world was not right, that he wasn’t whole once she left his side. After two hours of waiting, what little patience he possessed fled. As he saddled his horse, Orion walked into the stables alone. Every nerve in Duncan’s body lit as if scraped by a hot iron. He raced to the training fields, calling for the guard to ride with him.
They quickly arrived at the loch and found signs of a struggle and two men dead. Duncan froze, unable to breathe or think. The angry words he spoke rang in his ears, damning him with every breath. Now she’d been taken, no doubt injured, as she would never go willingly. He couldn’t bear the pain threatening to consume him. Callum’s screams for help rang in his ears as he again saw his brother’s head disappear below the turbulent waters for the last time.
Tavish’s voice broke through. “Captain, what do ye want done?”
Duncan scrubbed his face with the heels of his hand and considered the possibilities for a moment before answering. “Send a man back and report to the laird, the rest on me now!”
With as much as a two-hour head start, he spurred Lasair as if a pack of cu sith nipped at his tail. The men who took Anna rode hard, making their trail easy to follow. Duncan needed no tracks to know their destination.
Once Duncan’s men realized what had happened, who held her, they required no further incentive. They rode as one, stopping only long enough to rest and water their horses. Duncan was humbled by the loyalty Anna had earned, and shamed knowing his men understood the reason she’d been alone when captured. The hard, angry looks he received said they knew of his actions, and also knew she would bear the brutal cost.
By the time MacNairn keep came into view, gates had been lowered behind the group of riders they’d been chasing, sealing off the approach to the castle. Duncan felt the black shudders of rage threatening to overtake him as he surveyed the shuttered keep. To his surprise, Trean limped along the trail just ahead. Duncan reined his horse beside the injured beast. Blood was visible on one shoulder and he favored his front leg.
“Here, laddie, let me see to yer wound.” He reached for the pup, but Trean growled in response, backing away from him. The cut on his shoulder appeared to be superficial, and Duncan let him go. Anna’s wolf had pronounced judgment upon him, also. Trean paced just inside the tree line, his limp and mournful whine heaping another measure of guilt on Duncan’s heart.
He turned back to his men. “Tavish, send two men back to the laird and report what has happened. The rest remain here and watch. Iain and I will travel to the Stewart laird. If it takes my last breath, we will raze this heap of stones to the ground.”
Digging his heels into his horse’s side, Duncan drove Lasair to his limit, arriving at his grandda’s keep hours later, both he and his steed sweat-soaked and spent.
His grandfather granted him an immediate audience, fire lighting his eyes as Duncan related Anna’s capture by the MacNairns. Aeneas Stewart rose from his chair in the great hall.
“Assemble the men. Load the siege weapons into their wagons. ’Tis time to put an end to MacNairn!”
His roar sent everyone flying into motion, giving Duncan hope he’d hardly dared look for. He’d been but a lad the last time he’d seen his grandda this angry.
It took a full day to gather the necessary equipment and supplies for the siege. Before they finished, his da and the MacGregor men arrived at the Stewart keep. Riding as hard as the wagons allowed, it took another day and a half for the gathered force to reach the MacNairn fortress.
Anna floated in nothingness. She heard faint voices at the edge of her mind and felt an odd sensation. Something about the voices sounded urgent, insistent, demanding her attention. She wanted nothing more than to resist them, fading back into the blissful state she enjoyed. After some time passed, the odd sensation returned again and with it, the command of voices that would not leave her alone.
Perhaps if she answered them, they would allow her to retreat back into the velvety blackness. Deciding to awake long enough to respond, Anna struggled to reach the