God help them. They chose the wrong woman to steal.
Flynn followed his gaze and gave a low whistle beneath his breath. “She doesnae look afraid.”
Ian allowed the faintest hint of a smile to touch his lips. “She rarely is.”
Flynn nodded. “Aye, I’ve noticed.”
Ian studied her for another moment, committing the sight of her to memory. He had been so close to losing her. The thought struck deep.
Flynn glanced toward him again. “Ye ready for this?”
Ian’s eyes darkened. “I have never been more ready for anything in me life.”
He slowly drew his sword. The steel whispered softly as it left the scabbard.
Below them, a raider rose from the fire and staggered toward the trees with a flask in his hand, unaware of the men watching him from above.
Ian lifted his hand. Every warrior behind him fell instantly silent.
“Wait for me signal,” he murmured.
The men nodded grimly. Ian took one final look toward Arianna. The firelight flickered across her face, illuminating the stubborn determination in her expression even from this distance.
Something fierce and protective surged within him.
Hold on, lass.
Then he lowered his hand. “Now,” he said.
They descended upon the camp like thunder rolling down the mountainside. One moment, the raider camp lay wrapped in careless laughter and firelight, and the next the night exploded with the clash of steel and the roar of warriors. Ian’s men burstfrom the trees with swords drawn, their battle cries shattering the quiet of the forest. Horses screamed and reared against their tethers while raiders scrambled wildly for weapons.
Ian charged down the slope with deadly purpose, his sword flashing in the firelight as he plunged into the heart of the camp. Sparks leapt into the air as blades collided with ringing force. Raiders shouted in confusion, many still half-drunk as they stumbled into the fight.
One man lunged toward Ian with an axe raised high. Ian sidestepped the swing with precision and drove his blade straight through the man’s chest. The raider collapsed instantly, his axe thudding uselessly into the dirt. Ian wrenched his sword free without slowing.
Flynn appeared beside him a moment later, cutting down another raider who tried to flank them.
“About time we ruined their evening,” Flynn muttered.
The camp had become a storm of violence. Men shouted and cursed while steel clashed. Ian fought forward through the chaos, cutting and striking with relentless fury as he pushed deeper into the camp. His gaze searched desperately through the shifting bodies and shadows for Arianna.
Then Flynn shouted suddenly. “Ian! To the left!”
Ian turned sharply just as a raider lunged toward him with a curved blade. He caught the strike on his sword with a sharp clang and twisted aside, driving his shoulder into the man’s chest.
The raider staggered. Ian finished him with one swift strike.
“I see her!” Ian shouted.
Across the camp, near the dying fire, he spotted Arianna. She was still bound to the rough log where the raiders had tied her. Even now she struggled fiercely against a large raider attempting to restrain her. The man had grabbed her arm, but she kicked him sharply in the knee.
The raider swore violently. Ian’s vision narrowed. Seeing her fight even while bound ignited something savage within him. Rage surged through his blood like wildfire.
I will reach her,and he will die.
“Ian!” Flynn called. Two raiders rushed them at once. Ian moved quick.
He parried the first blade, ducked beneath the second, and slashed hard across one man’s arm. Flynn drove his sword into the other raider’s ribs before the man could recover.
