Page 60 of Nyall

“If you were a guy and girl, you probably would have fallen for each other.” She leaned against him. “Instead you became closer than brothers, and then I show up. You both go crazy for me, but you’re not jealous of each other at all, and I want you both. We had some rough patches, but it’s worked out beautifully for all three of us, right?”

“Indeed.” He kissed her temple.

Sailing to the empty island took a few hours, and by the time they reached the rocky north shore of the place night had fallen. The full moon bathed everything with a misty white light, and even seemed to make the stars twinkle a little brighter. From what she saw Caroline guessed the island was close to three or four miles long. A long line of hills rolling along the center blocked the view of the other side, but Nyall had told her it was mostly made of tide-flooded shoals and sandbars.

Nyall lit a torch before he helped Jamaran drag the boat through the shallows to a spot sheltered by old pine trees, where they tied the mooring ropes. Caroline collected their provisions and the tartans and linens she’d brought so they could sleep comfortably outside. Other than the sound of the waves and the brisk sea breeze rustling through the tall grasses beyond the beach, there wasn’t a sound, which seemed a little eerie.

“’Tis too windy here for a fire,” Jamaran told her as he helped her off the boat and took the heavy bag of water and food she carried. “We shall build one near the caves.”

She walked up to Nyall, taking hold of his hand. “Let’s go.”

Caroline was glad she could keep her lover from sinking into the ground, but once they made their way over the dunes the sand turned into marsh. Walls of tall grasses and shrubs spread in all directions, and had grown so thick they looked almost impassable. Here and there flat-topped, moss-covered boulders, some larger than their boat, lay like giant skipping stones left behind by some enormous kid. That was when Nyall drew his sword and handed it along with the torch to Jamaran, who walked ahead of them to cut a path through the dense growth. As he did, thuds and rustling betrayed the presence of small animals around them as they scattered.

“Am I going to step on a rat nest?” Caroline asked, only half-joking.

“They’d flee before you could,” Nyall told her. “’Tis naught on the island that may harm you but red deer, and the herds remain in the hills so the does may bear their young.”

Jamaran suddenly stopped, and raised his hand to make a strange cutting gesture. Nyall pressed a finger to her lips and drew her closer to his side as he walked up to join the commander, who then stuck his burning torch into the muddy ground, extinguishing the flames. He then looked hard at his friend.

“We’re no’ alone here,” Nyall leaned over to murmur against her ear.

She drew her dagger and nodded, shifting in back of Jamaran as Nyall moved behind her, keeping his hand in hers. In that single file they waded through the grasses, trying not to make any sound. The commander then turned and grabbed them both, hauling them behind a large rock and tugging them down to take cover.

The sound of sharp voices drifted through the grass to them, although Caroline couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but it sounded strange—almost like they were bickering and shrieking at the same time. She inched toward the side of the rock to take a peek around it, but couldn’t see anything but grass at first. Then she smelled smoke, and saw a flicker of flame from a few hundred yards away.

One torch appeared, and another, and then three more—and they were coming closer to where they were hiding.

The voices got louder as well. They sounded as if they came from a large group of women who seemed to be speaking a few words before they shrieked and hissed like angry animals. Nyall tugged her against him and pressed her between his chest and the rock, covering her mouth with his hand this time as if he didn’t trust her to stay quiet. Caroline thought about biting him, and then saw a woman who was pulling off her clothes and flinging them into the grass walk by the boulder.

“Stay back from the water,” a deep voice said, shrieking the last word.

The nearly-naked woman turned, and the moonlight showed the empty socket where one of her eyes had been gouged out. She parted her lips as two huge white fangs curved down from her upper jaw. “Stay back from meeeeeeeeeeeeeee.”

Caroline forgot to breathe as the woman dropped down on all fours, her body writhing as her limbs bulged and twisted, and dark fur shout out of her skin. More women rushed past the rock, dragging the woman who now looked like an enormous black jaguar down toward the dunes. Others attacked them from behind, and then they all began tearing at their clothes and screeching like angry cats, colliding and swiping at each other with hands that swelled into gigantic paws with long, curved black talons.

She pressed her hand over her mouth this time to keep from screaming as all of the women changed into monstrous felines. Some raced off, but others turned on each other, uttering yowls that tore through the air as they swiped at and bit each other. The sound of their squalling and fighting made her clap her hands over her ears. Blood flew like rain, spattering the boulder and all three of them, and she saw Nyall’s grip on his blade tighten.

Stop.

The wind died away, and the screeching shape shifters went still and silent, frozen in mid-change. As Caroline rose to her feet she could see dozens of them surrounding the boulder, making bile rise in her throat. In another moment they would have found her and her guys.

“Come on,” she said to the men. “We’ve got maybe four minutes to get the hell out of here.”

“Their boat, ’twill lay anchored on the other side,” Jamaran said.

Nyall put his hands on her shoulders. “We cannae risk returning to Caladh with you, my lady. We’d lead them straight to the clan and the Selseus. Jamaran and I shall distract them while you go.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not leaving you here with those things,” Caroline told him, and looked at the commander. “You can’t stay and fight a hundred of them.”

“We shallnae fight.” Jamaran nodded toward the hills. “We shall hide in the caves.”

“Right. You suck at lying.” She swiped at her eyes. “Please don’t do this. Don’t make me leave you here to die.”

Nyall looked into her eyes as he reached out to his friend, who came and hugged them both. They held her tightly, like two tired swimmers about to go under for the last time, and then they let go and took off running in the direction of the hills.

Caroline nearly went after them before she realized she only had a minute left to reach the boat. They would make it to the caves, she promised herself, because they wanted to live. They wanted to live and come back to her. She stumbled over the dunes just as time snapped back into motion. Something like a vertical oil slick welled up in front of her. When she reeled back it turned into a man. He looked past her in the direction of the screeching felines.

“I’ll draw away shifters, lass,” Shaw told her, his eyes going solid black. “Ready the boat, and take our lads with you. Hurry.”