Page 22 of A Highlander Bound by Oath
"Get rid of the man by any means necessary but make sure that no harm comes to the girl. We were given orders to make sure she was safe." Owen figured that the man shouting orders was the leader of the group.
It seemed that Charlotte was running away from someone important if he had the resources to trail after her and find her so soon.
Owen quickly blocked the attack of the first man, pushing him off him and taking his knife, which he threw squarely into the neck of the man with the bow. Another soldier came up from behind and attacked him from the back. Coward; there was nothing he despised more than cowards. He noticed just in time to avoid getting stabbed. Only he felt a piercing pain in his side and looked back to see that he had not fully escaped the blade. He gritted his teeth as the ache hit him, but was glad it was not a serious wound.
Owen pushed his pain aside and fought the man he blocked to the ground, stomping on his fingers when he tried to pick up his knife. He punched him squarely in the chest and kicked the other one behind him in the shin, satisfied to hear a snap and loud groans coming from the heavy man. Owen turned and knocked the man on his head, wiping his bloody lip when the soldier dropped without moving. He looked at where he had left Charlotte and felt himself go red with rage when he saw the look of fear on her face as a third man advanced toward her, aiming to grab her.
Owen hurried in her direction, slowing slightly when he suddenly felt dizzy. Pain shot through him as the man stuck his fingers in his injury while they struggled. Owen fell to the ground feeling nauseous, while the remaining two men went back to try to grab Charlotte, but she avoided their grip and picked up the bow from the dead bowman.
Barely conscious, he watched as Charlotte scrambled to pick up the arrows on the ground. Then as though she was overtaken by someone else, she calmly placed an arrow on the string and shot at the man running toward her. Everyone went still in shock as the man dropped dead some feet away from her. She turned around and shot the two Owen had fought, who were beginning to get up and advance toward her. Owen's face froze as he stared at the look of her deadly concentration.
Charlotte turned just as the last man got on his feet and turned on his heels, running away. She laced the bow and shot at him twice before he was suddenly out of her range of sight. She dropped the bow hotly and screamed in rage as though she was angry that she had not been able to kill him before she went toward Owen.
What the…Owen could not believe how calm she had been as she shot the men. His hand was pressed to his wound as he stared at her from the ground, unable to hide his shock. She looked down at him and he noticed her face was contorted in discomfort. When she saw him looking, she visibly tried to shrug it off, although her hands were shaking.
"Well, at least now you can see that I, too, have blood on my hands," she said.
Who was it that she was running from that made it so easy for her to kill someone, despite how much her hands were shaking now?
"I am so worried, Owen, I was not able to stop them all," her face suddenly crumpled back into fear. He watched the changes with interest.
"Ye need tae calm down. It is a miracle that we are still alive. I still cannae believe that we were able to escape with our lives, mostly unscathed, after being attacked by armed men. I am shocked, Charlotte. I did nae think that ye would be able to do what ye just did."
"I had to learn how to protect myself in order to survive." Owen waited for her to say more but groaned when he realized that she intended to leave him hanging with just that little bit of information. While her father had taught her to hunt at a young age, Charlotte could never have anticipated that she'd ever have to use her archery against another person.
"Can ye just tell me who it is ye are running from? I need tae ken, so I ken how to prepare meself next time." Owen was curious to know who this man was that made her act in such desperation. Charlotte sighed before speaking, staring into the distance.
"He is a powerful man in England, and I am betrothed to him," Charlotte explained. "I am sorry, but I cannot give you too manydetails. The more you know, the more likely you are to be in danger, and that's the last thing I want after all the things you have done for me."
He looked at her and saw that she was finally looking at him. She seemed so beautiful at that moment, refusing to share information because she believed it would keep him from harm. Unable to stop himself, Owen leaned in and pressed his lips softly against hers. He felt her stiffen and was about to pull away and admit his mistake when she suddenly relaxed, melting into him.
Her acceptance was all he needed. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close as he deepened their kiss. Owen felt his heart beat faster than it had while they were on their adventure. Her lips tasted precisely the way he had thought they would—like sunshine and heather. Her light moan traveled into his mouth and he swallowed it, wishing he could take in all of her. His hand on her waist lightly caressed her through the fabric.I will burn in Hell anyway, right?
As he kissed her, Owen could not help but feel bad. He really was no monk. He was just using the monastery for his own selfish reasons, and he wondered if God would ever forgive him for his actions. He hoped that he had the chance to make amends for his selfishness.
He pulled away from her and smiled when she pressed her head against his chest. For now, Owen would focus on the woman before him and how to get her away from the man who was after her.
He would think about untangling his own mistakes afterward.
CHAPTER TEN
Charlotte groaned when her shoes slipped from beneath her once again. She struggled to help Owen walk; his wound had been hurting him so much that he found it difficult to walk alone without kneeling over in pain. The thick blood couldn't stop seeping from the makeshift bandage she had tied. Charlotte adjusted his hand on her shoulder, grimacing when he winced in pain. Since they began their slow trek to find help, Owen had not opened his mouth once to complain other than to let out tiny groans in pain. But his facial expression told her all she needed to know.
They needed to find help.
Charlotte swallowed dryly. She was parched. Who would have thought that he weighed so much? She was certain they had been walking for more than two hours. And they had gone quite far from where the fight had taken place.
You turned into a monster as bad as the ones you try to escape, Charlotte…
The pouch of coin she had swiped from the bodies jingled at her waist, hitting her hips painfully every time they stumbled. One thing she did not feel bad about was for taking the pouch. It was the blood money her uncle or betrothed had paid to find her. She cleared the thoughts of the dead men from her mind and focused all of her attention on finding Owen the help he needed.
She paused for a minute and cleared her sticky hair from her face. She was the reason Owen was hurt. If she had not reached the bow and arrows on time, they would have killed him and dragged her off to marry a man she despised.
Clearing her throat, she turned away. She had been bottling up all of her emotions since the fight. She tried not to regret killing the men; it was either them or her and Owen. She knew that if they had taken her, she would have continued to find ways to escape until the day she wound up dead, if William Dodd did not kill her first.
Charlotte was yanked from her thoughts when Owen suddenly stopped. She looked around, worried that her uncle or William had sent more men to come for her. But she relaxed when he placed a gentle hand on her shoulders. She looked up at him, unable to muster a smile as she had intended for his sake.
"I do nae think we can make it much further just looking for someone tae help me. Why do nae we just stop by at an inninstead so that I can have my wound cleaned up and we can freshen up?" he asked her.
