Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Steel clashed against steel. Men shouted warnings that were quickly swallowed by the violence.
Kaelan never moved far from Bria. He struck down every warrior that came his way. One man fell and then another. A third barely raised his weapon before Kaelan cut him down.
“Stay close,” he shouted to Bria behind him.
Bria had no intention of doing otherwise.
Nearby, Hunters engaged the attackers while Wynn was hurried toward safety.
It did not take long to know the Hunters would not prevail. There were too many warrior mercenaries from the look of them. They had been paid to see the mission done. They would see every person there dead, except for Wynn and Bria.
Kalean did not intend to let that happen. No one would take Bria from him or harm Wynn.
He took three more men down and then he spotted him… Braden.
A Northlander of the Thornek Tribe just like him fought among the attackers.
For a moment, Kaelan could hardly believe it. No Thornek would dare kill another. It went against their beliefs.
Braden met his gaze, a slight smile appearing on his face as if letting Kelan know he proved wiser than him.
There was no mistaking the truth now. This had been planned.
Rage surged through Kaelan that he would dare go against his own kind but worse, that he would dare separate a Thornek husband and wife, knowing the tremendous pain it would cause both.
His roar carried over the battle. “Braden!”
Braden hesitated, but only briefly. Then he turned away and a warning exploded through Kaelan… too late.
Several attackers rushed him at once and he cut down one after the other, losing count of how many.
The delay lasted what seemed like forever, but it was only moments. But moments were enough.
“Kaelan!”
Bria’s cry ripped through him and he spun.
A warrior had Bria by the arm, and he had already put distance between them. And he continued to do so, dragging her even further away as she fought like a wildcat. She elbowed him, kicked at him, twisted her arm in an effort to break free of his grip, refusing to surrender.
Pride and terror struck Kaelan at the same time.
“Bria!” he roared and started toward her.
Three men blocked his path. Three men who died regretting the decision.
Kaelan drove forward, steel continuing to flash and blood spraying. Nothing mattered except reaching his wife.
He continued fighting to get to his wife. Then he spotted Braden again. He had reached Bria. The warrior who held her handed her over to him, his hand closing firmly around her arm. He sent Kaelan a grin, then dragged her off into the depths of the forest.
Kaelan heard Bria scream as he took down two more men.
“Let me go!”
His wife fought as hard as he did and she suffered the same awful ache that came when they were apart.
Kaelan’s fury turned darker and with one swing he cut the warrior down who charged at him, desperate to kill every man preventing him from getting to his wife.
“Kaelan!”
Fiora shot from the trees, her face pale.
“They are taking her to the shoreline! A boat waits.”
The last thread of control snapped.
Kaelan’s eyes flashed gold and he ran.
Bria stumbled as Braden dragged her over the last rise, then her heart sank.
The shoreline stretched before her, further up than where she walked the water’s edge in Willowmere.
The rocky outcroppings, the strip of pale sand, and a cluster of weathered pines all things found along the shoreline she had walked on warm days, searching for shells and collecting smooth stones and bits of sea glass.
It had been a safe place for her, but now seeing the boat waiting just beyond the water’s edge, fear gripped her. If they got her aboard, Kaelan would never reach her in time. He would be lost to her forever, or he would die trying to reach her. She could not let that happen.
Grabbing firm hold of his arm, she dug her heels into the sand.
Braden cursed and jerked her forward. “Stop fighting.”
It came then fast and clear, shocking her. “Ogga is dead. Dreth killed her.”
“She lied to him. She deserved what she got,” Braden said without an ounce of remorse. “Dreth knew there was more to your capture than she said. It was easy to trace your steps and see where you went and learn exactly how beneficial a Wise woman could be to Tharne.”
She cast a quick glance toward the boat. Dreth waited beside it, his grin announcing his victory. And suddenly everything fell together.
“Dreth is using you like he used Ogga. You will meet the same fate as her.”
“She lied,” Braden said as if that explained her death.
“And you are no longer beneficial to him.”
Braden laughed harshly. “You know nothing.”
That was where he was wrong. She had seen it when she touched him, Dreth forcing Ogga to tell him everything, leaving it easy for him to follow her and Kaelan. But how had word reached the Hunters so fast? How had a troop been ready to ride almost immediately?