Slowly she shook her head. Then her brows knit together in concentration. “There was one thing. They said that Cameron would reward them handsomely for their bounty. ’Twas all I remember. When they discovered I was not pregnant, they meant to kill me for they realized their error.”

“Mercenaries,” Alaric spat. “Cameron has posted a reward for the capture of Mairin.”

Ewan let loose a string of blasphemies that had Keeley cringing. “There are many men without coin and nothing to lose by attempting to abduct Mairin and my child.”

“If they are mercenaries, they have no clan or keep to call home,” Alaric said. “ ’Tis likely they are still nearby.”

Ewan’s lips curled and his nostrils flared. “Aye. ’Tis time to go hunting.”

“I’ll ready myself to accompany you.”

Ewan paused and then shook his head. He stared down at Keeley and then back up to his brother. “Nay. I need you here. I want you to keep Mairin close. She can busy herself with Keeley. Caelen will accompany me.”

As he rose, he glanced down at Keeley again. He inclined his head in a gesture of respect. “Again, you have my thanks for the life of my son. I hope you are feeling to rights again soon.”

Keeley mumbled something appropriate and fought another yawn as he departed the chamber. ’Twas freezing again and she needed another fur. Why had Alaric taken it from her?

Alaric sank lower into the bed and cuddled her into his embrace. “Never have I been so frightened,” he admitted. “When I heard what had occurred and then I could not find you. ’Tis not a feeling I want to ever have again.”

“I knew you would come.”

“Your faith humbles me.”

She stroked his chest with her fingertips. Someday … Someday he would owe his protection to Rionna. And their children. Keeley would no longer be able to look to him to solve her ills or fight her battles. After so long of fighting her own, it was a wondrous feeling to have a man such as Alaric to stand for her.

“You should rest, Keeley. I can feel the fever burning through you.”

She was already drifting off, cocooned in his heat.

Alaric paced the interior of the hall in darkness. Ewan had taken a contingent of men to track the mercenaries who’d attacked Crispen and Keeley, and it was nearing dawn. They’d been gone for hours and Alaric’s impatience grew with each passing minute.

It angered him to be here when he itched for a fight. He wanted to vent some of the rage that smoldered in his system.

It wasn’t only the fact that these men had dared to touch what he considered his—and Keeley was his—Alaric wanted to let loose his frustration with the fates that would deny him the woman he loved.