Page 58 of Tempting the Highland Devil
“What in the heavens name is happenin’ here?” Arran yelled when he found his guards dozing off on the ground.
Two were tied, their mouths muffled with gags, and another lay sprawled on the ground bleeding.
He quickly untied the bound guards as he shouted in alarm.
“Seal the castle, and ring the warning bells. The lady has been kidnapped!”
Arran’s pulse ran wild as his mind went on a quick trip down every possible route. James came running towards him as he descended the stairways and marched for the keep’s exit.
“What do ye need, me laird?”
“A search party!” Arran’s vision blurred with the weight of his anger as he thought of the only man he knew could have taken his wife.
Laird Macmicking.The laird’s bold threats rang clear in Arran’s head. Seeing as Laird Macmicking had easily taken down his guards and made his way out of the castle made Arran suspect the laird had help from inside.
“I want every inch of this castle searched while I take the route leading to the village. I want me lady found…Whoever took her must have nae gotten far.”
“Aye, me laird,” James answered with a sharp bow then his men sprang into action. Arran stared hard at James when it was just the two of them left standing in front of the keep.
Every part of him was charged with tension, and his head ached with the force of his building anger. “Laird Macmicking did this,” Arran said with conviction as he stared into James’s dark eyes. “And I think he had help from inside my castle. There is no other explanation how he or his men could have gotten in here, past my guards, and left with my wife.”
“Ye believe someone is betrayin’ us?” James’ eyes widened, and Arran nodded. He did not know who to trust as it stood, but he wanted to believe that he could trust his man-at-arms.
“We will find the lady,” James said to him next. “I swear it on me life, me laird, and when we do, we will punish the ones behind this.”
“Search the entire perimeter. I want her found!” Arran mounted his horse and galloped out under the torrents of the heavy downpour gracing the Highlands that night.
He ignored the chill seeping into his bones as he searched for her in the dark. The rain washed off whatever trail the intruders left behind, and hours ticked away as he rode around the village, yelling Yvaine’s name till his throat ached.
The rain subsided by the break of dawn, and as the clouds brightened to give way to daylight, Arran trotted back towards his castle to meet with the rest of his men.
“Any luck?” he barked at James when he arrived the castle gates and found his men drenched in the rain while still on their horse’s saddle. James’s grim look made Arran’s heart ache further. James shook his head before averting his gaze from Arrans.
There is only one thing left to do,Arran thought as he clenched his reins tighter and pulsated with the blinding rush of fury.
“Laird Macmicking must pay for this,” he said in thick accented Gaelic as he panted.
“We need to strategize, me laird, and plan our next move. If we head for Macmicking like this, then we might be walking into a trap.”
Arran barely heard James’s warning as he spun his horse around and kicked the horse’s sides to go into a full throttle. He headed down the path leading to the village, knowing that he needed nothing else but the surge of anger rolling through him.
He intended to find Laird Macmicking, and when he did, he would make him pay. Arran already mapped out his plan in his head he rode down the muddy path heading out of his clan lands.
The rush of wind blowing against his face drowned James’ steady voice hollering at him to slow down. He continued his galloping till they finally neared the hilly path descending into the valley leading out of MacGregor.
When Arran slowed his horse, James caught up with him and panted as he came to a halt.
“Me laird, please dinnae rush into battle blindly,” he advised in a trembling voice as he stirred his horse forward to block Arran’s path.
“This is a rash decision,” James continued.
“He has my wife, James.”
“I know,” James continued in a lower tone. “But please, we must tread lightly. We dinnae ken what Laird Macmicking has planned out for us, and riding out there in blind rage might be what he wants.”
Arran could not think of any way to calm his anger. His breath fell harshly from his lips and the tight knots forming in the pit of his stomach twisted till all he felt was the raw pain of Yvaine’s absence.
He tried not to imagine the gruesome things a man like Laird Macmicking could do to her. Arran knew what the zeal of revenge could make a man do. After his mother’s death, he had raged wars to avenge her and ended up killing innocents.
