trees. For almost two hours now she had the suspicion something was watching her. And following her.
She tried to stamp down the fear that continued to grow but was helpless against it. Deirdre’s wyrran could be tracking her. Her heart thumped in her chest, beating double time when she saw something move in the trees.
The urge to run was strong, but Lucan had told her to stand her ground, to know what she was fighting. If there was a chance to win, she had to get the upper hand.
Cara still couldn’t believe she had left with nothing. She glanced at her feet and saw a stick that was long enough and thick enough for her to use as a weapon.
She drew her mother’s vial from beneath her gown and wrapped her fingers around it. Prayers tumbled from her lips, but nothing could ease the terror inside her. She tried to recall everything that Lucan had taught her, but one afternoon of training a warrior she did not make.
A twig snapped to her right, and she jerked her head around, the stick raised in her hand. Only there was nothing. She knew her imagination was running away with her, that she was envisioning monsters where there weren’t any.
She gasped when she turned back around to find a man standing before her. He had dark hair held back in a queue at his neck. The saffron shirt beneath his kilt of bold green and blue with black was threadbare but clean. His tartan wasn’t one she recognized, which meant he wasn’t from a neighboring clan.
“Are you lost?”
She started at his deep, rich voice.
“I can help you,” he continued. “The forest is easy to become lost in.”
She licked her lips. “You’ve been following me.”
“Aye,” he answered with a small nod. Blue eyes watched her with patience. “I saw you come into the forest as if you were running from something.”
“What clan are you from?”
His gaze dropped from hers for a moment. “Shaw.”
There were no Shaws anywhere near them. She didn’t know if he had been banished or left his clan on his own, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know which. “I’ll be fine. Thank you for your offer.”
“You don’t look as though you’ll be all right, lass. There are many wild creatures in the woods, and that stick in your hands willna keep them at bay.”
“I know all about wild creatures,” she mumbled. She would much rather face a boar than one of the Warriors.
He lifted his hands. “I have no weapons, and I mean you no harm. I only want to see you safely out of the forest.”
She glanced at the sky. It would be dark soon. And the night brought all kinds of things she wasn’t ready to face. Not without Lucan. “Is there somewhere I can stay the night?”
“There is a shelter,” he said slowly, his eyes narrowed as if he wasn’t sure he should have told her. “I can take you there.”
Cara dropped her head back against the tree. She didn’t know what to do. Sister Abigail had always told her she was too trusting. The stranger, Shaw, didn’t look as if he meant her any harm, but that didn’t mean anything.
“You don’t trust me.” It wasn’t a question.
Cara shook her head.
“You are right not to trust,” Shaw said. “There are too many . . . things . . . to be wary of.”
It was the way he said it that made her take another look at him. In his blue gaze she saw pain and weariness and . . . something else that looked almost familiar.
“What’s in the forest?” she asked. She had to know.
He shifted his gaze to the trees over her shoulder. “Nothing too scary.”
Cara thought of Lucan and how she wished he were beside her. She felt chilled to her soul and only Lucan’s heat could warm her. The only scary things she knew were the wyrrans and Warriors. As long as they weren’t in the forest, she would make it.
“Who do you run from?” Shaw asked.
She shrugged. “Myself.”
“Ah,” he said, and nodded. “I understand.”
There was a loud growl to her left. Cara turned her head to see something dark crashing through the trees at an alarming rate. She caught sight of claws and teeth amid what looked like shadows.
She turned back to Shaw to find the man vanished and in his place was a Warrior. He faced her threat crashing toward them, his lips peeled back to show his fangs. Cara couldn’t take her eyes off his skin, which had turned a dark green that could easily cloak him in the forest.
The brothers had been wondering how to find other Warriors, and she had discovered one by accident. Was he friend or foe? More important, could he beat whatever was about to attack them?
The thought had barely gone through her mind before Shaw crashed backward to the ground, flipping over and over with the force of the other Warrior upon him. Cara turned to run when she saw something gleam gold against the black skin of the attacker’s neck.
Lucan.
He straddled Shaw and raised his hand. She winced when his claws slashed Shaw’s chest. The other Warrior howled in pain and kicked Lucan in the back, knocking him over Shaw’s head.
Both jumped to their feet, circling each other. Around Lucan she saw darkness follow him, as if it waited for his call.
Cara couldn’t let this continue.
“Lucan! Stop. He was helping me,” she cried.
Lucan paused and glanced at her. “Are you hurt?”
“Nay.”
“Lucan?” Shaw said. “Lucan MacLeod?”
Cara’s gaze jerked to Shaw, who stared hard at Lucan.
“Who wants to know?” Lucan asked.
Shaw lowered his arms. In a blink his skin returned to normal, all traces of the Warrior gone. “I’m Galen Shaw. Deirdre unbound my god not long after she found you and your brothers.”
Cara took a step toward the men, but Lucan held up a hand to stop her. He kept in his Warrior form, his black skin gleaming in the fading sunlight that filtered through the trees. She was fascinated by the change in him and how easily he wore the dual responsibility.
“All the Warriors I’ve encountered have tried to force me back to Deirdre,” Lucan said.
Galen shook his head. “Word of how you and your brothers escaped Deirdre is what gave many of us the courage we needed to break free ourselves. But that was long ago when she thought fear would keep us in the mountain. She has a different dungeon now, one that no one comes back from.”
“You could be lying.”
“I could,” Galen agreed. “But I’m not. Every Warrior knows of the MacLeods. Every Highlander knows of the MacLeods. You and your brothers are legendary, Lucan. I’ve been searching for you for over a century.”
Lucan stiffened. “You want to be the one to try and take me back to Deirdre’s?”
Galen sighed. “Haven’t you listened to anything I’ve said? You and your brothers aren’t the only ones fighting Deirdre and her plan for dominance. We need to band together.”
“Aye,” Cara said. “I agree.”
Lucan ignored her, his gaze boring into Galen.
Finally Galen sighed. “Think on it, MacLeod. Deirdre will find you someday.”
“She already has,” Lucan said.
Galen’s body jerked as if he’d been shot with an arrow. “You already fought her?”
“Not yet. She sent her wyrran and a few Warriors looking for . . . something else. They found me
