An Outcast's Wish (Highland Heartbeats Book 3)

by Aileen Adams

  Maccay watched Jake and Hugh, his heart thudding dully in his chest. He asked the question even though he already knew the answer. “She wasn’t with them?”

  Hugh sobered and shook his head.

  Jake and Heather exchanged a glance, and then Heather turned a sorrowful gaze toward Maccay.

  “We’ll find her, Maccay, we will.” She turned to her husband. “Won’t we, Jake?”

  “Aye, we will. We can’t—”

  “And what about McGregor?”

  “Clyde and his two miscreant friends are dead.”

  Maccay closed his eyes and again shook his head.

  This was going to cause a lot of trouble. Killing the—

  “We hid their bodies in a cave and covered the opening with rocks. We set their horses loose. No one is going to know what became of them.”

  Maccay glanced at Hugh and hoped he was right.

  Clyde was a troublemaker, even somewhat troublesome for his own clan, or so the rumors went. Maybe no one would much care. With Clyde dead, no one from the McGregor clan would know that Alis… if she was still alive, had survived both attempts to dispose of her. He allowed himself a small glimmer of hope.

  “I suggest we go back to where the trail into the woods disappeared. We might be able to find something there that we missed, some indication of what they did with Alis.”

  Maccay didn’t want to think the words his heart dreaded. What they did with Alis. Where they had tossed her lifeless body. Without another word, Heather and Maccay mounted their horses. Maccay glanced down at Bruce’s wound, satisfied that the bleeding had stopped and his horse barely seemed to notice the injury. Still, he wouldn’t push him too hard.

  As they rode slowly back to the area where the trail had disappeared into the trees, Jake turned to Maccay.

  “There was a third rider. He wasn’t with Clyde and his companion. He might be—”

  “Heather killed him,” Maccay interrupted.

  Jake cast a wide-eyed glanced at his wife.

  “The bastard was hiding in the woods. His arrow struck Bruce in his shoulder.” He cast an approving wink toward Heather. “She’s gotten quite adept with her bow, hasn’t she?”

  Hugh grinned, but said nothing.

  Jake stared at his wife for several moments, and then he too, grinned.

  In silence, they rode back to the trail they had found in the woods and entered the forest.

  Maccay felt weary, but he refused to allow himself to rest or to ask for it.

  Alis was out here, somewhere.

  He wouldn’t stop looking until he found her.

  26

  “Move!”

  The boar grunted, then snorted at Alis’ angry tone. He looked up, his eyes piercing, those wicked-looking tusks long, sharp, and ready to devour the moment she got within reach.

  She had lost track of how many hours she had clung to the trunk of the pine tree, straddling the branch. Her muscles stiff and sore, despair tugged at her brain.

  What if the boar didn’t leave? What if it stayed there forever? How long could she stay up here without succumbing to exhaustion? If she fell asleep, she could fall out of the tree. If the fall didn’t kill her, the boar would.

  It was mid-afternoon.

  Tired and hungry, she also tried to ignore the fact that she had to relieve herself. For the past couple of hours, she had tried to ignore that need, but she could no longer. Her bladder would surely burst at any moment. But how? How could she with the boar standing guard far below?

  She finally decided that she couldn’t wait any longer. Carefully, she maneuvered herself, moving just enough so that she crouched on the tree branch.

  One arm firmly curling around another branch close overhead, she managed to wiggle her legging down. Wickedly, she hoped that the boar was directly below as she relieved herself with a sigh.

  Thank goodness no one would see what she had just done, her bare arse exposed to the cool afternoon air.

  After she finished, adjusted her clothing, and repositioned herself more comfortably on the branch, she decided to she had no recourse other than to out wait the boar. He would get hungry and thirsty, sooner or later.

  Perhaps that rabbit she had seen earlier in the morning would prove adequate for the boar’s appetite.

  In the meantime, she scanned the ground, looking for something that she could use as a weapon, just in case.

  Still, whether she had a weapon or not, she knew that boars were vicious. That animal down there more than outweighed her.

  She was no match for its brute strength and ferocity. What could she—

  She heard a sound in the distance. The breeze rustling through the tree branches? A distant animal, a deer perhaps, calling for a mate? She listened carefully, but didn’t hear it again. She returned her attention to looking for something down below that she could use to defend herself. She signed, not finding anything suitable—

  She heard the noise again. Closer. She frowned, peering through the tree branches, trying to discern its origin. That wasn’t an animal. It was human. Somebody calling for—

  “Alis!”

  Her heart leapt into her throat and tears filled her eyes.

  Someone was looking for her!

  The voice was still distant, its echo carried on the wind.

  The only people who would call her Alis were those of the Duncan clan.

  Choking back her excitement, she lifted her head and shouted.

  “Over here! Over here!”

  She carefully watched the trees for any sign of movement. Nothing happened, and then she heard the voice again, louder this time.

  “Alis!” Pause. “Alis, where are you?”

  “Over here! In a tree!” She choked back tears. “Up here in the tree!”

  And then, not two hundred yards away, she saw movement.

  A horse, then another, and another emerged from the deep woods!

  She recognized Jake’s reddish-brown hair, and then the figure following him, so large it could only be Hugh.

  “I’m over here!” she shouted. “Watch out for the boar!”

  The riders halted.

  As they did so, Alis watched in dismay as two more figures emerged from the tree line. Her heart skipped a beat as she stared, narrowing her eyes to make sure they weren’t deceiving her.

  Maccay! He was alive!

  And beside him rode a smaller figure, female. Heather!

  “I’m in the tree at the far end of the clearing!” she shouted, half-laughing, half-crying. Relieved to find Maccay alive. “There’s a boar—”

  At that moment, the boar grunted, stiffened, and tail lifted high and nose in the air, turned to face the newcomers. It squealed and then grunted several times.

  She heard the sound of horses’ hooves approaching.

  The boar lowered its head, grunting louder now, pawing at the dirt with its hooves.

  “Jake, watch out—”

  The boar charged the horses.

  She cringed in horror as several of the horses shied away, ears back, teeth bared in fear.

  Jake pulled a heavy short axe attached to his saddle. Two-handed, he lifted it above his head, his horse standing its ground. He swung the sword back over his head, and then heaved it forward with all his might.

  His aim proved true.

  The axe struck the boar dead center, right between the eyes. The animal dropped immediately, a cloud of dust rising around him.

  “Alis! Alis, where are you?”

  She heard the fear in Maccay’s voice as he looked for her.

  Tears filled her eyes, and she had to swallow thickly before she could call out to him.

  “Straight ahead, Maccay, I’m in the big tree straight ahead…”

  All four horses headed toward the tree, Jake pausing and dismounting as they passed the boar.

  Alis stared down as Heather, Hugh, and Maccay stopped their horses beneath the tree, staring upward.

  Trembling with relief, fighting back her te
ars, thanking God that Maccay was still alive, she sat frozen for several moments, eyes locked on Maccay’s.

  He looked pale and dark circles smudged under his eyes, but he had never looked so wonderful.

  He scowled, his mouth turned down in a frown of displeasure.

  Why was—she realized that her face must surely be bruised from her altercation with Clyde, but she forced a smile, trying to reassure him that she was all right.

  “I was beginning to think I would be stuck up here forever,” she tried to laugh.

  Maccay finally allowed a small smile. “So, are you going to come down from there or are you just going to stay put for the rest of the day?”

  * * *

  They sat around a fire at the edge of the clearing, the air around them filled with the aroma of roasted boar meat.

  Jake had gutted and stripped the meat from the animal’s bones, packing most of it in his cloak.

  The bundle of meat was now tied to the back of his saddle to take back to the manor early the following morning.

  Alis had managed to make her way down the tree, every muscle in her body protesting, Maccay offering encouragement and Heather worrying about everyone.

  The sun had started its descent toward the western horizon by the time Maccay swept her up into his arms.

  Hugh thought it would be best that they remain here for the night.

  Heather had looked at her injuries, determined that nothing was broken and assuring Maccay that her cuts and bruises would heal within a few days. She then turned her attention to cleaning and bandaging Jake and Hugh’s wounds, much to their grumbling dissent. Finally, she had turned to Maccay and insisted that she allow him to clean and place a new bandage on his wound as well.

  He had protested, and quite vehemently, not wanting to let Alis out of his grasp, not even for a moment.

  Finally, between cajoling from Heather and Alis, he had finally acquiesced, but only after Heather threatened to complain about his behavior to Sarah.

  Later, after they had all gorged themselves on boar meat, Alis turned to Maccay, sitting close beside her.

  She had to ask. Had to know what was to become of her.

  “What’s going to happen to me now, Maccay? Where do I go from here?”

  Maccay gazed down at her before, face set with determination, he spoke.

  “You’re going to marry me, Alis.”

  She blinked in surprise as her heart skipped a beat, then dropped to the pit of her stomach.

  She frowned in confusion. “But what about—”

  “Clyde McGregor is dead, as are the men who rode with him,” Hugh quietly broke in. “No one is going to know they are dead, and no one is going to know that you didn’t survive your first attack in the woods.”

  It took a moment for the words to sink in.

  Everybody thought she was dead. The only people who knew that she wasn’t, were also dead. Her relief was somewhat tempered by a concern that had to be spoken.

  She turned to Maccay.

  “But what if I remember, Maccay? What if I remember that I’m a McGregor?”

  “You’re not a McGregor, Alis,” he shook his head. “You’re going to marry me, remember? You’ll be Alis Douglas now. Even if you do remember someday, you’ll always be Alis to me. No matter what.”

  Alis’s heart skipped a beat, the worry, the fear, the unknown no longer quite so terrifying. Not caring that everyone watched, she leaned toward Maccay and wrapped her arms around him. She lifted her lips to his and kissed him, deeply, giving him his answer.

  Yes, she would marry him.

  No matter what the future brought, she would indeed be his wife, and she would become the newest member to the Duncan clan.

  Hugh grumbled. “Och, now I’m the odd man out, the only one still untethered by the marital yoke.”

  Alis broke off the kiss as they all turned to Hugh, saw the twinkle in his eyes, and started to laugh. Maccay shook his head and clapped his friend on the back.

  “Just you wait, Hugh,” he said. “Sooner or later, there’s a woman out there who is more than capable of taming a big brute like you.”

  Another burst of laughter followed, and then the levity was broken by Heather’s ensuing comment.

  “I wonder what’s going on back at the house, with our stepfather?” She turned to Jake. “He can’t take us away from you and Phillip, can he?”

  Jake scowled. “Let him try, and he’ll end up like Clyde McGregor.”

  Heather smiled up at her husband, cradled her head on his shoulder, and stared into the dancing flames of their campfire.

  Alis smiled as she gazed at the faces around her, reveling in her newfound sense of belonging.

  After several moments, she turned once more to Maccay.

  He watched her, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth.

  She couldn’t stop herself.

  Once again, she lifted her face toward his, welcoming his kiss, the warm embrace of his arms around her shoulders, reveling in his love and support.

  She felt transformed.

  Alis Douglas.

  It certainly had a nice ring to it.

  Afterword

  I hope you enjoyed An Outcast’s Wish! I can’t wait to bring you the next book in this series!

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  Copyright © 2017 by Aileen Adams

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