Moon Burning - By Lucy Monroe Page 0,76

beside them and Barr rolled them using his wolf’s body before leaping to his feet. He turned and barked, as if telling her to run, and then he started running himself in the direction the arrows had come from.

Another deadly missile barely missed his canine heart as he leapt in the air and then continued in a dead run.

She twisted and rolled as an arrow hit the dirt where she had been. She rushed to the tree line with a crouching run, zigzagging from side to side in the opposite direction. Without the ability to fly, shifting would do her no good.

Until she was in the trees. There it would be easier to hide in her raven’s body than her human one. She climbed the nearest tree, using her injured arm despite the pain it caused. Once she was amidst the branches, she shifted into her raven form, her clothing falling away to land on the boughs below.

She hopped from one limb to the other until she was high in the tree, then she moved to the edge and surveyed the forest with her bird-keen eyesight.

She could see the streak of blond fur rushing through the forest, but saw no sign of the would-be assassin.

Are you safe? he demanded in her head, breaking past the barriers she had put between them as if they were made of nothing more than mist.

I am high in a tree. I can see you.

Can you see our attacker?

No.

Can you see anything?

I can see much of the forest, but I see no man, nor a wolf besides yourself.

There is no scent trail to give him away. There should be a scent. The frustration he felt came across the bond, bombarding her already beleaguered heart.

You can mask your Faol scent.

Aye, but Rowland did not train his wolves that well.

Clearly he did. Or at least one of them.

A vicious curse sounded in her head, but she did not respond. This was the very reason her people could not come out of hiding. Why she could not leave them to fend for themselves.

Even if she could? She would not be safe in the Donegal clan. That was obvious.

You damn well would be. Those arrows were meant for me.

Maybe. He was not universally liked, particularly after allowing Earc to challenge Rowland.

The humans in the clan had believed it was a warrior’s challenge and had been even more disapproving than the Chrechte over the fight between the much younger Earc and their former laird. No matter how poor a leader he had been, he was a clan member.

Still, she did not believe the arrows had been meant for Barr alone. Her feelings must have given her thoughts away, because Barr cursed again.

I would never be safe amidst your clan.

You damn well would be.

Like I am right now?

Just like it. His wolf’s growl was so deep, she could barely understand the mindspeak.

You will not always be there to throw me to the ground to avoid an arrow.

I will.

How could she argue with such intransigence?

They both knew the arrows were clearly meant for both of them; whether because she was so obviously Barr’s mate or because someone had discovered her Éan nature, she could not be sure. And ultimately, it did not matter.

Staying among the Donegals would be the height of stupidity and she was no fool. No matter what her heart wanted.

Stay in the tree.

While you do what?

Try to find a scent or sign to track.

She hadn’t been in her raven form since the day they met. It felt good—better than good, it felt wonderful—so she agreed.

Having no desire to dwell on the conversation they had been engaged in before the attack, Sabrine used the time to hop amidst the branches, surveying the forest from all vantage points. She saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Her gaze was drawn again and again to the sky, her longing to fly an ache in her breast. She tested her wing, expanding and contracting it, but she could tell it would not hold for flight. A lone eagle flew in the distance, too far from the land of her people to be Éan, but seeing the noble bird caused another ache.

That of homesickness. She wanted to be among her people again, even if it was only the warriors in her group charged with protecting the others.

She wanted to see her brother before his coming of age ceremony. She wanted to hug him in a way she had not since they were separated by her warrior