Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 36428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 121(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 121(@300wpm)
Dawn nodded and smiled, stretching her hand out to him.
His hand closed around hers, squeezing it, and he sat next to her on the bed. “You frightened me.”
She kept smiling as she patted her chest.
It was easy to understand her gesture. “You frightened yourself as well. Then you need to stop frightening the both of us and rest, so you will be ready to leave here.”
She nodded and she crossed her chest with her finger to promise him.
“This is my fault. I should have stripped you bare once we were alone to make sure we didn’t miss any other wounds you might have had.”
She chuckled and gestured that that would not have been a good idea.
“Are you saying that I would have surrendered to passion once I saw you naked?”
Her responding gesture had him turning a playful scowl on her. “Are you telling me I can’t resist you?”
She chuckled again as she nodded.
“Well, you are right about that,” he said, chuckling himself, and tapped the tip of her nose. “But you were in no shape for pleasure. My only thought was to get you help.” She gestured quickly. “Aye, and I did.”
He pulled the blanket up over her to leave the wound exposed so it could be tended to when Lynall returned. “I should get you out of all your garments except for your shift. That way you will keep to this room.”
Dawn just tilted her head and stared at him.
She didn’t have to respond; he understood his mistake immediately. “Blood hell, you’re right. You need to be fully clothed if we need to make a hasty escape.”
She gestured again, curious to know what was said between him and Lord Tiernan.
“He knows of two possible foes who may present a problem, though he didn’t say if they were human or wolves. And nothing was said of the possibility of werewolves, but I never expected that acknowledgment. It would be too risky for him to admit such a dangerous thing, if it were true. The consequences could be devastating to his clan.” He shook his head slightly. “I question my own sanity in pledging my sword to protect a clan of werewolves, but taking shelter among them leaves me no choice.”
Dawn’s hands gestured slowly, and her eyes showed understanding.
“Aye, we cannot say for certain if they are werewolves, but so many things point that way.”
Dawn continued to voice her opinion through gestures.
“Aye, they have only shown us kindness when they simply could have killed us and disposed of any evidence that we had ever been here, and no one would have been the wiser.”
Cree disliked that thought, thinking of how his warriors would have searched in vain for them until they had no choice but to return home without them. Sloan, his longtime friend, would have continued the search, never giving up, and he and his wife Lucerne would have taken over the care of the children, looking after them as if they were their own.
The thought angered him, and he saw that his wife must be thinking the same for she looked upset.
He took hold of her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll make it home, Dawn. I promise you that we will make it home.”
She nodded, though the worry did not leave her eyes.
Trying to ease her concern, he said, “I was surprised to learn that Lord Tiernan abhors battle. He simply wants to live in peace. I believe we reached a good understanding. He told me that Clan MacMadadh is loyal to any clan that is loyal to his. He knows that I will help not harm him in anyway and that I expect the same from him.”
Dawn squeezed her husband’s hand as if that news pleased her.
Cree brushed a soft strand of hair off the side of her face. “I am no longer in any rush for us to leave here. I believe we are safer here for now since we don’t know what or who awaits us out there.”
She nodded agreeing and he kissed her brow.
“Rest and grow strong, Dawn, for what we face here may not be common to this world.”
CHAPTER 9
Cree slept lightly, keeping aware of every sound he heard as his wife slept cuddled against him. He became fully alert when he heard the sound of an animal’s claws clicking along the stone passageway and then it stopped outside the bedchamber door. A snort sounded before the clicking sound began to fade away. When he heard it again later in the night, he realized the animal was patrolling the keep. If that was so, did it mean Lord Tiernan worried that his foe might find their way into the keep, or was he being cautious?
He still found it difficult to believe that the whole of Clan MacMadadh was a pack of werewolves. But he could not refute the evidence thus far. Besides, he had seen strange and unexplainable things during his travels when he was a mercenary. Things he never imagined possible. However, the werewolf tale always struck him more as a myth rather than truth. There was a Norse tribe in a remote region, the Ulfr tribe—wolf tribe—a fitting name, who believed themselves wolves. They revered wolves. They wore the heads of dead wolves and the skinned hides when going into battle and many believed them madmen and avoided them when at all possible. But they were human men who pretended to be wolves.