She stood up and dressed. Alice suspected the sun was still up, still too much of a danger to Gybbon, but that it was probably safe enough for her to go outside. They needed food. Their supplies were almost gone and she doubted there would be much chance to stop anywhere and gain more before they got to Cambrun. A meal of rabbit or fowl would give them some strength for the rest of their journey.
As she collected her bow and arrow, she pushed aside the small voice that told her to stay where she was. They had seen no sign of the Hunters for three days. It was obvious that the men she had wounded had needed care and she was sure they would have needed at least one of the last two hale men to help them get it. Alice did not think even Callum would hunt her and Gybbon all on his own. She ignored the little whisper of caution in her mind, the one trying to remind her that Callum was not completely sane when it came to her.
Slipping out of the little church the crypt lay beneath, she looked around to be sure no one was near before hurrying into the shelter of the wood. It was yet another sunny day and she was beginning to think some mean spirit was keeping the weather so fine just to make matters more difficult for her and Gybbon. Smiling at such a foolish thought, she set her mind to getting her and Gybbon some meat.
The sun was nearly finished setting by the time Alice had caught a rabbit and prepared it for the spit. Her hunt had been quickly successful but not as quick as she had thought. She cursed herself for becoming too intent upon the hunt and not paying attention to how much time had passed. Gybbon would awaken soon, if he had not already, and he would wonder where she was. She might not be certain of the depth of what he felt for her, but she knew he would worry about her if he found her gone. Wrapping the carcass of the rabbit in a scrap of cloth, she shoved it into her quiver and hurried back toward the church, a little surprised at how far she had gone.
A faint rustle of leaves was her only warning and it came too late for her to save herself. She was just drawing her dagger from its sheath when a body slammed into her back. Alice hit the ground hard, the fall and the heavy weight on her back robbing her of the ability to breathe. She could only flail weakly as her weapons were torn from her and tossed out of her reach.
“Finally, ye demon bitch,” rasped a voice that sent chills down her spine. “Finally, I have ye. Where are your wee bastard and that devil ye have taken as your lover?”
Still struggling to regain her breath, Alice replied, “I dinnae ken who ye are talking about.”
Callum turned her onto her back, straddling her and pinning her wrists to the ground with his knees. He had obviously learned a thing or two from the last time he had captured her, she thought a little wildly. Alice felt the old fear he had bred in her start to stir, but fought it. She needed to keep her wits about her if she had any chance of surviving this confrontation. A quick glance around revealed that Callum was alone and she cursed herself for not heeding the instinct that had tried to make her stay inside the crypt with Gybbon, the one that had tried to argue her assumption that Callum would not continue the hunt on his own.
He slapped her. “Lying bitch. Ye will tell me where they are.”
“So ye can kill them? Nay, Callum. Ye will nay beat or frighten me into giving ye more innocents to slaughter as ye slaughtered my family. Even if I was fool enough to believe ye would let me live, I willnae buy my life with the blood of others.”
“Your family were demons! A foul affront to God’s eyes.”
“They were just trying to live, to raise a family. They ne’er hurt anyone.” Alice knew that trying to reason with this man was a waste of words, but it might buy her enough time to think of a way to escape. It might even buy enough time for Gybbon to come looking for her.
“Ye cannae say that about your braw lover, can ye? He has killed four of my men and he drank their blood. We found one of the bodies and ye could see the marks in the neck where he sank those fangs in and sucked out the mon’s soul along with his blood. And ye tried to kill the rest of my men.”
“Did ye expect me to stand still and let ye kill me? I fight because ye willnae leave me alone. Ye mean to kill me and my bairn. Aye, I fight as would anyone. Wanting to live hardly makes me a demon. Or Gybbon evil. And there is no soul sucking, ye great fool. Someone is telling ye a lot of lies and ye are getting your hands bloodied for naught.”
He pressed the blade of his knife against her throat. “Ye are the creations of the devil and he always makes his minions take souls. Ye have to hide in the shadows and ye feed on people like wild beasts do. There is naught ye can say to change that or what it makes ye. Now tell me where he is.”
“Nay.”
She bit back a cry of pain when he coldly thrust his knife into her shoulder. Breathing deeply to try and push aside the agony as he pulled the knife free, she looked up into his cold eyes. Too many wounds like that and she would never regain enough strength to fight him.
“I ken ye and your ilk have a lot of strength,” he said as he tore the shoulder of her gown aside to stare at the wound he had delivered. “And ye heal fast, dinnae ye. But ye still bleed and, with enough wounds, with enough of your blood spilled into the dirt, ye will die. Then what will happen to your wee bastard?”
“He will live, for he is where ye will never reach him.”
“Nay, he is close. Ye would ne’er let him leave ye, nay after dragging him about with ye for years. And e’en if ye have tucked him somewhere ye wouldnae leave your braw lover, would ye. Nay, a whore cannae last long without a mon between her thighs. Weel, I willnae weaken this time. I willnae let ye take my seed and corrupt it into the devil’s weapon.”
“Oh, ’tis all my fault ye are a raping, brutish swine, is it? Is that how ye free yourself of any guilt for what ye did?”
“Ye were bred by the devil to tempt a mon but I am wiser now.”
“Ye are certainly madder now,” she muttered and she tried to buck him off her, furious at her failure to move him even a little.
“Where is your lover?”
“Here, ye mad bastard.”
Callum was yanked off her and seemed to fly through the air. Alice stared up at Gybbon, but he gave her just one furious glare before turning his attention to Callum. The fury in Gybbon was so strong and fierce, Alice was surprised it was not lighting up the woods with its heat. She scrambled up on her knees and, afraid that she would faint if she stood up, crawled backward until she was out of the way of the fight she knew was to come.
It surprised her when Callum got to his feet with no sign that being tossed through the air had injured him. She had to wonder if madness gave him strength. The man drew his sword and faced Gybbon looking as if he actually thought he had a chance to win this fight. Gybbon had also drawn his sword and just stood there, obviously wanting for Callum to make the first move.
“Ye willnae take my soul, demon,” Callum said.
“I wouldnae want the foul thing,” replied Gybbon.
“Ye and your ilk are doomed, ye ken. We will hunt ye down and slaughter ye until there isnae a one of ye left, mon, woman, or bairn.”
“I ken it. ’Tis why I will feel no sorrow over killing ye, e’en if ye are a pitiful fool. Of course, after what ye did to Alice, I do feel a wee bit inclined to make your death as slow and painful as I can.”
“She is a whore, a tool of the devil sent to tempt a righteous mon into sin,” Callum yelled.
“It isnae wise to anger me, Callum. Ye make that wee inclination I just mentioned become stronger. Now, do ye fight or do ye mean to keep trying to talk me to death? Ah, but wait, mayhap I should offer ye the same chance to survive as ye offered me. Tell me the name of the laird who sent ye after Alice and I will give ye a chance to flee.”
Alice noticed that Gybbon did not actually say he would allow Callum to live. The battle began so abruptly that the first clash of the swords startled her. Callum proved he was strong and skilled with a sword, but she could see that Gybbon was even more so. It only took her a moment to see that Gybbon was teasing t
he man, allowing Callum to think he actually had some chance to win. She supposed she ought to be appalled by that cruelty but Callum had tormented her for too long, had too much blood on his hands, for her to care.
“When ye are dead, I will take your whore to my laird,” Callum said. “He will show her how the righteous deal with evil.”
The way Gybbon suddenly moved, knocking Callum’s sword from his hand and grabbing the man by the throat, told Alice that Callum’s taunt had broken the last shred of control Gybbon had. Remembering what Gybbon had told her of all that had been done to his cousins, she was not really surprised. As she rubbed her hand over her healing wound, she watched Gybbon slam Callum up against a tree. The Callum who had raped her and viciously beaten her was gone now. In his place was a white-faced, trembling man who could see his death in Gybbon’s eyes.
“Ye are a fool, Callum,” Gybbon said softly. “If ye hadnae raped Alice, hadnae sought her death and denied your own child, I might feel some sympathy for ye. Pity, even. Ye have been led to your death by the lies of others, ones too cowardly to come and face us themselves. Ere ye die, I will tell ye one thing about the men ye so blindly follow, tell ye why they keep trying to capture one of us. They think we have the secret to immortality. They dinnae care about demons or sin or God, they just want to live longer.”
Gybbon could tell by the look in Callum’s eyes that he believed that, suddenly knew at the moment of his death that he had been used. Not wanting the taste of the man in his mouth, Gybbon simply cut his throat and let his body fall to the ground. He knew he would not be haunted by this man’s face.
He turned to see Alice getting to her feet and hurriedly cleaned his dagger on Callum’s shirt. Sheathing it, he went to stand in front of her. Part of him wanted to pull her close and reassure himself that she was alive while another part wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled for scaring him half to death. His heart had not ceased pounding with fear from the moment he had woken up alone until he had taken Callum off her and seen that she was still alive. The wound Callum had given her was already healed and he felt a little more of the tight fear for her ease.
“Ye never should have come out alone,” he said.
“I ken it, but all I could think of was that we needed some food.” She grimaced. “I had the brief thought that Callum might come hunting me on his own, but shrugged it aside. Odd thing is, I didnae even hear him until he was already leaping toward my back. Lost in my own thoughts of needing to get back to ye, I suspicion. It certainly wasnae worth the rabbit I caught.”
“Nay, but, if it hasnae been ruined during your fight, we might as weel cook and eat it.”
It was hard to lecture someone when they so openly admitted to making a mistake, Gybbon thought with a sigh. He put his arm around her and led her back to the church. They would have a meal and then start on their way to Cambrun. The last of the Hunters now lay in the dirt and would not be found until morning. There was a chance they might actually be able to enjoy some of the journey ahead of them.
He had learned one thing from the fright she had given him. He could call what he felt for her lust, possession, need, and whatever other word he could think of, but it did not change the facts. He loved her. Somehow, in the days they had been running from the Hunters, he had given her his heart. The fear he had felt when he had found her gone had been all-consuming. In his mind’s eyes, he had seen his future without her and it had been cold and bleak.
It explained why he had marked her as his mate so quickly. Instinct had ruled. Something within him, something beyond his ken, had recognized her as his mate. His heart had tried to tell him that she was more but he, in his manly ignorance, had consistently misnamed that more. Gybbon wanted to tell her what he felt, what she meant to him, but decided he would wait until they reached Cambrun. They might not have Hunters trailing them anymore, but the journey would still not be so easy that he could include wooing the heart of his mate along the way.
Gybbon also, reluctantly, admitted that he was not sure about how she felt. She had not noticed the mating mark on her neck and probably would not know what it was if she did. Her passion was sweet and hot, and considering the abuse she had suffered and the scars she had carried, the fact that she felt such passion for him was no small thing. He just could not accept that as a sign that she loved him. He needed something more before he bared his heart to her; he was just not sure what that more was.
As they cooked and ate the rabbit, he told her about Cambrun and its people. Gybbon wanted her to feel as if she knew the place and the people before they rode through Cambrun’s gates. When they reached his home, he would have to speak to her about the future, however. His clan would see the mating mark on her neck and he could not be sure that no one would mention it. Before someone else told Alice that she was mated to him, marked as his for life, he knew he had to say something. He just prayed he could cough up the right words before they reached his home.
Chapter Nine
Cambrun rose up out of the mists so suddenly that Alice almost gasped. One look was all it took for her to see the strength of the keep. It was huge, dark, and would certainly look threatening to an enemy. Alice suspected it could make grown men shiver with awe and fear when they saw it. She saw it as a haven and nearly wept with the realization that she and the children could finally just live without constantly worrying about where their enemies would appear next or even where their next meal might come from.
“’Tis so verra big,” she whispered.
“Aye,” Gybbon agreed and, seeing no fear in her eyes, only a sort of dazed wonder, he smiled. “And nay easy to get to, either.”
“Nay. I began to think ye were just leading me to another cave and then suddenly the mists parted, and there it was. Your ancestors chose weel.”
“Aye, and the need of this place has ne’er been stronger.”
As they neared the gates, he tried to think of how to say she wore his mark on her neck, but the words still would not come. He had wooed her as best he could during the last five days but he found he had no confidence when it came to guessing how she felt about him. Not knowing if he was about to throw his heart at the feet of a woman who only desired him had shown him that he could succumb to cowardice. He would pay for that soon, he thought, as they rode through the gates and his kinsmen rushed to greet him.
The large number of very handsome men at Cambrun astonished Alice. She dismounted and huddled close to Gybbon, a little intimidated by them all, as well as the beautiful women who slowly began to join the welcoming crowd. They smiled and greeted her with warmth but all she could think of was that she could never hold a man like Gybbon when he was accustomed to such beauty.
“Maman!”
That clear, high child’s voice was sweet music to Alice’s ears. She looked around and saw Donn rushing toward her. When he leapt into her open arms, she nearly cried from the strength of the joy that swept through her. A heartbeat later the other children were by her side, hugging her skirts and all talking at once.
All Alice could see through her tear-clouded eyes was how healthy and clean they looked. They wore warm clothing and looked as if they had never known the lack of a meal. But what touched her heart the most was that they were all smiling, all happy and eager to tell her all they had been doing, even solemn little Alyn.
After that everything moved so swiftly, she was dazed by it all. It was not until she was bathed, dressed in a warm blue gown, and having her hair brushed dry by the laird’s wife Bridget that Alice felt she could at least speak sensibly. She looked at the woman who did not look any older than Gybbon even though Alice knew she had to be as old as her own mother had been, perhaps even older.
“M’lady, I ken from all Gybbon told me that ye dinnae have MacNachton blood. Yet ye dinnae look any older than I.” Alice hoped she was not saying the wrong thing but curiosity forced her to press on. “So, ’tis true that MacNachton blood is what makes us strong and gives us a long life? And that can be given
to others through our blood?”
“Aye, and ’tis a secret we pray daily no Outsider will discover,” said Bridget.
Alice shivered with horror at the thought. “I think I shall join in those prayers. If one could be certain it would be fairly shared and our lives nay put in danger, then ’twould be a gift we could share, but that would ne’er happen, I fear.”
“I ne’er looked at it in that way, but aye, it would be wondrous if it could be used to do good, but aye, that would never happen and we would all be in danger if the secret got out. Howbeit, now that ye are here and ye and Gybbon are mated, ye need nay fear for your safety. Weel, nay as much as ye have had to.”
“Um, Gybbon and I arenae married, m’lady.”
“Weel, mayhap not by the laws of the land or church, but we can sort that out in time. Ye are mated, though. Ye bear his mark and a MacNachton doesnae mark anyone but his mate.”
“His mark?”
“Aye. Havenae ye seen it?” Bridget held Alice’s hair to the side and touched the mark on her neck. “Look in the looking glass. Right there. See it?”
“Aye, ’tis a bite.” She could not completely subdue a blush as she thought of what she and Gybbon had been doing when he had bitten her. Several times. “’Tis odd that it hasnae healed and faded away as the others did.”
“Ah, he hasnae told ye.”
“Told me what?”
“Nay, I willnae be the one. Ye had best speak to the great fool and sort this out yourselves.” Bridget put the brush down. “In truth, I believe I shall fetch my nephew and send him here to take care of this right now.” She paused at the door. “And, Alice, we all thank ye for sending the children to us, for trusting us to care for them.”
Before Alice could say anything, the laird’s wife was gone. Shrugging her shoulders, she pulled her hair back and stared at the mark on her neck. It should have disappeared. Gybbon had fed off her more than once yet there was only the one mark. It was faint but it was clear to see what it was. Neither was it sore, so she knew it had healed all it was going to.
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