Desperation crowded his mind as the tendrils closed over his face. He screamed, instantly regretting the explosion of air rushing from his chest even as the long, dark fingerlings tightened around him, immobilizing him, preventing his next inhale.
A sudden explosion of sound battered his ears and the tendrils burst apart, tiny pieces of them merging and re-forming above him as his body was flung away from them as if by some invisible giant hand.
His body flew through the dark at impossible speeds, beyond his ability to control. Beyond his ability to understand.
A second explosion slammed his body to a stop, this one a burst of light brighter than any fire he’d ever seen.
“My lord Torquil?”
A voice filled with hesitancy. A voice he recognized. The captain of his personal guard, Ulfr.
“I...” His voice cracked as he tried to answer, his throat on fire with pain.
“Our lord, Torquil of Katanes, lives!” Ulfr’s triumphantshout reverberated in Torquil’s ears. “Lie still, my lord. Fetch his things to me, William!”
Torquil struggled to get his bearings. The last thing he remembered was Malcolm’s face. So close to his own...and yet, not his.
He remembered now. He’d managed to call the wolf to form. He’d been the beast! His half brother’s puny neck had been so close to his muzzle, he could see it snapping within his jaws. Malcolm’s strength had begun to weaken. He could all but taste the pleasure of his detested brother’s death.
But then...
His eyes flickered open and he pushed up to one elbow, his other hand covering a spot on his neck.
His brother’s wife had attacked him. Though he couldn’t imagine how she’d managed it, the bitch had done something that had ripped the Magic from his body and plummeted him to the mercies of the between worlds.
“Where is she?” he managed at last, his voice raspy. Where were they all?
“She sleeps, Master. We’ve been unable to awaken her.”
“Sleeps?” With Ulfr’s arm to assist him, Torquil made his way to his feet.
The last dregs of whatever had possessed him scattered from his mind as he straightened, shivering.
By Odin, he was cold! Little wonder since he was completely naked. Where was Dermid? His brotherhad carried his clothing after he’d made his physical transformation into the wolf.
“I need...” He struggled to form the words. Pain radiated from his neck up through his face, and his jaw shivered from the cold gripping him.
“Allow me, my lord.”
With a nod of permission, Torquil raised his arms, allowing Ulfr to drop a tunic down over his head, followed by his plaid and a heavy fur draped over his shoulders.
He could feel his strength returning and with it, his determination.
“Take me to her,” he ordered.
The Lady Danielle, wife of his brother Malcolm, would pay for her crime against him now. He would wring the life from her with his bare hands after she disclosed to him how she’d been able to do whatever it was she’d done to him.
“This way, my lord.”
As he followed Ulfr across the clearing, he took stock of his surroundings for the first time.
The men who had accompanied him were dead. Yes, he remembered that now. Another crime to lay at Malcolm’s feet. To his left lay the crumpled body of his youngest brother, Dermid.
A pity, that. The weak-minded lad had been easily controlled to perform Torquil’s bidding. But no matter, there were others who would substitute as well.
As he approached the woman’s body proppedagainst the large tree, his irritation spiked. His sister Christiana laid there, not the woman he sought.
He realized as he scanned the clearing that none of the others were here. The bodies were those of his men only.