to cut a long gash in his throat.
“You willna be laughing when I’m done with you,” William taunted.
Quinn lifted a brow. “Is she too much for you to handle, William? Is that why she needs me?”
“Shut your mouth,” William bellowed.
“Try and stop me.”
For a moment Quinn thought he would get the brawl he wanted, but William suddenly released him.
“As much as I want to kill you, I canna. One day, though, MacLeod, Deirdre will grow tired of you. When she does, I’ll be there to end your life.”
“Why wait? Let’s take care of this now.” Quinn bared his fangs and widened his stance. He needed to take some anger out on the Warrior, and if it was a fight to the death, all the better.
William growled low in his throat as he grinned. “Not just yet. I’m going to enjoy what’s coming your way next.”
Quinn didn’t like the sound of that. He had no choice but to follow William. By the time they stopped, Quinn guessed they were well above the Pit.
When William halted next to a door and opened it, Quinn expected to find Deirdre when he stepped inside the chamber. Instead, it was empty. The sound of the door closing behind him had Quinn turning around. To find William standing there with a cocky smile.
“I think you’re going to like this,” William said.
Quinn readied himself for anything as he let his gaze wander the chamber. It was small with no weapons or even chairs. The one thing it did have besides the door was a large opening that looked into the next chamber.
“Where is Deirdre?” Quinn demanded.
“She’s not yet ready to talk to you.”
Quinn narrowed his gaze on the Warrior. The need to feel his blood on his hands, to kill, was overwhelming. “Then why am I here?”
“Watch and find out.”
Quinn turned back to the opening when sounds from the next room drifted to him. It took everything he had to remain standing still when he caught sight of Ian. He was still in his Warrior form, but his face was mottled with blood and bruises.
The Warriors on either side of Ian were the only things that kept him standing. When they shackled him in the center of the chamber so that he hung from his arms with his toes dragging on the floor, Quinn knew things were only going to get worse.
“You shouldna have denied her, MacLeod,” William said as he moved to stand next to Quinn. “You and your brothers have always thought yourselves better than the rest of us.”
“Not true. We just thought we were better than you.”
Quinn needed an outlet for his fury, and William was that outlet.
William didn’t take the bait, though. “Watch your friend suffer for your arrogance, MacLeod.”
The two Warriors who had brought Ian into the chamber each held a lash in their hands. At the end of the whips dangled metal points with jagged edges.
“Ian,” Quinn called, but his friend acted as though he hadn’t heard.
“Doona bother,” William said. “He canna hear or see you thanks to Deirdre’s magic.”
Quinn gripped the edge of the opening as the Warriors lifted their arms, the whips moving on the floor. He would do anything to stop this, even take the punishment for his own if he could.
Each strike that landed on Ian’s back was like a dagger to Quinn’s heart. Ian held steady through it all, and when he passed out, they revived him only to do it all over again.
Ian’s back was a mass of blood and skin when they were finished, but they weren’t done with him. The Warriors dropped the whips and began to beat Ian with their fists and claws.
Quinn wanted to beg them to stop, but he had to be strong. Deirdre wanted him, and he would make her pay dearly for hurting Ian. As long Ian stayed alive he would heal, and Quinn could set everything right.
Until then, Quinn would have to stand solid and not give in to his desire to rush into a fight as he normally did.
“I have much more in store for your friend,” William said. “I wanted to bring the other twin, but Deirdre hasn’t allowed that. Yet.”
Quinn faced his enemy and bared his fangs. “You know as well as I that Deirdre wants me. I’ve already told her I will be hers.”
William threw back his head and laughed. “Actually, MacLeod, the message never reached Deirdre. It stopped with me.”
Cold fury poured through Quinn. He lunged for William and had his hand wrapped around the bright blue Warrior’s throat in a heartbeat.
“Kill me, and Ian dies.”
Quinn let his claws puncture William’s skin and blood ran in five rivulets down the Warrior’s bare chest. Quinn could kill William and take on the other two Warriors with Ian, but getting Ian and the others out of the mountain without alerting Deirdre would be impossible. And he wasn’t leaving Ian behind.
“Why am I here?”
William jerked against Quinn’s hand, but Quinn didn’t release him. “I’ve been ordered to torture Ian until tomorrow. Deirdre has refused to speak to anyone until that time. Even you, MacLeod.”
Quinn released William with a growl. He paced the small chamber and glanced at Ian who was helpless to shield his body from the brutal hits.
“I will kill you for this,” Quinn told William.
William rubbed his throat. “You can try. Until then, you can either watch your friend being beaten or watch him be killed.”
“Deirdre didn’t order his death.”
“Maybe not, but accidents do happen.”
Quinn took a step toward him. “I will tell her what you’ve done.”
“And I have two Warriors who will say differently,” William replied. “What will it be, MacLeod?”
Not wanting to chance his friend’s death, Quinn turned to the opening. As he watched the torture continue, Quinn planned out how he would leisurely and painfully kill William.
Seventeen
Marcail was lost as she never had been before. She still couldn’t believe Quinn was really gone. As much as she wanted to believe that he would return, she knew he wouldn’t. Once Deirdre had him, she would never release him.
She huddled in the shadows with her arms wrapped around herself. Though she longed to hide and pretend she wasn’t in the worst place in Scotland, she kept herself near the entrance so she could see any movement.
Many times before she had seen Charon take more than just a curious interest in Quinn and his men. Now, that interest had shifted to Arran.
Arran was in the next cave with Duncan, who hadn’t been seen since Quinn was taken from the Pit. The more she watched Charon, though, the more interested the copper Warrior seemed to be in whatever Arran and Duncan were doing.
She thought over Quinn’s words about Charon being a spy. All she had were her suspicions, and she didn’t even know what to do with them.
Marcail grasped the end of a braid and ran her fingers over the gold that bound her hair. If only there were some way to help Quinn.
If she wanted to help Quinn she was going to have to take risks she normally wouldn’t, and that meant leaving the safety of Quinn’s cave. Before she changed her mind, she rose to her feet and walked to Charon.
