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"Your Donald isn ’t cohed Lauchlan loped effortlessly behind her, enjoying the chase as if it were so to whet the appetite, as a ould toy with a doe "The redcoats are co and here he is out for a wee stroll in the woods The fool was looking about notme, and he dropped, easy as a wink"

Lily sprinted for the tree line If he thought Donald had been alone, Robert was out there so, maybe Robert had been able to ride away She just hoped he was not too injured to make it safely back to the keep

She could hear Lauchlan panting behind her, and it wasn’t exertion that she heard so much as the sound of lust A chill shivered up Lily’s spine It would be iait with speed alone If she used her s hih the dense brambles and scrub that carpeted the Lochaber woods She believed she could escape hi between the saplings that grew along the forest ’s edge, she lunged for a spindly branch and snatched it in her hand, its young fibrous bark slicing through her pal a sticky track of sap in its wake She let go and heard a satisfyingly loud crack as the branch se of his nose

"Bloody hell, you freed "You ’ll be sorry Aye, sorry you ’ll be to have vexed a MacKintosh " He growled and Lily felt his hand swipe at her sleeve "I’d thought to take you soft, but now I ’ve a new , trying to grab hold of Lily

"Get here, galla ìleach! " Lily felt the tug at her skirt and heard the fabric tear She rip but it had thrown her off balance, and she was sent tuenerally appreciate when the lassies give me a wee chase " Lauchlan was astride her in an instant "but this -- -- is over led to flip her onto her back "Face ?"

The rich sled to stay on her belly, legs clenched tight, digging through the loa to help her Her hands found a rotted log and she grabbed hold, trying to pull and wriggle her way out from under him, but it crumbled into sodden dust

Lauchlan abandoned his attean to tear at her skirts instead His grunts beca fabric resounded through the trees A blast of cool air hit Lily’s legs She heard the jingle of Lauchlan’s buckle as he tossed aside his sword and began to fumble with his sporran and kilt, and she cried out, finally breaking, a rush of hot tears spilling out, rowling It wasn’t until she felt Lauchlan pause that she realized the sound didn ’t e to part her legs, were suddenly still "Dé an diabhal a "… , he liht for Lauchlan ’s throat

"You bloody cur! " he shouted, and rolled off her back, fuian dubh tucked in his sock while his other aruarded his neck

Lily scuttled away on her knees and her heart soared at the sight of Finn worrying the front of Lauchlan ’s shirt, snapping desperately for a taste of flesh He cuffed the dog and Finn let out a brief whi with renewed ferocity

The

"Don’t rusk at me, you accursed rat " Lauchlan snatched at the scruff of Finn’s neck, his other hand closing around the dagger at his calf Lily swayed as terror erupted in her anew, quickening her breath and weakening her legs She looked around desperately for anything to stop hi’s neck,in the forest’s dappled sunlight And poor Finn fought so bravely He had no idea as about to happen, that his efforts were to be in vain

Lily stepped toward hie rock in her path, inexplicably clean and perfectly formed amidst the debris on the forest floor She bent and took its sht in her hand

Lily caressed the stone It fit snugly, reassuringly in her palm She looked from Finn to Lauchlan, and hatred of this man ould torture innocents out of spite roiled in her A violent sneer distorted his features and a red stain blosso to his side Good, then, she thought, Finn had drawn blood