Page 66 of The Highlander's Accidental Wife
“Tell yer feckin’ master to face me himself,” Damien roared. “Lachlan, I will kill every last one of yer men.”
“He ain’t here,” the man spat, his accent flat and rough, from London’s slums. “This is to avenge our mates, remind you that no matter how many of us you kill, you cannot kill us all.”
“Watch me.” Damien swung his sword, aiming for the man’s neck.
Only, the man laughed and dodged it with ease, his body moving like a snake. Then, he turned around with a wide, manic grin. “Oh, you can’t kill us all, MacCabe. No matter how hard you try. Haven’t you realized that yet?”
“Yer man on the cliff might say otherwise.”
“Ah, he was a shitty shot anyway. No loss.”
The pirate swung his swords fast, and Damien caught a blur of color to his left as another pirate tried to creep around him. He barely had time to block the two swords with his own and shove the first Viper back. He spun and lashed out at the second Viper, who wielded a dirk and a short blade.
Damien cracked a grim smile as he drove the second Viper back, sending the short blade flying, and nearly taking off the head of the first Viper.
The first Viper laughed again, sending Damien into a cold rage. “Ah, I almost forgot, MacCabe,” he crooned as he swung his blades faster and faster. “Our Captain seeks revenge, says he must have a life for a life, and with all the lives you took…” He grinned and shook back his mane of pale hair, revealing glinting, inky eyes like those of a shark. “Can you blame us for starting with your lassie?”
Damien let out a roar and charged at him. The man’s face fell then, alarm flashing in his eyes, and Damien pressed his advantage. Only, the bastard spun, shoving the other pirate at him.
The second Viper managed to slice through Damien’s injured shoulder. But at the same time, Damien’s blade pierced through the other man’s chest.
He sagged on the blade, and Damien threw the body aside, stalking after the first Viper, who skipped back.
“Two down,” Damien said and lifted his blades. A gust of cold wind came, stirring his hair. “One to go.”
They clashed together, their swords bright. Damien felt a rush of confusion, something prickling at the back of his neck, when he realized he had not imagined it.
The sky had darkened overhead, and the wind rose around him in a wail. When they broke apart, Damien chanced a glance back toward the horses and the cave, but then a crack of thunder had him shift his gaze back.
“Let’s end this,” he growled and shoved forward, wielding both blades in one hand and pulling out a dirk with the other. “Ye willnae live.”
The man scrambled back, his chest heaving. The cuts across his cheek and his chest were bleeding profusely. His eyes darted beyond Damien, suddenly widening and lighting up with joyous cruelty.
“What will you choose, I wonder,” the Viper said.
At that, Damien faltered, forcing himself not to glance back. At the same moment, the wind rose, and rain lashed down. Another crack of thunder came, closer this time, and his heart began to beat faster. Still, he pursued the pirate, tightening his grip on the handle of his dirk, and lifted it to throw?—
“Damien.” Helena’s voice was barely audible above the wind.
Damien could not help it—he stopped to look back. She was outside the cave, struggling with both horses, trying to bring them in, and terror seized him.
“Oh, she’s brave,” the Viper said, his voice soft among the chaos of the storm. “That will serve her well in the rightful Laird’s court.”
“To hell with ye,” Damien snarled and spun around, throwing his dirk.
It missed the fleeing Viper by inches, slicing through the man’s thigh. He stumbled but did not stop, and vanished into the growing gloom of the rocks.
Damien took a step after him when Helena let out a scream and called for him again.
For a moment, he hesitated, knowing that he could still catch the bastard, but then he turned around and ran back to Helena. She had managed to get Gorgon in, but his horse, Fife, kept shying and bucking. Helena’s skirts were soaked, and her hair was loose, falling around her. From the dirt on her side, he concluded that she’d fallen.
He let out a shout as she fell again and surged forward, shoving Fife back before his horse trampled his betrothed.
“Get inside,” he gritted out and then caught Fife’s reins, pulling hard on them.
He stroked his hand down the beast’s neck, murmuring in Gaelic until the horse had calmed down enough that he could pull himforward. And though the horse pranced nervously, he followed Damien in.
With a sigh, Damien tethered the horse next to Gorgon by the entrance, in a hollow of rock that would give them a bit of light from outside—or what was left of the light—and protect them from the storm.
