Page 26 of Saved by the Cruel Highlander (Lairds of the Loch Alliance #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

E lias grabbed the handle, burst through the door, and almost gasped at the sight before him.

“What do ye think ye are doin’ to me wife!”

Holly lay on the bed, her face right red, a hand on her neck. On top of her was another woman, one hand wrapped around Holly’s neck, the other wielding a knife. The strain in her arm and body was apparent as Holly used both hands to hold back the knife.

Elias saw red. His mind flashed between the cabin and Holly’s room. He had lost his parents, and Aidan was the cause, and now he was about to lose Holly, and this woman was the cause. His hand went to his belt, ready to grab his dirk and stab her in the back, but it was not there.

He reached out for the first thing he could get his hands on—the wooden chair by the door. As he picked it up, he could smell the cabin and the tang of blood in the air. The chair leg he held in his hand felt the same as the one he had used to beat his brother to death, but he held an entire chair this time and not only the leg.

He gripped the chair with both hands and swung it back as he took three large steps toward the bed. He swung it like an axe. The chair hit the side of the woman’s head with a crack, before exploding into a dozen pieces.

The woman was thrown to the side, five feet from the bed, where she landed on the floor with a dull thud. The knife shot out of her hand and slid across the floor. Elias held the intact chair leg for a moment before he dropped it to the ground and ran to the bed.

“Guards! Guards!” he bellowed.

Holly’s face was purple, her eyes bulging, her chest unmoving. She stared up at the ceiling like a statue.

“Nay, come back to me,” Elias whispered, cradling her face in his hands. “Come on, Holly. Come back to me!”

Holly suddenly wheezed as she drew breath and her body came back to life. She made a deep rasping sound, and her eyes opened wider as she struggled to breathe. The whites of her eyes were red, her hair spilling around her face like fire. Her skin was red where her blood vessels had burst.

Elias had seen dead men on the battlefield who looked more alive than she did.

“Ye’re all right,” he soothed, caressing her cheek. “Ye’re goin’ to be fine.”

He took a quick look at the woman on the floor. She lay unmoving, and blood pooled under her head from where she had been hit with the chair. Still, her body moved slightly with her unconscious breaths.

“Ye’re safe now,” Elias repeated over and over.

He was not sure if that was true. He had thought Holly was safe when Felix was killed, and he had not remained vigilant after.

Holly sucked in breath after breath, taking in too many for the ones she let out. Her face turned from a deep purple to a bright red, and she started to cry. She burst into shaky sobs, gasping for breath in between.

“It’s all right, it’s all right,” Elias said.

Two guards ran into the room and quickly took stock of the situation, not letting the shock show on their faces.

“Take her!” the Laird ordered, pointing to the woman on the floor. “Take her to the dungeons and lock her up. Dinnae pay any attention to her other than lockin’ her up. Do ye understand?”

“Aye,” the lead guard said, before the other two went to the unconscious woman.

Elias scooped Holly up in his arms and noticed the blood on her sleeve for the first time. He looked back at her face, still red but not purple like before. Her eyes still bulged, and her throat was red, but she was awake. Still, her head swam, and she had not said a word nor seemed to recognize him.

Elias cradled her in his arms and ran out of the room.

As some of the castle residents woke up, two more guards and a maid arrived at the room.

“Wake everyone!” Elias ordered the second pair of guards as he ran. “I want the castle searched to make sure there is nay one else here.” To the maid, he instructed, “Go to Cassandra’s room and make sure she is up and on her way to the healin’ room.”

Elias looked down at Holly as he ran down the long hallway. She was not breathing as heavily but looked far weaker. Her eyelids closed and opened as she slipped into sleep. He hoped it was only sleep.

He watched where he was going again as he rounded a corner so he could go down the stairs as quickly as he could without falling. He ran from the bottom of the stairs to the healing room, barging in with Holly in his arms. He placed her down on the closest mattress.

A moment later, Cassandra burst into the room, bleary-eyed but energetic.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Someone got in,” Elias said. “I found her chokin’ Holly, ready to stab her.”

“A woman?” Cassandra asked as she went to Holly.

“She’s wounded. On her arm, I think,” Elias said.

“All right, just give me some space to work,” Cassandra said, holding up a hand to urge him back.

Elias stepped back until his back hit the wall. Then, he looked around. The healing room was dark and empty. The constant fire in the hearth ensured that it was never cold and that the people Cassandra treated were comfortable.

His heart was beating irregularly, and he struggled to breathe for a moment as if he had been the one strangled. The image of the woman with her hand around Holly’s neck flashed through his mind, and his anger flared again. He wanted to march to the dungeons and strangle her until her eyes popped out of their sockets.

“She’s goin’ to be all right,” Cassandra said.

“Ye’ve cured her?” Elias asked.

His mind snapped back to the room, and he looked over at the mattress where Holly still lay unconscious.

“Well, nay, nae yet,” Cassandra admitted. “I cannae cure cuts and bruises. It was more to calm ye down a wee bit. I’ve never seen ye so agitated.”

“Just let me ken how bad it is,” Elias told her.

“Well, she has a cut on her forearm, but it doesnae seem that deep. I’ll bandage it, and she will be fine. The marks on her neck are worse. She was strangled for a long time—maybe with some rope or somethin’. I’ve seen bruisin’ like this afore, and it can be bad.”

“I thought ye were supposed to be makin’ me feel better,” Elias pointed out.

“I want ye to ken exactly how she is,” Cassandra said. “Ye really care for her, do ye nae?”

“Aye, of course,” Elias said. “She’s to be me wife.”

“Aye, but it’s more than that,” Cassandra said as she wrapped bandages around Holly’s arm. “I’ve seen ye concerned for others, but never like this. When she came here, ye didnae care for her, but now ye do.”

Elias paused for a few seconds before he finally said, “Aye.”

“She’s a good lass,” Cassandra continued. “She’s strong, too. I’ve seen wounds like that kill a man before. She’s still breathin’, and that’s the best thing that could be. We just have to wait for her to wake up.”

“And then what?” Elias asked.

“Either she wakes up or she doesnae. If she wakes up once, she’ll wake up the next time and the next.”

“And if she doesnae?” Elias asked.

“Well, let’s nae think about that right now,” Cassandra said. “There. That’s about all I can do for her right now. First the cat, and now the lass. I hope this is the end of it.”

“Aye, me too,” Elias admitted.

He wanted to be out searching the castle with the guards, in case there was anyone else, but he couldn’t leave Holly’s side.

“I can stay with her,” Cassandra offered. “I got a wee bit of sleep after treatin’ the cat.”

“Nay,” Elias said. “I willnae leave her until she wakes up. Ye go and get some rest in case we have more trouble in the castle, and I’ll stay here to watch over her and protect her.”

He took the chair by the wall and moved it over to the side of Holly’s bed. He planted it on the ground and then sat down.

Cassandra looked down at Holly, then patted the Laird’s shoulder. “I do believe she is strong enough to get through this.”

Elias nodded.

He listened as the door opened and closed behind Cassandra. After a moment, he took Holly’s hand. It was warm, and that gave him some hope. He squeezed her hand with both of his, holding on tightly. He watched her chest rise and fall, knowing there was hope as long as it moved.

“I cannae lose ye,” he whispered. “Come back to me, Holly. Promise that ye will come back to me. I’m worried. I’ve been a beast all me adult life—a monster. If ye dinnae wake up from this, I worry that I’ll burn it all to the ground. There’s a rage inside of me, and the only thing holdin’ it back is ye.”

He squeezed her hand again, checking that her chest was still rising and falling, then gazed upon her pale face. Most of the redness was gone, but it only made her look dead in a different way. He felt that if he kept holding her hand, she would continue to cling to life.

A slight shuffling to the right caught his attention. He didn’t sense danger from the noise but looked in its direction.

Ollie slowly skulked out from behind one of the other beds. He padded over to the Laird and looked up at him.

“Aye, up ye go,” the Laird said.

Ollie crouched down and tensed up for a second. Then, he used all of his strength to leap up onto the mattress and flopped down next to Holly. He glanced at the Laird one more time before he closed his eyes.

“I really hope ye wake up soon,” Elias whispered. “I dinnae want to see ye like this, and I cannae let Cole see ye like this.”