Page 134 of Blood & Claw

“I smell him too,” Ailsa answered him.

Kayla’s confused gaze cut between them both, her bruised face pale in the moonlight. Her eyes lingered on Ailsa a moment too long, searching and uneasy.

Ailsa pretended not to notice.

They moved on, heading east now, toward where the corrie opened up into a narrow glen.

The moon had risen higher, breaking fully through the tattered mist that frosted the winter thicket. Their breathing steamed before them as they traveled.

“Wait!” Kayla gasped. She kept stumbling, her limbs clumsy and weak after days of being tied up. “Those warriors have enhanced tattoos. It’s their leader we’re tailing … he’s cleverer than the rest of them.”

“We’ll handle him,” Darach replied, his gaze never straying from the moonlit trees ahead.

Kayla let out a sharp, frustrated breath. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with here.”

Ailsa’s fingers tightened around the grip of her dagger at this warning, yet Darach didn’t answer. He merely cut Kayla an irritated look.

Ahead, moonlight filtered through the pines, indicating that a clearing lay before them.

Moments later, they pushed through branches and emerged into a wide glade. A glittering ribbon cut through the heart of it.

A burn—and standing on its bank was the man they’d been hunting. He’d stopped, his back to them.

Breathing hard, they halted too and raised their weapons.

“Turn around, Maol,” Kayla called. “It’s over.”

Slowly, he swiveled to face them.

Big and rawboned with braided black hair and deep-set eyes, Ailsa recognized him instantly. She’d never forget the bastard.

Kayla’s last customer.

His gaze settled on her too, dark eyes glinting in the moonlight. “You’re a long way from home, Brèagha.” His thick fingers flexed on the grip of his blade. “You should have stayed there.”

A heartbeat later, his eyes started to glow like starlight.

Darach murmured an oath under his breath.

Maol smiled.

“You won’t be smirking for much longer,” Darach said coldly. “You’re outnumbered and alone in the dark. No one’s coming to save you.”

Maol snorted. “You’re wrong about that.”

And then, warriors stepped out of the trees to the east.

There were over two dozen of them. They moved forward, boots crunching on frost, and formed a horseshoe at Maol’s back.

Ailsa went rigid, her confidence snapping like a dry twig underfoot.

Fuck.

Some of them carried torches, the ruddy light warming the darkness. Men mostly, with a handful of women amongst them; muscular and tattooed, and bearing iron blades that glinted dully in the moonlight.

And all their eyes glowed silver.

Ailsa cut Darach a sidelong look. “Can you take them?”