They led her up the metal staircase on the outside of the motel that accessed the rooms on the fourth floor. Ashley had stopped struggling and looked utterly terrified. They shoved her onto a bed and tied her to a bedpost. Her eyes were wide-open with fear and she was quite pale.
Sean felt the urge to wrap the girl in his arms and comfort her. He also wanted to attack the others, to make them pay for deceiving him and the rest of the clan. But he did neither, knowing that wouldn’t be a smart approach. Instead, he demanded answers. “You need to tell me right now what you are doing!”
Cathal, who desperately wanted to avoid a nasty fight, positioned himself between his nagging sister and the unwelcome new arrival. “Steady now. Everyone sit down. First of all, why are you here?”
Sean knew he needed to keep a clear head to represent Payton properly. So, he did as he was told and sat down. Alasdair and Nathaira reluctantly took a seat, too.
“Payton sent me to keep an eye on Samantha,” Sean lied. “He wants to stop her from doing anything stupid, or doing us any harm without meaning to.”
Cathal seemed to buy that answer, but Nathaira looked skeptical.
“But now, you have some explaining to do,” Sean said. “Have you become criminals who kidnap little girls?”
“Rubbish! We have to find out why the curse is changing, so we need Samantha,” Alasdair explained.
“Have you actually taken a close look at the girl? That isn’t Samantha,” Sean said.
“We know that, you idiot,” Nathaira said. “But she is related to Samantha and therefore is also one of the Camerons.”
Sean turned his attention to the beautiful prisoner. “Is that true? Who are you?”
“I… I… Please… let me go, please… I don’t know why I’m here!” Ashley cried.
Nathaira’s anger boiled over. She slapped Ashley, who was now sobbing, in the face and yelled, “Answer his question or things will only get worse!”
“Stop it,” Sean said. “Can’t you see she’s scared?”
“And since when have you been a saint?”
Sean turned to Ashley. “Who are you?” His tone was kind. He wanted her to see that he wasn’t like the others.
“I’m… I’m… Ashley Bennett. What do you want from me?”
She looked at Sean.
“Nothing will happen to you, I promise,” he said, trying to comfort her.
“You’d better not make a promise you can’t keep,” Nathaira snapped.
“What are you going to do to her?” Sean asked. “Were you planning to kill her, just because she might be descended from the Camerons?”
“We will see,” Nathaira said. “First, we need to talk to Samantha. That is the top priority.”
“Yes, but it’s too late for that today. First thing in the morning, we will deal with her,” said Alasdair.
As all the others nodded approvingly, Sean kept his thoughts to himself. He certainly wouldn’t give up now. Again, his eyes wandered to the frightened prisoner. It was odd, he thought, given the situation. But when he looked at her, he felt a slight stirring of desire.
“Well then,” Cathal said, “Nathaira and I will go to our room, while the two of you look after our guest.” The two siblings left for the room next door.
Sean didn’t want to share a room with Alasdair, but he wasn’t about to leave the poor innocent girl alone with him. Alasdair didn’t seem to mind. He poured himself a glass of water and plunked down in front of the TV.
Unsure what to do, Sean stood opposite Ashley. He didn’t think it was necessary to keep her tied up, but he knew Alasdair would disagree. That hard warrior wasn’t known for being merciful. He sat down next to her carefully, so as not to intimidate her further. Shaking, she turned away from him.
“I’m Sean. You needn’t be scared of me.”
“But you are with this group here, aren’t you?”
“Well, it depends. Actually, I came here to help Samantha, but I presume you will not understand everything just now.”
“Sam? What does she have to do with this?”
“Ashley, are you related to Sam?” Sean asked hesitantly.
The fear he felt as he waited for her answer confused him. The whole girl confused him. Her large eyes, her golden hair, and her shapely body were awakening feelings in him, feelings that he hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
In his first life, as he frequently called the time before the curse, he had been a skirt-chaser, running after all the girls in the village, stealing more than a kiss from a lot of them. He didn’t think he had ever been in love; he was too jumpy for that. But then everything had changed, and he wasn’t allowed to be in love.