To Tempt Highland Fate (The Mac Coinnach Brothers) by Kella McKinnon Page B

and trembling, his head throbbing mercilessly.  Weak, so damned weak!  He would almost rather be dead.
                  Almost .
                  One thing was certain, he wasn’t going anywhere for a while. Even if he weren’t tied up. 
                  Why the hell am I tied up?
                  Struggling to focus his mind, he reached out for his brothers Bren and Eian, but he could not sense them.  He was a good distance from Creagmor, then.  Or they were dead. 
                  No, not dead.  I’d know, wouldn’t I?
                  When they were within a few miles of one another, he and his brothers could sometimes communicate, in a fashion, with their thoughts.  Or at least sense each other’s presence.  It was one of the many gifts bestowed on their family long ago.
                  In truth, he didn’t know how many miles he might have traveled in the underground tunnels, or what had happened since to bring him to wherever he was now.  But at least he was alive, which was much more than he had expected when he attacked Mored, the dark sorcerer that plagued the Mac Coinnach clan with his evil ambition for ever more power.  Drust had been certain of a fight to the death: his own.
                  Mored had stolen the enchanted Dragon Ring, and without it, Bren’s soulmate would have been lost to him forever, sent forward to a time where no one could find her.  Only the ring could bring her back.  Drust had risked his own life to retrieve the ring, unable to watch his older brother suffer so, and figuring it was the best way he could help the clan. 
                  What had happened after he was gone? 
                  Bren had the ring… Drust had ripped it away from Mored and thrown it to his brother.  He saw Bren reach for it just as he fell into the depths of the cave.  Had Bren been able to use it find his mate again?  He hoped so… he had seen his brother’s indescribable pain when he knew she was gone.  Felt it like a dark shroud around his soul.  Drust knew in that moment that he never wanted to experience anything even close to that.  He would never be so foolish to give away his heart and leave himself vulnerable to such horrible grief.  Aye, Bren would think him dead and mourn him, his brother.  But that sorrow would pass.  Och!  Of course it would, because he had not died, after all .  But to lose one’s soulmate… he doubted time would heal such pain.  No, he was damned happy it was Bren and not him that had such a burden to bear.
                  Wherever he was now, whatever happened next, Drust knew he had been given a second chance, because he should never have come out of that tunnel alive.  But why?   He had been ready to give his life for his clan’s future, which he thought would make up for his failure in the past.  Now, instead of simply being happy to find himself alive, he felt confused and uncertain.  If he had not been meant to give up his life for his clan, what was he meant to do now?  Perhaps it was the recent fever, or the too-close brush with death, but he felt… anticipation, almost as if his life was about to take a new turn… as if he was on the verge of something…  His mind reeled with his swirling thoughts, threatening to slip back into blissful unconsciousness.
                  But just as his eyes were about to close, there were light footsteps outside the door, signaling someone’s approach.  Drust braced himself for attack, mostly out of long habit, because he knew he was nearly helpless should whoever it was wish him harm. 
                  He remembered the ties at his wrists.  His captor?  He was as defenseless as a newborn babe, and he didn’t like it one damn bit.  Why would someone rescue him only to tie him up… unless they knew who he was and meant to ransom him back to his