Redeemed (Heroes of the Highlands) (The MacKays #2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

bass and emerge with a large catch.
    Kylah could picture the pleasure of victory on his features, though he’d yet to face her. The sea seemed to be his element. His heavy body rippled and flowed with the currents, uncovered by all but a loincloth secured to his strong hips. Two straps crisscrossed his wide shoulders. One belonging to a burgeoning bag obviously full of the day’s catch, and the other a bladder of some kind with a long spout, which he secured around his mouth and took a long pull into his lungs. Holding it there, he placed the wriggling bass in his other bag and then had to angle his body deeper to fight buyancy. His hair flowed around him with suspended movement, much like hers always did.
    In awe of his ingenuity, Kylah went to him.
    “Ingenious!” she exclaimed, pointing to his bladder full of air. “What an extraordinary idea.”
    He recoiled from her; his tattoos reflected the shaft of light. A group of bubbles burst from his mouth and escaped toward the surface on a surprised gasp. One hand went to his throat as the other frantically groped for the bladder with air in it. He found it and sucked in another breath, but his body was caught in some powerful spasm and those bubbles escaped from his mouth in two short bursts.
    Seized by panic, Kylah reached for him out of habit, but her clutching fingers only passed through him and seemed to make the situation worse.
    He surged upward with a powerful kick, but they both knew he’d never reach the surface in time.
    “I’m sorry,” she whimpered as his eyes flared and his muscles started to spasm and jerk. “Daroch, no.” This was all her fault. He was going to drown because of her. She’d never forgive herself. She’d thought that burning to death was the worst possible way to die. But as she watched his eyes latch on to the surface of the sea, so close and yet too far, she realized that drowning must be equally frightening and horrific.
    His eyes rolled back beneath his lids and he went unnaturally still.
    “No,” Kylah groaned as her hands reached for him again. “No, keep trying. It’s too early for you to give up.”
    The tattoos on the side of his face rippled with a dim light, catching her notice. The undulation flowed down the knotted work that covered the entire left side of his body until a pulse of power exploded from his form and broke over her to expand in a circular arc through the sea.
    No, not power. Magic.
    Kylah watched it go, and then turned back to his still form.
    What in the in the name of the Gods…
    A high-pitched ticking answered from somewhere to the left. Kylah turned to it in time to watch two swift black shadows dart through the water with synchronized movements. She had to wait until they slowed enough to situate themselves beneath the Druid’s arms to recognize just what they were.
    Seals! Kylah rejoiced. Somehow he’d called them to his rescue and they lifted his bulk from the depths and shot him toward the surface with their sleek, swift bodies.
    Kylah followed, able to keep pace with the animals until they broke the surface. While the Druid sputtered and choked up an alarming amount of sea water, the seals scolded and barked their displeasure at Kylah.
    “I’m sorry,” she told them. “I didn’t think I would startle him.”
    “Ye didna think ,” Daroch rasped, tugging at his ears.
    One seal blew a very rude noise at her with its wee pink tongue as they started to tow Daroch toward the rocks.
    “No. Well, yes. That is, I figured you would see me as I came at you sideways and I do tend to glow,” she rambled. “I wouldn’t at all put you in danger on purpose. You must believe me.”
    The Druid glowered at her. “I was a more than a little preoccupied,” he quipped. “And it’s not lack of foresight on my part if I wasna on the lookout for a Banshee in the middle of the ocean at midday! I’m only a man.” They reached the cliffs and the Druid touched his nose to each of the seals’ in a