Page 139 of Bond of a Bewitched Highlander

Thank God it hadn't penetrated his skull, but it still bled. After his blood loss several days ago, he couldn't withstand much more. With her sgian dubh, she cut off his shirt and pressed the linen against his scalp to staunch the blood flow.

A moment later he hissed in a breath and opened his eyes, scowling up at her.

***

BRODIE COULDN'T BELIEVE his eyes when he clawed his way past the pain and darkness. An apparition that appeared to be Elsea, kneeling over him, doing something to the burning wound on his head. Was he dead? Was she an angel come to claim his soul?

"Thank God you're awake," she said, exhaling a sigh.

"Elsea?"

"How do you feel?" she asked. 'Twas truly her. He wasn't dead yet.

"Like hell." He squeezed his eyes closed against the pain bounding through his skull. Naught made sense. He tried to remember. "What happened?"

"You were hurt in the skirmish here at Glenhaish. Looks like a lead ball grazed your head."

He recalled now—Talnaroch had been holding the pistol the lead ball had blasted from, the battle raging between them.

"Talnaroch shot me in the head," Brodie growled.

"That bastard," she hissed. "I'll kill him for that."

Warmth spread through him that she would defend him so. "Nay, wee warrior. Leave it to me."

"You're nay able at the moment. Anyway, I'm glad 'twas only a graze, but you're still bleeding."

"What the devil are you doing here? How did you get here so quickly from Farspag?"

"My brothers came for me not long after Gavin and Torr left to retrieve you from the island. We rode the rest of the day. Then, tonight, I slipped out of Kincreag."

"The females told me you released them earlier."

"Aye," Elsea said, pressing the cloth firmly against his head.

"Why do you continue to put yourself in so much danger? Have you gone mad?"

"I told you I want to help the selkie women," she snapped. "And you cannot stop me!"

He released an exasperated breath and muttered a curse. She was far more willful than she used to be. "Did you see another group of females, the ones you met on the island?" he asked. "Wilona captured them."

"Nay, I've seen no others. How did she capture them?"

"With her wicked magic. Where the hell did she take them? We were near certain she brought them here."

"Mayhap upstairs in the keep," Elsea suggested.

"Is this the dungeon?"

"Aye. 'Twill be hard for the others to get to us. I blocked the door with the... dead man."

He hadn't thought she could shock him any further. "Which dead man?"

"He was coming after us. I used your sword. I had nay choice. 'Twas life or death."

"Saints," Brodie hissed. "You truly are a wee warrior. Are you alright?"

"Aye. I might have killed another guard earlier, too." Her throat sounded constricted, as if she might cry. "'Twas self-defense. He grabbed me, and I stabbed him to free myself. I did nay wait around to see if he died."