Reclaimed (A Highland Historical Trilogy) (The MacKay Banshees 1-3) by Kerrigan Byrne Read Free Book Online Page B

by a MacKay Laird.
    “Ye really have the audacity to lecture me about the well being of my clan?” His voice gained volume, as did the heat of his glare. “When ye let yer anger at me and mine punish the innocent ye seem so worried about?”
    Was he really turning an accusation on her ? “ We were not finished living either, but the choice was ripped from us. We died innocent, and we remain innocent!”
    “Tell that to Kevin when he’s starving without his herd. Or the village over the hills from yer washhouse where the milk is spoiling. I mourn for what befell ye and yer family, but yer Fae curse is spilling into the lives of Strathnaver and I’ll not have it!” Rory stalked forward and only then had Katriona realized that she’d been drifting back in the wake of his anger. “I’ll do whatever it takes to stop ye.”
    Stunned, confused, and enraged, Katriona warded him off by releasing a wailing keen of such incredible pitch that the tub shattered. Rory dropped to his knees, holding the sides of his head and baring his teeth at her. She watched in despair as the water that had brought her the first touch of warmth she’d felt in as long as she could remember flooded the chamber, soiled and chilled by the stones.

    Rory hated the sound of her cry more than just about any other on the earth. It reverberated through his body with its otherworldly force, shriveling him up until he curled in upon himself. No one had wielded the power to drive him to his knees since he was a small boy, and perhaps that galled him the most.
    A loud crash and a tortured bellow told him that someone had burst through the door and was now reaping the full brunt of Katriona’s wails.
    A bright light flashed across Rory’s vision, momentarily blinding him, and then the wail abruptly stopped. He caught his collapsing weight on his hands, blinking rapidly to rid himself of blind spots.
    He expected Katriona to be gone when he finally gathered himself enough to look up, but her absence screamed as loud as she had. Too much had been said and left unsaid between them. How would they ever bridge the chasm between their worlds? How would wrongs be righted, ties severed, and wounds healed?
    The impossibility of it all hung like a lead weight in his chest.
    Rory let his head drop in defeat, staring at the inch of bathwater surrounding him and soaking the stones of his floor, spreading out toward the open doorway.
    “Holy Christ, ye’ve a Banshee!” Lorne yelled into the silence while using the doorway to pull himself to his feet.
    “I fucking told ye that this afternoon,” Rory snarled.
    A small but steady trickle of blood leaked from Lorne’s ears and one nostril, which he unceremoniously wiped with the back of his hand. “Wha’?,” he cried. “I’ve ringing in my ears like ye wouldna believe.”
    Rory hoped like hell the damage wasn’t permanent.
    Lorne staggered to his side, helping Rory to stand. “Did she get close enough to touch ye?” he boomed. “How did ye survive?”
    Rory shook his head to clear it. She’d touched him deeper and more thoroughly than any other. Aftershocks of her power singed across his nerves even still, reminding him of the excruciating bliss her touch and her body had manipulated from him. And though he’d been lost in a place of pleasure tinged with pain, through the surprise in her emerald eyes, he’d glimpsed a hint of something deeper. More familiar.
    Possession.
    “ An Dìoladh. ” A husky, feminine murmur sounded from the doorway.
    “Huh?” Lorne shouted. “Speak up, lass!”
    “Kathryn.” Rory nearly choked on the word, waving at his steward to be quiet. Albert rushed around the doorjamb brandishing a sword that seemed a mite too large for him. He pulled up right behind Kathryn, his un-tucked tunic and disheveled dark hair matched the sleep-hazed alarm in his dark eyes.
    “That’s why you lived, isn’t it?” Kathryn continued as though she hadn’t noted his arrival. “Because Fae