She did not gesture a word to Cree, she simply turned and walked away from him and entered her cottage without looking back. She collapsed back against the door as soon as she closed it. She was exhausted. She had had little sleep and little food since this ordeal had begun. And there was no doubt that the dilemma would grow more difficult.
All she wanted to do was drop down on her bed and sleep and forgot all her problems for a while. She had barely moved away from the door and dropped her cloak on a chair when there was a knock. It couldn’t have been Cree returning so quickly, since he never announced his entrance.
Dawn opened the door reluctantly not wanting to bother with anyone at the moment.
Old Mary stood there. “Lila needs you; baby Thomas is sick.”
Dawn didn’t bother to grab her cloak. She was out of the cottage in a flash only to be stopped by a guard she was not familiar with.
“Cree has left strict orders that you are not to go anywhere.”
Old Mary explained the situation, but still the guard refused to let her pass.
“I have orders,” he said. “Back in your cottage, you go.”
That was it. Dawn could not take another minute of being told what to do and her anger finally exploded, not at all as she would expect. She made a fist and swung at the guard with all her strength and sent him stumbling to fall into a snow drift. It gave her enough time to run.
It was late and no one was about. Her booted feet flew across the snow-covered path. She feared for Lila and baby Thomas. Too often she had seen babes die before they reached their first year and she prayed that wouldn’t be the babe’s fate.
She was a few feet from Lila’s cottage when she suddenly and violently got hit from the side. The initial shock stunned her and tumbled her to the ground, but when she saw the dirk poised in the air ready to strike, all she could think about was protecting the babe inside her. Her mounting anger turned to pure rage and she fought like only a mother could to protect her child.
Her reaction caught her attacker off guard and she grabbed for the man’s wrist to keep the dirk at bay. They struggled and Dawn soon realized that his strength far surpassed hers and she wasn’t sure how long she could keep him from doing her harm. And with it being the evening hour there was no one about so she only had herself to rely on. With that thought, she turned into a wildcat, bucking and kicking as she fought to stop him from jabbing her with the dirk. She managed to dislodge him and scrambled to her feet and ran when she suddenly felt a jab to her side. Her hand pressed against the pain and she felt sticky warmth and knew she had been wounded.
She knew another blow could prove fatal and so she turned and stepped to the side abruptly. The culprit startled and stopped much too suddenly and trying to stop himself from falling proved unwise. He twisted in an attempt to save himself and fell on his own dirk, though scrambled to his feet and ran off faster than she thought his wound allowed.
The pain in her side was minor but when she looked down she was shocked to see blood covering her hand, her blouse and the upper portion of her skirt was also soaked with it. Her first thought was of the babe. She could not lose Cree’s child; their babe. She couldn’t.
The savage roar seemed to tremble the ground at her feet and when she looked up, she saw Cree running toward her. He appeared almost a wild beast on the rampage and for a moment she thought to step back away from him.
Then her mind cleared and she silently cried with relief. He would help her and their child. He would save their babe; he had to. She stretched her bloody hand out to him and took only a couple of steps when her legs turned too weak to hold her up. She went down, bracing for the hit to the hard ground, but it never came. Cree caught her, his arms going around her, holding her firm as he easily scooped her up in his arms and held her close.
He didn’t say a word to her. He rushed to her cottage; his shouts filling the cold air. People ran at his commands as he went. She heard him shout for Elsa and for his warriors to find the bastard who did this to her.
She felt his anger reverberate in his chest with ever command he bellowed and oddly enough it felt soothing. She was in his arms and safe and that was what mattered. She thought she heard Sloan’s anxious voice and Elwin’s as well. And was that Lila she heard? It couldn’t be, Thomas was ill and she would be with him. And that thought had her wondering how Thomas was doing. He was so small and vulnerable. Surely, Elsa had helped him as she would the babe that grew inside Dawn.