An outlaw clutched each of Dani's wrists, and their leader followed behind with a sword at her back. "Coming with us, you are, bonny lass." They dragged her up a different slope, this one far more solid.
"Why? Where are you taking me?"
"You'll be knowing that when you get there."
"Turn me loose!" She twisted, trying to dislodge their grimy hands. If only she'd taken self-defense or karate. She glanced up, looking for Gavin.
He still flapped his wings above them, a dark shadow against the sky.
She stumbled over a rock, and if not for the fiendish men's hands strangling her arms, she would've fallen.
"Had pity on the poor wee lamb, did you, lass?" The bearded man chuckled.
"If you guys hurt it, so help me!"
"We would nay hurt Lady Wilona MacRae." They laughed.
"Wilona? She shifted into a lamb? Crap." Dani felt like the most gullible person on earth. She should've suspected. Gavin had already told her she transformed into an owl and a wolf. Apparently, she could turn into any animal she wanted. "Do you work for that evil witch?"
Their leader's eyes bulged. "'Tis dangerous to call her that."
"Why did she send you after me? If she thinks I trashed her curse, I didn't. I'm not a threat to her. As you can see, Gavin's still a bird during the day."
"We're nay the ones giving orders; we just follow them. 'Cause her ladyship pays us nice and generous."
They neared a stand of prickly looking bushes where four horses waited, tethered. Gavin's cousin Alpin stepped from behind one of them, limping a bit.
"You!" She wanted to call him ten different vulgar names but managed to restrain herself.
"Aye. Did you miss me, bonny wench?" He dipped his head in a mocking bow. His dirty blond hair had been tied back in a ponytail, exposing his long, lean face. His smarmy grin made her want to gag. He looked nothing like his cousin.
Heart pounding hard from a mixture of anger and fear, she stared him down. "Gavin will come after you. You know he's a better swordsman."
Alpin's jaw muscle flexed, and his eyes narrowed. "Shut your gob!"
"Why did Wilona send you?" she demanded. "What does she want?"
"I'm the only one here who asks questions," Alpin said.
"You can't kidnap me. It's illegal. You'll be hanged!"
He snorted. "Hardly. You will be our guest."
"A prisoner, you mean."
"Nay. Hospitality is of great importance here in the Highlands."
"If that's true, why are these brutes still holding my wrists?" She glanced at the stinking outlaws beside her.
"Because you're being a wayward, rebellious wench, as usual."
"Gavin will stop you." She hoped and prayed he would.
Amused, Alpin glanced up at Gavin's winged form sailing across the sky. "The wee bird is nay threat to me."
"Not now, but he will be!" she warned.
Gavin headed back toward the castle. Perhaps he would wake Finch or Ewan.
