Free Moon Awakening by Lucy Monroe

the insult of the English wench?" Ulf demanded in a furious tone, interrupting her waking nightmare.
    "She will apologize," Lachlan drawled with utter certainty.
    "No, I won't." She muttered the defiance without thought and was surprised she could force the words out of her tight throat afterward.
    Lachlan growled low in his chest, the sound so far from human, it made her shiver and added to the sense of doom taking over her senses. Her gaze flew to his and she wished it hadn't. His eyes were even less human than usual with the gold almost overtaking the brown of his irises. She just knew that meant he was well and truly annoyed with her.
    If she wasn't past the age of believing in monsters like dragons and werewolves, she'd think he was one. An atavistic chill skittered down her spine and it was all she could do not to whimper in fright.
    "Are you admitting she is right then? That you are weak and a coward to take your revenge on women instead of men?"
    Lachlan stood and faced the angry soldier, his own body vibrating with deadly tension. "You dare to challenge me?"
    "I am not the one challenging you.
She
did and you do nothing to punish the insolence."
    The boat swayed and a scream locked in Emily's throat, making her jaw ache with the effort it took to hold it back. She shut her eyes tight, trying to block out the reality of her surroundings, but the sounds of wind on the water would not let her.
    "Perhaps he thinks forcing her to endure your company is punishment enough," Cait taunted.
    There was a scuffle above Emily and the boat swayed in alarming dips first to one side and then to the other. She sank further and further into the fear swirling through her. Her eyes flew open, her despairing gaze searching out the strongest person on the boat… Lachlan.
    He stood above her, holding Ulf, as if stopping him from going for Emily's throat.
    Her hand flew to protect it in a totally futile gesture.
    Ulf's eyes spit angry recriminations at his leader. "I won't tolerate such insults, even if you will."
    "You will tolerate whatever I tell you to tolerate." The tone of Lachlan's voice was the meanest she'd heard it yet.
    "You would choose your enemy over your brother?"
    Ulf was Lachlan's brother? Emily supposed there was a slight family resemblance, but they seemed so different.
    "Balmoral warriors do not prey on women."
    "She insulted us all!" he yelled, jerking his head toward Emily.
    "She is English, and therefore ignorant of our ways. She will learn."
    A tiny part of her mind was offended by the pronouncement, but she was too preoccupied with the prospect of dying at sea to work up any real anger.
    The summer sun had not quite set when they reached the Balmorals' island.
    Emily was breathing shallowly, her fingers curled like talons around the edge of the wooden slab she and Cait sat on. Her usually resilient nature had been eclipsed by the ongoing torture of crossing the roughened waters and doing it sitting across from Ulf, who glared at her like he hated her.
    Lachlan had traded places with his brother moments after their brief scuffle and she'd spent the rest of the trip being glowered at by the angry soldier. She'd wanted to turn around, to face Drustan's back, but her fear of the water had complete hold again. Moving even an inch had been beyond her… and continued to be.
    The sight of land so close was so welcome, tears sprang into her eyes, but she could not utter a word.
    The brown-eyed soldier with the red hair, whom Emily had heard Lachlan refer to as Angus, jumped out to pull the boat to the shore while Ulf and the blond soldier went to tend to the horses. It took less than fifteen minutes
to
bring both the boat and horses ashore. Drustan lifted Cait to dry land and turned to do the same for Emily.
    "Come." He put his hand out.
    She stared at it. He expected her to stand, she knew he did, but for the last hour or more, her only grip on safety had been her tight hold on the bench beneath her. She willed her fingers