Page 101 of Blood & Claw

“I don’t know … only Kayla can answer that.”

“I fight it,” he rasped. “But there are times when it’s impossible.”

She nodded. “Like now … after a fight … after you’ve killed?”

“Aye.” He yanked up his breeches and laced them. However, Ailsa marked the tremble of his hands. That was new. Until now, he’d appeared to have nerves of iron. “I must leave you for a while,” he ground out. “I’m sorry.”

She lifted her chin. “Now? What about the grouse?”

“You have it.” His breath hitched, and his shoulders jerked as if something beneath his skin were struggling to break free. “It’s safer if I go.” He edged away from the fire. “Once I start shifting, I can’t control myself. I’ll attack you.”

Ailsa’s gaze narrowed. The panic in his voice was raw. “Are you close?”

“Aye.”

Their gazes locked. She was torn. She didn’t want him to abandon her again, yet he clearly couldn’t stay.

His face twisted—nerves and muscles twitching—and her breathing caught.

Aye, the man had kept vital details from her, but she still cared what happened to him.

“Go then.” She scooped up her knife, her fingers curling around the smooth bone hilt. “I’ll keep watch here. See you at dawn.”

He nodded, even as his body shuddered. His spine bowed then, and his shoulders jerked again. Harder this time.

Panic flashed across his face, and he hissed a curse.

Ailsa’s heart started to hammer. The man was in trouble.

So was she.

Kayla was close now, but not close enough. Not for him—and maybe not for her either.

Knife clenched in her hand, she watched, wordlessly, as Darach staggered off and the mist swallowed him, leaving her alone by the fire.

25: UNTIE ME

Farther north … somewhere in The Goatfells.

THE WIND BIT to the bone in the mountains, but Kayla barely felt it.

Instead, she watched Car finish eating and wipe his greasy fingers on his breeches. Catching her staring, the warrior favored her with a thin smile. “Time for you to make up for all the trouble you’ve caused us.”

He reached for a leather knapsack and dragged it into his lap.

Kayla frowned. What was he up to?

Aye, she’d fought them all the way north. Her body ached from all the beatings she’d taken, but defiance still burned. She’d keep trying to escape—right to the bloody end.

Conversation quieted around the hearth as the others shifted their attention to Car.

He unwrapped the bundle. Leather unfurled to reveal tools she knew well. Needles, vials, and pigments. A pestle and mortar. Tattooist’s tools.

Not hers though.

“Let’s see what you can do,” Maol said from across the fire. His voice held a hard edge, cutting through the crackle of flames and the whisper of the wind through the trees.

Kayla glanced up, her frown sliding into a scowl. “No.”