Linc and Kynar. Kynar landed heavily on top of Linc. Linc struggled to regain breath. As he grabbed the man to heave him off, a fist slammed into the side of Linc’s face. Light exploded across his eyes and a numb sensation flared over his jaw followed by a slash of pain. Linc shoved at the man just as the next blow landed. Kynar toppled over onto the dirt before rolling to his feet a short distance away.
Linc rolled away from him and stumbled as he managed to get to his feet. He shook his head, trying to clear some of the haze away as well as the rush of anger from the tiron. The animal inside him wanted to end this quickly and permanently. Taking a deep breath, he fought to control that part of him. He couldn’t let Kynar get what he wanted. That would be a victory for him. Linc wouldn’t give him that.
Kynar circled and Linc countered. Panic and fear drove the man as well as a desire to escape. Linc could tell just by looking at him. Claws tipped his fingertips where normally there would be fingernails. He wasn’t far from shifting to attack or make a run for it. Even before Colm caught his eye, Linc knew that drawing this out could be dangerous.
Kynar’s open hand swung at him, claws ready to rake across any flesh they encountered. Linc blocked the blow, catching Kynar’s arm just below the wrist and swinging him into a tree. Kynar’s breath wooshed out of him a moment before Linc’s fist caught him on the jaw. Linc didn’t give him time to catch his breath. He pulled the man off the tree and threw him face first to the ground. Kynar was so dazed he didn’t try to catch himself as he fell.
Linc was on him before he could try to rise. Men came forward and before he could ask for it, rope to secure the false Ardin was held out in front of him. Linc tied the rope around his wrists and then rose. Two of the men grabbed Kynar and hauled him to his feet.
“You’ll begin your journey soon and you’ll be watched. You won’t take your own life. You’ll face true Ardin and justice in front of the people you’ve wronged.” Linc smiled at the frustration he could see on Kynar’s face.
Colm’s hand rose and brushed over the side of Linc’s cheek. “Nice. I know someone’s who’s going to be mad at you. I bet she told you not to get hurt again before you left.”
Linc winced, more from the thought of facing Cami with the bruises than from the slight sting of the touch. “Just as she did this morning.”
Colm laughed. “Better hope that the good news makes her happy enough not to want to chew on you for the rest of the night.”
Linc shrugged, but smiled. “I like how she worries about us, but I already have a plan to get past the anger if his capture doesn’t do it. Let’s get back to the Thent.”
Colm nodded. They began walking back through the forest. Linc wasn’t too nervous about Cami. She’d do more pampering than nagging. He wasn’t going to let these small bruises change what he had planned tonight. If everything worked, tonight Cami would discover what a haven was. After they’d explained everything, they could show her the pleasures to be had there.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Are you sure? That looks as if it hurts.” Cami wrung her hands as they walked into the rooms and cast a look at his face before her eyes fell down to his ribs.
She didn’t want him in pain, but arguing with him all the way up the stairs hadn’t helped. Colm hadn’t said a word. All he’d done was smile and shake his head as she tried to talk some sense into Linc. All right, she had yelled at him at first, but she had told him not to get hurt. It wasn’t such a big request. All those men with them and Linc had to fight Kynar himself.
“I’m certain. If my arm was broken, I’d still want to do this. I want you to know you’re fully and completely ours before we have the ceremony. Our woman, our love, our mate.” Linc ruffled her hair, but his wide smile told her he wasn’t irritated by her persistent questioning.
He guided her into the room and Colm followed, shutting the door behind them. They’d insisted since the mating that