Donna Grant - Untamed Highlander

Isla didn’t want to sit. She couldn’t remember the last time she had shared a meal with anyone. Trepidation filled her. Maybe she should have declined the invitation to join them.

She stared at the two tables placed together to make one long one. There was one chair at the head of the table that Fallon reclined in, a smile on his face as he listened to something Lucan said.

Cara placed loaves of bread at various spots on the table, and Galen was quick to grab one which he kept all to himself. Cara shook her head with a smile and motioned to the empty space beside Galen. “Isla, you can sit here.”

Isla stepped over the bench and sank down beside Galen. He was deep in conversation with Ramsey, who sat across from him. Across from Isla sat Marcail and on Marcail’s right was Quinn.

Cara sat beside Isla with a sigh. “We’re going to need to add more tables if any more Warriors arrive.”

Marcail nodded. “Or Druids.”

Isla sat with her hands in her lap as the trenchers were passed around the table and everyone grabbed what they wanted. To her shock, Galen speared several slices of meat and put them on her plate.

“You need to eat,” he said by way of explanation.

After that, Isla took what she wanted. Conversation filled the hall, easing her muscles and lightening her mood. The food was delicious, but it was everything else that made her long for her village and the laughter she used to share around her family’s table.

Quinn had suggested she let go of the past, but if she did what would she have? Nothing.

“Isla,” Fallon called. “Is Galen keeping his fingers from your trencher? He has a habit of stealing food.”

Galen grunted as he finished drinking and set down his goblet. “I doona take food from a lady, Fallon. However, if she’s full, I’ll be more than happy to finish her meal.”

Everyone laughed, and Isla found herself grinning as well. When was the last time she smiled, truly smiled? And then her gaze clashed with eyes as black as midnight. Her heart skipped a beat as she returned Hayden’s stare, lost in the darkness of his gaze.

She had the insane urge to go to him, to sit beside him and … what? What did she want him to do?

Too many things. None of which I can allow.

It was only when Logan nudged him that Hayden looked away from her. Isla didn’t understand the disappointment that rose within her. Hayden was a dangerous man, a reckless Warrior. She needed to stay as far away from him as she could.

Why then did she find she wanted to be near him?

She looked down at her trencher to see she had eaten nearly everything. For a few heartbeats, she had forgotten who she was and where she had been. She had lived in the moment, and it had been glorious.

“Hayden willna hurt you,” Galen leaned over and whispered.

She looked into Galen’s dark blue eyes and saw his sincerity. “I do not fear Hayden or any Warrior.”

He smiled and nodded. “Nay, I doona believe you do. Does it bother you that Hayden watches you?”

“I gather he doesn’t trust me.”

Galen shrugged and bit into the bread. “It goes deeper than that. He doesna care for droughs .”

“I hadn’t noticed,” she replied with sarcasm.

Galen laughed, causing many to look their way. “You have wit, Isla. I don’t think you should keep it all bottled inside you. Listen to what the MacLeods have to say. We can help.”

If only that were the truth.

All too soon the meal was over. The men rose and left the hall while the MacLeod brothers and a few Warriors remained.

Isla helped the women clear the table. The act of cleaning was not one she had done in ages, but she had never minded it. She and her sister had shared many a good time of washing clothes or the dishes.

With five of them cleaning it didn’t take long before it was finished. Isla was going to return to her chamber to get ready to leave, but when she entered the hall, Quinn called her over.

The brothers hadn’t moved from their seats at the table, and their wives resumed their places beside their husbands. Broc, Sonya, and Galen were also present.

“We’d like to speak with you some more,” Lucan said. “Would you please sit with us?”

A few more moments wouldn’t matter. Besides, she was curious as to what they would say to her. “All right,” Isla said as she lowered herself onto the bench.

She lifted her gaze to the stairwell and the open wall of the corridor above. A man stood there. A man with obsidian eyes and fair hair. A man who watched her constantly.

Somehow, she was glad to know Hayden was there, even if he didn’t like what she was. It was odd, and she couldn’t explain it, but there it was.

“First,” Fallon said and leaned his forearms on the table, “I wanted to apologize for letting the others know what Galen discovered when he read your mind. But please understand he didn’t do it maliciously.”

Galen shook his head. “I already told her I did it because we needed to know why she fought Sonya’s healing. I told them she was tortured, but I didn’t tell them specifics.”

“I fought the healing because I wanted and needed to stay weak,” Isla said. She was relieved to know Galen hadn’t seen everything, or if he did, he wisely kept it to himself.

Cara nodded. “To fight against Deirdre’s hold.”

Quinn blew out a breath. “Finding you has given us an advantage over Deirdre. You know so much, Isla. You could help us fight her.”

“And I would,” she told them. “If I’d had a choice, I would never have stayed with Deirdre, never have become drough , and I would have helped you. But I will be more of a hindrance than anything else.”

“You mentioned artifacts,” Fallon said. “Are you sure of what you heard?”

“Of course,” she replied. “I would not lie.”

Sonya raised her fiery brows. “Then why haven’t you told us where to locate it?”

Isla turned to the mie and held her gaze for several long moments before she looked back at Fallon, dismissing Sonya from her mind. “I don’t have an exact location, but an area. It is with a group of Druids so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find.”

“And you’ll share that with us? Freely?” Lucan asked.

Isla almost smiled. She had shocked them. Good. “All that I ask is that once I give you the information I’m allowed to leave.”

Marcail frowned. “But you aren’t a prisoner.”

Isla lifted a shoulder. “I would disagree. I’m healing and my magic is strong again. I can force my way out of the castle, but I’d rather not. You are everyone’s only hope of ending Deirdre for good, and I don’t wish to harm any of you.”

“I believe Isla speaks the truth,” Galen said.

Broc folded his arms over his chest. “As do I.”

After a nod from both Quinn and Lucan, Fallon said, “Give us as much detail as you can. There’s no reason for us not to investigate this. If it’s real and we reach it before Deirdre, we’ll be that much stronger against her.”

“Tell me one thing,” Lucan said. “Why haven’t you gotten the artifact yourself?”

“I had to guard myself constantly with Deirdre. She didn’t allow me outside the mountain unless I was carrying out her orders, and most of those times she was in control of my mind. When would I have had time to find the Druids and convince them to give me the artifact?”

Lucan grunted. “True enough.”

“The Druids are deep in the mountains,” Isla answered Fallon. “Near Loch Awe in the region of Argyll. The last I heard, they had made their home in one of the dense forests.”

Galen ran a hand down his face. “It’ll take days to search around the loch.”

“Not if I go,” Broc said.