Free Highland Hearts 03 - Crimson Heart by Heather McCollum

head and he let his hand drop. The lass was risking her life helping him. He wouldn’t keep her in the jail longer than necessary and he wouldn’t take advantage of her need for help. Where the bloody hell was his honor?
    “Well then, let us go.” He pulled her along the corridor, careful to hang the key on its nail. Perhaps the constable would blame himself for not locking the cell.
    The lass’s knot in his horse’s reins had fallen out, but Dearg stood patiently, waiting in the dark woods. Elena huffed and shook her head. “I can tie a knot in a thread, but not in thick leather.”
    “No matter. Dearg doesn’t stray.” He helped her onto the charger’s back, noticing that she’d changed into her plainer green gown, and climbed up behind her. She didn’t seem to mind his touch like before.
    He let Dearg pick his way through the trees and bushes as they headed south. They rode in silence for some time. Searc spotted Cheò’s eyes in the moonlight. He kept pace with them, though several yards off in the woods.
    “He follows you.” Elena’s soft voice came from the blanket she’d nestled into before him. He thought she’d fallen asleep. “How did you first find him?”
    She let the wool fall from her head and the smell of roses came from her hair. “His grandsire was a great wolf named Nickum who lived near a clan bordering Munro land. I came upon Cheò when he was a yearling. The leader of another pack was about to kill him, but I intervened. He’s followed me ever since.”
    “He follows your orders.” She apparently remembered Cheò’s retreat in the clearing.
    “I’ve become his pack leader in a way.” Searc felt her straighten in his lap. The leaves twitched in a breeze, adding a gentle song to the stillness. Dearg’s gait was so smooth it was almost like they slid through the forest. “Animals can sense my power.” His words sounded too loud to his ears even though he spoke just above a whisper. “They either stay well away from me or they bow to my leadership.”
    “Oh.” Her spine was so straight now that she wasn’t touching him. “I suppose they can tell that you’re the most powerful beast in the forest.” She stared forward, as did he, over her head at the dark shadows made by the full trees.
    Beast? He supposed he was. “I don’t use my magic unless it is to save a life.” He’d never defended himself before. The words sounded like a weak excuse to his ears.
    “Yes.” Her head brushed his chin as she nodded. “Of course, like when you were saving my life. So…you don’t use it against enemies? I mean, not unless you think they will kill you?”
    She wanted information. He understood that. He’d craved it his whole life. Where did the magic come from? Could he truly control it? Did it make him evil?
    “I’ve only used the red magic a few times in my life,” he said. “Like when my father was about to be killed.” That was the easier memory. “That was when my clan found out about my abilities.”
    “You’ve hidden it from them?”
    “Aye.” He kept one arm around her trim waist as they rode. “I hid the power while growing up and stayed mostly in the woods away from my clan.”
    “That sounds…lonely.” She relaxed enough that her back grazed his stomach.
    “I had Cheò and Dearg.” He reached past her leg to pat the charger’s neck, nearly burying his face in her soft hair in the process. He guided Dearg around a fallen log though the horse would have done so himself. He felt the low undertones of unease from the hidden deer off to the left as Cheò passed with him, but none from Elena. She seemed to…trust him.
    “Why did you leave the Highlands?” Her question came out as conversational. Mild curiosity deserving of an easy answer. But it wasn’t an easy answer. What would she think of him if she’d seen the shock on his da’s face, the mix of disgust and fear in his eyes, when Searc had crumbled his enemy to dust? And the awkwardness afterward