“I’m your husband, and my final word stands.” Water sluiced down his black leather pants as he pulled his jerkin on over his dripping black tunic. He strapped his weapons in place and stuffed his feet into his boots.
“Your worry rages and I understand that, but—”
“No arguments.” He shoved a hand over her mouth and gritted, “I cannae lose you, and right now I might be acting on my emotions but those have never failed me afore. You’re going to return to Ardan House where I know you’ll be safe. There I’ll leave you, while I return to Skye.”
She pushed his hand away. “I willnae allow you to force me to your will. ’Tis my duty to care for my loved ones, and leaving Ethan to deal with Gavin on his own is unacceptable.”
“I will watch over Ethan for you.” His unyielding expression said he wouldn’t back down, not on this issue, not now.
Neither would she.
“Listen to me well, Duncan MacKenzie.” She cleared her throat and allowed her compelling voice to rise. Never would she hand this all-important mission over to him, not when doing so would be sending him directly to his enemy’s doorstep and into an even greater war. He was her soul bound mate, hers to protect, always and forever. “You will do exactly as I say. No moving, no’ one inch. You will be as stone, unable to chase me as I leave, unable to speak as well. Am. I. Understood?”
Damn it. His woman wasn’t going to get away with this. Never would he allow her to compel him and place her very life in danger by doing so. He tried to grab her, to halt her however he could, only he hit the ground. Stiff and unmoving, he lay there on his back, breath ragged and his mind screaming at him to move, to make chase as she dashed out of the cavern and disappeared from his sight.
His fear for her gripped his heart like a fist and twisted hard.
Fighting with every breath he had, he shoved and heaved against the rigidness of his stiff muscles. Even his voice remained mute, his lips stuck together by the command she’d issued.
Long minutes passed, mayhap an hour and there was naught he could do about it. Never had fear struck him so hard. If anything should happen to her because of his inability to keep her safe, hell, even he’d happily slice his own head from his shoulders.
“My laird?” Ivor’s voice rang in his ears and his man bounded in beside him, grabbed his shoulders and heaved him to his feet. “Hamish has returned and the men await us on the beach. Why are you so stiff, and where is my lady?”
“Ella compelled me,” he finally managed to push through tight lips. “Keep jostling me about. ’Tis aiding me in loosening up.”
“Ella didnae pass me by. That I give you my word on.” Ivor jerked him back and forth and more of his stiffness eased, his voice as well.
“Harder, man.”
Ivor shook him harder and finally something snapped.
A wave of heat raced through him and tingled his fingertips and toes and the moment it did, all sensation returned. He shook his hands and stamped his feet then was off. Down the tunnel, he raced and through the thin crack at the entrance.
Ivor stormed in beside him. “My lady must have compelled me as well. I sensed a daze for a bit, as if I’d caught a wink of sleep or such. Where is she?”
“There is only one place she would go.” He glared up at the craggy cliff face, at the hand and footholds and the distinct mark of booted prints grazing the mud coating the black rock. Higher up, the scrub had been tugged on and nearer the ledge that ran in a diagonal line from the halfway point to the top, more signs of her passage lay in the scuffing of her prints, while at his feet, stones and other debris lay scattered in the sand. “She’s gone to Dunscaith.”
He’d stake his life on it.
“Is all well?” Hamish jogged up from the water’s edge where his second had partially beached their vessel along the shoreline. “I caught a vision of Ella falling overboard, but only a mere second afore she did. There was naught I could do to halt her from being tossed into the sea.”
“I understand, but now we have an even greater issue. Ella has escaped and climbed by way of this cliff. Sail alongside the coastline as Ivor and I follow her tracks. Watch out for any sign of her.”
“Will do.” Hamish faced his men. “You heard our orders.”
“When I find my wife”—Duncan grasped the first handhold and swung up—“I might very well kill her.”